PID, gosh...

[Alex Fraser]

You might be amused by the first drone I built around 2016.  I was 
running Ardupilot, it had a wood frame and 10 inch props.  I first 
called it "X2", but soon started calling it "Lumber Quad"  or sometimes 
the "Flying Hedge Trimmer".

The radio was a Spektrum DX5E which is 2.4 GHz spread spectrum and I 
think I used a Spektrum receiver too.   I didn't have any telemetry, so 
I kept track of the time and used the feel of the machine for battery 
state.  X2 was heavy so I only got under 8 minutes  flight time.

As you can see from this video I could have benefited from PID tuning.
https://youtu.be/sv29vXG1-Mg?si=STqCMkxRx3DyYlHm

<https://youtu.be/sv29vXG1-Mg?si=STqCMkxRx3DyYlHm>
On 10/13/2025 12:24 PM, Jacek Radzikowski wrote:
> I used to fly fpv a lot, now on a hiatus. But I have to get back into 
> flying. It's way too much fun.
>
> Jacek
> Kw4ep
>
>
> Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier
>
> On Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 09:48 alex fraser via Tacos <tacos at amrad.org> wrote:
>
>     I agree, he is good, I've used his site a lot.  Are you building
>     or flying UAV?
>
>     On 10/12/2025 10:09 PM, Jacek Radzikowski wrote:
>>     if you're interested in building drones, this is a great channel
>>     for learning: https://www.youtube.com/@JoshuaBardwell
>>
>>     Jacek
>>     kw4ep
>>
>>
>>     On Sun, 12 Oct 2025 at 15:17, Alex Fraser via Tacos
>>     <tacos at amrad.org> wrote:
>>
>>         PIDtoolbo,x has a YouTube site,  I am viewing a video on that
>>         site which is at https://youtu.be/ehvQm8Rqrzk?si=XKyL3DGHzVwaT8hT
>>         There is a good bit to learn and lots of settings.  There is
>>         a script you can load on the controller to put the drone in
>>         "wiggle mode" which is fun to watch.  You get the drone to
>>         hover and flick a switch and it sure does wiggle.  You land
>>         and then examine the graphs and adjust the parameters to
>>         smooth things out.  Sounds easy, well for some I guess, me
>>         I'll be slipping all over the learning curve...
>>
>>         I think the PIDtoolbox is now part of the Betaflight
>>         configurator.  BTW it does not have any flux capacitors in it.
>>
>>
>>         On 10/10/2025 9:14 PM, Alex Fraser via Tacos wrote:
>>>         Starting to get ready for Flight controller configuration. 
>>>         I kept seeing "PID".  Well PID is
>>>         "Proportional–Integral–Derivative controller" and I'm so
>>>         glad they have software that can do this for you.
>>>         Interesting Wikipedia article
>>>         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional%E2%80%93integral%E2%80%93derivative_controller
>>>
>>>         -- 
>>>
>>>         _______________________________________________
>>>         Tacos mailing list
>>>         Tacos at amrad.org
>>>         https://lists.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos
>>
>>         -- 
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         Tacos mailing list
>>         Tacos at amrad.org
>>         https://lists.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos
>>
>>
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     Tacos mailing list
>>     Tacos at amrad.org
>>     https://lists.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     Tacos mailing list
>     Tacos at amrad.org
>     https://lists.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos
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