Help with Donated X8+

andratch · May 9, 2018

Hello Everyone,

I am an officer with a local Volunteer Fire Department, and a local Surveying company recently donated their used 3DR X8+ to us for our Urban Search and Rescue team.

We are very excited to have the drone, but are very open with the fact that we have no idea how to set it up.

I don't quite know where to start with my questions, so I was curious if there are any X8+ owners in the Houston, TX area that might be able to meet up with me and help me understand a bit more about the drone that we have, how to control it, and any features we might have completely missed.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

pyrate · May 9, 2018

I am in Dallas so too far away, hopefully someone down Dallas way can help
did you get the manual, I might still have one somewhere

pyrate · May 9, 2018

https://3dr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/X8-Operation-Manual-vA.pdf

andratch · May 10, 2018

Thank you so much! I'll start reading through this and see what I can get figured out. Honestly, if I can't get it figured out via the manual, I may be willing to make a quick trip up to dallas to get some help....if we can't get it working, the only option would be to trade it in for a simpler model, but I would like to avoid that if possible!

pyrate · May 11, 2018

Shout if I can help

yt lee · May 12, 2018

Where are you in houston.

redriderroy · May 12, 2018

andratch said:
Hello Everyone,

I am an officer with a local Volunteer Fire Department, and a local Surveying company recently donated their used 3DR X8+ to us for our Urban Search and Rescue team.

We are very excited to have the drone, but are very open with the fact that we have no idea how to set it up.

I don't quite know where to start with my questions, so I was curious if there are any X8+ owners in the Houston, TX area that might be able to meet up with me and help me understand a bit more about the drone that we have, how to control it, and any features we might have completely missed.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

I’m in California but I also have a vintage 3DR X8, Y6, and quad I’ve built before Solo came out. I assume it came with the Spectrum Dx7 transmitter and Tarot GoPro gimbal as well. If you need any help reach out to me. The manual is a good place to start. Then bring on your questions.

Thanks,
Roy

andratch · May 16, 2018

yt lee said:
Where are you in houston.

I'm located near downtown, but am willing to meet up wherever to get some help!

andratch · May 16, 2018

redriderroy said:
I’m in California but I also have a vintage 3DR X8, Y6, and quad I’ve built before Solo came out. I assume it came with the Spectrum Dx7 transmitter and Tarot GoPro gimbal as well. If you need any help reach out to me. The manual is a good place to start. Then bring on your questions.

Thanks,
Roy

Roy, It has a FS-TH9X controller. I've been able to get it to fly, but I cannot get he Gimbal to tilt or receive the GoPro video properly (it looks like it's splitting the video feed or something...) I could use a little help with those pieces.

yt lee · May 19, 2018

Were you able to connect your x8 with mission planner ?

andratch · May 19, 2018

yt lee said:
Were you able to connect your x8 with mission planner ?

Yes! I have everything set...EXCEPT for the tarot gimbal and video feed.

The gimbal will activate and level itself, but I can’t determine how to set it up to control tilt on the controller. I have the output plugged into RC9, but the only option I have to select in mission planner is “SERVO9”.

On the video feed - I can receive a signal on my screen, but the video rolls and is garbled. I’m not sure how to adjust or fix that.

yt lee · May 19, 2018

andratch said:
Yes! I have everything set...EXCEPT for the tarot gimbal and video feed.

The gimbal will activate and level itself, but I can’t determine how to set it up to control tilt on the controller. I have the output plugged into RC9, but the only option I have to select in mission planner is “SERVO9”.

On the video feed - I can receive a signal on my screen, but the video rolls and is garbled. I’m not sure how to adjust or fix that.[/QUOT]
the left knob is for the tilt and the right is for the roll. Use the Mission planner to ensure the signal gets to the FC. If signal is OK, then try the tarrot gimbal software to check/setup the gimbal. here is an YT video for the gimbal setup.

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. As for your video rolling issue, you may try changing to different channel.

andratch · May 19, 2018

Looks pretty straight forward. I don’t have a usb to serial cable, I’m assuming I’ll need one of these:

USB to TTL Serial Cable - Debug / Console Cable for Raspberry Pi

yt lee · May 19, 2018

andratch said:
Looks pretty straight forward. I don’t have a usb to serial cable, I’m assuming I’ll need one of these:

USB to TTL Serial Cable - Debug / Console Cable for Raspberry Pi

Do you have old PC that has the old style serial port. if not, You can buy the cable or make one, frys sells the chip Fry's Electronics |