PID tuning SOLO-fixes vibrations

[atmo]

First post here,

I have gotten a lot of great info off this board and wanted to share. I use a solo at work and have one of my own. Like many here I have struggled to get consistent video without micro vibrations. I balanced the motors, props, use a ND filter and played with the gimbal cables every which way and still had issues. From the first flight the Solo seemed very high strung, like it has and aggressive tune, or too high P value, that could cause the high frequency oscillations and excessive motor noise. Today I finally went ahead and lowered the stabilize rate P values for pitch, roll and yaw in mission planner a small amount, only about 0.2 lower for each. I did one test flight just now and it is noticeably quieter and smoother and video looks great. I am temped to play with loiter tuning too.

I will test more but wanted to see if anyone else has had any luck tuning the PID values on solo?

 

[Jubalr]

First post here,

I have gotten a lot of great info off this board and wanted to share. I use a solo at work and have one of my own. Like many here I have struggled to get consistent video without micro vibrations. I balanced the motors, props, use a ND filter and played with the gimbal cables every which way and still had issues. From the first flight the Solo seemed very high strung, like it has and aggressive tune, or too high P value, that could cause the high frequency oscillations and excessive motor noise. Today I finally went ahead and lowered the stabilize rate P values for pitch, roll and yaw in mission planner a small amount, only about 0.2 lower for each. I did one test flight just now and it is noticeably quieter and smoother and video looks great. I am temped to play with loiter tuning too.

I will test more but wanted to see if anyone else has had any luck tuning the PID values on solo?

Thanks Atmo, I have never gotten around to playing with them my self though it is something I have thought about occasionally. But please keep us updated on your testing and findings.

 

[Greg Parker]

Interesting experiment and observation. Do you know which values apply when using MPCC?
Thanks

 

[pyrate]

interesting
following

 

[atmo]

Interesting experiment and observation. Do you know which values apply when using MPCC?
Thanks

I "think" that the stabilize params are used for the smart shots but loiter and altitude settings should come into play too. I also "think" that the tuning parameters should stick once set in mission planner and not be modified by the companion computer. I only tested in fly and fly:manual so far.

 

[Maddog]

Thanks Atmo! As far as I know you are the only person here who has done that. There are folks here who are knowledgable about this stuff but I have never heard them discuss what you have done.

What are those parameters called in the parameter list?

I'd like to see some of the smart guys try this and report their findings.

One should never sail on the maiden voyage of the Titanic..

 

[Maddog]

P.S- what do you use Solo for at work?

 

[ChrisBird]

I "think" that the stabilize params are used for the smart shots but loiter and altitude settings should come into play too. I also "think" that the tuning parameters should stick once set in mission planner and not be modified by the companion computer. I only tested in fly and fly:manual so far.

It should be the loiter params as its essentially using the guided apm mode.

I think the stabilise pids have an impact though on all flight modes.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[fpvsteve]

Interesting experiment and observation. Do you know which values apply when using MPCC?
Thanks

The WP_NAV params. All smartshots use Guided mode, however the params are controlled by the companion computer. Any changes in MP will likely be overwritten when you enter a smartshot.

If you want to mess with the stabilize, AltHold and Loiter PIDs read here first.
Advanced Tuning — Copter documentation

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

These are the parameters that Solo's computer manages for you with the turtle/rabbit sliders. Fortunately, the PID parameters are not among them.

 

[Maddog]

The WP_NAV params. All smartshots use Guided mode, however the params are controlled by the companion computer. Any changes in MP will likely be overwritten when you enter a smartshot.

If you want to mess with the stabilize, AltHold and Loiter PIDs read here first.
Advanced Tuning — Copter documentation

Excellent- thanks Steve!

 

[Rusty Jones]

The WP_NAV params. All smartshots use Guided mode, however the params are controlled by the companion computer. Any changes in MP will likely be overwritten when you enter a smartshot.

If you want to mess with the stabilize, AltHold and Loiter PIDs read here first.
Advanced Tuning — Copter documentation

What about the rate PIDs, Rate Roll, Rate pitch, Rate Yaw? Do we know if they are being changed by the companion??

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

The list above are the only ones I've found the companion computer changes from what I've found while testing. Beyond that list, we also know it would overwrite changes to the parameters related to the geofence, maximum altitude, and RTH altitude based on the preferences in the app. And we know it will overwrite the WP Nav Speed parameter since that is used for smart shots. These overwrites can happen on boot, when preferences are changed, and when smart shots are used. So manually changing any of them in Tower or MP is rather futile.

I haven't tried manually changing the PIDs to see if it notices and overwrites them. My inclination is no, it will not overwrite those except on a factory reset or possibly on a firmware update. Those are the kind of thing that one would not make regular changes or adjustments to. The PIDs are really the kind of thing you tune in once based on the weight, size, power, and thrust of the aircraft. Then there is no reason to change it unless those factors change or there is a performance problem.

That said, try it and report findings!