Wednesday, 11 October 2023

Unusual RC and INAV problems and solutions

This post will be an ongoing log of troubleshooting solutions that I come across in video comments and questions. 

Some solutions are obvious and just require reading the manual, or checking connections. But some solutions are unexpected and weird.

This will document some of the more unusual problems that can mess up an RC setup


List of odd problems and their solutions


INAV

"Pitch / Roll not centered" error message

Cause - Switch mistakenly assigned to Aileron channel in the radio


Disarming with any aileron input

Cause - Used an existing model setup in the radio which had aileron mixing on the same channel as Arming in INAV.

GOLDEN RULE - Create a new fresh model for your INAV setup to avoid any leftover mixes


Outputs working in the INAV configurator but actual servos don't move

5V servos used with 6V servo BEC setting. One servo burned out and prevented others from working.. 


AtomRC Penguin on INAV

Turning right and crashing during launch.

Cause -  ESCs were out of sync after lots of INAV VTOL configuration testing.

Recalibrating the ESCs in INAV Outputs Page corrected the problem.


SpeedyBee F405-Wing MINI 

USER modes not available for analog camera switching in INAV 7.0

Cause - This feature missed the deadline to be included in INAV 7.0. Updated firmware available on the Product page and INAV 7.1


Board stopped working after prolonged setup session

Cause - Bent pin on the "between-board" connector after repeated disassemblies.


Board not working at all

Cause - Wrong firmware flashed. The F405 Wing MINI uses the F405wing firmware not the F405mini firmware


SpeedyBee F405-Wing 

No voltage on DJI 9V port 

Cause - Bent ground pin needed straightening


No output on S8, no Soft Serial for S-Port function 

Cause - Factory firmware bugs, upgrade to INAV 6.1.1


FrSKY GRX8 

Receiver unable to enter bind mode 

Cause - Worn bind button contact. Needed to push harder on the bind button


Kootai A505 J3 Cub 

Will not initiate 

Cause - Futaba FASST protocol uses REVERSED throttle channel


Skywalker X8 

Wings out of alignment. 

Manufacturer glued the spar at the top of the channel in one wing and bottom of the channel in the other wing - Cut out spar and foam packing and re glue correctly.


FIMI Manta - Matek F405 VTOL - Ardupilot ELRS 

RC connection won't work 

Cause - SERIAL5 was set to CRSF (Parameter = 23) as well as SERIAL6 which prevented Rx connection.

Only SERIAL6 should be set to CRSF