DJI Naza H

Hey Bill - It's flying weather down here!  I hope you have the same.  I want to hear that 600 sound under Naza power!

I had to take advantage of the mostly dry weather this time around to to get some chores done.
Getting the 600 on video will happen soon though. 

Aren't those chores supposed to be for rainy days? 

Here's a much to long clip of the 600.
Getting this heli dialed in with the NAZA has been interesting. The last battery just before this video she seemed to sit pretty still in atti/gps modes.
As you can see in the clip, it will sit still well at times, but most every time it goes out of the frame to the right (my right) it was in atti/gps mode. Giving rudder input also seems to make it drift outside of it's gps "limits" and you have to bring it back. With so little room I won't even try a pirouette.
About mid way through the clip I just about get in trouble by moving the collective stick out of the position it was in when going into atti/gps mode so, I hit throttle hold then back to normal and that was pretty close to the solar light.  :
I've had a couple of exciting moments when switching back in to normal with a sudden jump or drop.



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iHn_h884C4&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

There is something just plain cool about large electric helicopters!  Thanks for the video Bill.

When I setup my first Naza-M I had some dipping or climbing when I switched modes until I got the Naza Assistant gains balanced out.

No problem.
Just wish I could have shown something as stable as the 500 is.
Much of the bobbing on this video is the wind over the house, kind of like flying in prop wash.
As soon as the weather settles again, it's time to take them out to some open space. They both will probably fly better in unobstructed air. 

... also I think the larger heli's move somewhat slower thus take's a bit longer to react to the wind

Nevertheless, she fly's nice, bet ya can't wait to fly her in more open space ...

The weather cooperated today so I finally took the helis out where I could actually fly them.
NAZA on both did well, much better than I when in normal mode. It's been so long since I've done any thing but hover them, I had trouble feeling comfortable enough to have much fun. 
Better weather is coming and more time at the sticks again will cure that I think.

Feeling a little rusty Bill?
I bet it felt good to get out and do some flying though.  Did you get a chance to let the GPS do it's thing?  I mean if the space is open enough to let the GPS hover drift and just see if the drift get bigger small or stays about the same.

Yes, rusty is a good word for it.
The NAZA on the 600 still needs a bit of tweaking. I noticed with the wind blowing the heli would drift to the downwind side of its GPS circle and when the wind slacked off it would drift back to the other side of the circle.
I have the means to change it in the field now, so next time out I'll see if i can get it done. 

So it is not drifting in circles any more?
I hope you bring your video camera.  Besides us getting to view it you can watch it for diagnostics.

No, It seemed to drift more side to side I think.

I considered taking the camera last trip but was short on time and was glad I didn't bother anyway because of being so rusty. 

Well maybe you can video your next fly-day. 

Better a little side to side drift than that spiraling kind.

Hi Bill - I was checking out the latest press releases from DJI and saw they released Naza-H firmware 1.04 and assistant software 1.02 on March 1st.  I suppose you already got them but wanted to check.  If you've got them did they make any noticeable difference for you?

Yep, all updated. 
Thanks for the heads up though.

I have a bit of an issue with NAZA firmware. A couple weeks back I got a little net-book, loaded the NAZA firmware on it and all seems to be fine with it. Now when I open the assistant from my "desk top" it asks for my email and password, which wouldn't be so bad but it doesn't recognize me. I even changed my password, still no dice. I sent a note to the NAZA folks who said I probably needed a second email address.  ???

When you installed the assistant on your new (second) computer did you use the same email address as you used on your desktop (first computer)?

When you installed the assistant on the new (second) computer did you need, or receive, to get a return email with the authorization?

That is odd.  Are you using the same Windows version on both computers?

I bet if you completely uninstalled it from the first computer, rebooted and re-installed it that it would only work on that computer.

All this is probably moot since I assume you are using the netbook computer for your field programming and being portable isn't a big inconvenience using it at home also.  I guess in your situation I would prefer it is locked to the portable instead of the desktop.

The laptop is windows 7 and the pc I'm using now is vista.

I'll bet so too.

You're right about the laptop being easier to use, even at home. Much easier to take the pc to the heli than the other way around.

Hey Bill - I was reading the other day that carbon fiber is somewhat of a RF blocker/absorber and it got me thinking.  If we mount the GPS unit on the boom and the main blades are carbon fiber, does that interfere with the GPS signal?

It would seem that we'd want the GPS receiver above the spinning main blades.

What say you RF and HAM guys?