Crazyflie 2 doesn't hover?

[eric_castro]

Another rather disappointed customer here...

I spent quite some time balancing my propellers (turns out most of them weren't balanced) and I was getting a pretty decent balance with the needle method after shaking it a bit as explained in their tutorials.

But no matter what, I was never able to make it hover without losing control at some point and crashing it.

At first I thought it was part of the learning process I had to do in order to do a decent take off with my iPhone; now I realize it wasn't me, it was definitely something in the quad.

But the worst news of them all, is that I have crashed it so many times, that I no longer have any spare motor mounts; they all broke in two pieces in NO-TIME!

These are horribly fragile! The fact that I wasn't able to hover and properly control the quad had me crashing it constanly, which led to braking three motor mounts in less than two days. Now I no longer have the minimum 4 to actually fly, so I'm gonna have to wait who knows for how long for Seedstudio to send the spare motor mounts I ordered using the cheapest shipping method (wasn't going to pay DHL again for this). Very, very frustrating.

My CF 2.0 is now sitting on my desk with one leg broken and wasn't even able to use it for one week. Superglue didn't do the trick either, the plastic will break again in the first try.

My propellers were balanced. What kept going wrong ? is this really an indoor friendly quad?

[chad]

My propellers were balanced. What kept going wrong ? is this really an indoor friendly quad?

I find mine exceptionally "indoor friendly." I can fly it through our kitchen pass-through and even under the table if I'm careful.

I'm curious...

Are you flying with the firmware as it came from the factory or have you updated it using the links provided in this blog post under the "Firmware update" section. If you don't have new firmware, updating it might solve your problems... Well, that and a new 5 pack of motor mounts.

[MitchMan]

I am also experiencing problems with unbalanced CCW Propellers with my Crazyflie 2.0. I ordered 2 spare packs of the propellers with mine (http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/Crazyf ... -1361.html) and they have the same problems as well.

If Bitcraze support on the forum could let me know how to exchange these for the new version when they have worked out the problems that would be great (I need 12 CCW propellers in total!).

MitchMan

[dbrgn]

For me the balancing with tape has helped enormously. In the beginning I could not manage to keep the CF2 in the air at all. But after the balancing, a stable hover is very possible, although it needs a bit of practice. By now I can also do stuff like landing on a 10x20cm cardboard box.

I use a Logitech F510 controller with Crazyradio PA under Linux. Maybe the iOS controls aren't stable enough?

As for the crashes, I've crashed my Crazyflie a few dozen times. So far, 2 motor mounts and 2 propellers broke. That's quite a low number considering how violent some of the crashes were I wouldn't consider the CF2 fragile. It's actually a good thing that the motor mounts are the weakest part in the product, this way the PCB doesn't take damage.

I already ordered more spare parts though.

[eric_castro]

Are you flying with the firmware as it came from the factory or have you updated it using the links provided in this blog post under the "Firmware update" section. If you don't have new firmware, updating it might solve your problems... Well, that and a new 5 pack of motor mounts.

yes, I was using the firmware that came with it, I did not update it at all. I understand firmware upgrades are nice and sometimes necessary, but I also believe it is a reasonable assumption to think that whatever firmware comes with a production batch of quads was enough tested to actually be safe for public release.

all I can do for now is sit and wait for singapore post to deliver the parts ... luckily they shipped quite fast, so I hope they will arrive sometime next week. I will try updating the firmware right away then.

I will also give the crazyradio a try, which I don't have but can purchase from a local distributor. I assume it's the same as the one for CF 1.0 ?? someone please confirm this

[tobias]

I will also give the crazyradio a try, which I don't have but can purchase from a local distributor. I assume it's the same as the one for CF 1.0 ?? someone please confirm this

There are two versions of the Crazyradio, the Crazyradio and the Crazyradio PA. The Crazyradio PA comes with a "Power Amplifier" which boosts the range up to 1km. The Crazyradio will go up to about 100m with the Crazyflie 2.0. So if you are not planning on doing research where longer distance communication is needed you will be fine the Crazyradio.

You should also be aware that the Crazyflie 2.0 is a "development platform" meant to inspire, spread knowledge, being developed on, etc. I hope this is why you chose the Crazyflie. This also means there will be more bugs etc because we focus more on new features then stability. With that said we hope you will enjoy and find the great potential of your Crazyflie 2.0.

[CliffH]

Chiming in with my experience. With the iPhone, I have found Crazyflie 2 impossible to control. However, after receiving my Playstation 4 controller, I was hovering almost instantly. There is a world of difference. The PS4 controller is so much better than a touch screen. The iPhone app needs to be improved significantly to be usable.

Note that in both cases I balanced all props. Using a needle suspended between 2 magnetics provides great accuracy.

The only strange artifact I have noticed is that yaw seems to make the Crazyflie descend. Does thrust need to be added to compensate for the effect of raw?

[utp]

Hi All,

I have received my CrazyRadio, also purchase a XBox360 controller, upgraded the firmware and yes, it is working much much better now, it is the iOS app that was not working well, the CrazyFiles itself is great.

Tho I need to rebalance the CCW props (I removed all balance tape to give it a fresh start)

Also notice a "bug" of the client in Windows 8, for some reason the controller got confused (XBox360 Wireless on PC) or so after a while and it only register 2 of the motors actions, so the flies will rotate like spin, quitting the PC client and restart it seems cure the issue. (not very big issue, you WILL notice that and all I need to do is quit and exec the client again)

[eric_castro]

@CliffH & @utp It is relieving to hear that problems were indeed on the iPhone app and not the CF 2.0 board!

I should have tried my xbox one controller before destroying so many motor mounts..

@tobias I have indeed purchased the CF 2.0 for its modifiable nature and development capabilities - I'm a software developer myself and electronics hobbyist. That didn't stop me from thinking the CF 2.0 was already out of alpha/beta stage so I expected it to 'hover' out of the box... I do appreciate, however, that you guys take the time to clarify these things and be active in the forum responding to users' support requests. Thanks for the information about the Crazyradio, I definitely do not intend on flying this think farther from maybe 20-30m distance.

A question though: are the propellers the same as CF 1.0 ? my local distributor is shipping the CF 2.0 but no spare parts yet, I was wondering if it was safe to buy spare propellers for the CF 1.0 as they look pretty much the same.

[tobias]

A question though: are the propellers the same as CF 1.0 ? my local distributor is shipping the CF 2.0 but no spare parts yet, I was wondering if it was safe to buy spare propellers for the CF 1.0 as they look pretty much the same.

Actually, I can't tell you as we don't know when the CCW propellers started to become unbalanced. We have done some tests on the propellers we have in the office that are from Q3 2014 (Crazyflie 1.0 batch) and they are better but still not prefect. The problem is that the propellers will never be perfect because of manufacturing tolerances so balancing them is the way to go to get the best performance.