i think i am going to try the 3.27 version first. i dont realy like beta versions, and dont want the drone to fall out of the sky because of that. so i think i am going to try 3.27 first, and if it is ok wait for a stable multirotor firmware

Originally Posted by vinnygogo

i think i am going to try the 3.27 version first. i dont realy like beta versions, and dont want the drone to fall out of the sky because of that. so i think i am going to try 3.27 first, and if it is ok wait for a stable multirotor firmware

3.27 is a little slower the 4.0 so you will probably have to run lower gain. Just start with a low gain and increase gradually and you should be ok.


.

Hi Guys,

I just noticed today, (3-30-12), that Castle Creations put out ESC firmware update 4.01 with the following release notes:

NOTE: It is HIGHLY recommended that all users discontinue use of firmware V4.00 due to a known bug that can cause unusual ESC behavior. Users may either upgrade to V4.01 or downgrade to a previous version.

Functional Improvement: Increased maximum throttle change rate on Multi-Rotor setting. A throttle change of 50% can now be accomplished in .08s.

Bug fix: Occasional errors were being recorded in the data log. Fixed

Bug fix: Unusual motor shutdowns, and other controller anomalies including ESC failure. Fixed

Is this the fix for multi-rotor that we have all been waiting for? Has anyone tested it yet?

Could someone from CC give us some information here and let us know what was identified as being the problem with the multi-rotor portion of the initial release in version 4.0, along with some more information on this fix?

Thanks,
Tom

Ok, I spent the day tearing apart my WK-M controlled CX-4 quadcopter, swapping out the modified 30amp Chinese ESC's for the Castle Creations 25amp Phoenix ESC's in the hopes that the newly released 4.01 firmware would work better for multi-rotor aircraft than the 4.0 version did.

I loaded the new firmware into each ESC and set the ESC parameters to suit my needs, leaving the motor timing at the default setting and changing the PWM Rate from the default of 12Khz to 16Khz. I did a throttle calibration on each of the ESC's, setting the high & low end points in my JR 11X transmitter, then hooked the quad up to the WK-M Assistant to reset my parameter values all back to the default settings. I then assigned the tilt & roll gains to a slider on my transmitter so that I could adjust the gains in flight.

Since it was raining on and off all day, I only had very limited time between rain showers to do any testing. I was able to fly through 3 batteries, which equates to about 30 minutes of actual air time and am happy to report that it flew beautifully during this short testing period. Now bear in mind that my testing has only just started and there is much more to do before I can give a definitive opinion, but so far it looks very promising!

The outside temp was 43F and the breeze was between 2 and maybe 10 mph at most. When the breeze was low the quad floated perfectly smooth in the air and when the breeze rose to about 7 to 10 mph, there was a bit of movement but not much. The quad appeared to be very stable in this mild breeze and seemed to be VERY RESPONSIVE to stick input, more responsive than when using the modified Chinese ESC's. I will be interested to see if this increase in responsiveness will equate to stability in windy conditions.

My ESC's are encased in the quad's protective canopy and not exposed to a direct airflow. After a 10 minute flight, my motors were cool to the touch and the ESC's, under the canopy, were between 96F and 100F, as measured by my laser temp gauge.

Because of the rain starting again and darkness falling, this was all that I could accomplish today. I am looking forward to experimenting with the WK-M parameters and the ESC parameters more and in testing it in some windy conditions, which are forecast for my area in the coming week.

For the record, I think that it is a shame that Castle Creations has chosen not to respond to any of the posts in this thread for the past 3 weeks! While I am very glad that they have worked on this problem, I don't think that it is asking too much to have a representative check in once in a while to give their customers some updated information and support. I mean this IS the Castle Creations Vendors Area of the forum so of you can't get their responses here, where can you get it, especially since we have all paid top dollar for their products.


Regards,
Tom

In case you didnt change the gains from the previous setup with chinese esc could be useful to know if the CC loves higher gain values or they require lower values in order to know what to expect from them.

Looks like V4.01 is a real winner.

Originally Posted by RC Man

Looks like V4.01 is a real winner.

Yes, I just came in from doing two 8 minutes flights in windy conditions with gusts up to 25mph and it handled beautifully. At least as good as both of my Mikrokopters, if not better. So far I am very pleased with this firmware & these ESC's! The only problem is that they are expensive, but IF the quality of the components & reliability of them is substantially better than the Chinese ones, than it will be worth it to me.

Originally Posted by elossam

In case you didnt change the gains from the previous setup with chinese esc could be useful to know if the CC loves higher gain values or they require lower values in order to know what to expect from them.

As far as the Gains go, on my WKM powered quad, using the modified Maytech ESC's, I had both my roll & tilt gains set to 140, the yaw set to 150 and the Altitude set to 90.

In my initial testing using the CC Phoneix 25amp ESC's, it seems to fly best with the roll & tilt gains set to 140, the yaw set to 250 and the Altitude set to 90. I cranked up the yaw gains because sometimes during the very strong wind gusts it would start to do some unwanted yawing and the higher gains seems to stop this behavior.

As I mentioned in my initial report from yesterday, my quad seems to be more responsive with the CC ESCs' and it is also quieter.

Regards,
Tom

If you didnīt require to lower the gains too much that means IMHO the speed reaction is at a similar level which is quite fine, better if you can go above but fine if the difference is not much. Can remember the old firm quite one year ago required me to lower the gains at minimum in order to at least keep the ufo in flight, not stable but in flight.

Originally Posted by tkeeg

Yes, I just came in from doing two 8 minutes flights in windy conditions with gusts up to 25mph and it handled beautifully. At least as good as both of my Mikrokopters, if not better. So far I am very pleased with this firmware & these ESC's! The only problem is that they are expensive, but IF the quality of the components & reliability of them is substantially better than the Chinese ones, than it will be worth it to me.


As far as the Gains go, on my WKM powered quad, using the modified Maytech ESC's, I had both my roll & tilt gains set to 140, the yaw set to 150 and the Altitude set to 90.

In my initial testing using the CC Phoneix 25amp ESC's, it seems to fly best with the roll & tilt gains set to 140, the yaw set to 250 and the Altitude set to 90. I cranked up the yaw gains because sometimes during the very strong wind gusts it would start to do some unwanted yawing and the higher gains seems to stop this behavior.

As I mentioned in my initial report from yesterday, my quad seems to be more responsive with the CC ESCs' and it is also quieter.

Regards,
Tom

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your reporting on the firmware upgrade. I am flying a Hoverfly quad with four CC Phonix 25 A, tow 50002s turnigy batteries and Axi 2814/22 with 14x14.7 props. Weight is about 2300 grams. Works as well as my MK's and I am a happy camper. Again, thanks...Tony

Originally Posted by antonlubo

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your reporting on the firmware upgrade. I am flying a Hoverfly quad with four CC Phonix 25 A, tow 50002s turnigy batteries and Axi 2814/22 with 14x14.7 props. Weight is about 2300 grams. Works as well as my MK's and I am a happy camper. Again, thanks...Tony

Hi Tony,
That is great news! Hopefully everybody will start reporting in with their flight experiences using the 4.01 multi-rotor firmware. It would be nice to know if anyone is experiencing differences in their flight characteristics using different Motor Timing Settings & PWM Rates in the 4.01 firmware.
Tom

Hi Tony,
You might wish to let Al know that here in his Engineering ESC Comparison thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1620724
Cheers,
Jim
Quadrocopter and Tricopter Info Mega Link Index

Originally Posted by antonlubo

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your reporting on the firmware upgrade. I am flying a Hoverfly quad with four CC Phonix 25 A, tow 50002s turnigy batteries and Axi 2814/22 with 14x14.7 props. Weight is about 2300 grams. Works as well as my MK's and I am a happy camper. Again, thanks...Tony

Originally Posted by jesolins

Hi Tony,
You might wish to let Al know that here in his Engineering ESC Comparison thread: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1620724
Cheers,
Jim
Quadrocopter and Tricopter Info Mega Link Index

Hi Jim, done...Tony

Originally Posted by tkeeg

Ok, I spent the day tearing apart my WK-M controlled CX-4 quadcopter, swapping

For the record, I think that it is a shame that Castle Creations has chosen not to respond to any of the posts in this thread for the past 3 weeks! While I am very glad that they have worked on this problem, I don't think that it is asking too much to have a representative check in once in a while to give their customers some updated information and support. I mean this IS the Castle Creations Vendors Area of the forum so of you can't get their responses here, where can you get it, especially since we have all paid top dollar for their products.


Regards,
Tom

Tom this is great news - looking forward to testing when I get back. I gave to fully agree with your comment above. Given that many of us castle customers are sticking by them for their support record - the lack of communication on their part is very disappointing. They obviously followed through and corrected the issue as they said - which ultimately is what matters, but the communication, could have been better, and would have supported our argument that castle provides superior support to customers - just my 2 cents

Al

Originally Posted by alros_100

Tom this is great news - looking forward to testing when I get back. I gave to fully agree with your comment above. Given that many of us castle customers are sticking by them for their support record - the lack of communication on their part is very disappointing. They obviously followed through and corrected the issue as they said - which ultimately is what matters, but the communication, could have been better, and would have supported our argument that castle provides superior support to customers - just my 2 cents
Al

Hi Al,
Be sure to post your thoughts about it when you get home and have a chance to test if for yourself along with the parameter settings that you used.
Tom

Tom, thanks for all the information. I am the Heli guy at Castle and every department has been busy working on new updates... many users don't realize Castle link updates support all of the Castle products... That is not to say every castle link release changes every castle product but there is quite a bit of testing that goes on behind the scenes before a Beta is ever released. The engineers have been working with different Beta groups and yes they have been reading this thread... The Beta group has a small number of testers compared to the user base here on the forum but they are following the testing hear as well... With the positive test results , and the time needed to elapse for the Beta testers to continue to test... the engineers are probably sitting back waiting for the user base to continue testing and posting results as the update appears to be working well and seems to be very stable from what I can see....


Thanks for all the test results and thanks for your loyalty...

Originally Posted by tkeeg

Ok, I spent the day tearing apart my WK-M controlled CX-4 quadcopter, swapping out the modified 30amp Chinese ESC's for the Castle Creations 25amp Phoenix ESC's in the hopes that the newly released 4.01 firmware would work better for multi-rotor aircraft than the 4.0 version did.

I loaded the new firmware into each ESC and set the ESC parameters to suit my needs, leaving the motor timing at the default setting and changing the PWM Rate from the default of 12Khz to 16Khz. I did a throttle calibration on each of the ESC's, setting the high & low end points in my JR 11X transmitter, then hooked the quad up to the WK-M Assistant to reset my parameter values all back to the default settings. I then assigned the tilt & roll gains to a slider on my transmitter so that I could adjust the gains in flight.

Since it was raining on and off all day, I only had very limited time between rain showers to do any testing. I was able to fly through 3 batteries, which equates to about 30 minutes of actual air time and am happy to report that it flew beautifully during this short testing period. Now bear in mind that my testing has only just started and there is much more to do before I can give a definitive opinion, but so far it looks very promising!

The outside temp was 43F and the breeze was between 2 and maybe 10 mph at most. When the breeze was low the quad floated perfectly smooth in the air and when the breeze rose to about 7 to 10 mph, there was a bit of movement but not much. The quad appeared to be very stable in this mild breeze and seemed to be VERY RESPONSIVE to stick input, more responsive than when using the modified Chinese ESC's. I will be interested to see if this increase in responsiveness will equate to stability in windy conditions.

My ESC's are encased in the quad's protective canopy and not exposed to a direct airflow. After a 10 minute flight, my motors were cool to the touch and the ESC's, under the canopy, were between 96F and 100F, as measured by my laser temp gauge.

Because of the rain starting again and darkness falling, this was all that I could accomplish today. I am looking forward to experimenting with the WK-M parameters and the ESC parameters more and in testing it in some windy conditions, which are forecast for my area in the coming week.

For the record, I think that it is a shame that Castle Creations has chosen not to respond to any of the posts in this thread for the past 3 weeks! While I am very glad that they have worked on this problem, I don't think that it is asking too much to have a representative check in once in a while to give their customers some updated information and support. I mean this IS the Castle Creations Vendors Area of the forum so of you can't get their responses here, where can you get it, especially since we have all paid top dollar for their products.


Regards,
Tom