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Naze32 on Mini Quad Setup Quadcopter

by Oscar

I have finally decided to swap out the KK2.1.5 with the Naze32 on my 250 mini quad. I have to say IMHO after a couple of test flight, the Naze32 Flight controller does perform better than the KK2.1.5, in this case.

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In rate mode it is very locked-in even when descents, or in high wind, although the performance in self level mode (horizon mode) is similar, which just wobbles in wind. More importantly, I like working with the multiwii, which allows me to connect the FC to my phone through Bluetooth, so I can change the settings (PID and so on) a lot easier. I will explain how this is setup after the break.

Naze32_KK2.1.5

I will show you how I setup Naze32 Flight contorller on my mini quad, it should work pretty well on all 230mm to 250mm Mini quad with little tuning.

I like this FC so much, I listed it top FC in 250 mini quad part list. :) If you don’t know about this tiny FC, check out my Naze32 review earlier. Setting it up is not as easy as the KK2, the learning curve is quite steep for beginner. But it should not be a huge challenge since there are tons of tutorials online.

Here are some videos using this FC.

 

Naze32_front Naze32_back

Mounting on FPV250 Frame

The Hobbyking FPV250 frame only seem to support normal size FC like the KK2, or Crius AIO, and it is not compatible with this little Naze32 board. I have heard people drilling holes on the frame, some use double sided tape. I discovered my own way of mounting this great flight controller, which involves a piece of styrene sheet (plastic), with some holes on it to put the naze32 on, and can be fitted on the frame.

Naze32_adapter_mount

FPV250_Naze32_mount

Some important Naze32 parameters explained

looptime

In Multiwii/Naze32, looptime is the time it complete a “control loop” in micro second: Sensor measurements, data processing and calculate outputs from PID algorithm ready for the ESCs.The lower looptime the faster it computes commands to the ESCs. In frequency term:

3500 - 286Hz
3000 - 333Hz
2500 - 400Hz
2000 - 500Hz
1600 - 600Hz

Changing looptime will have an effect on your PID values, so don’t expect everyting will just magically get better if you reduce looptime, you will still need to re-tune PID. Generally lower looptime allows higher PID gains. A low looptime should make the copter more sensitive and responsive, but more affected by vibrations.

A common value is around 2500 for most multicopters. That’s because most ESCs have a maximum update rate of 400Hz. Some ESCs even have 600Hz update rate so looptime can be set at 1600. Some argue if the looptime is faster than the max ESC update rates, there is no point to lower looptime further as it won’t have any effect on it. Some even suggest it would result in syncing issues.

As a experiment I tried 1600, 1800, 2000, 2200, and 2400 looptime on the Hobbyking Blue Series ESC. The quadcopter flew fine, but it has some strange vibrations (jitterings) that I cannot fix by changing PID. Maybe it’s the signal syncing issue that was mentioned earlier. However these ESCs works really well on 2500 looptime, no jittering at all.

I also added 30 on the looptime, to make it 2530 because if you look carefully on the GUI, the looptime actually fluctuates. This ensures it does not go over the update rate bound of the ESCs. Not sure if this would make any difference, just my personal assumptions.

acc_lpf_factor

This is only used in Angle/Horizon Modes, the code was originally written for 8-bit flight controllers and as such was optimized for a slower loop. Also, the lpf (low pass filter) is increased further smooth the accelerometer data. I have found on any multiwii board increasing the lpf has always helped in perfecting its flight characteristics. Increasing ACC_LPF_FACTOR would reduce ACC noise, but would increase ACC lag time. You will notice the difference even in the GUI.

“acc_lpf_factor” can be affected by vibrations from the motors/props, so you should fix your vibrations as much as possible before playing around this parameters, to get the best of it.

motor_pwm_rate

Some people using KISS ESCs or ZTW ESCs seemed to have de-syncing issue with default motor_pwm_rate (at 400Hz). The copter appeared to have some strange oscillations. Some suggest raising this value to 490Hz would fix the issue. These ESCs have higher signal update rate, that might be the reason.On the Hobbyking Blue Series ESCs, the default value works just fine.

There doesn’t seem to be much information about this CLI command. From the official document, “motor_pwm_rate” is the output frequency (in Hz) for motor pins. If setting above 500Hz, will switch to brushed (direct drive) motors mode. So try to increase this parameters if you have syncing issues.

Some handy info to setup and tune your mini quad with Naze 32

Some of my Initial setup commands

  • looptime = 2500 (~400Hz)
  • acc_lpf_factor = 100
  • gyro_lpf = 98 (lower is more resistant to vibration, higher allows higher frequency changes in motion, set it as high as possible) Keep it at default 42, is better.
  • feature ppm (only if you use ppm receiver, 1 servo lead)
  • feature vbat (only if you us a buzzer for voltage alarm)
  • feature motor_stop (I don’t like motor spinning after arming, so I enable it)
  • set align_board_yaw = -90 (only if board is rotated to the left for easier USB cable reach on mini h quads)

For a more detail CLI command list, check here.

Calibrate ESC

TAKE YOUR PROPELLERS OFF while working with the quadcopter.

You’ve been warned.

For some reason, my radio is not working for calibrating ESCs, so I have to use the CLI tool in the baseflight GUI. So I just followed these instructions.

DISCONNECT Lipo Battery first, then type command in CLI:

set mincommand=1980

Hit enter and type save.

Now disconnect USB cable to power off the flight controller. Power up FC again by plugging in the Lipo, and USB cable. After bootup go to back to CLI and type:

set mincommand=1000

And enter save. I you hear a musical tone then all ESC’s are calibrated!

Check if the calibration is successfuly, go to motor testing tab, and check if each motor spins to the same input. (Remember do not mount your probs when doing the testing.)

naze-motor-layout

PID Tuning

I recommend finding a good looptime value before tuning PID!

The reason I like this FC so much, is because it performs well even with just default PID. Here is a short footage of the first flight stock PID settings. I also started a post focus on PID tuning on the Naze32.

Here is a 80% tuned PID, Yaw is still a bit weak, maybe it’s not the PID, but the weak HQ5030 not generating enough thrust.

5030 Prop (2 Blades)

So far, I found this setting gives good result, even for slightly windy condition (It feels rock solid. I can probably fine tune it a little bit more, but I am happy for now. I also found I can set PID higher with HQ5030 props, although it gvies me less thrust and punch.

Roll  4.5 // 0.045 // 50
Pitch 5.1 // 0.048 // 42
Yaw   10.0 // 0.055 // 18
TPA:  0.60
RC rate 1.0
RC expo 0.60
Roll Pitch Rate 0.4
Yaw Rate 0.65

Pitch and Roll rate control the speed of your roll. I would leave expo at 0 on the radio. That’s all my personal preference, change it according to your liking.

You can also try this range which seem to be pretty universal for many different types of mini quad between 220-250mm Mini multicopter such as RD230, Blackout mini h quad , DRQ250, QAV250, FPV250. I personally find it less stable when P is under 4, if it’s wobbly when P is more than 4, try to lower I gain first.

Roll and Pitch:
P: 3.5 - 4.5
I: 0.030 - 0.050
D: up to 50
Yaw:
P gain for yaw are normally around 8-10, I around 0.050, and D can be between 0 and 10.

5040 Prop (2 Blades)

The 5040 Props give me better stick control, the quadcopter just feels more responsive with the HQ5040 props than any 5030 props I have, though it’s expensive and fragile props. After a few flights I have come up with relatively good PID numbers. I think I can still up P and D a little bit (with wind lower than 10mph), but that needs to be tested out.

I started with much lower PID, but as I was tuning it, the PID numbers gradually are getting closer to the 5030 one. The main difference is the lower rate, P, and D values. It also shows great stability at high throttle therefore TPA is down 0.15.

Roll  4.0 // 0.045 // 45
Pitch 4.5 // 0.048 // 40
Yaw   10.0 // 0.055 // 15
TPA:  0.45
RC rate 1.3
RC expo 0.60
Roll Pitch Rate 0.33
Yaw Rate 0.56

Some other PID settings

  • R/P rate – values closer to 1.0, the faster it will roll/flip. generally for acrobatics, 0.4 to 0.6 should be sufficient.
  • Yaw rate – values closer to 1.0, the faster it will yaw. personally I have it between 0.6 to 0.8.
  • TPA – Throttle PID Attenuation reduces the P term as throttle increases. Add some of this if your copter hovers fine but shakes when you go full throttle. If you are satisfied with your PIDs for normal flying but get oscillations at full climb, increase or crank up TPA starting from 0.1. this will dumb down the PIDs by 10%. This will ensure a more locked in performance over the entire throttle range.

Bluetooth – Configure FC through your tablet/Cell Phone

A very handy feature of using Multiwii is connecting your phone with the flight controller via bluetooth. It’s even better than the KK2 when it comes to tuning PID, since you can do all that on your palm, without even bending down to pick up your quad.

IMAG1567-1-1

Simply connect the TX and RX from the bluetooth module to the RX and TX on the flight controller (the two pins in the middle of the FC), and tap the 5V and GND from the motor pins. You also need to make sure your Bluetooth module is configured properly for multiwii first.

The Android app I use is called Multiwii EZ Gui. A quick video how it works.

Guide on How to choose FPV camera

Switch PID Setting Profiles

PID often needs to be altered for different situation, such as no wind, high wind, small battery, larger battery, different props, and so on. Instead of memorizing all these values, and changing them every time, you can program them into “profiles”, and you can switch to the settings you want on the field. It’s also very useful when testing/tuning PID, without the need of a computer.

Here is how to switch between all three Baseflight profiles.

Make sure your board is disarmed, then:

THROTTLE low
YAW left

Then the following to select profiles:

ROLL stick left -> Profile 1
PITCH stick up -> Profile 2
ROLL stick right -> Profile 3
PITCH stick down -> Gyro calibration

The green LED on the FC will indicate what profile you switched to (will blink 1, 2 or 3 times). If you have the buzzer connected to your Naze32 boards, it will also beeps 1, 2, or 3 times to tell which profile it’s on.

However, please note that not only the data of the PID Tuning page is switched, but also the data of Receiver page and Auxiliary Config page, and maybe also of the other pages (not tested yet). So make shure the data of these pages is also set according to your needs in every profile.

If you only interested in having different PID, and all other settings are the same, you can back up the profile that you used previously, and restore it to a spare profile. That way it copies all the settings and avoids mistakes.

Using Buzzer to Find your Lost Quadcopter on Naze32

A great feature that was added to the KK2, when you flash it with Stevie’s firmware: The buzzer goes off when the throttle is down for too long after it’s armed. It assumes your plane is crashed, and the alarm helps you to find it / locate it.

I love this feature because I often fly over tall grass, or behind trees. So fortunately, you can do the same thing in Naze32. It’s slightly different here, you need to flip a switch to trigger the alarm, but I think it’s better because you can control when the buzzer to go off.

In the switch panel (flight mode panel) just choose an Aux switch, and assign the beeper mode to it. When you flip this Aux switch, it will beep.

CleanFlight Firmware

More and more people are moving over to Cleanflight from BaseFlight. I recently flashed mine and test the LED feature on it.

I have also written a guide on how to setup CleanFlight on the Naze32, you might find useful.

Find out Baseflight and Cleanflight which is better.

cleanflight-naze32

Updates

I will keep report back my findings and Tips of using the Naze32.

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88 comments

Elan kipervarg 6th August 2016 - 5:54 am

sup oscar? just curious… but i have a kk mini (it literally is a smaller 36x36mm version of the kk2.1.5) and i have no intentions of getting rid of it yet, and i was wondering if there was a way to set up airmode on it so that i didnt have to deal with keeping the throttle on everytime i roll or do a dive. its ok if you dont know, just if you dont, can you give me a suggestion of where to find out? thanks – elan

Reply
Oscar 7th August 2016 - 3:44 pm

no there is no airmode on KK boards. but you can setup idle up switch. Not the same thing but should work well too, look it up in Youtube lots of tutorials.

Reply
Fernando 26th October 2015 - 3:09 am

Hi Óscar¡,
Have a question: I just set up my mini quad 250 but for any reason the motor 3 accelerating with constant throttle, I using naze32 cleanflight tmotor 2206 2300kv BLHeli 20amp, I did try baseflight ,replace ESC, switch motors, try a diferent naze32. Flashed with diferent firmware 1.8, 1.9 and 10. and the problem continues. Thanks a lot for your help.

Reply
Oscar 26th October 2015 - 12:19 pm

so you replaced ESC and motor? is it always motor 3?
check your board orientation? and motor order?

Reply
Fernando 27th October 2015 - 12:44 am

Hi Oscar Yes I did replace the ESC and always is the motor 3 and switch the motor the number 1 to the number 3 and doesn’t matter whish one you switched you feel how the motor accelerated with constant throttle. That only happen when I arm the motors and push the throttle up, becouse when I test the motor through the cleanflight the all motor they just go up nice and smoothly perfect. Thank you for your help.

Reply
Paul 12th September 2015 - 9:59 am

Hi, I have damaged (delaminated) the soldering pad for motor 1 on my new Naze32. Can I reassign motor 1 to say motor 5 and use that pad instead?

Reply
Oscar 14th September 2015 - 3:25 pm

Yes you can, you can change motor output with custom output mixer.

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Peter 5th September 2015 - 7:37 pm

After doing the ESC calibration as described, 2 motors are just jittering! I think the calibration killed 2 of my EMAX SimonK 12a ESCs!

Reply
James 31st August 2015 - 8:15 pm

Hi Oscar
I have been a fan for a while. I have a problem with cleanflight and my naze 32 full board or the other 2 acros when working in the CLI I add and subtract features but CLI hangs with a rebooting prompt it never resolves. I cant save any info.
Very frustrating since at one time I was an EE/ME till the motorcycle wreck my education is somewhere in the ether. Thank you for any help sincerely James

Reply
Oscar 1st September 2015 - 11:35 am

some troubleshooting:
1. can you check/uncheck features in config tab and save that way ? (not CLI)
2. can you describe an example how you enable a feature in CLI step by step? and then what happen?
3. happens to all your boards?

Reply
Anthony Napoléon Comeau 14th July 2015 - 6:37 pm

Hi Oscar im programing my quadcopter with BaseFlight and the motor turns in test motors and my radio transmitter is connected and works butt wene i save, desconnect, unplug every thing and turn back on my quadcotper and radio i cant get it to work but its connected… im using a naze 32 board and fly sky radio and resiver. hop somme one will solve my probleme… thank you.

Reply
Oscar 15th July 2015 - 12:16 pm

you are saying it’s not arming? check your throttle / Yaw end points? some people have to make their yaw end points 900 to 2100 to get it Armed.

Reply
David 17th July 2015 - 6:16 am

I had to select the mode selection tab and check (arm). This allows me the arm using my 5th channel on my remote.

Reply
Tilak 24th July 2015 - 9:49 pm

Did you figure out what might be causing this issue? I have been debugging this problem for dayssss now! PLease let me know if you find a fix.

Reply
Quoc 11th June 2015 - 8:31 am

Need your help. My 250 quad with 5040 props just refuses to flip in Horizon mode. I have set RC Rate=1.3, Pitch & Roll rate = 0.5. Thanks

Reply
Jonas Harnesk 14th May 2015 - 9:17 pm

After reading through your text again i started to really fiddle with looptime, acc_lpf_factor and motor_pwm_rate. I soon found out that with this as a start my quads started to fly really good. Setting aside the “known” values i started to tinkered with looptime back and forth until it flew nice. But stumbling into acc_lpf_factor i found that the lower value the more responsive. The default in cleanflight is 4 but a value around 8-12 seems to work best for me. Now i just need to start finetune it in the PID.

Will you do a more in dept review of the different flight modes? Messing with the Harakiri it looks like the I got a different take on the the concept. The lower P the more responsive when combined with a high I. I got really confused since i alway start by zeroing I and D.

Reply
Jonas Harnesk 23rd April 2015 - 1:56 pm

Hi!

I am getting my new ESC’s from Armattan and they state a frequency between 400-600Mhz. Can i try to push the looptime to 1600 or should i stay higher? Is it any danger it testing different values?

best regards
Jonas

Reply
Oscar 24th April 2015 - 1:48 pm

you can always try, I tried pushing mine to 1600, only problem i had is the little jittering, but that wasn’t enough to cause bad crash. Now I have oneshot enabled I can set looptime to 1200 with PIDC=2. :D

Reply
mathew yockey 21st April 2015 - 12:57 am

im using dys 1806 motors on 12 amp afros on a zmr 250 frame. i got a kk board that works perfect WITH 5030 or any 5 inch prop. when i use 6 inch props my quad kind of shakes, how can i fix this? you think its unblanaced props? or do i got to mess with the PIDS?

Reply
Oscar 21st April 2015 - 6:24 pm

Yes, when you change different props, you will have to tune PID again.
google “Quadcopter PID” for more info.

Reply
John 2nd April 2015 - 4:51 pm

Oscar,

I’m terms of powering one of these FCs, is there any reason to not use one of the 5V BEC sources on a HK 12A Blue Series ESC for a 3s mini quad? Will the extra albeit minor load on one (but not all 4) ESC have any side effects? Would it be better to get a separate cheap BEC?

Thanks

Reply
Oscar 5th April 2015 - 9:29 am

i don’t see why not. I have been using ESC BEc to power FC since day one… depends on how much load you are talking about… I wouldn’t use 70% capacity of the ESC that power the FC and radio, ESC BEC does get hot quite easily.

Reply
Andy 24th March 2015 - 11:23 pm

Hi, i’m very new with naze 32 acro no gps and running basecam flight. I’m trying to setup this flight controller. After updating firmware in setup page I have gyro and accel green. The rest is red.. Is it ok or I’m missing something?

Reply
Oscar 24th March 2015 - 11:42 pm

can you post a picture?
do you have FB? join this group it’s easier to help.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Copter.Fans/

Reply
Andy 2nd April 2015 - 3:07 pm

Hello Oscar, thanks for reply. Joined fb group, thanks. Mine is hobby king model (black one)… …no barometer, no magnetmeter.
Did some tests and I have some yaw rotation to the left in sveral cases like after a vertical descending.
I can see many other have this problem. My naze 32 fault?
Running fpv250 Hobbyking quadcopter, 1900kv Multistar, 12a Afro esc and 5030 gemfan 2 blades.

Reply
Oscar 2nd April 2015 - 3:15 pm

most likely to be PID settings, would you mind uploading some footage in the group, and post your currently PID settings? quite a few people in the group have extensive experience with tuning Naze32 who could give you useful suggestions.

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raymond bivens 21st March 2015 - 10:34 pm

Hello Oscar, thanks for the previous reply. I have my quad all setup now and it flies great. I was just wandering if my bluetooth module will give me real time battery voltage. I do not have a low voltage buzzer connected. The module really is nice for any adjustments needed but the question I have is can the module tell me battery voltage if I connect my battery to the bat terminals on the naze. I know it will work for activating a buzzer but just not sure about the bluetooth. Thanks in advance.

Reply
Oscar 23rd March 2015 - 12:37 pm

BT only works very limited range (maybe around 10meters)
if you are flying LOS, you can use a voltage alarm buzzer, or Telemetry if your TX/RX supports it.
if you are flying FPV, get a cheap OSD that do voltage monitoring, I prefer this method.

Reply
Raymond Bivens 6th March 2015 - 6:15 pm

Hello Oscar, Im new to miniquads and naze32. What happens if I dont flash my naze 32. I dont have a computer but I did get a bluetooth module and was able to set up my board. Its a revision 5. Will this work ok without flashing it or am I asking for trouble. Thanks

Reply
Oscar 9th March 2015 - 5:14 pm

you can just use a BT module on the Naze32, and connect it to your phone. But the settings are very limiting. You can only access all the settings on the Configurator app.

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james 23rd February 2015 - 10:40 pm

hello, im having trouble increasing the overall travel of the roll when i switch modes it stays the same, where as i want it to increase with the other values..
how do i change this in cleanflight?

Reply
Fernando Goncalves 30th January 2015 - 11:46 am

Hi Oscar and congrats for your quality blog

Did you had the chance to test the PID profiles in BF and check if only the PIDs are changed or does remaining config as you said changes as well ?

Thanks
FernandoG

Reply
Fernando Goncalves 3rd February 2015 - 4:32 pm

Hi There
Meanwhile I’ve tested and seems the Profile change does have an impact on the AUX config and some other CLI commands

Thanks anyway
FernandoG

Reply
Andreas 28th January 2015 - 7:02 pm

Hi Oscar, My naze32 Acro has a Yaw drift clockwise approx. 1 degree per second. This is what i can see at the Basflight conficurator at the 3d model and I when I am flying.

Have you ever have the same problem?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Andreas

Reply
Oscar 28th January 2015 - 8:18 pm

I replied in the group. it’s completely normal, don’t worry about it, it happens to 99% of the people :)

Reply
fl0PPsy 26th February 2015 - 10:33 am

I had the same sort of yaw drift accept it was counter clockwise and it would happen even when the quad was sitting on the workbench with no batt. plugged in. Oddly enough changing the acc_lpf_factor from 100 back to the default of 4 did away with the drift completely.

Reply
Marcelo 27th January 2015 - 10:46 pm

Hi Oscar,

Would be awesome to update this article relating PIDs with different PID controllers in cleanflight as a lot of people are moving to PID controllers 1 and 2 and the setting are different.

Lot’s of helpful info in your articles.

Reply
Oscar 28th January 2015 - 11:27 am

Yup, started a new post on cleanflight, as this post is mainly on baseflight. I think you have spotted the new post already :D

Reply
glen 16th January 2015 - 7:41 am

Oscar,
I have 2 250 quads and a 360 quad. The 250 with kk2 hovers and flies fine but both my 250 and 360 with naze32 have hover issues. they will hover but regularly twitch. almost like there is a tipping point at which it self corrects then it reacts.
This is in horizon mode or even angle mode, I have tried your pid recommendations and higher ones but nothing seems to stop this. any ideas on where I should look?
I normally fly planes, so quads are new to me.

thanks

p.s. I love your FPV videos and great rcgroups comments.

Reply
Oscar 16th January 2015 - 11:12 pm

Hi Glen, thanks for the great comment :)
it sounds like an issue with “Looptime”. What ESCs are you using, and what is the looptime on your Naze?
Try to bump up your looptime to 3500 (default), and try again.
If that doesn’t help, I would recommend factory reset your Naze. (backup your settings first)

Join our Facebook Group if you want (link on sidebar, just above the globe), there are many helpful people there :)

Let me know!
thanks
Oscar

Reply
Eirik 2nd January 2015 - 7:19 pm

Hi there, great tutorial.

I’m using the Afro ESCs and I saw (From the wiki) that the max and minthrottle should be 1064 and 1864. When I calibrate my ESCs should the mincommand be set to 1864 as well then or should I still use 1980?

Reply
RCcaptain 29th December 2014 - 7:55 am

Hi Oscar!
Great info, i´ve been looking all over for info on what PID others are flying with. Your miniquad looks rock solid so i will try some of your settings.
Thanks!

Fredrik
RCcaptain.com

Reply
Oscar 29th December 2014 - 1:19 pm

thanks Fredrik :D

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aj 20th December 2014 - 9:55 am

hello – something new today – HELP!!!!
when i tried to calibrate the esc in base flight as shown in the video:youtube/watch?v=AjLJZlG2TnU – it just got unflyable – comleate motor/esc out of sink – what a joke – then i tried to calibrate the esc via CLI – same thing – it just dont want to go in to calibration mode and makes funny beeps.

Reply
Oscar 24th December 2014 - 9:35 am

sounds like it’s an ESC issue, what ESC is it? I used hobbyking BS 12A and Afro 12A they are all very easy to calibrate.

Reply
aj 15th December 2014 - 8:23 pm

Hi,thanks for a quick reply.
My set up:
zmr250
dys motors
emax 12a esc
naze32 acro
1400 mah 40-80c nanotech lipo
5×3 props
fatshark 250 mw vtx(died – first victim on this frame)
simpleOSD
frsky v8 rx

About the drift – its like flying backwards more that a drift and a tad to the left.
Will it happen if I calibrate the acc when the quad is out the level?And I fly it in horizon mode,actually – it makes no difference at all,drifting all the time.

Reply
Oscar 17th December 2014 - 8:32 pm

the setup looks fine, do you have any video of the going up and down at half throttle problem?
Yes, calibrate the ESC first, try again.
If problem still there, calibrate your ACC, and try again.

Reply
aj 14th December 2014 - 1:41 pm

Hello.I have zmr250 with naze32 acro – and have 1 issue- on half throttle it goes up at first and then down – is that normal?also it drifts to the left and backwards – what the hell!!!where is my naza?!?!?!

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Oscar 14th December 2014 - 7:25 pm

HI, no it doesn’t sound right. If it goes up and you are not changing throttle, it should just keep going up. Sounds like an issue with not enough power. What is your whole setup?
You also mentioned the drift problem, what flight mode do you use? If it’s horizon mode you might need to calibrate it first.

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Frank 13th December 2014 - 1:23 pm

Which receiver transmitter are you using in the second video from top.

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Oscar 14th December 2014 - 12:25 pm

you mean video tx and rx? it’s a ImmersionRC 5.8Ghz one

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Marco 11th December 2014 - 9:57 am

Hi,

I had some Jittering on my 250 Quad when going to full throttle. I checked my props and my motors, but everything was fine. PID Tuning didn’t resolve anything. After reading about looptime here I checked my ESCs. They can have 1KHz for input frequency, so I put Looptime down to 1600 and the Jittering was completly gone! Yeah :)

Thanks for your post, It saved me a lot of time!

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Oscar 11th December 2014 - 11:38 am

that’s great to hear! :D

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Zac 4th December 2014 - 10:57 am

Would the PID be higher or lower for a Hex compared to Quad? I have managed to tune two of my 250 Quads very well but am struggling to get the Hex perfectly tuned. My Quads and Hex are running the same 2204 2300kv motors and ESC’s. Any help would be much appreciated as i cant figure out if a Hex would need higher or lower PID for a start. Cheers

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Oscar 5th December 2014 - 4:06 pm

It could be higher or lower. It depends on many factors. There is no “best” PID, as long as you are happy with it, it’s perfect.

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AMJ 10th November 2014 - 2:53 am

hello, Got problem here when connecting naze32 with my lappy. Cannot calibrate magnetometer with my mini copter? what seem the problem here?

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UR BUTT 4th November 2014 - 4:27 am

Kudos for the article. I had a small-scale oscillation that I could not for the life of me get rid of until I read your tip on looptime, which fixed it. Thanks!

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Toby Matters 2nd November 2014 - 12:50 am

Hi great work with the blog some really useful tips, just a quick question tho if for example you have selected profile 2 will it remain selected next time you power up or do you need to select the profiles each time you power up the quad.

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Oscar 2nd November 2014 - 1:25 am

Thank Toby, yes it will remain the same profile (profile 2 for example) after power off and power on.

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jinglou 26th October 2014 - 9:32 am

Hi – thanks for the explanation, sorry for the dummy question :)
Cheers!

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Oscar 26th October 2014 - 10:28 am

No problem, it’s good that you asked! I sometimes make really dummy mistakes :D

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Jinglou 24th October 2014 - 8:04 am

Hi Oscar,

thanks and congrats for this amazing blog, I learnt a lot in reading your tutorials.
Quick question about ESC calibration, wouldn’t it be “set maxcommand=1980”, instead of “set mincommand=1980” ?
Thanks.

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Oscar 24th October 2014 - 12:22 pm

Hi, “set mincommand=1980″ simulates throttle stick up position, it forces the FC into ESC calibration mode.
Later the “set mincommand=1000″ simulates throttle stick down position, it signals the ESC the end of the ESC calib. mode.

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Simon 21st October 2014 - 7:42 am

Hey so on my Naze Acro profile 2 is up. I am 100 % sure as the board will blink 2 times for p2 1 for p1….
interesting that I see different responses

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Oscar 21st October 2014 - 9:34 am

you are right, it is up. I did say that in the post didn’t I? :D

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Gerard 8th October 2014 - 7:12 am

Hi Oscar
Sorry, I think I have found another error.
In your stick movements for selecting profiles

ROLL stick left -> Profile 1
PITCH stick low -> Profile 2
ROLL stick right -> Profile 3
PITCH stick up -> Gyro calibration

Profile 2 is PITCH stick up for me.
Gyro calibration is PITCH stick low.

I could not understand why I suddenly had a drift left after trying to select profile 2. :)

Thanks heaps for the time you have put in to this, it helped me a lot and I still refer to it regularly.

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Oscar 9th October 2014 - 12:16 pm

Damn it Gerard! Should I start paying you to check all my blog posts for error!?
haha :D
just kidding, I was so careless! I will correct it right away !
thanks again for pointing the error out! :D

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Steve 30th September 2014 - 8:06 pm

Hi Oscar, I like your Blog, thanks for the tips on how to set this Naze32 board properly. This is my second Naze32 but I hadn’t got as far into it the last time before I crashed and lost it. This time around I have it on my new Flip360 quadcopter and I was having some problems getting it flying smooth. Big improvement since adjusting looptime from 3500 down to 2500. Thanks again

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Oscar 30th September 2014 - 9:16 pm

HI Steve,
that’s great to hear. Sorry to hear your lost! happened to me a couple of times as well and it was heart broken! :(
feel free to share your videos and maybe we can work out some PID changes for you to try :D

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Gerard 17th September 2014 - 1:49 am

Excellent tutorial but I think you have a slight error.
feature motor_stop I believe stops the motors from spinning slowly when you arm no matter how you arm.

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Oscar 17th September 2014 - 12:09 pm

Yes you are right! I have corrected it now, thanks :D

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Gerard 26th September 2014 - 12:02 am

No worries, great write up.
This has helped me get my MiniQuad flying well, although I still have a bit more to go as my video is not as smooth as I would like it.
I am about to start experimenting with profiles so I can make changes and test them without hooking to the PC. I will leave one as it is and make subtle changes to the other 2 to see what works best.
You are right, this board is much better than the KK2

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Oscar 26th September 2014 - 9:54 am

Excellent Gerard! I also found profiles useful for different wind speed as well, wind gust can have a big impact on PID too. Yup, Naze32 is probably the best FC i know of for 250 size multicopters at the moment.

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Ross 2nd September 2014 - 5:38 am

Hello, just wondering if you know of any good pid numbers for a blackout hex running 2300kv motors. I used your numbers for my blackout h quad and there amazing, any help would be great!

Thanks,
Ross

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Oscar 2nd September 2014 - 10:07 am

Hi, sorry i have no idea I don’t have a hex :(
maybe copy what you have on the mini h, as a starting point, and tune it yourself?

P -> D -> I -> roll/pitch rate -> TPA

shouldn’t take more than 4 packs of lipo to find your favourite PID :)

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Tommy 29th August 2014 - 8:51 pm

Hi got a question I tried follow you tut every was fine then I decide to rotate board then I had some issues.. So I flashed board recal the esc..etc but now I can’t get a steady hover it does a yo yo thing little on the stick can’t seem to hold it steady any more I have a bit of vibration but I can fig that out later..
Using turnigy 9xr
Thanks

Tommy

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Paul Austin 18th August 2014 - 6:33 pm

Hello
I appreciate you’re a very busy man but I’m seeking some advice. I built a cheap mini 250 FPV using the Naze32 acro but I’m having some problem with the YAW. With standard settings the YAW is generally non existent. I increased the rate and works a lot better and in general flight it flies fine. But something isn’t right if I’m hovering on the spot and give a quick rudder input the quad just sits there and can’t cope with the input. If I do a slow input it rotates fine? Any ideas in what I should be adjusting. Really would appreciate your help. Many thanks, Paul.

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Oscar 19th August 2014 - 11:59 am

can you check your radio transmitter inputs on the GUI? make sure YAW is working full range.
what is your PID for yaw?

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Paul Austin 19th August 2014 - 3:31 pm

Yeah it works the full range and I have left the yaw pid as default..
Only I increased was the YAW rate? Any ideas?
Paul.

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Oscar 19th August 2014 - 3:33 pm

Make sure, there is no expo on your radio…

then set Yaw P at 10, I at 0.05, and D at 10
set Yaw rate at 0.6
set RC expo at 0.65
see how that perform?

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bob 13th August 2014 - 4:14 pm

Are you using the full feather naze32? I can’t get headfree to work at all. I’ve calibrated and adjusted all I could find. I’ve also searched all over with no luck. Help appreciated.

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Oscar 13th August 2014 - 5:14 pm

I haven’t tried any GPS related modes in Naze32 yet, as I only have the Acro version.
make sure there is nothing magnetic or other interference around the board? is the GPS / Meg sensor working correctly in the GUI?

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bob 13th August 2014 - 9:05 pm

I dont have GPS. Just the version with a baro and mag. The base controller shows all the sensors working great but it doesn’t seem to hold heading. Well I just updated and am having the issue where it spins in a random direction on takeoff. Dont know what causes it and don’t remember how I fixed it last time.

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Oscar 14th August 2014 - 1:56 am

does it spin in rate mode and horizon mode?
I had problems where it randomly yaws, it turns out to be the power distribution board was too close to the FC. I placed them further apart, and the problem went away. Might be a different problems for you though.

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Kenneth 11th August 2014 - 2:15 pm

Hi,
I have a Multiwii MWC FC BT module programmer from HobbyKing. I can get it connected to the Naze32 and I even got it paired to my android phone and connected to the Multiwii EZ Gui. However, I get error readings non stop and unable to read any settings from my naze32.

The BT module is defaulted to Baud rate 115200. Can you kindly let me know what program you use to upgrade of change the firmware on your BT module? Thank you.

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Oscar 11th August 2014 - 3:09 pm

you shouldn’t need to change the baud rate if default is 115200, that’s what i used in this video. maybe double check your TX/RX connection, also restart your phone, and your FC, and try again.

You cannot connect to baseflight, and the BT module at the same time (there is only one serial port).

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Kenneth 1st September 2014 - 3:13 pm

Hi Oscar,

Can I check with you on PID tunings? How exactly do you go about tuning the PIDs, Rc Rates etc. What steps do you go through? I currently fly my Nemesis 240 quad with HQ6045 props with Sunnysky 2204 2300kv motors.

my PID are as follows

Roll 4.0//0.035//25 Rcrate0.40
Pitch 4.5//0.035//30
Yaw 8.5//0.050/0.00 Rcrate 0.75

Rcrate 1.0

My quad flys great but the flips and rolls are on the slow side… on my profile 2, I increase the roll and yaw rates to 0.80. I think it’s not the correct way to do it. Therefore I’m seeking your advice on tuning the Naze32.

I currently installed a Naze32 Acro on my 450. It’s purely for acro therefore, it’s really bare less the LED lights. I find my controls very sluggish and my yaw tends to drift plenty (cont to yaw about 40-90 degs) after I stop yaw inputs.

Please kindly share how to tune the PIDs and rates on the Naze32. Thank you so much!

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Oscar 1st September 2014 - 5:12 pm

Hi Kenneth,
I usually adjust P first, have it as high as possible, just before you get visible vibration/jello in your video.
I then adjust D, increase it until the quadcopter flies very smooth, it will also get rid of some of the shakiness from high P, but too much the copter will be unreponsive and feels mushy. (this is purely personal preference, some people just leave it at 0)
Finally I adjust I, increase it, until it holds the angle well. This one is very hard to see the difference, if you are not sure, just leave it between 0.04 to 0.05, usually this works well.

And then revisit P and D if necessary.

To adjust speed of flips and rolls, it’s correct to increase Roll/pitch Rate, however you can leave yaw rate as it is.
if Yaw drifts, first make sure your radio stick are all centred, trim it if necessary. Then try to increase Yaw P gain, also give it a bit of D like 6-10? see how that performs.

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