Drone flipping out? Listen to DFWFPV and JB!
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Today Joshua Bardwell put out a video on why a drone flips out. I've only watched the opening 30 seconds. Lets see if I can predict everything he's going to cover while typing this on post my phone. I'll outline the 4 things that cause a drone to flip out. The short list: what the physical props are doing, what the flight controller thinks the props are doing, what the esc thinks the props (motors) are doing, and finally - where the flight controller thinks it is. Lemmeesplain.
- Props on wrong. New pilot: "NOOOOO! I TOTALLY PUT THEM ON RIGHT!" Me: /points at wrong prop direction... That exact discussion has happened countless times in the last 2 years. Understand what props in vs props out means.
- Prop direct incorrectly set in betaflight. This is related to 1 (and 3 coming up). The physical props need to match the spinny direction of what the flight controller believes is happening. This is set with the reverse motor direction toggle on the motors tab.
- Motor direction. While #2 defines what commands the flight controller is sending to the esc, the esc has no idea what direction the motors are actually moving don't believe me? Swap two of any of the three motor wires on a motor and it will reverse direction. The command didn't change from the FC. The signal didn't change from the esc. It's one of the software-to-hardware interfaces, so that can be wrong sometimes. Fix this using the motor direction wizard in the motors tab.
- Where the FC thinks it is. If the FC is installed upsides down, and you didn't tell it that, the signals it sends won't match reality on how to fly. Same if its rotated. Fix this in the ... I can't remember ands I'm on my phone .... It's either the config or the setup tab. Also related to this is motor numbering. If the FC thinks the back right motor is actually in front - that's a problem. Fix this using the motor order wizard on the motors tab.
If all of those are correct and it still flips out, arm in acro mode and see if that fixes it. If so, replace the FC. Ok, I'm going to go watch the video now. You should too.
OK! I'm back! JB nailed it. Especially the last section. I feel that.
Great job JB. Thanks for saving hours of my life by giving me a video to send people to.
If your drone flipping out and this video didn't fix it, or you have other issues? Hop in our Discord and we'll help you!
https://dc.dfwfpv.club