Wonky Inspire 1 .....

[flyer]

Hi all, I've looked around the forum for a little bit and a first time post from me so Hello.
Thought this the best place to post my experience today to see if this has happened before to anyone. Took off today and the I1 hovered, raised the landing gear and appeared to fly normally but I noticed the image on the tablet was very wonky, quite a bit out - so bad I would not start filming. Inspected the I1 in the air - straight on - and could see it was listing to one side - totally not level - the wind was moderate. Something was wrong !
Landed it safely and checked it over. All props were tight and correctly mounted. Locks were in place. No visble problem with any part of it. Detached and reattached the camera.
Took off again, this time all was straight and even. What could have caused it to lean to one side so much ?
( sorry dont have any image or video of it at all )
Any thoughts ?

 

[amkorp]

Best practice is to always turn on the aircraft while on a level serface. If you started on a slanted surface that could throw the readings off when the craft is initializing. Also, ensure that any IMU calibration is done on the most level surface you can find.

Since you mentioned the gimbal was also tilted, this is most likely what happened. The quad initialized on a slant and set that as level.

 

[Richard-Inspire]

if the inspire is tilting at an angle it means it is most probably fighting against the wind. In GPS mode, if the wind is trying to push it to the left, it will lean to the right to drive against the wind to remain stationary above ground. It probably was less windy the second time you went up which is why it was level.

If the IMU was badly calibrated, it might have its horizon off, but that would probably result in a very obvious drift - which you haven't mentioned. I don't think take-off angle affects the IMU in the way you describe. The inspire should take off on a non-level surface and stabilise itself in the air.

And as for why video showed the horizon being off level - it shouldn't be as that is what the gimbal is for. This is probably a separate issue - and could be bad calibration of the gimbal. I'd try a reboot if it happens again.

 

[flyer]

Thanks for the replies.

Still not sure. It wasn't too windy - and I turned the aircraft around towards me and it was still leaning to the same side that it had been. It was'nt drifting either. The camera was definately NOT level which is strange. I did detach and reatach the camera.

I thought it must be mechanical - props not on correctly or it had'nt raised its landing gear correctly.

Still puzzled. I was near to a viaduct that had a live electric train line ! But on the second flight I was exactly the same distance and it had corrected itself....?

 

[Richard-Inspire]

it wouldn't need to be very windy to hold an angle in the air.

the thing is, if it was leaning but not drifting then there can only be two possibilities. a) the craft is physically built wrong, so when the props are producing a thrust that is directly downwards (ie no drift), the craft itself is off axis. This is pretty unlikely with a ready to fly quadcopter such as this. i've had that plenty of times with kit quadcopters - if motors are mounted wrong etc. Or b) it was pushing against a gentle wind.

As the chances of it being built wrong are pretty slim i think the wonkyness in the air is just part of the physics of how a GPS based quadcopter works. Switch into Atti if it happens again and see if the Inspire levels out (make sure you know what what to do when it starts drifting). If it does level out, then that's your answer - ie nothing's wrong.

As for the camera, that sounds like a poor calibration, see if you can reproduce it. Even in strong wind with the inspire bobbing around all over the place, the picture should be level and still.

 

[flyer]

Thanks a lot for the replies. Flown it since and its all fine. IMU seems okay. No un-level ( wonky ) flying. Can only think it was one of those things.
Although the camera today set itself at a very odd angle ( aircraft was level though ) so I just turned off and rebooted the I1 - camera/gimbal was then all okay.