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Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 04:44
by gyropilot
Hello Heli-X support,

I need some help!

I'm experiencing a severe cyclic wobble with all helis when Heli-X is in control of the pitch and/or roll axis in the hover trainer. When I take control of an axis, there's no wobble in only that axis. If I take control of both pitch and roll, the wobble is gone. It's as though the trainer is simply over-controlling... like there's too much gain in the control algorithm. While this is happening I can watch the pitch and roll numbers via the status line at the bottom of the screen. The values change wildly.

I'm running the latest version of Heli-X on a mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro laptop with OS X El Capitan. The wobble has been present on previous versions of OS X.

I've tried changing the head speed on the helis and that only changes the speed of the wobble. I've tried resetting Heli-X to factory defaults and reinstalling Heli-X with no change.

A short video of this behavior can be seen here:

https://youtu.be/PmzLJCOROqw

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 15:05
by ThomasC
"control algorithm" in hovertraining is your searched-for parameter. Adjust it in direction "robust" until the wobble disappears, and you're done...

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 15:14
by gyropilot
Thomas,

I wish it were that simple!

Adjusting the hover trainer's control algorithm slider in my installation of Heli-X only changes how tightly the heli remains within the circle, but it doesn't have much (if any) affect the cyclic wobble.

John

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 17:04
by ThomasC
That indeed sounds strange. On my PC (Win7-64, previously Heli-X v4 on XP) this always did the trick. All Heli-X versions since v4 tested, it always has worked. No effect on your PC, really?

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 17:13
by gyropilot
Thomas,

I think I may try installing Heli-X 6 on my wife's identical MacBook Pro laptop to see if I get the same results there.

I'll post an update afterwards.

John

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 19:21
by gyropilot
UPDATE:

I installed a fresh copy of Heli-X 6 (demo mode) on my wife's MacBook Pro which is identical to mine. A couple of the sample helis I tried (Logo 600 and TRex 500 I think) were rock-solid in the hover trainer.

I went back to my laptop and completely uninstalled, deleted, rebooted, then reinstalled Heli-X 6. While in demo mode (showing software revision 1616) those same two sample helis were rock-solid in the hover trainer!!!

I next activated my license key and immediately noticed the software revision dropped to 1614. I'm curious what software revision other licensed Mac owners are showing on their machines.

I then tested out the same two sample helis in the hover trainer and both were still rock-solid. Good so far!

Then I downloaded a couple of the heli models I had cyclic wobble with in the past, namely the TRex 450L Dominator 3S and the Blade 550X and both still do wobble in the hover trainer just as before! Just to make sure this wasn't a global problem, t went back to the Logo 600 and TRex 500 and found they're still rock-solid in the hover trainer. This leads me to believe the problem is heli model specific... like something is wrong (corrupt maybe?) with the heli files or the physics definitions.

If I view the virtual controller sticks on the screen while the cyclic wobble is occurring, they're constantly moving to full limits. The cyclic stick moves in a rapid X pattern and the rudder stick moves back and forth. Collective stays steady. In contrast, the virtual controller sticks are steady with the Logo 600 and TRex 500 (no wobble).

For now, my work around to use the hover trainer is to stick with the Logo 600 and TRex 500. But I'd sure appreciate getting some help from someone at Heli-X because something is definitely wrong here.

Best regards,

John

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 20:00
by ThomasC
Sounds like an interface problem. Probably Michael can help there...

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 22:36
by gyropilot
ThomasC wrote:"control algorithm" in hovertraining is your searched-for parameter. Adjust it in direction "robust" until the wobble disappears, and you're done...
Thomas,

I think you're spot on with this suggestion...

With further testing of Heli-X 6 I found something interesting...

I can get every heli model I try to wobble in the hover trainer if I increase the control algorithm slider enough. Larger heli models can take a higher number before they start to wobble and smaller heli model require a lower number. Some helis, such as the TRex 450L Dominator 3S, which I was attempting to use originally, will still wobble with the control algorithm set all the way at the lowest number. This effectively makes some heli models unusable in the hover trainer while others can work fine.

Best regards,

John

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 23 Nov 2015 23:02
by ThomasC
John,

I remember once having had a similar problem, but with FBL-Helis, without trainer mode. PC was an old Athlon XP single-core with 1.833MHz, and a few fbl helicopters (the Goblin 700 possibly, the TDR for sure) had an intense wobble. A faster PC solved that problem. But I never had a Mac for testing, only Windows and Linux PCs.

So there might be a hidden problem somewhere in the program code ...

Re: Cyclic Wobble in Hover Trainer

Posted: 24 Nov 2015 00:14
by gyropilot
ThomasC wrote:So there might be a hidden problem somewhere in the program code ...
Or maybe I need to spend $3,000 on a new Mac for Heli-X! :lol: