Von Ohain

Hi all!

Title says it all.
According to hobbyking, their multiboard 3.0 flight controller shall support Y6 copters,
but I can't find anything about setting up the board for Y6 in the manual.
Help would be greatly appreciated.

Von Ohain

Ok, I figured it out.
The "Y6 Compatibility" is a blatant lie.
There is no support for Y6 in the stock firmware.
To make this card work with Y6, new 3rd party firmware is needed, and developer tools (software and hardware) is also needed to get the new firmware flashed to the µC.
The HK Multiboard is only compatible with quadcopters, despite what the description says.
Flashing it to work with other configurations is a headache for anyone not familiar with AVR.

Von Ohain

I might add that even after flashing the board to a Y6 compatible firmware (Minsoo Kim v2.9) it still doesn't work.
Board won't arm, after following the manual step by step (correct servo normal/reverse configuration, increment throttle travel volume, and "arm" stick positions).
This control board, is, with all respect, pure junk.

Von Ohain

Signs of life.

And damn about time!
I now flashed it with Minsoo Kim v2.5, and finally it appears to be running in Y6 configuration.
However, battery is dead, and I got it just briefly of the ground before it went all dead, so I have to recharge before further testing.

However, I maintain my statement that claiming this board is Y6 compatible is optimistic at best!
The firmware i used is 3rd party, and there is no manual pointing in the direction of what firmware I had to use.
I found it by blind trial and error testing, and that just doesn't cut it for saying "Y6 compatible".

Its the same as if someone sells you a PC saying "windows compatible", and you get the computer with a blank harddisk, having to install everything yourself from a CD you found randomly on the street.

Anyway, if someone for some reason desperately wants this HK multirotor board v3.0 for something else than a quadcopter, then it actually is possible.
If you can guess your way to the right firmware, and if the firmware exists at all.

O... and I almost forgot. I hope you enjoy solving driver issues, because thats AVR's way of signing their work.
unsigned drivers, putting windows into test mode, poor 64 bit compatibility, thats everyday life for an AVR developer.
So cope with that aswell, as you try to control your temper, flashing the board with the right firmware.
Enjoy!

Von Ohain

First test flight:

This leaves a poor impression.
While its overly sensitive on pitch and roll control (easily fixed with dual rate though), the yaw control is much worse.
Yaw control is very sluggish, however when operating yaw stick, the copter gains altitude rapidly!
Googling around tells that this is a common problem with the older firmwares, and is "easily" fixed by flashing to the up to date firmware.
Just a pity that the newest firmware doesn't work with this HK Multirotor controlboard then
Back to square one.

Von Ohain

Y6 firmwares tested on the HK multirotor control board so far:

Minsoo Kim v2.9: Doesn't arm
Minsoo Kim v2.5: Throttle responds more than yaw, to input on yaw stick
Minsoo Kim v2.4: Throttle responds more than yaw, to input on yaw stick
Minsoo Kim v1.6: Doesn't arm
Mike Barton V1.5i: Doesn't arm
Mike Barton V1.1b: Got 1 successful flight of it, then its just dead (No thottle response). Tried to unplug and replug battery repeatedly, to same result. ESCs arm, but no throttle response.

So much for the "Y6 compatibility" of this control board

Best result so far is the Minsoo Kim V2.4 and V2.5, because they can (just barely) fly at all. Repeatedly.
However the throttle pumping yaw control is annoying, and I just spotted another problem.
The CCW rotating tail propeller barely rotates at all, and even stops in light CCW turns.
This makes the CW tail propeller work much harder to keep enough lift on the tail, and ESC getting noticeably warmer.
As per newtons laws of action an reaction, the CCW rotating front propellers must also work harder to counteract the CW net torque from the rear propeller pair.
Further implying that the front CW propellers has to work lighter, to keep net torque at 0, and not overproduce lift in the front.
Front CW propellers aren't visibly rotating slower, but they have to be at least to some degree, for the net torque to become 0, and stable flight achieved.

I guess the final conclusion for me is:
I need a better flight control board.
Anyone know of a good one?
Otherwise I guess my Y6 will just become an expensive ornament :/

Von Ohain

Another, more thorough flight test of Minsoo Kim v2.5 firmware loaded to the HK multirotor controlboard V3.0

Yaw problem is partly hotfixed by configuring a rudder-throttle mix in the transmitter (not acceptable to sell as a working unit, but if you got a computer radio you can make it work this way).
Then I ran into another problem which happened 3 times on one and single charge of battery.
That was the tail loosing lift for no apparent reason at all.
despite giving it full stick forwards, it just fell on the back until crashing, and on the final crash breaking the lower tail propeller.

This thing doesn't belong on the market at all, its an unfinished product with very rough edges and it's not working properly.

tlrascal

My Feedback: (56)

You need to have all three upper motors run CW and all three lower run CCW with reverse props on upside down.