Hi Jun,

I'm really glad that you're not discouraged and that the plane was salvageable. I'll do what it takes on my part to get you flying confidently with Ruby.  It sounds like  a better understanding of how the sticks behave differently in aided mode will be the key.

Do the sticks have a different functionality when I switch on the ruby?
Absolutely.   This is explained here:
http://uthere.com/products/ruby/documentation/quick_start.html#aided_mode

I'll elaborate below:

I waited for a while for the aided mode to see if it would stop climbing and listen to what I am doing, but I just could not understand what it was doing ...
Is it normal though that it keeps climbing until a certain altitude? It is fairly high when it stops climbing… 

In aided mode, the throttle behaves much like a regular throttle unless it is pushed all the way forward past the 95% position to engage altitude hold.   If you put the throttle just below 95%, Ruby will climb forever at full power while maintaining whatever airspeed you indicate with the elevator stick.

Ruby aided mode simplifies flight control so that left stick = climb rate,  right stick = airspeed, without the confusing mixing of the two that normally happens.  For instance, if you simply leave the elevator stick centered (which you most commonly will do), then no matter what you do with the throttle stick, Ruby will maintain 25 knots airspeed. So, all extra throttle power goes into climbing,  not speeding up. Likewise, if you cut throttle, the nose will dip and Ruby will just glide and descend, still at 25 knots, so you don't have to worry about stalling or runaway airspeed.  You no longer control the elevator or pitch directly.

If you push the throttle all the way forward to engage altitude hold, then no matter what you do with the elevator stick = target airspeed (or aileron stick = roll angle) , Ruby will apply just as much throttle as is needed to maintain altitude.   When I see a novice or a kid at a field I"ll engage aided mode, throw throttle all the way forward, hand the tx to them and tell them to only move the right stick, and to move it smoothly and hold it in place for desired speed and roll.

In aided mode, the throttle stick below 95% position is much like a normal throttle, but not exactly. The stick changes total power, not resistance so that at a given throttle position, you'll get consistent behavior even as the battery voltage drops.

One thing that might confused you was that your Ruby was configured to expect about 750 watts of output power at full throttle when only about 450 watts was being output for some reason (wiring resistance, wrong propeller, problem with esc, etc..).  So, with the throttle stick at the 66% position as you had it in your aided mode run, Ruby had the actual throttle all the way forward trying to deliver 66% * 750 watts = 500 watts.  
 

In aided mode, if I up the elevator, should the plane come down like in manual, or will it just keep one altitude 
The simple rule in aided mode:   left stick = climb rate, right stick = airspeed.   So, to bring the plane down in a nice glide, move the left stick all the way towards you. If you're really impatient to bring the plane down, you might try to increase drag a bit by moving the right stick forward to increase airspeed and/or holding it to the side to command a steep bank angle, but otherwise, just let the plane settle down to earth with no throttle at cruise speed (typically about 5 feet per second for a Zephyr).

If you have the throttle all the way forward to engage altitude hold, the plane will stay at the same altitude (often not deviating more than a few feet), no matter what you do with the right stick as long as you don't ask Ruby to fly faster than it has enough power to fly in level flight. 


Or is it because of my trims? Maybe I need to rework on that…?
 
No, I didn't see any problems with trims.  You can do whatever you need with trims to make the plane fly correctly in manual mode. When you perform preflight, Ruby takes whatever stick inputs it sees as being "center".   Just keep in mind that if you make big trim changes during a tuning flight, this will make Ruby think you're holding the stick over in aided or autonomous mode until you land and perform another preflight.


Note that in autonomous mode, the sticks behave much as in aided mode - you can override roll and airspeed with the right stick. The only difference is that the throttle stick now only tells Ruby the maximum amount of throttle / power it's allowed to use. It doesn't control throttle directly.  So, you can choke off power to Ruby in autonomous mode, but you can't make it use more throttle than it needs to stay at target altitude or landing glideslope.  Normally in autonomous modes (loiter, return to home,  landing), you'll have the throttle stick pushed all the way forward so Ruby can always use as much power as it needs to do what it wants. 

Thanks Jim, I really want to be able to use the Ruby properly, especially in aided mode...

 
It will make me happy to get a report and flight data from you showing that it's making sense and working well for you.


I've condensed just about everything you need to know about Ruby operation, into one document:
http://uthere.com/products/ruby/documentation/quick_start.html
 
It's a bit of a read, but I think you'll be much more satisfied and less likely to have problems or panic if you really digest it. 



Regards,

Jim






 

Yamasaki Jun
Sunday, October 14, 2012 2:16 AM
THanks Jim.
I appreciate your detailed data.

I waited for a while for the aided mode to see if it would stop climbing and listen to what I am doing, but I just could not understand what it was doing… Maybe you are right, I could not see it properly and I assumed it wasn't right.

Is it normal though that it keeps climbing until a certain altitude? It is fairly high when it stops climbing…
Or is it because of my trims? Maybe I need to rework on that…?
Also, when you say that elevator has to do with stall… Does that mean that elevator is in fact acting in loiter as throttle?
Do the sticks have a different functionality when I switch on the ruby? Maybe I am just missing something.
In aided mode, if I up the elevator, should the plane come down like in manual, or will it just keep one altitude?


I spent the afternoon figuring how to fix my zeph and after some risks and challenges I think I was able to restore it (just finished…) to a flyable state.
I will ask Ron on separate emails for some recommendations.

I also received some batteries, so if weather allows I will see what it does tomorrow. I'll not challenge myself though, I'll wait for your tube to arrive…

Thanks Jim, I really want to be able to use the Ruby properly, especially in aided mode...

Jun


On 2012/10/13, at 17:12, Jim Hall <support@uthere.com>
 wrote:


Jim Hall
Saturday, October 13, 2012 8:12 PM
Hi Jun,

I'm very sorry you've ended up with a broken plane, and that Ruby didn't seem to be able to do its job.

I see continued erratic airspeed indications, especially during the loiter. I suspect that the tube wasn't staying pointed into airstream, or perhaps the mouth of it was closing up.  Still, this didn't keep Ruby from being able to control the plane.  I think you might have concluded that Ruby wasn't working when it actually was.

I see that you first had aided mode engaged for about 15 seconds.  Unless Ruby was misaligned somehow, it looks like you were flying in a strong crosswind (10-20kts at altitude?) which might have been disorienting - the plane was flying sideways as Ruby slowed it down to 25 kts. From the movements you made on the aileron and elevator stick, I think you might have made the common mistake of using the aileron / elevator stick as if they were normal controls rather than holding them steady for desired roll and airspeed. You probably didn't feel that you had control of the plane.

You briefly went to manual mode, dove down (85kts),  then engaged loiter.

The erratic airspeed indication caused an erratic path in loiter mode mode, as if Ruby were flying through sudden strong gusts of wind.  At times, you pulled back on the elevator, asking Ruby to fly near stall speed, and it did stall briefly once or twice.  Nonetheless, Ruby was able to maintain altitude, airspeed, and stay close to the target position for the minute that you had loiter engaged. It looks like it could have continued to do so indefinitely.

You went into manual mode and flew for about 40 seconds.  Looks like you had it pretty well controlled at first,  but at about 50 feet altitude, you got too slow, stalled the left wing, and spun in. With its heavy batteries, I think the Zeph stalls around 16 knots.

I think that even with the airspeed sensor problems , Ruby aided mode would have given a better outcome at the end by maintaining airspeed for you.  I'm guessing that without understanding why it was flying as it did previously, you didn't have enough confidence in it to engage it again.

I've made a video of a playback of the flight data which will give you a clearer picture of what happened.
http://youtu.be/9iB15dOaw24

If you'd like to review the flight data in detail, I can give you access to our software.

I believe that Ruby functioned correctly, but what's ultimately important is that you have confidence in it. I hope you'll soon fly with Ruby again in a resurrected Zeph or perhaps another plane, but if you're not satisfied for any reason, I'll be glad to give you a full refund for your Ruby system.



Jim




 


Yamasaki Jun
Saturday, October 13, 2012 4:50 PM
Hi Jim,

Can you please take a look at the data…? I borrowed my friends batts and went flying but the tube did not make my zeph happier…
It went on lots of directions.
I got distracted thinking about what happened and crashed big time from the nose. Got a broken frame in the middle…

I bought the ruby because of the aided mode, I am honestly very disappointed my zeph broke (and lost batteries) before I could look at the ruby functioning correctly, and mostly because of a malfunction of the ruby which costed me 550USD to be in the zeph.

Anyways, not sure how I am going to repair this, maybe I am out of the game for now, can't afford to build another one….

Thanks...
Jun