Thank you. Such a kind comment. I'm grateful for the acknowledgement of the work I put into this material to help out. Very generous.

PS Tell your friends, share the videos ;)

@@RCVideoReviews will do both ..

Yes , I agree with you on that , painless360 talks too fast for me in his tutorials and I had to keep backing up over and over and over , finally I found @RC Video Reviews, I can’t believe this guy doesn’t have more subscribers....

This guy has a production quality and a clarity exposing stuff that is top notch, Americans are usually very good with this haha

Good tips..thanks for sharing. That's about where I have my elevator, and yes, the Dart requires what I call a 15 yard football throw.

Thanks for leaving a comment. I’m happy the videos are helping you. J

You are welcome!

You're very welcome!

I appreciate that. Thank you. Glad to help.

Glad I could help

You're welcome. Thanks for watching.

You’re welcome.

Should be. Good luck with the Dart. It's a fun little plane.

Thank you. Appreciate that.

You are all over it. These are very good stabilizer systems and they absolutely would be effective for LOS/Park Flying. At my squadron a few weeks ago, we had a fun fly and the wind was terrible. I took the Dart out and our club prez said, "are you sure...?" I winked and flew while all the big planes were parked. :)

Watch you CG and have fun flying that plane. I've posted a couple of videos on this airframe: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bZOWqpWAlrTYkmg.html

You’re welcome.

No problem 👍

Thank you. Hope it helps.

Glad it was helpful!

Thank you!

The Dart is a GREAT little airplane. Make sure you keep your stabilizer gains real real low on it to start. You can add later, but it doesn't need much before it oscillates. Just a touch. Have fun with it. I love that little plane. I've done a couple of videos with it: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b76ig8mJybzQj5s.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mtqHht2K3tvQeqs.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mq2DiqyXudnJemw.html

@@RCVideoReviews thanks, will do. That whole business with gains and mixers, failsafe, I was confused about from watching others videos. Excited to go fly it. 🤓

If you have any questions, come look us up on Discord. We've got quite a few new Kopilot pilots on the channel who can help you out: discord.gg/jSFTASU

@@RCVideoReviews thanks 🤓

You're welcome!

Thanks!

You gotta be dedicated :)

Thanks!

My pleasure!

Roger that.

Most? ;)

Glad you're up and running. The Kopilot is really very good when it's setup correctly. Have fun.

Thanks for the visit

Welcome to the channel. Glad to help.

Thanks for the comment. Glad you liked the video. V-tails generally refer to planes that share rudder and elevator where a wing shares aileron and elevator. Here are examples of v-tails: bit.ly/2S0NogC Here are examples of flying wings: bit.ly/3wddjkk

How did your install work out?

Good 👍 going to put my wing together on my fixed wing I have a fx79 ..this is my winter plane ...and in the summer I get back to my giant scale warbirds.. I will let you know how it turns out this week .🙂

"Should HAVE" not "should OF"--What's the matter with you people?!

hey whinging Old Fart...lol good points. I have two Kopilots and both are excellent and work well if setup right. Ive subbed you so now you need to fly and upload some videos.

Thanks for the tips. I have to put fences around what I cover in videos. If I covered everything to NOT do, I'd never finish these things up. The raw footage for this was an hour--I cut a LOT. Instead I focus on and during post keep what does work. Yes, GPS puck mounted with dot facing up. Yes, removing battery before removing settings card is wrong (I've done it). Yes, ESCs can struggle with flight computers due to the boot time. Yes, Channel mapping must match the PWM pins on output (common with all flight computers). Thanks for sharing your tips. The best way to learn with these is to put hands on and test.

@@RCVideoReviews Yo, point taken as your concise videos are much appreciated! And thanks for the confirmation on the setting board removal. :-)

@@theoztreecrasher2647 Anytime. It's always a balancing act between keeping attention and providing detail. Very difficult to understand viewer behavior. If everybody watched every video start to finish, I'd know what to do.

You're welcome. Thanks for hitting the tip jar!

You're very welcome.

@@RCVideoReviews I had my gains set at max, glad I watched your video. It probably would have gone badly on the maiden. I appreciate the insight👍

Glad to help :)

PWM set-ups generally need Fail-safe set differently. Use Custom and set ch 5 to go to -100. Always check how your combo will react before flying.

@@theoztreecrasher2647 ah, so it's the difference in PWM and SBUS. thanks. I just set up my kopilot, to tell the truth, I kept on thinking I forgot to do something. to test the failsafe ofc ;)

Welcome to the channel. Greetings from Florida USA.

You have to tell Crossfire to output SBUS and it will. It does not understand native CRSF from Crossfire.

If you're referring to the device at this time: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hNd7ea6nstLFhmg.html That is a ToolkitRC M8S. It's a multifunction device which has a power supply output capability. Very handy on the bench. I've got lots of videos. Over 900. So have fun watching the channel :)

I'm sorry, I don't know the first thing about Spektrum.

I've never understood the thumbs down thing if the video is on topic either. There's an amazing sense of self entitlement in the world these days. It doesn't matter much though, because even a thumbs down is a reaction to the video and that's what KZfaq measures. I'd rather get a thumbs down than nothing at all. Appreciate the sentiment though, thanks for the moral support. Here are a few vids I've done on iStone stabs: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p7t-maSJ1L_Xpas.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gL1nndiK39ubmY0.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h6yCrJudlpzPoGw.html

Thank you for your response . I had a chance to watch the associated videos . In the future I will check out your playlists before asking . Enjoyed those video’s & look forward to watching previous as well as future video’s . That was some great flying as was the landings in all that wind . Can tell a person enjoys what they’re doing by the loudness & length of their laughter . Until the next one Sir ...

@@Jake-mm1cz I love flying--always have. Hope the videos helped you out.

Thanks for sharing

If you have signal from Kopilot split to two ESCs, they have to both run. Something is missing. Signal is signal. One ESC isn't aware of the other on a Y-cable. At the risk of sounding pendantic, have you verified them individually with the Kopilot on the Y? i.e. Use your Y-cable, attach one, spool=up, disconnect one, attach two, spool-up. When you've confirmed that operation, attach one again and you should be done. I've used Kopilot on two twin motors: Reptile Dragon II and now T-1 Ranger. It's worked exactly as expected on both using a Y.

@@RCVideoReviews Thanks John, you have just confirmed my own thoughts. I have verified the Y cable using the receiver but I haven't done that through the co-pilot. I will do that tomorrow and let you know how it turns out. Cheers for now, Pete

When your RX and servos are connected to the Kopilot can your radio move the servos?

@@RCVideoReviews No it did not. I switched out the A8S for an FS-X6B and it works perfectly, so I think there is something up with the A8S (or how I'm using it).

@@timtheplaneman Answered elsewhere but I'll add this for the benefit of others. A8S V2 comes set for i-bus output by default. You need to switch it to S-bus. And we initially made the same mistake! 😁

I'm not sure. You might need to hit-up ZOHD support for this one. They do respond to help requessts.

Yes. The Kopilot manual shows how to setup different types of planes. It will even do the mixing for you. You just set up your radio as a 4 channel. I fly my ZOHD Dart 250 with a Kopilot.

@@RCVideoReviews thank you! I meant Flaperons. I'm gonna Patreon now. You've been awesome with the help!

I've never tried to mix flaperons when using a gyro but I can't think of why it wouldn't work with some experimentation.

Thank you very much!

I've had issues with certain ESCs and Flight Controllers in the past where if there wasn't an instant arming, the ESC would timeout. If you have a different ESC (even to just test with) I would try that first. Also, make sure your ESC is calibrated without the Kopilot. Glad the video helped.

@@RCVideoReviews I tried four calibrated ESC's which worked fine directly from the receiver, but failed to arm via the Kopilot. I think I need a ZOHD ESC (re-branded Flycolor FlyDragon).

Here are a couple of options if you use OpenTx kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oMiZapiJ3cu0pX0.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iq-ZYMh31bS8p58.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/j5aVfqlyq7TJiGw.html

s.bus is a very convenient option when you start getting into stabilizers. I'd highly recommend it if possible. If not, the pwm option should work, but I've no experience with it since I went immediately to s.bus.

Simply plug the 3-pin connector into the channel 6 PWM output from your receiver (rather than the channel 5 outlet) and set your 3-way for -100, 0, +100 to get the 3 modes. Then set the receiver failsafe for channel 6 to -100 to get loss-of-signal RTH. Done.

@@theoztreecrasher2647 yes I did try using C6 but I think my receiver fail safe is on or off.

@@Mister0String Failsafe setting in your Tx/Rx system is covered in this. hitecrcd.com/files/Manual_Optic6Sport2.4.pdf Simply set your 3position switch on channel 6 to the RTH position during failsafe set-up.

KoPilot enters RTH with no pulses. It's in the book.

@@RCVideoReviewsThanks :-)

Mine will not work with " no pulses ", only with ch5 set to custom and -100

Glad to help. You should pop on our discord and ask this question there. It will probably require more Q&A that YT for which YT comments is not well suited.

Sure you can.

If by "servos" you mean just the aileron servos then that is quite normal when you have GPS lock and RTH selected on your channel 5 Mode Switch. As soon as the plane starts moving forward the twitching will stop. Try it.

It sounds like your Rx has an opinion about channel positions during failsafe. What RX are you using? If it supports custom failsafe I would use that instead. Set the flaps where you want them. Set throttle to 50%, put mode switch in RTH, all other surfaces neutral.

Remove the gps and see if your motor issues persist. I'm assuming you followed the video and completed the calibration of Kopilot as discussed. If that solves your issue, it boils down to your GPS. Make sure you're somewhere with clear view of the sky. May remove/reinsert GPS. Or get another one from Amazon and see if that does it.

There are a couple of aux channels not controlled by stabilization on the Kopilot.

For any plane I would start with the gains low and gradually turn them up. There is no remote gain option for this controller. Regarding the ESC, I’m not sure why it would beep going into stab or rth. Have you tried calibrating the ESC and have you performed the Kopilot radio calibration?

@@RCVideoReviews Thank you, will check this out👍🏼...

I haven't used DJI air yet, so I can't offer any information on its operation. Sorry.

On my Dart, rates and mode use the same switch. When in manual mode, my rates are 100% with a ton of expo. When in stabilized mode, my rates are 100% with no expo. I can't tell you the first thing about Spektrum. Don't use them. Rates really shouldn't cause oscillations. It seems to me your gains are too high. The Kopilot doesn't know anything about rates. It simply sees what the radio sends as a pulse width. With low rates you're sending low pulse width. Kopilot doesn't interpret that outside of considering it less than 100% of movement.

Sorry, I really don't know the first thing about Spektrum.

Try flying it.

I don't believe the gps led stops blinking. As long as the Kopilot goes solid, you should be ok.

@@RCVideoReviews thanks for your help

Yup. Very common to run hybrid as long as your RX supports both. i.e. If it sends ALL channels via s.bus that won't work, but if it sends them s.bus and PWM it works perfectly.

The gains take effect the moment the stabilizer works. So yes.

@@RCVideoReviews thanks. I mean will more pitch gain increase the pitch in auto launch?

The Drift is a ZOHD product that ships with the Kopilot. It has no rudder, just ailerons and elevator. It flies great with the Kopilot. You don't need to plug in a servo, but make sure you add a rudder in your radio because even without the control surface, the Kopilot uses the rudder input for calibration and setup.

@@RCVideoReviews thanks mate 👍👍

Use channel 1 Kopilot outlet for 1 aileron and put the other on the Kopilot aux channel (S-bus) or a spare receiver channel (PWM) with a suitable mix.. Only 1 aileron will be stabilized but I have been assured by more expert folks that it works quite well.

@@theoztreecrasher2647 Thanks , i thought that is possible, but i was not sure if the stabilization will be ok. .

I don't think it's a problem. Mine does the same thing.

@@RCVideoReviews just wondering if you can move the throttle up and down when it is flying in the RTH mode Wally

I made it. I cut off one end of a servo extension and soldered +/-/S to the Rx wires.

I am highly confident you'll get a more accurate answer from ZOHD support on this than me. I'm not sure how they measure these things. Total hit and miss for me on mm pitch.

@@RCVideoReviews Thanks a million for getting back to me. I'll give them a try

Sadly, no.

Glad the video helped. Just do what's in the video to calibrate. Here are the instructions from the manual: 1) Put your plane level, power the plane; 2) Wait for Kopilot to complete the start-up, set flight mode to the stabilized mode; 3) Move the sticks of the radio to match the right figure state, waiting for 5s, until the mode indicators 1 and 2 and GPS indicators flash at the same time; 4) Wait until the flashing stops, re-power the plane, calibration completed.

@@RCVideoReviews Thank you very much, you helped me a lot. I calibrated everything, now just need to fly it in the field. I'm flying a helicopter. The DRIFT is my first plane.

@@oded_10 You're welcome. Have fun flying. Beware of the CG location.

@@RCVideoReviews The cg in the wings is inaccurate?

They provide a PWM harness. I haven't used it, but it's similar to other stabilizers.

I haven't flown a nitro plane for 30 years, so I don't really know. I think if you can isolate the board it should be fine.

Does it glitch when you have a gps lock? Take it outside and check.

The GPS itself doesn't require calibration. There is a radio calibration and a level calibration, that's it. GPS never require calibration, it's the compass on the GPS that requires it. This doesn't have a compass.

The best help I can give on a question like this is to remind you to join discord. Link is in description of every video I post. Join discord and ask there. YT is a terrible platform for problem solving like this.

You sure about that? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hNd7ea6nstLFhmg.html

Yes. When you use a stab they usually provide the mixing.

@@RCVideoReviews so is it then possible to switch back to a mode where you have all the settings manually? For me that’s half the enjoyment controlling the plane manually. But I would like to be able to switch on a RTH function when I wish or have it turn on as a failsafe.

You'd have to use some logic. i.e. L01 AND ModeSwitch RateSwitch Then in your Inputs, set dual rates with L01 as the switch.

@@RCVideoReviews I think I'm just doing it wrong, I'll try and keep messing with it

Did you put a meter on the first ESC to check output voltage of BEC? Every Kopilot I have uses standard BEC output. I don't know why any Kopilot would be .5v sensitive. Something doesn't sound right.

Thanks for your help. I put in another esc and it works fine. The problem was the other esc was in programming mode. Wally

Make sure all four channels are activated in mixer: Aileron, Elevator, Throttle, AND RUDDER.

@@RCVideoReviews Thank you for answering!!! Hello!!!

I can't answer because I've never tried with any GPS other than the one that came with the Kopilot. That said, I don't think they're getting custom units. There's one way to find out for sure...

@@RCVideoReviews Thanks for the response I’m presuming it wouldn’t hurt the kopilot,it’s just a matter of it wouldn’t work. And since I need to buy one I’m wondering if I should buy one with compass so that if it doesn’t work I can use it with a different system in the future. Unless they’re a lot more expensive Jeff

Thanks for the visit

You can either invert the weight or reverse the output.

@@RCVideoReviews Ok, great. I shall give this a try in the radio settings. Thank you

That--my friend--is an excellent question. I wasn't sure exactly what would happen so I got the Drift out and did some tests. The short answer is--it does not appear the Kopilot incorporates trims even though the manual specifically says "During the manual flight mode, the plane may need trim from the radio, this may cause the plane fly to one side during balance mode, so you need to re-do the Radio Calibration." That statement tells me if you have to trim in manual mode, make sure to perform the calibration again so the plane knows about the trim. I would expect in that case if I trim the plane, perform the radio calibration, then put the plane in stabilize mode while level, remove the trim from my radio, the Kopilot should place the surfaces in the trimmed state. It does not. Here is the experiment I ran: - I set the elevator trim to max up elevator. - I performed calibration (servo dance). - I placed mode switch in stabilize mode. - Elevator is positioned the same is manual mode with max up elevator. - With the trim still max up, I would have expected the elevator to go up at least the amount of trim--it did not. - Remove trim, elevator returns to neutral. - Return to manual mode, elevator remains neutral. - Return to stabilize mode, elevator remains neutral. Had the Kopilot "incorporated" trims I would have expected to see up elevator in stabilize mode after removing trim from the radio. The only thing I'm left with is that with trims in place--which you need for manual mode by the way--the Kopilot interprets that as neutral and not a stick command while in stabilize mode. In other words, when in stabilize mode and you issue a stick command the stabilizer passes that command through to the surface. When you release the stick, the stabilizer returns the surface to normal. Since it would see trim as a deviation in pulse width from center--stick command--it would interpret trim as a command to move the surface and a deviation from straight and level. So my believe at this point is that by informing the Kopilot of trims, it will ignore the deviation in pulse width from center and consider that pulse width to be straight and level. So I don't believe you should remove your trim after performing a radio calibration because none of the modes trim the surfaces according to that value if you remove the trims. That means minimally in manual mode you will not be straight and level hands off. Good question. Don't take anything here as gospel. The only for fact thing in all of this is if you remove trim, you will not fly straight and level in manual mode. You definitely should test this out on your plane. I'd set trim, land, servo dance, launch, fly in stabilize mode and make sure it flies straight.

@@RCVideoReviews I appreciate all the work and help. I'll experiment more on my end.

John, after reading this, should I use "instant trim" that you demo'd in one of your videos? That's a cool feature! (BTW, I have the Dart 250 and I haven't even put it together yet, I'm just planning ahead.)

@@jeffreyjackson1626 No, when you use flight computers, you should try and avoid using trim the best you can. Always try and mechanically trim the plane, although Kopilot does offer a "radio calibration" option which on other computers we would call "incorporate trims" Best bet is to mechanically trim old school style.

Look in your channel monitor and make sure all four channels are sending output. I made the mistake of configuring a rudder input, but didn't add it in the mixer. Took me a minute to figure out why I couldn't get it to calibrate. Also make sure you don't have any trim or subtrim. All 4 primary controls need to show 100% on the OUTPUT not just the mixer.

@@RCVideoReviews Thank you for your quick reply. That prompted me to recheck my setup and I discovered the issue. Actually I did have a mixer setting for the rudder. The problem was that I have set my yaw stick (left) to control the ailerons as well as my aileron stick (right). Its just what I do with some of my wings. That of course did not send the right signals to the Kopilot. So in my case, I put the left stick down and inward, but the right stick just down. That is when the magic happened and I was able to set my level. Thank you!

You could put both setups in the mixer and assign them to a calibration switch. So when you want to calibrate, flick a switch and the 'standard' mix applies and when the switch is off, your rudder/aileron mix is in effect. You could even use that calibration switch to override your channels for a few seconds to get the kopilot into calibration mode without even fiddling in the mixer. i.e. The whole thing could be done with a single switch and no touching of the sticks.

@@RCVideoReviews Excellent idea. Thank you!

Pretty sure it doesn’t have a barometer. I believe it calculates altitude from gps data. To confirm you should probably check with ZOHD.

The RTH set height is actually 70m. Andrew Newton measured it with a DJI Mavic Mini. That 35m figure is the floor height the unit will try to keep above in the Altitude Hold Mode. And yes you can cheat the barometer in the manner that you mention. The best would be to power on the plane/Kopilot at the increased altitude (can be away from your intended Take-off point) but with the GPS puck unplugged (or shielded so it can't get a lock) then return to your intended Take-off point, allow the GPS to lock and set the Home Point, then fly! It is also possible to cheat the barometer with a little added engineering. If you feed an air tube from the nose of the plane and direct the increased air pressure from the forward motion of the plane onto the barometer, it will think that it is lower than intended and cause the plane to fly higher during RTH. (But a bit of a Heath Robinson way of doing it!) 😜😁 Actually if you wanted to be really Science Lab Experimental about it you could rig up a way to seal the whole works under a lab Bell Jar and evacuate a known percentage of the air pressure before Boot-up. Then remove and fly. 🙂

@@RCVideoReviews Nope. Altitude is calculated via the barometer unit onboard the Kopilot.

Too bad they don't use GPS data--it's right there. iNav will consider both bits of information in determining altitude.

I don't think so. I think it just changes the gyro direction. You always setup the radio first, then the gyro.

@@RCVideoReviews i figured it out your video really helped thank you

@@RCVideoReviews Nope John, and you have been informed of this before. Reversing the direction of the stabilization by reversing the pot to the other side of 12 o'clock ALSO reverses the radio stick direction. Reversing the stick direction in the radio HAS NO effect on the gyro direction. Ergo do the gyro first not the radio - unless you like double handling. (And the possibility of missing the reversed sticks!) 😉

It's very tough without seeing your radio and the Kopilot to advise. What I'll suggest is: 1) Make sure you have all four channels enabled: Aileron, Throttle, Rudder, and Elevator 2) Make sure you have all four channels set to use 100% weights. 3) Make sure the airframe type selected is correct. 4) Make sure all four channels are being seen on your receiver. If you have a rudderless plane, plug an aileron servo in to check the rudder channel. Turn off all logic configurations you may have setup. Clicking RTH should not turn off your throttle. Hearing that makes me think you have something else going on with your configuration. If in doubt, create a brand new model, bind your RX, and do nothing else to the configuration until you have the Kopilot doing what you expect it to do.