Eachine Wizard 220 manual

[HighTechPauper]

I am not sure I understand...

These things have no GPS, no barometer, no way to "stay in place" like a Phantom would. These things are either flown by a pilot the whole time, or they go into the ground.

The sim is going to emulate this and you need to fly it to stay in the air and going the right way, just like the real thing. I have/use FreeRider also and while it is not like real flight, it is a very good artificial representation of the concepts of real flight.

100% of people that fly race drones can fly DJI Phantoms, probably less than 5% of all people who fly DJI Phantoms can fly race drones. It's like comparing an Uber to the store for milk, to being Dale Earnhardt Jr in the Indy 500...

How I started was line of sight right in front of me with nose forward orientation to practice hover in place/forward/back/left/right on the real thing. Later I got the sim and while not real, is as close as it gets, so the better and better you get on the sim, the better and better you will understand the effects of stick movements in real flight. Realistically you could save 50% of your money by simming more before you start trying it in real life on your quad, would probably cut your crashes in half over the life.

I learned to control the aircraft pretty well that way before I ever tried FPV. The first few times was extremely disorienting and all I did was bounce a couple times off the ground and crash. In time I got to where I could take off, stay in the middle of a big field, and land... hell, the quad might even still work after that.

But then one day, after enough batteries, quad repairs, and sheer determination to "get this", it just starts to click, and it's a real snowball after that.

I don't know if I have ever had this much fun before in my life, it's pretty exhilarating stuff buddy.

 

[embayweather]

Thank you. you comments are just perfect for me. I had no idea how realistic the sim was and now I have an understanding. Clearly there is a lot of work in front of me to get off the ground, let alone fly as I would wish. I am under no illusions that I will never fly in a race environment, too old for that, but iw anted something that was a little less sedate thatn the Phantoms. However, from what you have said there is only a small chance of success here. **** well going to try though. Now I can plan out what I need ot do, and there is and excellent set of tutorials that go with the Freerider to help me, let alone oyur advice which is invaluable to me believe me. I thank you so much for your kindness and support.

 

[theGreenOrange]

Hi, don't worry you will succeed. It just takes a bit of practice and some perserverence. It will be nerve racking at first so don't be discouraged if your hands shake and you feel like you might have a small heart attack. That is normal. But then again, I didn't use a sim so maybe the nerves won't be as bad for you. Try to remember and repeat to yourself, this is fun! And eventually that will be true.

 

[embayweather]

Thank you for your encouragement GreenOrange. It looks a steep learning curve, but I am hoping it will make me a better pilot especially in ATTI mode with the DJI dronesi will keep everyone posted.

 

[HighTechPauper]

Sorry Embay, I didn't mean to make it sound too difficult, Green is right and you will succeed. I just wanted you to go in with all the knowledge I could give so you didn't get discouraged or feel alone with an issue.
We ALL started this same way and with the advice and support of this forum and a bunch of drained batteries, I have gone from "can't do it" to reasonable in just a few months. just 3 or 4 months ago I had never actually flown FPV successfully and I was afraid to fly a pack, now I can't wait to fly a pack. The things that are new and strange become old and familiar pretty quickly once you dive in.

 

[embayweather]

No need to apologise whatsoever good sir. I found your words really excellent and just what I needed.
For myself I am a little disappointed how long the learning curve is, but if I work hard I should be reasonably good to go come Easter. I need to learn to fly it for a project I am hoping to do with disabled and wheelchair bound folk so I have a good incentive to keep at it.
I would rather get the truth about anything rather than water it down. That’s what you did so I am fine.

 

[HighTechPauper]

That is a good attitude Embay, and helping others with your project is admirable! I think you will surprise yourself with how quick the basics of all this starts to come well into focus, it always seems insurmountable when you start, but soon the knowledge and flying starts to seem very familiar.

You joined less than a week ago, and already you are starting to get a feel for this, and we are here to help where we can.

Talk to you soon,
Randy (HTP)

 

[embayweather]

Been practising on the sim a lot and I am finding it much easier to fly in FPV mode rather than ‘normal’. Still finding it difficult to control but I can at least go somewhere and sometimes even land in one piece. So I am improving but got a long way to go.

 

[HighTechPauper]

LOS is always harder than FPV, with FPV the orientation is always nose forward, with LOS as the orientation changes it becomes much more difficult (IMHO) to keep "thinking" about the orientation change and what stick move is needed. I really think both skills are good to have, but LOS takes a lot more muscle memory, and soak time with changing orientations to get good at. I sometimes do LOS practice, and if I am really thinking hard I can do ok, and it does get a little easier over time. I figure in 10 years or less I may be halfway decent at it

 

[embayweather]

Thank you for that thought. I am very comfortable with alignment havi n g flown Phantoms and others. I just find it hard to judge on the screen. Perhaps that is the problem, trying to get 3D vision on a 2d surface. For now I will content myself that I have made a start and can do something with the ‘drone’.
Managed to software installed on chrome but not tried connection yet.
But a small amount of progress has been made and the great advantage is that I get to fly drones and keep warm.

 

[embayweather]

Updating on progress here following your advice. I can now fly the drone in my sim and even land it, although not where it started off. Can do a few simple loops and things, but I do find tha the fine control is very limited because of the small movement on the sticks . Almost ready to 0lug in to a co outer and upgrade as was suggested earlier. Slow but sure progress is coming. I had thought of try8 g the DRL simulator but I am unsure whethe it will be any better for me as I have no intentions of ever racing, certainly at my age!

 

[HighTechPauper]

Hi Embay, sounds like you are doing GREAT to me!!!

The newest DRL Sim is supposed to be really cool, I am going to revisit why it didn't work on my PC because I have read so many good things about it lately and I want to see what all the hype is about. I figure, racer or not, cool sim is still a bigger blast than the normal ones I've used.

 

[HighTechPauper]

Also your fine control will get better and better the more you do it so don't worry.

 

[embayweather]

Thank you kindly sir. I think it is more luck than good management. But I am practising as I can. Not really liking the FPV mode but at least I can control the aircraft. Hopefully I can fly through s gate one day?
I will download the DRL app tomorrow and give it a blast.

 

[HighTechPauper]

Thank you kindly sir. I think it is more luck than good management. But I am practising as I can. Not really liking the FPV mode but at least I can control the aircraft. Hopefully I can fly through s gate one day?
I will download the DRL app tomorrow and give it a blast.

Enough good luck along with trying to manage yourself will lead to less good luck and more real skill, keep going you're doing great!
FPV for me was very disorienting at first, but it has gotten better and better the more I fly.
About DRL, it seems they want US$20 for it now, I have an old free version from a few months ago and I may try that but I doubt I will buy the other one, too poor right now.

 

[embayweather]

Progress report as promised. I am flying reasonably well, can turn and guide the drone, but the smallest of changes to the sticks can wreak havoc. I have been fling acro in the simulator with high rates, as th elbow rates etc were, well, a little too controlled. I find it very hard to see what’s going on with FPV so it is difficult to follow a path. I have been trying to follow the path around the various courses, but not going through the gates, I wish. With such lack of vision I am finding that it is difficult to land where I want because I cannot see it at all and pointing downwards to look has its own problems of course. I am continuing along this and following the youtube lessons at itch.io. These have been very helpful, but my control is nowhere near what the tutors is for obvious reasons. I am finding it very difficult to fly close to the ground, because of this lack of vision through the FPV, and th either view on freerider is of course the normal view which means you cannot see the aircraft most of the time.
I think I am getting to the point where I would like to try and access the software and firmware if for no other reason that I can set the failsafe, so that is my next step, as well as more practising. I have no idea if I can access it view my Mac , which does have a pc emulation inside, so I will have to how for the best.
Thus I would appreciate any guidance anyone can offer as to whether these are the right steps of if I should be following another path. And no, I have not forgotten, no props. Someone showed images of what a Spark can do yesterday when coming into contact with fingers. Sadly entirely predictable!

 

[HighTechPauper]

Hi Embay, if you are asking about BetaFlight Configurator and such, they have them for the Mac platform too. Here is some links to the new standalone versions since Google Chrome Apps is going away pretty soon.

Releases · betaflight/betaflight-configurator · GitHub
Releases · blheli-configurator/blheli-configurator · GitHub

 

[embayweather]

Thank you so much. I have managed to get the chrome versions but the stand alone ones will be so much better for me personally as I use my browser for so many other things.

 

[embayweather]

Hi Embay, if you are asking about BetaFlight Configurator and such, they have them for the Mac platform too. Here is some links to the new standalone versions since Google Chrome Apps is going away pretty soon.

Releases · betaflight/betaflight-configurator · GitHub
Releases · blheli-configurator/blheli-configurator · GitHub

Following your kind advice I downloaded the apps and drivers and I can use them quite easily now in the iMac. Perhaps Therin lies a problem. It is so easy to play about and experiment that before too long it’s completely messed up and no use to anyone. So I am afraid I am back here again, asking for advice. What do I do next with these apps to make the 220 the best it can be for me please?

 

[HighTechPauper]

Wow Embay, that is a bit like asking how to solve evil and starvation in the world and make everyone nice to each other, it is not so easy to be sure.

First though, do not even think about experimenting unless you #1 know what you think it will do, and #2 have the original settings recorded so you can set things back.

You will want to at least upgrade the BetaFlight to 3.2.3 (or the latest stable release) and upgrade the BLHeli in the esc's to 16.7 (or the latest stable release).
You will need to set up and test your receiver functionality before you can fly, which means at a minimum how you will Arm/Disarm, Failsafe, and that all your channels are working properly.

I have done nothing more than that and I am flying just fine. Once the BF and BLH are upgraded the X220 will be a better flyer than you for quite a while.