AD2 Override Fail

[Wax Savage]

I have a new AD2 purchased from Nautilus Drydocks. The AD2 is mounted to the aft equipment tray of my R&R WTC and lays alongside the ballast pump.

Upon powering up my WTC, the AD2 initially seems to function properly. The aft planes move smoothly to counter rise and fall of the back of the sub. The aft dive planes override feature works okay. Upon activating the ballast pump, the aft dive planes exhibit moderate jitters. Operating the twin brushless motors causes more pronounced dive plane jitters. I understand that this is normal for the AD2. It is said that the AD2 is sensitive to motor vibration.

The problem is that after running the brushless motors (sub is in the water), the aft dive planes override feature no longer works. Disconnecting the subs battery and re-connecting brings back the rear planes override, only to have it stop working again after I run the drive motors. Not good as I cannot program a working FAILSAFE command to cause the rear planes to rise in an emergency. Anyone with experience, hopefully a cure?

BTW, I’ll be at Subfest with this boat.

See you in September :-)

[RCSubGuy]

That is super-weird. Does it do the same thing if you use a different channel on the receiver? Jitters can also be reduced by lowering the sensitivity on the unit (long press the button and shoot for 1 or 2 flashes max)

[Wax Savage]

That is super-weird. Does it do the same thing if you use a different channel on the receiver? Jitters can also be reduced by lowering the sensitivity on the unit (long press the button and shoot for 1 or 2 flashes max)

Thanks for the response. I have not tried swapping RX channels but, will test it out tomorrow. AD2 sensitivity is on number 2.

It crossed my mind to move the AD2 to the front in an attempt to further isolate the AD2 from the motors. Easily done but then, I sm concerned the AD2 would be reacting to input from the front dive planes. Have you had success placing the AD2 in the forward equipment tray?

Of course, this may not address/cure the inoperative rear planes override. That is a serious gremlin.

On 4/02/2024 Dave Meriman posted to biggsgolf no working override issue ( https://forum.rc-sub.com/forum/caswell-models/179202-ad2-pitch-controller) stating that some AD2's had been miss-programmed. Dave was not sure of the batch/lot numbers were affected. My AD2 has a handwritten lot number AD2h . As I said, my AD2 override works great,.. right up to when I power the brushless motors. Then no joy.

[RCSubGuy]

Your AD2 instructions do recommend you reach out to Kevin McLeod directly for questions or concerns with his product. I'm assuming you have done this?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Thanks for the response. I have not tried swapping RX channels but, will test it out tomorrow. AD2 sensitivity is on number 2.

It crossed my mind to move the AD2 to the front in an attempt to further isolate the AD2 from the motors. Easily done but then, I sm concerned the AD2 would be reacting to input from the front dive planes. Have you had success placing the AD2 in the forward equipment tray?

Of course, this may not address/cure the inoperative rear planes override. That is a serious gremlin.

On 4/02/2024 Dave Meriman posted to biggsgolf no working override issue ( https://forum.rc-sub.com/forum/caswell-models/179202-ad2-pitch-controller) stating that some AD2's had been miss-programmed. Dave was not sure of the batch/lot numbers were affected. My AD2 has a handwritten lot number AD2h . As I said, my AD2 override works great,.. right up to when I power the brushless motors. Then no joy.

The bad-batch issue was about AD's, not AD2's. And Kevin fixed all the bad AD's I sent him. Quick and well explained fixes. Very good service. Reach out to him!

David

[Wax Savage]

Thanks for the suggestion,

I just emailed Kevin McLeod about the AD2 override problem. I'll post again after he responds.

[BruceM]

I have had some difficulties using the AD2 in my project and I have seen the same issue as you, namely the loss of manual override even though the auto pitch control still functions.

In my case this occurred because the PWM signal was not generated soon enough after power was applied to the system.

To get full functionality, the AD2 needs to see a PWM signal within a few seconds of being powered up. My R/C system takes 11 seconds which is apparently too long.

I contacted Kevin McLeod and he wrote

“I'm not familiar with the radio system you're using, but I'm guessing that it's taking a long time to start feeding the PWM outputs with signal, and by the time it does the AD2 has gone in to "stand alone" operating mode”.


The “stand alone” mode seems to be where you end up.

Perhaps you are losing the PWM signal at some point and this triggers the mode.


FYI in my case I built a 20 sec power-on delay module for the AD2+ while leaving the signal input line hooked up to the receiver. This works perfectly.


As to vibration sensitivity, I had this issue and tried moving the AD2 as far as possible from the motor but this did not improve the situation. The vibration was carried through the length of the WTC. My solution was to reduce the driveline vibration by attention to teh shaft coupling.

Bruce

[Wax Savage]

Hi BruceM,

thanks for your response. I read your AD2 saga closely. I agree that 11 seconds to fully wake up your system electronics certainly seem excessive. When I power up my WTC, the time it takes for the ESC's and RX to light up is less than 2 seconds. I assume the PWM signal to the AD2 must be functioning because the AD2 auto pitch control and manual override initially works okay. It is after I run the brushless drive motors or brushed ballast motor that the manual override function becomes unresponsive and remains unresponsive until I turn off and re-initiate the WTC. As I said in my initial post that is a serious gremlin.

Anone else out there also had problems with the AD2 manual override?

[MFR1964]

Only the PWM signal problem, starting up the WTC again solves that, with a final check for the override steering.
Those motors, have they a countermeasure against electronic flutter?, from brushed i know you can use capacitors to counter the flutter, not sure how this will work with brushless.

Manfred.

[BruceM]

Hi Wax Savage
Just to clarify, my R/C system is the open source EdgeTX and ELRS. The long startup time appears to be normal for this system.

BTW it is interesting that the Depth Controller from Kevin is not affected by long startup time.

I do wonder if you have an intermittency on the PWM line. An interesting experiment would be to get the AD2 working fully and then momentarily disconnect the PWM line and see what happens.

Bruce

[Wax Savage]

Hi Bruce and MFR1964,

thanks for the input.

MFR1964.., my brushless motors do not have added on capacitors soldered to the case. As I understand it, brushless motors have no need of them. Could be wrong.

Bruce.., my system is a Taranis X9D plus 2019 and uses Open TX software. I will unplug ~ replug the servo lead to the AD2 out of the receiver and see if it causes the manual override glitch to occur. I'll let you know what happens.

Wax Savage