Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Dell on April 4, 2012 at 7:54am

Gent,

Stabilize and Loiter work well for me.  In terms of knowing the number of satellites I simply wait for the GPS Blue light to come on and the corresponding blue light on the APM.  It typically takes 30-45 seconds to get the GPS fix.

I will probably contact tech support to see why I cant get any logs to write. 

Permalink Reply by John Dell on April 4, 2012 at 7:50am

Zackary

I set the declination in the hardware section next to compass.  I assume I did it right, but I will check again.  Not sure its a declination issue as the 3 or 4 times I enabled RTL from channel 7 it went in random different directions rather than flying in a straight line back to the launch point.  In all cases I achieved GPS lock and armed the motors in the same spot facing the same direction.

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Permalink Reply by Zachary Eldridge on April 4, 2012 at 8:22am

Declination helps with degree difference when heading that bearing with mag north and true north. You have to have good GPS lock for waypoints. However, for RTL when you click the mode it will head to home location of the first GPS fix. When turning on the board let it boot up all the way till you have fix. Then click the reset button and will get a percise 3Dfix of the direction of your plane. I would Aim the plane towards your first waypoint. Or create a mission with a straight line to then once it reaches waypoint one click RTL. Also check your freq in Mission Planner and make sure it not binding with another mode.

If this makes sense.

Permalink Reply by Joel Venable on April 3, 2012 at 6:04am

I was already wondering why 3DR wasn't selling a ribbon cable for those that wanted to mount the gps externally. This issue seems to add an additional reason? Or is it the SD card contacts instead of the whole daughter board?

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3D RoboticsPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on April 3, 2012 at 7:06am

Joel: They do. APM 2 is available with your choice of internal or external GPS. 

https://store.diydrones.com/APM_2_0_Kit_p/br-ardupilotmega-03.htm

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Permalink Reply by Zachary Eldridge on April 3, 2012 at 5:17pm

Yeah good point I sent my apm 2 back because gyro where not working at all and I wondering if the daughterboard wasn't close enough to do a proper ground. However, my Baro was sliding around inside the sandwich parts and I thought that could be a problem. I didn't get a flight to test logs but also notice flashcard will side around easly but put peace of tape and flashcard will always read.

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Wiki NinjaPermalink Reply by Gent Armedo on April 4, 2012 at 6:31pm

Received my APM 2.0 from 3DR today, was very excited to connect to the APM Planner to upload the latest code. I downloaded the latest APM Planner 1.1.60 then connected the APM via USB. Alas,  I got timed out with MAVLINK and then then I got this error notice:"No heartbeat packets received". Tried changing to another cord, hoping that there is something wrong with the previous one. Tried again, same error message.

I read the details and synch the baud rate of 115200 on both the mission planner and COM Port property of my APM 2.0. Tried connecting again; still getting the same error message.

Read the details again then waited for the GPS to lock (solid blue light at GPS daughter board) and mowed the front lawn/ backyard. Got back and connected the APM 2.0 to the planner: same result- no heartbeat packets received.

Now I'm puzzled. Whst is wrong with my APM 2.0? I noticed that when connected to PC via USB cord, the blue and red LEDs are flashing alternately with the yellow LED. Can that tell me something?

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Permalink Reply by Vernon Barry on April 4, 2012 at 6:48pm

Can that tell me something?

Follow the directions on setup, they only come with a bootloader so in mission planner on the giant firmware button that looks like a CD click that and upload a firmware to the device and THEN mavlink will connect.

Directions are here: http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/ArduCopter

That was linked from the top of the wiki page the forum is on.

Arducopter

Assembly

APM2

The APM 2.0 board comes from the factory already soldered and ready to have the firmware of your choice loaded by the Mission Planner.

Next part: http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/AC2_Loading

 Be sure to follow every step-especially the first time setup.

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Wiki NinjaPermalink Reply by Gent Armedo on April 4, 2012 at 6:55pm

Vernon,

I got it. I went and read back the directions for setup. I downloaded first the latest code (Arduplane) and when it was finished, I connected it to the APM and now I'm good. Thank you for the tip, just the same.

BTW, is it just me or this is a new feature in the APM Planner? Last time I did this was when the APM 2.0 first arrived and before uploading the latest Arduplane code then, I had to first connect to the APM Planner.

 

Gent

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Permalink Reply by André Marques on June 12, 2012 at 12:37pm

Hello!

I have an APM 2.0 since April and today I got a problem with the memory card. I use the board to acquire data and perform logs in the memory card and today after using the APM I got home and to download the latest log I connected to APM Planner and when entering the CLI when initiating communications I got the following message in the screen: 

"No memory data flash inserted"

The memory card is inserted all the way in and it worked out fine until today...

I still can see and download all the logs that are in the memory card but the big problem is that with this error logs are deactivated and APM don't save data. 

What is the problem? 

What can i do? 

I am using APM Planner 1.1.92 and the firmware in the APM 2.0 is ArduPlane V2.34.

Best Regards

André Marques

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Wiki NinjaPermalink Reply by Gent Armedo on June 13, 2012 at 7:52am

Have you tried reinitializing the APM2? Sometimes, a restart is all it takes to initialize the code for that. Perform memory check again on the CLI. If nothing is found, erase the EEPROM and installa fresh Arduplane code via APM planner then check CLI again for flash memory status. Check connections too. Hope this helps!

Gent

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Permalink Reply by André Marques on June 14, 2012 at 1:53am

Hello  

Yesterday i made a reset to factory settings and then using Arduino i upload ArduPlane V2.33 instead of V2.34. After this the memory card error was gone i enable logs and did a trial run and all systems 100% but after after driving for 2 hours to an airfield to do some test when i got there and connect APM to my computer the same memory car error again.... I tried to do the reset again and new firmware upload but the error is still there... but athought in the CLI logs are disable i still can see and download previous logs and the big surprise of the day was that the APM is performing logs dispite all this...???   I use the APM 2.0 to acquire data in an light aircraft and yesterday i got many GPS signal losses during flight. I power the APM using a LiPo and a BEC in the output side with JP1 on, is this the correct way for optimal GPS function?   Best Regards Andre Marques

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