Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve on April 3, 2012 at 5:06pm

Wouldn't ordering the GPS breakout exclude the SD card ability of the APM 2.0??

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Permalink Reply by Steve Warren on March 30, 2012 at 10:22pm

What about just suspending the APM2 with rubber shock mounts like this:

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Steve on March 31, 2012 at 10:43pm

genius! reminds me of the hard drive suspended in cases

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Permalink Reply by Steve Warren on April 1, 2012 at 1:03am

There are detailed instructions for how to do this here:

http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/MountingtheAPM2Board

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Permalink Reply by Dave C on April 1, 2012 at 4:56am

This is great!, I'm using almost the same system (the rangevideo anti-vib mount - that i found too soft so swapped out the rubber bands for these prop saver o-rings).

Now my only problem with vibration is that that comes through the wires from the reciever and those to the esc's. Is anyone aware of very soft wire we could use that doesn't transmit the vibration like the plastic coated stuff that comes with the APM?

Something like this maybe...http://www.carsrcracing.co.uk/?p=159,

Tell you what, I'll order some and report in :)

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Permalink Reply by Veikko Vierola on March 31, 2012 at 11:12pm

I would perhaps reinforce the GPS attachment with glue or bathroom silicone just like Dave C recommended and also I would make some sort of elastic struts like Steven Warren recommended.

But I'm not sure how much glue can you put around GPS will it work if you glue it like in this picture (yellow transparent is glue). 

I have used 2-compnent epoxy (Z-poxy) glue around my APM1 usb socket, reset button and flight/edit/CLI-switch.

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Permalink Reply by Ian forbes on April 1, 2012 at 8:49am

Thanks for all the great replies.  I am still wondering if the prop ring suspension rig won't lend itself to resonance vibrations?  I read the first posts before this became part of the wiki, and some were of the opinion this might be a bad idea...  Is this really working out for people? 

 

 I don't know that this mount would have prevented the GPS popping loose from the board though, not with the dead shear force that it hit the ground with, but some epoxy and hot glue would probably do the trick to reinforce the solder tabs!  This situation reminds me of integrated wireless in mobile devices.  Inevitably if it goes bad, you have no choice but to go external.  Frankly,  I like the design/build option to place the APM2 inside the drone for protection with the GPS on top to open sky!  So it all worked out anyway...

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Permalink Reply by Veikko Vierola on April 1, 2012 at 12:54pm

I like the idea that everything is in a same package. Todays GPS modules are so sensitive that you don't need to put them "visible" to satellites. 

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Permalink Reply by Steve on April 3, 2012 at 5:07pm

Problem is that UAVs are moving towards carbon fiber skins which block RF signals...so most of the time they need to be "visible" to satellites.

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Permalink Reply by Vernon Barry on April 3, 2012 at 5:34pm

OK and that's why you can get the option without the attached GPS that STILL has the daughter board with SD card and plug the GPS module into the port. I'm not sure how you missed this, it's pretty well explained.

http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/apm-2-0-release

So I developed a small shield that can be mounted inside the boundaries of the pins and has special connectors to keep a very low profile of the system, so if you want a small board then you have it! But this shield is optional, so you can still attach your old GPS by using the standard APM V1.0 GPS connector or the classic compass port. But because I promised no soldering I have created a special I2C port (similar to the GPS) that allows you to attach an official APM 2.0 Compass board by just plugging it (yeah just plug and play). The SD slot is there because I had no other place with easy access (underneath the main board was messy and you will be obligated to dismount and flip the entire board to remove the card, you don’t want that right?). In the other hand the daughter board will come in four flavors: GPS+MAG+SD, GPS+SD, MAG+SD and SD. For example if you want to attach only the magnetometer (Compass) externally you just buy the option GPS+SD.

So right now the store sells only 2 options from the list GPS+MAG+SD or no GPS which equals MAG+SD. So yes, you can order an APM 2.0 and external GPS, mount the APM2.0 inside a carbon fiber plane and mount the GPS external. No re-engineering required.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on May 1, 2012 at 12:43pm

You misunderstand the problem. I'm talking about the case for those who have already purchased the $200 onboard GPS during the preorder period. And now realize they need to purchase the mag+sd breakout separately.. but it's not for sale.

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Permalink Reply by Andke on May 1, 2012 at 6:09am

Watch out for compass reversing ! - I lost my 3DR quad with everything into the sea, it run away because the APM2 have a nasty compass reversing error.

The forum admin censored (removed) my warning to people - and sales did not bother to even comment on it.

In short: if you boot APM2 without resetting it later, compass is reversed. Also, if allowed to learn in air, it will go nuts if you did not boot, then reset again.

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