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3D RoboticsPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on December 17, 2010 at 6:06pm

Is the board powered from the LiPo/ESC when you're loading code? If the ESCs are connected, it should be.

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Permalink Reply by John Owen on December 18, 2010 at 8:22pm

I have the board completely off the frame at the moment. Nothing is connected.

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JDronesPermalink Reply by Jani Hirvinen on December 17, 2010 at 6:47pm

Motors are armed to bottom right, if you arm them in B-L it means that your YAW channel is reversed

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Permalink Reply by John Owen on December 22, 2010 at 10:14am

I am going to replace the board as soon as money permits.  Will probablly be around the end of Jan.  Thanks for all the help guys.  I am pretty sure that when connecting the lipos when I was done calibrating the ESCs that I fried the board/s. I had to modify the connections on the turnigy lipo's that I am using, and the connections that I bought at the local hobby store were not the best in the world.  They sparked mightly when I connected the battery, and I guess it may have arched to the board and hit it. 

 

At least that is my novice idea.  I have tried just about everything I can think of to get the code to load, and the board to boot properly.  I am still stuck with the boards completely removed from the copter and the loading showing as successful. With nothing connected and the board powered by USB, I still just get the fast blinking and no solid lights at the end of the boot.

 

I already have an extra spark fun board so I should just need the the green board.  I appriciate all the input!  Hopefully the new boards will do the trick and get me flying.

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JDronesPermalink Reply by Jani Hirvinen on December 22, 2010 at 5:50pm

John, hmm what you mean by fast blinking??? All ABC led's are blinking or how and also what software you are actually using, from where?

 

Normal boot sequences for ArducopterNG are:

Flying mode (SW2 close to DIP switches):

- Rapid ABC blink while waiting that physical movement is stopping and CPU is rebooting, after that fast "running" lights like A->B->C, after that solid Green (A)

- Configurator works on this mode

 

CLI mode (SW2 close to power LED):

- Rapid ABC blink while CPU reboots. While on CLI menu A->B->C LED's are "walking" slowly and constantly

- Configurator does NOT work on this mode

 

So if you have something else you either have broken hardware or wrong software.

 

You could also open your Serial Monitor while in normal flight mode, hit 'S' on command and you should see output coming.

 

Also while in normal flight mode hit '!' and you should get software version

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Permalink Reply by John Owen on December 23, 2010 at 6:17pm

I am seeing the ABC lights all blink very quickly at the same time for a few seconds.  Then the Rx and Tx Lights blink a few time.  This is followed by the ABC lights doing the exact same thing they did first, and blinking very quickly and then nothing.  I never get the Green stable mode light.

 

When I had the board booting correctly, the ABC lights blinked and then a few seconds later the ABC lights did a little racing pattern.  Once that was done the green Stable Mode light would stay on solid.   I have not been able to get the boards to do this again.

 

I am currently using the RC1 ArduCopter code downloaded fresh (twice) from the official wiki link.   I have also tried looking at the serial output in Arduino.  As soon as i start the monitor, I get lines of numbers racing.  This happens before I send any input to the board.  The monitor does not respond to any input that I can see, the lines of numbers just continue.

 

 

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3D RoboticsPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on December 23, 2010 at 6:36pm

Don't use RC1 (it's ancient). Use the latest code, RC2.
http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/downloads/detail?name=ArduCopte...

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Permalink Reply by John Owen on December 24, 2010 at 5:35pm

Ok I loaded the new RC2 code and I seem to be getting somewhere.  I loaded the code and then switched SW2 to the flight mode position.

 

The ABC lights are now doing a slow, constant walk.  I never get a solid green light.  In the Configurator, I am able to connect to the board.  It says Reading Flight Data but does nothing happens when I move the board around.  I also am unable to initialize the EEPROM.  I click the initialize button an nothing happens.

 

I checked while the SW2 is in CLI mode, I am able to get expected output from the serial monitor again. 

 

I appriciate you guys being patient with me, it seems if there is a way to mess it up, I can find it!

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Yong Li Ling on December 27, 2010 at 2:01am

Your problem is quite simlar to mine...

If you have solve the problem, can kindly tell me what is the causes?? Is it the APM fried?

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by John Owen on December 27, 2010 at 10:30am

I will let you know as soon as I know something.  I am going to be ordering header pins to try replacing the Sparkfun board only soon.  Once I have that soldered I will try and reload the code.  Hopefully its only one bad board and not both.  We will see.

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