Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maki, Eric J on February 8, 2012 at 8:44am

K, Well, I guess I'm over it. I have about $1500 US wrapped up in this project and apparently my APM just became junk for seemingly no reason.  I am sad and frustrated and need to leave this behind me. I started this project only three months ago so everything is fairly new. 

So, does anyone wanna buy the rest of my quadcopter stuff for $800 total?  Be a good starter setup.  Motors, Props, Esc's, HK frame (1 built, 1 still in box), 9x radio set with smartieparts usb prog board w/ backlight, micro servos, HD camera, 2- 5ah 4s LiPO  flight batteries with 200w charger, 2- 900mah 2s LiPO electronics batteries with charger, box full of new props, lots of LED's and a bunch of extra small parts too. Someone please buy...  Needs a new APM.

First choice was to fly and take pix.  Too bad for me...

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Permalink Reply by Maki, Eric J on February 8, 2012 at 9:13am

Forgot- Xbee 900mhz full telemetry link, MTK GPS, and 5a MegaBEC included too. 

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Permalink Reply by Nick Mann on February 8, 2012 at 10:02am

Hey Eric.  Bummer that your APM isn't working for you.  I must confess I'm leaning towards other flight controllers nowadays.  The 2.0 board does look pretty cool though, I wanna try one or two of those when they get into fluid production.  Seems a shame to blow all that good gear when all you need is a reliable flight controller.  

Having said that..  if you're set on selling, I could be interested...  What's the camera and condition?  What are the motors and ESCs?  And what prop size?  Which HK frame?  

I do think you're crazy, though.  You could pull this back together.  And it would be very satisfying.

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Permalink Reply by Maki, Eric J on February 8, 2012 at 1:15pm

Of course I am crazy- wouldn't wanna be 'normal'.

Anyway, It would be and was very satisfying to see this quad in the air, and yes, I could get this back in the air very easy if I had more money. This has been a four year obsession and I hate to let it all go.  However, enough is enough- I just wanna fly and learn arduino.  My funds are VERY limited- I was hoping the quad could produce a little more income so I could continue to build my house.  I cannot keep dumping money into a project that might freak out at any moment. 

My Cummins diesel fires up every time- even @ -20F and colder- and has for many years now.   I guess I expect the same from any decent equipment. I figure computers- no matter what kind- should work for longer than a few months-  my APM spent maybe eight hours total powered up before it failed.  This is simply unacceptable to me.

Camera is a rt32? i think, its a nice 5Mp video and 7Mp still- open board and Li-po in a clear shrink tube. Nice little unit- motion detect and good in low light too. 15ish grams with battery.

ESCs- turnigy plush 18A- have four

Motors- 20aMAX @ 15v, 750Kv outunner, ball bearing- can't remember brand -have 7 motors, one with a broken shaft.

Props- 10d x 6p three blade (I'm @ 2500m altitude- need mad lift here)- have 6 ea direction.

Frame is the red/grey 3mm plywood from HK.  I really like the frame- its quite rigid and light. 1 still new in box.

With an APM, this setup will fly as-is- everything is still assembled.

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Permalink Reply by Dusty Starbucks on February 9, 2012 at 1:02am

Eric,
A similar thing happened to me when I upgraded. I ended up resetting and erasing all memory. I believe it is in CLI under the command 'setup'. Basically completely wiping the existing stuff on your board. Then I loaded from scratch and it was right as rain. Definitely give it a try before giving up.

By the way, it seemed something like what you experienced. Kind of like it didn't happen right away, but then I went in to do some setting and things were drifting all over the place while the copter was sitting still.

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Permalink Reply by Maki, Eric J on February 9, 2012 at 7:38am

Thanks Dusty- been there done that.  I've been through the setup (erase and reconfigure) a few times.  Nothing changes.  Its primarily the  X and Z gyro all over the place- never steady.  Since APMP can't even find the APM version to upgrade firmware,  I cannot believe its still just software issues. 

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Permalink Reply by Dusty Starbucks on February 9, 2012 at 8:24am

Sorry to hear that. Even sorrier that you are giving up. But, this isn't for everyone. It can be frustrating, time consuming and expensive. Maybe you are right. Sell the lot. But I would consider keeping the radio and receiver, then looking at something different, like a Gaui. The arducopter is really about autonomous flight and that's what makes it cool, and all of the things previously mentioned. The fact that the code is in a constant state of development can be frustrating or the reason you are here (I.e. the technical challenge).

If you want to fly and take pictures, there are way cheaper ways to go, than this. Out of the box kit machines for between $300-$400. http://www.amazon.com/Gaui-330X-S-Flyer-Scorpion-Motors/dp/B003YQMC9Y
They can carry a small camera and they work. Later if you want autonomous and you are in a better position and you still want to try, I am sure the DIY group will still be here.
Either way, it will cost time and that might not be a commodity you can give.

Whatever you do decide, good luck and happy trails!

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Permalink Reply by Maki, Eric J on February 13, 2012 at 9:51am

I've wanted to get into arduino coding for a while- so flying is only part of it- a big part, but only part. 

For the moment, all sales are on hold- I am sending the AP back to Udrones to see about repairs.  We shall see if its an equipment problem, or if I screwed something up.  If I did something and broke it and its not repairable, then I will most likely buy a new IMU sometime later (assuming the processor side is still okay and its just the IMU with problems).

Point being, I'm going to wait and see whats up with repairs and go from there...

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