Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Vincent van Schijndel on September 26, 2012 at 10:40pm

nobody? how have you guys hooked it up?

Permalink Reply by Serge on September 27, 2012 at 1:31am

Hoi Vincent,

I am not a rover user, but I think this is the same for all vehicles. I ordered a separate BEC yesterday because I want to use 7 servos on my plane and my built in BEC only provides 3A. I think that would be the only reason to have a separate BEC. Having a UBEC (or switching BEC) provides the additional advantage of having less heat produced if you have higher input voltages (3S lipo and up I would say).

The problem you describe regarding having just USB power is not a problem I believe. I have used my ESC's built in BEC, also for quite a while now with a first generation APM 1. If I connected USB only, it caused my servos to jitter and my motor to beep, but did not do any damage; however, I would recommend disconnecting them when you power through usb. I now have a second generation APM 1 (1.4 I believe), and with the same setup, the servos and motor just do nothing if only powered through USB.

What I did in my first setup (first gen APM) was usually to connect the battery when I also connected the USB. 

Hope this helps!

Groeten! Serge

Permalink Reply by Vincent van Schijndel on September 27, 2012 at 4:27am

hallo Serge,

thanks for your reply.  then i am going to do it your way. use the built in bec, and alsways connect a battery to it before powering the usb. but it is also good to know that there shouldn't be a problem if i forget the battery one time.

you also say there is a difference between first and second generation, with version one with beeping engine en second not. is it safe to test witch generation i have by powering with only usb and see what happens to esc and servo?

this saves me a second bec on my tiny 1.18 car, thanks !!

groet vincent

Permalink Reply by Vincent van Schijndel on October 1, 2012 at 11:48pm

installed my apm, and loaded the apm rover firmware with the mission planner. so far so good. but only now i cant see the compass value's in hud moving... does anybody knows why?

Permalink Reply by Serge on October 2, 2012 at 12:19am

Did you enable and calibrate the compass in the mission planner config? Probably you have, but just to be sure =]

Otherwise, I have no clue. 

goodluck!

Permalink Reply by Vincent van Schijndel on October 2, 2012 at 1:46am

i did enable it, and just did test trough the cli mode, than i see al figures moving. just dont see the hud moving...

AdminPermalink Reply by Thomas J Coyle III on October 2, 2012 at 6:58am

Vincent,

One of the ArduRover User Group members determined that the HUD heading will not update unless you have a GPS lock: http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/apmrover-1280-a-fun-ugv-pro... 

Hope this helps.

Regards,

TCIII 

Permalink Reply by Vincent van Schijndel on October 3, 2012 at 11:44am

serge you where right, i only moves when gps lock is there;)

after some headbreaking hours(when activating auto mode it only whent in a straight line in a wave pattern from left to right) i finnaly got it working and driving waypoints:) the problem was solved by reversing the roll;)

it does ride the waypoint quite nice, only the accuracy is not very high. 4-5 m close to a point is normal. is there any way to improve this accuracy?

a ex04 sonar came with the kit. the owner used it on arducopter on the pitot port. can i use it with ardurover on the same port?

kind regards,,

vincent

AdminPermalink Reply by Thomas J Coyle III on October 3, 2012 at 3:40pm

Vincent,

What GPS are you using? The most acccurate GPS from 3DR is the uBlox LEA-6H. Also, what model of compass are you using? The most recent is the HMC5883L.

Regards,

TCIII

Permalink Reply by Vincent van Schijndel on October 5, 2012 at 12:20pm

i am using the standerd mediatek gps. i have seen the ublox, but 80 dollars for a gps is to much for my right now, and that still has only 2.5 m accuracy... isnt there any better/cheaper?

type of compass i dont know, is is soldered directly on the imu shield...

any answers on the sonar port?

AdminPermalink Reply by Thomas J Coyle III on October 5, 2012 at 12:32pm

Vincent,

In the GPS world a cheaper GPS is not synonomous with improved accuracy unfortunately. Also, according to Chris Anderson, his emperical rover testing definitely indcated that the uBlox LEA-6 performance was a cut above the older MediaTek MT3329.

Just a thought.

Regards,

TCIII

Permalink Reply by Vincent van Schijndel on October 5, 2012 at 9:52pm

yes i was afraid so;) maybe i will buy a ublox, but cant afford at the moment;) thanks for your answer.

anyone has an answer on my sonar question 2 posts back?

regards

vincent

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