3DR Pixhawk

I was thinking about upgrading from my old APM 2.5 to the new Pixhawk and was curious if that is the right route for a large Helicopter platform? I kept seeing people finding some bugs in the system and wanted to know if those have been worked out? 

On another note does the Pixhawk have more input and outputs than the APM2.5? I ran into a problem with the APM as there are not enough inputs to outputs. If I control a gimbal with a joystick I would like to be able to use all 3 axis's. 

All comments are welcome :) 

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  • Having just built my first quad with a Pixhawk, I would say the Pixhawk is more reliable to date. I have had no problems so far and tuning a reliability along with future updates is worth it.

    • All good information. I will be getting a Pixhawk on order here soon. 

      • Sean, I flew all 3 of my helis a bunch on the weekend.  First time since the long winter we've suffered.  2 PX4's and a Pixhawk.  All flew perfect.  I now feel I have no reason at all to recommend caution moving to the new platform.  Go for it.

        • Good to know Rob. I will be placing an order here soon. I am in need of an upgrade bad I am still running 2.9 which seems to work well but from what I have seen in version 3 up to 3.1 huge improvements.

      • Let us know how's your project going

  • Yup I think it's no more a big issue to concern, or perhaps it's just not an real issue since the first day. Most of the time it's just some setup problem, not all components are 100% compatible to each other. Once sorted out, it's amazing to fly.

    Code bugs will always exist, we all remember the day Windows 98 was introduced together with the "plug and play" bluescreen. But 4 months after release I don't think we will have any big issue, developers of Ardupilot are very active.

    BTW I like my PX4 a bit more than Pixhawk. It's very compact, and has the same hardware, the only thing I want is just a proper case.

    • I didn't realize that there was a difference between the PX4 and Pixhawk. What are the differences?  

      • Admin

        @Sean,

        Here are the differences: Pixhawk-PX4 Check the Comparison of PX4-FMU-IO and Pixhawk Section.

        Regards,

        TCIII Admin

  • I'm using a PX4 for my heli and I'm very confident with it. Even the older APM is pretty reliable and was working perfectly for me until the moment I got a short circuit... Pixhawk and PX4 can handle the reverse polarization so no more worry for me.

    There are many videos showing the new Pixhawk's performance on copters, very impressive. I really hope more people flying their Heli with Pixhawk.

    Some time ago people were reporting some servo twitch problem on APM/Pixhawk, but it seems it's gone. I had this problem before but at the end it turned out it was just my servo cable.

    • Yeah, I was really worried about the RC Input gliitch thing.  I never really got to the bottom of it.  But it just hasn't been an issue. Root cause on my Protos was static discharge from the belt.  It should not have caused a problem for the PX4, since other systems are fine on that machine.  But, I grounded the system better to eliminate the static completely, and it's been fine since.  My other two helis never had a problem.

      I did have the problem on a multirotor (proving that it's not just a static issue) but I changed that system out, and no problem.  And I haven't seen any other reports.

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