APM communicates via CLI, but not Mavlink

We've got two new APM 2.5s from diydrones, and are just getting started with Arducopter (but aren't new to Arduino or embedded systems).

After downloading 2.8.1 hexacopter to them with Mission Planner, we were able to communicate with them through CLI, and connect to them with MP, but not do much else (like radio calibration). Apparently because the APMs kept resetting themselves every 5 seconds (according to message on the console).

Upgraded both to 2.9, and now one appears to be working okay when hooked up via USB. But the other one can only communicate via CLI: trying to connect via MP times out every time.

Is there a debug tool to help isolate what's failing (like, say, a diagnostic sketch for the APM, or an app that would show me what's going on over the Mavlink link? The Windoze version of MP unhelpfully closes the command prompt window on  startup, so I can't see its debugging output like on Linux)?

Thanks,

Ran

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  • OK!!! Finally i got fw 3.0.1 back to work properly... the technical support at 3dr suggested me to erase the eeprom just as Thomas did, (didn't know how to do it, for who doesn't CLI - setup - erase) and that might have worked out... it did! Now i have mavlink connection and everything looks ok in mission planner. As i described them the full system configuration, that comprehends the optical flow sensor, they suggested me to not activate it as it still isn't supported. Now my question is: if it's not supported why is it sold (already since about one year if not more) and available for activation in the mission planner?

    Thank you guys for the help and hope this could be helpful for anybody in the same situation.

  • I had the same problem after connecting my APM 2.5 to a lipo, everything was working fine, after having done the esc calibration (that was fine) i disconnected from the lipo, upon reconnecting no abc leds, only power led was on and few blinks of the tx/rx leds, no connection to mavlink nor with usb nor with 3dr radios, strange thing was that the motors were doing some erratic spins with no input from radio tx. I could connect to CLI and upload firmware again (3.1 arducopter quad) but with no results on the mavlink connection. Tried everything like reset button for 30 secs, finally i tried flashing an older firmware (2.9 arducopter quad) and this solved the problem!!! Mavlink reconnected and the board seems to work fine. Then i tried reflashing 3.1 firmware, mavlink seemed to reconnect, at a slower rate than with fw 2.9 and actually i couldn't see any change in the attitude indicator when moving the board. Went back to fw 2.9 and now it works again. Obviously now i will stick with this version, but would be interesting to understand what's wrong with the latest version of the firmware.

  • I'm having the same issue! I'm able to connect via CLI but not trough mavlink I can also upload firmwares. When I try to connect via mavlink it keeps getting stuck on AHRS RP P. I just got the the apm  2.5 yesterday. I think I was given a bad gyro.

  • I can't get my new APM2.5 to connect to MP at all. Older one works fine. How did you get to communicate through CLI ?

  • 3D Robotics

    If they're resetting, I'm guessing that they're browning out. Are you using the Power Module to power them?

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