Posted by Hennie Erwee on January 11, 2012 at 11:18am
I have been flying a xAircraft x650 v8 quad with coaxial motor and have just ordered the APM 2 controller to upgrade the quad with GPS controller. Does the APM2 controller accommodate quads with coaxial motors?
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I just got my X650 v8 today... dissapointed to find out I did not get the latest version controller, FC1212-P and V2 stabilizer; in the box is the FC 1212-S version. I guess it doesn't matter since I will eventually replace with the AMP2 controller anyway. In the mean time I'll be flying it 'out of the box' and see how it handles.
I only got the V8 since the V4 was out of stock, it was over $100 less than other places, and local. I can just build the v4 and save the v8 upgrade until later...
Hi Hennie, X8 is not an option in the APM Planner setup software, but it's just a matter of mixer settings -- you can definitely make it work. Or alternatively you can cheat by tying the pwm inputs together for top and bottom motors, except I'm not sure that's idea for yaw control. Lots of people seem interested in this question right now -- e.g. http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/octocopter-x8-co-axial-setup-help . I also own an x650v8 and want to replace the electronics with the APM, so will let you know how it goes.
I think the biggest obstacle is going to be the "ultraPWM" ESCs on the x650. They are non-standard and I'm not sure anyone has ever gotten them to work with a non-xaircraft controller. I'm going to see if I can get them to work but chances are I don't have the expertise. So you probably want to buy 8 of the arducopter ESCs.
By the way, I think this is definitely the way to go-- the xaircraft frame is wonderful, but their electronics are crap (not sure if it's the hardware, software, or both). My brand new x8 is very wobbly in the air, while my old busted arducopter 1.0 is rock-solid. Their firmware, documentation, and support situation is extremely confusing and generally awful.
Replies
I have just figured out the code needed to modify APM to drive the Xaircraft "ultrapwm" ESCs. The code changes are here:
https://code.google.com/r/foobarbecue-ardupilot-ultrapwm/source/det...
To compile and upload, go to the ArduCopter directory, and type:
make clean
make apm2ultrapwm
make upload
I just got my X650 v8 today... dissapointed to find out I did not get the latest version controller, FC1212-P and V2 stabilizer; in the box is the FC 1212-S version. I guess it doesn't matter since I will eventually replace with the AMP2 controller anyway. In the mean time I'll be flying it 'out of the box' and see how it handles.
I only got the V8 since the V4 was out of stock, it was over $100 less than other places, and local. I can just build the v4 and save the v8 upgrade until later...
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/arducopter-with-xaircraft-x650-...
hello I'm using the frame, engine TURNIGY Plush 10amp 9gram Speed Controller and accessories XAircraf v4, with ArduPilot 1 full 1250g 10 minutes original motors xaircraft v4,
quad octo x if you can see from the code in the arduino code 2.2b4 motor_octa_quad
#if FRAME_CONFIG == OCTA_QUAD_FRAME
static void init_motors_out()
{
#if INSTANT_PWM == 0
APM_RC.SetFastOutputChannels( _BV(MOT_1) | _BV(MOT_2) | _BV(MOT_3) | _BV(MOT_4)
| _BV(MOT_5) | _BV(MOT_6) | _BV(MOT_7) | _BV(MOT_8) );
#endif
}
static void motors_output_enable()
{
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_1);
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_2);
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_3);
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_4);
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_5);
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_6);
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_7);
APM_RC.enable_out(MOT_8);
esc http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__4204__TURNIGY_Plush_10am...
carbon fiber prop http://www.goodluckbuy.com/1045-10x4-5-carbon-fiber-propeller-prop-...
with motors http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=...
Hi Hennie, X8 is not an option in the APM Planner setup software, but it's just a matter of mixer settings -- you can definitely make it work. Or alternatively you can cheat by tying the pwm inputs together for top and bottom motors, except I'm not sure that's idea for yaw control. Lots of people seem interested in this question right now -- e.g. http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/octocopter-x8-co-axial-setup-help . I also own an x650v8 and want to replace the electronics with the APM, so will let you know how it goes.
I think the biggest obstacle is going to be the "ultraPWM" ESCs on the x650. They are non-standard and I'm not sure anyone has ever gotten them to work with a non-xaircraft controller. I'm going to see if I can get them to work but chances are I don't have the expertise. So you probably want to buy 8 of the arducopter ESCs.
By the way, I think this is definitely the way to go-- the xaircraft frame is wonderful, but their electronics are crap (not sure if it's the hardware, software, or both). My brand new x8 is very wobbly in the air, while my old busted arducopter 1.0 is rock-solid. Their firmware, documentation, and support situation is extremely confusing and generally awful.