Looking for general usage guidelines for quad copter using the APM 2.x controller. We have 3 UAS4STEM teams and all of us seem to have a lot of issues with the controllers. Do they not remember settings that are programmed into them? Do they have NVM memory?
I have decided that the best pre-flight process is to load saved parameters to the APM and then check thinks such as flight modes, failsafe values, etc. Then plan a mission and upload it to the quad, ARM and then switch to AUTO to initiate the mission.
Is there any way to automatically check that the controller is setup correctly before a flight? Any advice is appreciated!
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You must be doing it all wrong if the APM is not saving settings. Are you even writing the parameters to the controller?
Thanks for your vote of confidence! Lets look at the battery monitor first. I can set the APM version to: 2: APM2.5+ - 3DR Power Module and it will write it to the controller. If you power the bird down and power it up the next time it will say: 4: Pixhawk.
If you look at frame type mission planner will always default to: 3DR_AERO_M.param when I really want it to be set to: 3DR_QUAD_X4_RTF.param! If you select the 3DR_QUAD_X4_RTF.param and load parameters you get the compare parameter list with a few entries and then you click continue and you assume it's loaded into the controller.
If you go into Config/Tuning you would expect it to say what your loaded frame type is in the little display on the right. It also defaults to: 3DR_AERO_M.param
Hence our confusion! We know how to write parameters, we know how to upload way-points, we just would like for mission planner to keep the settings that we program into it!