Anyone have an easy way to reinforce GPS on apm 2.0? I ask because when I was flying my quad at the local golf course (nice soft grasss to crash on:), I did a hard bank and the velco star gave and my battery popped loose ( new strapping coming now)..
I was maybe 15 feet off the ground, and she came down perfectly upside down, landing square on the protective dome. NOTHING BROKE! not even the props, though fantastic and even flew one more time after rigging a battery strap. I got home to my bench I notice the gps was popped up but still solid on connectors, I guess the simple gforce was too much for the sudden down force of the crash I pushed it down and connected via usb to see if it worked still. It did not. SEE PHOTOS--> this is in the middle of my removal to inspect for other damage. the apm is mounted on thick double sided monutng rubber, and attached with rubber washers to the plate. The straight force was too much for the GPS mounting to take, I may need to buy a new gps for this version, but for my second APM i would want to reinforce the gps... Any thoughts how one could accomplish this...
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I just found this thread and am now worried. How do I know if my board has this defect? I have over 20 good flights so maybe I have one of the good boards. Do you have a suggested solution?
Maybe you don’t have an accurate compass calibration?
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Watch out for compass reversing ! - I lost my 3DR quad with everything into the sea, it run away because the APM2 have a nasty compass reversing error.
The forum admin censored (removed) my warning to people - and sales did not bother to even comment on it.
In short: if you boot APM2 without resetting it later, compass is reversed. Also, if allowed to learn in air, it will go nuts if you did not boot, then reset again.
Thanks for all the great replies. I am still wondering if the prop ring suspension rig won't lend itself to resonance vibrations? I read the first posts before this became part of the wiki, and some were of the opinion this might be a bad idea... Is this really working out for people?
I don't know that this mount would have prevented the GPS popping loose from the board though, not with the dead shear force that it hit the ground with, but some epoxy and hot glue would probably do the trick to reinforce the solder tabs! This situation reminds me of integrated wireless in mobile devices. Inevitably if it goes bad, you have no choice but to go external. Frankly, I like the design/build option to place the APM2 inside the drone for protection with the GPS on top to open sky! So it all worked out anyway...
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What about just suspending the APM2 with rubber shock mounts like this:
Maybe this is another signal to DIY Drones that we need the APM 2.0 SD card breakout to be available in shop aside from ordering it with the APM 2.0 "External GPS" option. What happens when accidents like this happens and we need to replace parts? For those who have the APM 2.0 with onboard GPS...we're stuck with it.
Problem is gps isn't working at all now. Looks like I might have to go external gps. :( Seems like a weakness that will haunt everone at some point. If I get a new APM 2 I will want to reinforce it before I fly again... Might be a good idea in general to attach that better. I am hoping I am just a fluke...
Ouch!
Hot melt glue is my best friend or, if you have 24hrs curing time to play with, simple clear bathroom silicon. It'll give 'bounce', water resistance and reinforcement to most electronic components without interference.