How NOT to fry the APM 2.0!!

There seems to be a big, big issue with builders frying the APM 2.0.

A good many of them seem to know what they are doing. What is the problem?

I want to know once and for all how NOT to fry the APM 2.0.

It's my understanding that the APM 2.0 needs/uses 5v. It is also my understanding from the posts and submissions from the forums that supplying more or less than the stated 5v can or will cause issues.

Seems simple enough, but then why are guys having a problem?

I'm not a computer scientist or electrical engineer, so I must rely on the kind help and support from others here.

In my case I have a servo that must use 6v because of the torque. My Castle Creations phoenix Ice 50 motor controller is programmable and can supply 5v.

I also have a separate Castle Creations BEC battery eliminator. It is also programmable and can supply 4.8v-9.0v

Now, beyond the 6v servo. I am not running anything special. I plan on using the GPS, xbee and maybe the wind speed sensor.

The question is using a single 4s 5000mah lipo, what is the safe and correct way to wire the APM 2.0 so as to NOT fly it?

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John Grouse July 4, 2012 at 5:33am

I've recently set up a new camera gimbal to stabilize roll and pitch and the standard size servo's benefit greatly from running at 6v due to the increase in speed in correcting the level of the camera. I was going to set the 5A UBEC to 6v and feed the in/out common rail with that, however after reading the warnings about sticking with 5v I may need to set the APM board to use a separate supply - one for the gimbal servos, fed from the 6v bec to the common rail (motor esc disabled) and the APM fed separately from the battery via the Vin connection. Would the 3cell be too high a voltage to run it this way?
Jake Stew May 16, 2012 at 9:01am

You might be best to just get a proper 5V servo. Messing with all that wiring can certainly increase your chances of frying the APM. You could also have interference problems and ground loops and diode burnouts or other problems. I don't think the added weight and complexity of wiring is worth it. KISS right?

It would be a real heart breaker to crash or burn out your $200 APM over a $10 servo issue.
Joshua Ott May 15, 2012 at 8:37pm

Pull JP1 jumper and give the servo rail 6v and the APM 5v
Jake Stew May 15, 2012 at 6:13pm

Set everything to 5v and see if you really have a problem running the servo at 5v.

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How NOT to fry the APM 2.0!!

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