Just received a APM 2.5.2 & uBlox Lea-6h w/external compass. I severed the connection on the APM board to disable the on-board compass, but I am having trouble understanding where the cables go. I purchased the APM & GPS from Witespy (Ready to fly Quads). There are two cables that were included - the one that is connected to the GPS has a 6-pin connector on the GPS side, and branches off into two 4-pin connectors - one has 4 wires (Black, Red, White, Green) and the other 4-pin connector only has 2 wires (Yellow, Blue). I don't think this is the correct cable and I am having a real hard time getting a response from Ready to fly Quads. My understanding is that the 5-pin GPS connector on the APM (DF13 style connector) should provide VCC, Ground, Rx, and Tx to the GPS. The other two pins on the GPS are SDA & SCL should go the I2C port on the APM (4-pins). Can anyone tell me PRECISELY how to connect this GPS/Compass to the APM and what cables I need? DF13 - JST - something else I have never heard of??? I am pretty sure all but the old style GPS port on the APM is DF13 style connectors, but what about the ports on the LEA 6h. Are these also DF13 or something else. SUPER frustrating!!
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I have the exact same GPS and had the same questions. Actually I have 2 of these since I crashed with the first one on and it ruined the GPS by pulling the connector from the board itself. Interesting though is that they seem to work slightly different from one another. First of all, I've been trying to determine whether the GPS actually is an all-in-one with compass. I kinda think that since it does have sda/scl connections but (just like you), I'm not getting much response back from the seller so it seems we are on our own. are you sure they include a compass?
For my first gps, all I did was use the first 4 pin connector (tx,rx,vcc,gnd) and all I did was connect them to the gps port. be sure to reverse tx to rx and rx to tx. it really doesn't matter wether you use the top or bottom gps port on the apm (it seems they are all connected !!) https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3692630152?prof... my crash, I did the same wiring with my second gps, but I couldn't get the solid bright green to light up (it would only flash green but not as bright). So I started playing around with the slc/sda connections to the i2c port on the apm. I found that I could put either one on the pin closest to the outside edge of the apm and I would get the solid green to light up and eventually a 3d lock (flashing blue). I looked all over for a pinout diagram of the i2c port but I could not find one. I'm guessing all I'm doing is supplying more power to the gps though?? I tested loiter but it doesn't seem to always work. twice it worked great and I even did an rtl, but most times it doesn't seem to know where it is and makes sudden movements in various directions and I eventually have to flip back to stabilize mode and take control (even though I have a lock with 6 or more satellites).
i'm not sure what the connector style is on the i2c port. My second gps came with connectors that fit the ports on the apm, it just had to move the pins around. I also purchased some of these just for the connectors to the gps:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171089300853?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_...
@Glenn,
Here is a link to the Arducopter Wiki that shows how to install the GPS/Compass module: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-installing-3dr-ublox-gps-co...
You will notice that there are two cables coming from the GPS/Compass module going to the APM. One is a 6 pin cable and connects the GPS to the APM top facing GPS connector and the other is a 4 pin cable and connects the compass to the I2C connector on the top of the APM. I know the picture shows the GPS/Compass module connections to the new APM2.6, but the APM2.5 has the GPS and I2C connectors in the same place as the APM2.6.
It sounds like you were not provided with the correct cables or the GPS/Compass module that you purchased is a clone with different cable interconnection requirements.
Regards,
TCIII ArduRover2 Developer