Any clone Pixhawk users out there? Hoping I can get some help with this one. I just purchased myself a “clone” Pixhawk. [Here is a link to the particular one](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pixhawk-PX4-2-4-6-32bit-ARM-Flight-Controller-NEO-6M-GPS-OSD-PPM-Power-Module-US-/251971933893?ssPageName=ADME:X:RRIRTB:US:3160) I am setting this up for a quad frame type (more specifically TBS Discovery).
I installed the latest version of Mission Planner without a hiccup. Drivers installed just fine and plugged in the Pixhawk, which my PC immediately picked up. Buzzer indicated it was connected. Verified the COM port and made sure baud rate was at 115200. Then came the issues.
I went to Initial Setup > Install Firmware >Are you sure you want to load (v3.3.1 quad)>Yes and got the error: “Invalid Cert: You are using unsupported hardware. This board does not contain a valid certificate of authenticity. Please contact your hardware vendor about signing your hardware.”
Could this be because it’s a clone Pixhawk? I tried searching everywhere about this but could not find any information.
I clicked OK anyway and it seemed to load the firmware, so I thought it was fine. The progress bar even showed an upload, got the musical tones and clicked OK upon finish. I then clicked Connect and went to Mandatory Hardware. Accel Calibration successful.
Compass Calibration is where I keep getting all sorts of problems. Compass enable and auto dec declination are both checked by default. I selected Pixhawk/PX4 and confirmed it was later than APM:copter 3.01 or APM:Plane 2.74. Live calibration would complete and offsets I would get are around +10/-400 or more between both compasses (internal & external) which ardupilot says is normal for Pixhawk. (For PX4 and Pixhawk, values may be greater than 150 and less than -150. Press OK.)
When clicking Flight Data to make sure it was working, I’d get the big red Error Compass Variance and a red EKF on the artificial horizon. Pitch/roll/yaw worked fine but the heading was not matching the actual direction the external compass and the Pixhawk were facing at all. I also made absolutely sure that the Pixhawk and external compass were both facing the same direction.
Here is a list of all the troubleshooting I’ve done:
-Disconnect/reconnect Pixhawk
-Closed/reopened MissionPlanner
-Reloaded firmware
-Uninstalled Pixhawk drivers and MissionPlanner and reinstalled
-Ensured external compass was facing the same direction as arrow of the Pixhawk (Just for the hell of it, even tried rotating it 180 while retrying all the configuration just in case it was rotated improperly in the case)
-Formatted SD card in Pixhawk and reinstalled firmware again
-Repeated entire process on a different PC
I’m at a total loss here and not sure what to do. I am really considering returning this to the seller because I’m afraid that it could be bad hardware.
Things that come to mind for me are:
The invalid cert error. I know this is a clone Pixhawk but others seem to have success settings theirs up. Despite the error, MissionPlanner seems to upload firmware anyway.
Bad external compass? From the compass variance error to red EKF to “Bad AHRS” I think it’s safe to assume.
*Note: I don’t have much experience with all of this but I had no trouble setting up APM 2.6 on another quad. I also know that the setup is somewhat similar between APM and Pixhawk.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I wanted to be as specific as possible. Any and all input would be greatly appreciated.
[Here’s a little gallery of the errors that are in question](http://imgur.com/a/hU4iZ)
Replies
Have you had any luck? I have the exact same issue, in my build everything seems to work but I keep getting the Bad AHRS and Compass Variance warning. I have calibrated over and over.......
Try turning off Auto/Dec and manually inputting in the declination. I've heard others have had success. My guess is if you don't get gps coordinates fast enough the pixhawk will assume you are located at coordinates 0,0.
Hi,
I have the same problems with a Pixmimi clone I recently bought from Ebay
http://www.ebay.ch/itm/Mini-Pixhawk-Flight-Control-32bit-ARM-Cortex....
The board comes loaded with APM 3.3.1 RC1 and when trying to flash the board with some other APM versions Mission planer issues the same infamous : "Invalid Cert: You are using unsupported hardware....."
As opposed to your "I clicked OK anyway and it seemed to load the firmware" mission planer DOES NOT load the firmware since the writing and verifying steps of the firmware flashing procedure are simply and obviously missing.
The board remains however somehow usable but with all the vagaries / instabilities of a release candidate 1. .......like the compass variance / bad AHRS ... and what have you stuff.
Bottom line :Actually the real problem with these Chinese px4 clones is that the normal firmware flashing procedure with Mission planer doesn't work.
So either we need to find a way to bypass the Mission Planer authenticity check or find an altogether other flashing tool/procedure for stable APM firmware
Otherwise these cloned boards are truly a bad deal !
What's your take ?
Sorry you need to forget my post above.
Here are the facts :
1) with above Chinese px4 clones Mission Planer will always issue a failed authenticity check while trying to flash other APM firmware versions
2)to avoid/bypass this check in Mission Planer simply use the option "force px4 bootloader".
3)bottom line there is NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER flashing whatever APM firmware version you seem fit to use
4)An exhaustive and actualized directory of all worthy APM firmware versions is found here
http://firmware.diydrones.com/
5) load and flash the latest 3.4 dev copter version which seems to have solved the compass and AHRS issues
6)Be happy
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