Discussions

PixRacer with Ardupilot

Posted by Randy on February 9, 2016 at 4:47pm

This is a discussion to focus the feedback and support of ardupilot on the PixRacer board from AUAV.co.

We believe that all teething problems encountered are now resolved and so we recommend people load Copter-3.3.4 which is available for all multicopters through the Mission Planner's (and other GCS's) Install Firmware screens. Note that because regular Pixhawks are still on Copter-3.3.3 the install icon may show Copter-3.3.3 but rest assured, Copter-3.3.4 will be installed (you can check the version by looking at the very top of the Mission Planner).

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apm:copter, arducopter, ardupilot, pixracer

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Replies

- - - - T3
        
        Thorsten > Randy April 17, 2016 at 10:33pm
        
        Hi Randy,
        
        I was playing with my Pixracer yesterday (after solving the driver issues on Windows) and also have some strange "problems" with the compasses.
        
        I calibrated them several times both with auto accept and manual accept. But then the GCS periodically tells me "Compass not calibrated". The two internal compasses have relatively high field length (>500, <600) but the compass variance is in the green range. So it should be fine.
        
        If I disable the internal compasses it seems fine.
        
        Additionally:
        
        I tried to arm indoors and set arming checks to -9:no GPS as well as to 0. But all GCS were still insisting on a 3D fix in the PreArm checks.
        
        Cheers,
        
        Thorsten
        
        Justin Ward > Thorsten May 21, 2016 at 5:02am
        
        @Thorsten, how did you fix your driver issues on Windows? I have not been able to connect reliably to the PixRacer. I can connect reliably to a PixHawk.
        
        AC3.3.3. Windows 10. Latest Mission Planner.
        
        T3
        
        Thorsten > Thorsten April 18, 2016 at 12:39am
        
        I made a short test and calibrated the compasses again in 3.3.4.
        
        There is a rather large difference in the Z offsets of the second compass:
        
        3.4dev:
        
        3.3.4:
        
        Developer
        
        Randy > Thorsten April 18, 2016 at 1:02am
        
        Are you using the "Live Calibration" button or the "Onboard Mag Calibration Start" button?
        
        The difference between these two is the "Live Calibration" is all done within the mission planner while the "Onboard Mag Calibration" is done on the flight controller (using software in ArduPilot). The "Onboard Mag Calibration" should produce slightly better results.
        
        T3
        
        Thorsten > Randy April 18, 2016 at 3:01am
        
        On 3.4dev with Onboard calibration it seems the offsets flip between X and Y:
        
        Onboard: X: 357, Y: -144 Z: 9
        
        Live: X: -41, Y: 331 Z: 5
        
        With onboard I get "Check magnetic field"
        
        With live I get: "Compass not calibrated"
        
        Onboard is only calibrating two compasses.
        
        gervais > Thorsten April 18, 2016 at 8:58am
        
        I used the live calibration as well (since I didn´t know what the onboard does) Auto Accept always finished far too early (after 180°),turned it off but still had a lot of calibration failures till I got it finished.
        
        It always showed Err 99 for the 3rd MAG, but spit out all offsets for it. Nevertheless, I didn´t notice any abnormal behavior during flight.(AltHold/PosHold/Land) Except, that it seemed, that GLONASS was gone despite of Bitmask 67, PosHold behaved a lot worse than it did with the PX4 stack I tried right afterwards (to check if sth. is wrong with the GNSS)
        
        Consistency looked fine for me.
        
        T3
        
        Thorsten > Thorsten April 18, 2016 at 3:03am
        
        PS: the live calibration values differ from the screenshots above to some degree due to some rearranged parts
        
        T3
        
        Thorsten > Randy April 18, 2016 at 2:04am
        
        I was using the "Live Calibration".
        
        I'll give the Onboard version a try.
        
        On 3.3.4 I now had "Inconsistent Compasses"
        
        Developer
        
        Randy > Thorsten April 18, 2016 at 12:36am
        
        Re just the last point, I suspect that the vehicle was either in a mode that requires GPS (i.e. Loiter, PosHold, etc) or the circular fence was enabled. The circular fence requires a 3D lock because other wise it doesn't know where it is (so it can't enforce the fence).
        
        T3
        
        Thorsten > Randy April 18, 2016 at 12:41am
        
        Ahh, ok! Fence is on...
        
        Makes sense!
        
        Thanks!!!