I'll preface by saying that I'm new to multicopters. I've been frustrated with the quality of the documentation around the 3dr and APM2.5. Documentation is all over the place and often glosses over essential details. You end up searching for hours for the right answers. That said, my hours of searching for answers is also educating me on future issues and problems I didn't know existed. One problem I haven't found an answer to is GPS placement.
On the 3dr stackup the APM goes on the bottom plate just above the power distro board. The documentation says that the GPS should be mounted with a "clear view of the sky" in order to function properly, and to get it as far away as possible from other radios. The problem is the connection cable on the GPS is too short to allow the GPS to be mounted on top of the top plate!
Is the GPS going to work on the middle plate, mounted near the RC receiver?
Thanks in advance
Replies
If it has to be placed on top, then my question becomes why doesn't 3d Robotics ship a cable long enough to mount it on top of their frame? Making a longer cable for a complete kit which includes the cable is absurd.
Does it have to be placed center? It looks like you've placed it on the tail rotor.
I would place it on top.
You could cut the cable in the middle and solder a longer piece in the between.
Place shrink tube over the joints. I have done it on my Heli works very well.