Posted by Henry MIlls on December 1, 2012 at 2:28pm
Hi All,I have been looking at this site for about a year with great interest before finally pushing the button on a APM 2.5 last week. Now it's here I have a few questions before leaping in....I work in life science automation so I have a good grounding in electronics and some programming / micro knowledge but no Arduino specific experience. I have been flying model helis for a couple of years now so the setup etc is familiar and my pilot skills are just about out of the continuous crash stage but far from good!Automation has always been a fascination for me as well as my job, the appeal of Ardupilot over a closed source system is the lure of being able to find out how it really works and perhaps help improve it once I get to grips.Lastly before I stop rambling and get down to the questions I'd just like to say WOW! As an engineer what has been achieved here is simply amazing.Sorry for the rambling, here's the questions:* Following though the tradheli wiki, the wiring diagram is for an APM1 unit - Is there a pinout for APM 2.5 available for download or do I need to get / familiarise myself with eagle?* Do I still need to direct connect my ESC to my receiver - the wiki implies that ESC control was work in progress when it was written about a year ago.* The APM 2.0 (I tried to buy this unit but it was out of stock in the UK) has an SD card slot fixed to a daughter board (also mounting the GPS unit) but my APM 2.5 has no SD slot.... what was the function of the SD card and why is it absent on APM 2.5?* How does Arducopter differentiate between tradheli and miltirotor? I is this purely settings driven or are there differences in the code version loaded* Is there a basic overview doc for the arducopter code? I would like to get to grips with how it all works if my skills are up to it.* What is the best package for working with the arducopter code? I guess Arduino but I've never used it.ThanksHenry
You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!
Thanks very much for the reply. I'll read the quad manual too before I set the heli up.
So with helis vs quads.... the firmware compiled changes but the source covers both types... ok cool :-)
With 2.9, will there be a variable I can set to change the pulse width of CH8 out or will it be full on (I think 2ms) / off with CH 8 input toggle? Would it be possible to output the same pulse width as the RX inputs? This would be basically like direct connecting the ESC to RX but with the advantage that the APM could take over motor control when appropriate (in future versions perhaps). So for instance in the case of an error the motor can be shut down or motor speed can be varied on change of mission step etc...
You don't have to hook up the ESC to the Rx directly, but if you wait until 2.9 is released, then it might work out better for you. I've made some changes that will make this feature more usable. Previously, I had allowed the ESC to be driven from the APM Ch8 output, using no input. It simply switches the motor on and off when you raise the throttle stick, just like a quad. But in reality this doesn't work so well. I've now changed the control to be on/off with a Ch8 input.
The memory card is an EEPROM chip for datalogging. It is still present on the APM2.5, but soldered direct to the board which is good because some people had problems with the "card" system.
There is a seperate code between helis and quads. You choose this when you select the firmware in MP. Or you can do it with a #defne if you are compiling code.
There is not any one good document that explains the code. Part of the problem is it changes so much. There's a few things scattered around, but no collection of these.
I actually use Notepad++ to surf the code instead of Arduino.
Replies
Thanks very much for the reply. I'll read the quad manual too before I set the heli up.
So with helis vs quads.... the firmware compiled changes but the source covers both types... ok cool :-)
With 2.9, will there be a variable I can set to change the pulse width of CH8 out or will it be full on (I think 2ms) / off with CH 8 input toggle? Would it be possible to output the same pulse width as the RX inputs? This would be basically like direct connecting the ESC to RX but with the advantage that the APM could take over motor control when appropriate (in future versions perhaps). So for instance in the case of an error the motor can be shut down or motor speed can be varied on change of mission step etc...
Thanks
Henry
Henry, don't forget to go through the entire wiki manual for quadcopters, as most of this info is carry-over for helicopters.
For example, here's some pinout info:
http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/APM2RC
You don't have to hook up the ESC to the Rx directly, but if you wait until 2.9 is released, then it might work out better for you. I've made some changes that will make this feature more usable. Previously, I had allowed the ESC to be driven from the APM Ch8 output, using no input. It simply switches the motor on and off when you raise the throttle stick, just like a quad. But in reality this doesn't work so well. I've now changed the control to be on/off with a Ch8 input.
The memory card is an EEPROM chip for datalogging. It is still present on the APM2.5, but soldered direct to the board which is good because some people had problems with the "card" system.
There is a seperate code between helis and quads. You choose this when you select the firmware in MP. Or you can do it with a #defne if you are compiling code.
There is not any one good document that explains the code. Part of the problem is it changes so much. There's a few things scattered around, but no collection of these.
I actually use Notepad++ to surf the code instead of Arduino.