Dear all,
whenever i load a new firmware, i do a fresh calibration of sensors and radio after erasing/resetting the eprom contents. Calibrating the sensors can be done by powering the red board via USB. For calibration of the radio i need power for it and i have to connect the lipo. Due to safety reasons i disconnect the 4- wire cable from the red board and unmount the probs. This is a little bit annoying.
Since my RX needs only 50 mA, my idea is to use a USB hub and powering the red board from one port and powering the receiver from the second USB port. I've seen, that both USB ports are sharing the same GND level.
What do you think about that?
Replies
I just played a little bit with an USB hub. When connecting the copter to the hub, its not recognized. So i connected it to my notebooks USB port and used the hub oanly for powering the receiver. It seems to work. Mission planners setup reacts on my TX inputs.
Isn't it nice my AGSV (Arducopter Ground Support Vehicle)
AGSV.JPG
I power my APM/IMU with a a BEC and then have the power from the APM going to the RX. Doing this runs the unit totally off USB power so there is no need for a lipo when calibrating making it easy and safe.
See http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/simple-apm-2560-power-hack