Copter= 550 mm Hex, FC= Arducopter APM 2.8, TX= Turnigy TGY 9X, RX= Turnigy 9X8C V2, Motors= Turnigy Prop-Drive 28-26 1200 KVa, Props= 9" Slo-Fly (nylon), ESC= Turnigy Plush 30A (BEC 2A/5V ver 3.3), GPS= 3DR GPS with external compass, Li-Po= 5400 MaH 4S.

Flights made with this copter: zero

Available logs: zero

How does one decide which version of Arducopter to use with an APM 2.8 Flight Controller?

Using Mission Planner 1.3.41, I find that these versions of Arducopter are available for APM 2.8 (if my understanding is correct):

AC 2.9 thru 2.9.1b (11 individual builds)

AC 3.0 thru AC 3.2.1 (11 individual builds)

AC 3.3 and AC 3.4

(Notice that I did not include and in the AC 2.5 range:  It is my understanding that Arducopter ceased supporting APM 2.5 with the release of APM 2.8 hardware by the manufacturer, and the AC 2.5 firmware doesn't work with APM 2.8 devices.  I could be wrong.)

I downloaded AC 2.9.1b to Mission Planner and uploaded it to my Arducopter APM 2.8 Flight Controller, then initialized everything using the Mission Planner Wizard.  

Frame type = Hex

Layout = "plus"

Accelerators, Compass and Radio = calibrated

Battery monitor = not set up.  See Problem #2 below

Sonar = not installed

Flight Modes: Stabilize, Alt-hold, Loiter, Stabilize, RTL, Land (all selectable by using gear switch and the 3-position switch)

Fail-safes = all disabled

Geofence = disabled

ESC Cal = done using all-at-once-method

Problem #1.  My compass ALWAYS shows the heading to be 30 degrees more than the actual physical heading.  This happens whether I select "plus" layout or "x" layout.  (It is physically set up to be an "x" layout machine - the arrow on the APM unit points directly to the mid-point of an imaginary line that runs between motors 3 and 5 (the "front" of the machine) )  When the machine is oriented so that the APM arrow points directly north, the compass heading in the machine shows up as 030 degrees.

Problem #2.  When setting up the Battery Monitor I found that there is no selectable choice for an APM 2.8 Flight Controller.  

Problem #3.  The only Flight Modes that I can select are "Stabilize" (gear switch pushed away from the operator), and "Land" (gear switch pulled toward the operator). 

Any help/suggestions?

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Email me when people reply –

Activity

Neville Rodrigues liked Neville Rodrigues's profile
Jun 30
Santiago Perez liked Santiago Perez's profile
Jun 21
More…