MR60

Pixhawk external LED?

Hi,

Anyone succeeded to install external LEDs on Pixhawk?

On APM we could configure the param Led_mode to a binary value representing which actions turn LEDs on A5 and A6.

Is there an equivalent feature on Pixhawk? Found nothing in the wiki about it.

Thx for any info,

Hugues

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Replies

  • Hi Nick,

    thank you a lot for detailed description , i'll try today evening and let you know.

    "telem 2" OK, because in my setup was connected to ULRS and it works. i've change SERIAL_BAUD = 57 and SERIAL_PROTOCOL = 1, but maybe other parameters are wrong (i did not check it).

    Regards,

    Chomic

  • Hi  Chromic. Thanks for trying Mavpixel. There could be a few reasons Telem 2 does not work. Take a close look at your SR2 parameters as described below. Please let me know how you go. Btw, what APM firmware are you using?

    Debugging Mavpixel connections

    First check to see if Mavpixel can hear Mavlink. This is done by examining the Mavpixel's onboard status LED. A rapid flashing (5 Hz) means no Mavlink is being received. A slower flash (1 Hz) is what you want to see. Note that the flight controller takes a few seconds after booting before it begins emitting Mavlink messages so be patient.

    If Mavpixel indicates there is no Mavlink, confirm your flight controller's SERIALx settings on the appropriate port (i.e. SERIAL2 for Telem 2 port). These should be set to SERIAL_BAUD = 57 and SERIAL_PROTOCOL = 1. Still no luck? Double check all connections between Mavpixel and the flight controller.

    If Mavpixel indicates Mavlink is being received but the LEDs are not reacting, check the flight controller's SRx setting for the port Mavpixel is connected to (i.e. SR2 for Telem 2). Mavpixel sets these Stream Rate parameters itself, so if Mavlink communication is working in both directions one should see SRx_EXT_STAT = 2, SRx_EXTRA_2 = 5, and SRx_RC_CHAN = 5.

    All other SRx settings should be 0 as Mavpixel does not use them. If they are not, it could be settings left over from a MinimOSD or the like. Try setting all SRx values to 0, wait a moment, then refresh params. Mavpixel should have set it's three SRx parameters back to 2, 5 and 5.

    If SRx parameters do not change or stay at 0, Mavpixel cannot talk back to the flight controller. Check the telemetry port connections again.

    No luck? If necessary Mavpixel can operate on a half-duplex connection. The disadvantage is being unable to configure Mavpixel through Mavlink. The advantage is being able to piggyback off another telemetry connection, for instance a SiK radio, and not require a dedicated serial port.

    With a half-duplex connection the TxD line from the Mavpixel to the flight controller is left out. SRx parameters will then need to be set manually to the values shown above or Mavpixel will not react if a ground station is not connected.

    With this setup Mavpixel configuration can be done live through Mavpixel's secondary configuration port. Connect an FTDI or equivalent USB-to-serial converter's TxD to Mavpixel pin 8, RxD to pin 9 and GND to a spare GND pin. Open the port with a terminal or MavpixelGUI at 2400 baud for full configuration access.

  • Hi Nick,

    thank you, everything works good except that i can not connect it to telemetry 2 port . it works only with telemetry 1 port.

    what could be a reason?

    Br,

    Chomic


  • 3702266997?profile=originalFirst release of MavpixelGUI is now available.

    Download from: http://github.com/prickle/MavpixelGUI/releases/tag/v1.0-beta

    Please note that you can now use the Firmware Flasher in MavpixelGUI to flash Arduino Pro Minis into Mavpixels much more easily than using the Arduino IDE as previously suggested.

    Documentation will appear slowly over the next few weeks. For now, a very quick guide to getting started can be found in the Help->About window.

    Remember this is pre-release software and is likely to contain many silly bugs I would like to find. Some minor features may not work yet. Please report any issues, problems, suggestions or comments.

    Please ask questions. Your interest will help guide the documentation to focus on the user's needs.

    Good luck and happy flying.

    Nick

  • Hi,

    could you share link from where i could download mavpixel ?

    thank you 

    Chomic

  • Yes, this isn't the first time I've used Jani's very nice jD-IOBoard code, just the first time I released anything I made with it.

    I was intending to have Mavpixel be compatible with jD-IO but it soon became apparent there would not be enough flash left.

    Thanks for your efforts on my behalf @Luis. Perhaps you could help me sort out Mavpixel's most pressing issue.

    Something to do with Mavlink routing has changed from AC 3.3 to AC 3.4 which prevents messages from Mavpixel reaching the ground station. Communication with the flight controller itself is fine.

    I have not been keeping up with AC development for a few weeks, is there perhaps a new parameter I have missed? Or conventions have changed? Or maybe my choices of TYPE and ID are no longer valid for the new AC? Perhaps Mavpixel has been doing it all wrong and the only reason it works at all is because of bugs in 3.3. I'm not sure.

    Can anyone shed light on this? It's a show-stopper for Mavpixel if I can't get it sorted out.

    Cheers,

    Nick

  • @Nick, I'll ping Tridge/Randy regarding the #158 id, and will let you know.

    Jani must be happy for reusing his jDrones boards :)



    Nick said:

    Hi @Luis. Are you sure I should switch to #158? The Mavlink message set states: "Generic autopilot peripheral component ID. Meant for devices that do not implement the parameter sub-protocol." I do indeed support the parameter sub-protocol, 83 parameters no less.

    MavpixelGUI will probably get confused if anything else also uses #158, but that does seem unlikely on a single vehicle.

    MAV_TYPE #18 is OK then. Sweet.

    Oh, and by licensing I mean applying the GNU general public license to the many source files in all it's details. A most procrastination inducing if simple task. I ended up making the installer instead, also needed and somewhat less dull. Unfortunately I have a life that leaves me only a couple of hours for this stuff each night so I try to make the best of it.

    Luis Vale Gonçalves said:

    @Nick

    The componentid #158 was created for generic devices, and I believe Mavpixel fits here.

    If you mean MAV_TYPE #18, I also believe this is correct. If something is wrong we'll have a look at it. Let me know and perhaps we can discuss this on today's dev call.

    Both projects are great and I only refered you both is because we have limited serial ports available on the PixHawks :) and would be great to have our community efforts more focused :)

    What do you mean licensing ??

  • Hi @Luis. Are you sure I should switch to #158? The Mavlink message set states: "Generic autopilot peripheral component ID. Meant for devices that do not implement the parameter sub-protocol." I do indeed support the parameter sub-protocol, 83 parameters no less.

    MavpixelGUI will probably get confused if anything else also uses #158, but that does seem unlikely on a single vehicle.

    MAV_TYPE #18 is OK then. Sweet.

    Oh, and by licensing I mean applying the GNU general public license to the many source files in all it's details. A most procrastination inducing if simple task. I ended up making the installer instead, also needed and somewhat less dull. Unfortunately I have a life that leaves me only a couple of hours for this stuff each night so I try to make the best of it.

    Luis Vale Gonçalves said:

    @Nick

    The componentid #158 was created for generic devices, and I believe Mavpixel fits here.

    If you mean MAV_TYPE #18, I also believe this is correct. If something is wrong we'll have a look at it. Let me know and perhaps we can discuss this on today's dev call.

    Both projects are great and I only refered you both is because we have limited serial ports available on the PixHawks :) and would be great to have our community efforts more focused :)

    What do you mean licensing ??

  • And, just to throw it out there so people can see the kind of thing I mean, here are some screenshots of windows from MavpixelGUI.

    3702265786?profile=original

    Connected to a Mavpixel on Copter 3.3.3 through Mission Planner.

    3702265675?profile=original

    Mavpixel's basic settings in MavpixelGUI.

    3702265493?profile=original

    Selecting colours for flight modes. All flight modes in Copter and Plane are supported, 21 in total.

    3702265809?profile=original

     Interactive terminal for CLI mode.

    3702265853?profile=original

    Built in firmware downloader and flasher for easy setup.

  • @Nick

    The componentid #158 was created for generic devices, and I believe Mavpixel fits here.

    If you mean MAV_TYPE #18, I also believe this is correct. If something is wrong we'll have a look at it. Let me know and perhaps we can discuss this on today's dev call.

    Both projects are great and I only refered you both is because we have limited serial ports available on the PixHawks :) and would be great to have our community efforts more focused :)

    What do you mean licensing ??

This reply was deleted.