Comments

• 

  Anthony White December 29, 2012 at 5:29pm

  I'll "third" the dual throttle feature (if this is meant in the differential thrust steering sense)  - I will be starting a large 45" RC boat build this coming week with APM2 and about 15AH of battery, and the second stage of our development plan involves getting differential thrust steering working (and not using the rudder.) Currently I planned to use an Uno or Mega to interpret the throttle and rudder settings and output differential thrust signals to the motors, but that adds a degree of complexity. 
• Randy Brazeau December 19, 2012 at 7:44pm

  @Healthyfatboy

  I agree. Just that expected a kit that I could connect to the APM immediately. They should have included in the description that you will need a cable to connect to an APM2.5.

  Waited about 3 weeks or so for it to arrive then I had to order a connector. Also support needs to dial in on their customer concerns instead of a one liner.

  Perhaps this is common/acceptable outside North America or I'm getting too old with less patience. :)

  Randy
• T3

  healthyfatboy December 19, 2012 at 7:03pm

  I posted that more for information purposes and so people would have a choice should they decide to take a chance on a knock-off.

  I have actually read a lot of good things about it and some people have had a few issues here or there but nothing out of the ordinary for the most part. As for the telemetry radios and their connectors not being 100% compatible, my guess is it is compatible in the way of comms, not necessarily the connectors for some instances. Making a cable isn't that big of a deal since this is DIY Drones, not PNP Drones, even if there is more of a push that direction. There's still stuff to do yourself.

  The one thing 3DR definitely has over any other place is customer service and I wholeheartedly agree with everyone that 3DR will support customers when there is a problem. Much like Hobby King back in the day, you take your chances but generally, things work out just fine and in the end, it gets more people into the amateur drone hobby.
• Randy Brazeau December 18, 2012 at 4:55pm

  I purchased a telemetry kit from RCTimer as well as one from 3DR.
  It was advertised as 100% compatible but I could not connect it to the APM. The connector was the wrong type. I emailed RCTimer and waited 6 days. Their response was to use a different cable.
  Thanks for the support. Told them I would not purchase anything from them again.
  I did make a cable to fit and tested it on Sunday. It worked but not sure if any better or worse than 3DR.
  I have to setup the 3DR board for a comparison.
  It was cheap and I was prepared to throw it away if it didn't work.
  Randy

  

  Timberland Roma Nuovo Arrivo, Comprare Scarpe Timberland Presso Prezzo Ingrosso Ora

  A buon mercato scarpe timberland caldo vendita online con 100% di alta qualità e trasporto libero. Timberland roma negozio in linea.
• 

  Bot Thoughts December 18, 2012 at 8:30am

  I can understand wanting to get a deal; this stuff ain't cheap. APM is too rich for my blood at the moment (until I sell lots more on Tindie haha).

  Maybe I can find a deal used. I'm going to skip the clone, though. I might try to roll my own out of individual modules but...anyone know offhand if there's an MPU-6000 breakout board?
• Moderator

  Michael Pursifull December 18, 2012 at 7:46am

  Yep, if you look around, you'll find reports of people having problems with that gear. They didn't even bother to removed the 3DR silk screening from all the parts. Their "APM" has been rebranded, but either the telemetry or GPS module still says 3DR.
  
  If they had the same QA processes, it might simply be a consumer loyalty issue. As with a certain other offshore copycat company, you might need a "goodluckbuy."
• T3

  healthyfatboy December 17, 2012 at 6:32pm

  Actually, the combo board with GPS and the 433 or 900 MHz radios are on sale through today for $144 shipped ($2 shipping and $5 PayPal fee).
• 100KM

  u4eake December 17, 2012 at 2:38pm

  Bot, I'm kinda in the same situation.  Don't tell anyone, but there's an alternative that's quite a bit cheaper and works almost identically.  It's the RCflyer board from RCtimer.com.  Pair it with the CN06 GPS (an ublox NEO6) and you have a working ardupilot-gps combination for $120 shipped.

  Only thing you need to do is configure the CN06 gps with the ublox3DR.txt file that can be found on this website somewhere (don't remember where exactly). And check that connections/cables are right.

  But you didn't hear any of the above from me !

  

  Rctimer R/C Hobby Online Shop

  RCTimer - the world's No1 Online Hobby Store. We stock a huge selection of RC products from Planes right through to Quadcopters and all accessories.…
• 

  Bot Thoughts December 17, 2012 at 2:08pm

  Agree, no need to start over. I would think that's unnecessary work. Question: what's the plan to stay "in sync" with the ardupilot stuff? My simplistic thinking is that a small subset of modules would need extensive revision, but some/most (hopefully) could share the ArduPilot code base? Or...?  

  For example... my swag (without having dived into the ArduRover code much) is that the pose estimation stuff may need to change due to the different types and behaviors of sensors (based on my own experiments).

  Whereas code to comm with the base station could (and probably should) stay relatively untouched so that ArduRover project doesn't add that maintenance work unnecessarily.

  I sure hope I have some time to play with ArduRover at some point since I have a couple spare RC trucks. What I don't have is an APM board nor cash to get one but maybe I can cobble together something essentially compatible.
• 100KM

  u4eake December 17, 2012 at 9:37am

  Thomas, I think thats a good way to go forward.  Thx for the info!