Comments

• 

  John Moore April 18, 2013 at 2:43pm

  @ TC

  I thought that I understood when using PM, I had to remove J1.  An then the ESC would power the servo's via  the Output Rail.  PM would power the Receiver an the GPS.  Which is supported by this line in the link you gave me in the 3rd paragraph above the warning....

   

  "If the jumper is off, the board is powered from the Input rail, but the Output rail will need its own power source. This configuration is used if you want to have two separate power sources in your aircraft, one powering the servos and the other powering the electronics."

   

  I am under the impression that the Input Rail gets its power from the PM.

   

  John
• Admin

  Thomas J Coyle III April 18, 2013 at 2:18pm

  @John,

  It is my understanding that you cannot power the pan and tilt servos from the APM when using the PM. You must power the pan and tilt servos separately, but the signal and common ground with the servo power can come from the APM. Since you are not using the main battery to provide power to the PM you will not be able to obtain the main battery voltage and current usage. I would use a 2200mahr LiPo if you are powering both the PM and a transmitter/camera with the aux battery.

  Take a look at the Wiki: http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/APM25Power

  Regards,

  TCIII
• 

  John Moore April 18, 2013 at 1:51pm

  @TC,

   I have a thread over in Ground Vehicle which I posted a diagram of my planned power an data routing.  Would you mind looking at the bottom of page 2 an seeing if I am on the right path?  I don't want to start a new thread as I will be dumping that thread in favor for a build thread here this weekend.

   

  http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/noob-in-need-of-assistance-unders...

   

  John

   

   
• 

  John Moore April 18, 2013 at 12:58pm

  @TC, Thank You.
• Admin

  Thomas J Coyle III April 18, 2013 at 12:51pm

  @John,

  As far as I know, you should not run the USB and the PM together. Since you are using the PM I assume that you have removed the J1 jumper?

  I use the USB to power the APM when I am programming the parameters using the MP. I usually use the PM when I am out testing with or without my telemetry module.

  Regards,

  TCIII
• 

  John Moore April 18, 2013 at 12:24pm

  Planning on installing the APM 2.5 into my RC this weekend.  I have pre tested it on my Win8 netbook by connecting to the USB port.  Once the APM is in my RC, can I have the APM 2.5 powered by the PM an connect the USB cable?  Or do I need to unplug the power from the APM prior to connecting to the USB port?

   

  John
• Admin

  Thomas J Coyle III April 18, 2013 at 9:04am

  @Mohammed,

  I have a Traxxas E-Maxx which is similar to the E-Revo in that the Brushless motor is mounted in the middle of the chassis. Since I was not planning to put a body on the chassis, I mounted a plate on top of the body support/shock towers and then a second plate above that to house the APM, GPS, compass, etc. I wanted to get the APM and compass as far from the motor magnets as possible. The rover I am going to run in the AVC is a 2WD Slash that has the motor in the rear and is easier to work with than the mid-chassis motor rovers.

  You can see some pictures of my E-Maxx and 6WD rover chassis here: http://www.diydrones.com/forum/topics/tciii-ardurover-traxxas-e-max...

  Regards,

  TCIII
• Developer

  Kabir April 18, 2013 at 8:52am

  Hey guys, might be getting a E-Revo in the near future, can it be converted to ArduRover usage? i.e does it have the space ? Or do I have to add stacks to add the APM?
• Admin

  Thomas J Coyle III April 16, 2013 at 1:32pm

  @Austin,

  After you hit the reset button on the APM try clicking on the Terminal Tab to restart the CLI. You should get the ArduRover v2.40 CLI prompt. Then select Test under the Terminal Tab and see if you can use any of the test commands to see what is going on with your APM. If you are not successful, then you might have a defective APM and should contact sales@3drobotics.com

  Regards,

  TCIII
• Austin April 16, 2013 at 12:43pm

  @Thomas

  I downloaded the latest firmware, and then went to the terminal. When I opened the terminal it said "3no dataflash card insertedCCompass initialization failed!"

  and when I go to do the hard reset it says failed to boot MPU6000 5 times and continues to say that another three times until it Panics. Here's a pic of the terminal.