Hello, this is probably a dumb question but I'm new to this and can not seem to figure it out. How do you provide power to the drone cell and the APM from one power source? I saw on the instructions that a ESC BEC will not suffice and I need to buy a separate BEC. If I do this what is the wiring like? Will the ESC BEC connect to the BEC which will power the drone cell and then have wires from the drone cell to the APM to power it? If someone could give me an example of a correct wiring schematic it would be greatly appreciated.
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@Veikko Vierola,
Can you please tell me Where to connect the TX/RX from the DC to the APM? For telemetry over 3G.
Or anyone for that matter.
Thanks in advance
Richard
there is any schematic for hoocking.... apm 2 or 2.5?
Thank you guys so much there is no way I would have found this out from the manual. Just to summarize I'm taking my ESC and plugging that into my APM 2 like i normally would. Right now I don't plan to change this wire at all some people say disable the power wire but I don't understand how to power the APM if I do this. Then I plan to use the external BEC that was recommended to me and connect that to the same battery as the ESC using a parallel type setup. Then to power the Drone cell take the Red and black output cables from the BEC and run two cables back to the APM. If there is anything wrong with this setup please let me know. Thanks again guys.
A BEC (AKA UBEC)
Just hooks up to your battery (12v) and the other end puts out 5 volts.a very clean 5v at that. Very Simple, I picked up a 5amp model from HK for about $5 and It works great. There are a bunch to choose from, and most of them will run from 5volts to 23v input.
Hell they even have one that has 2 BEC's so that in case of a burnout it switches to the backup!
The one that I chose should work great for your needs.
I cannot give you an example for the wiring but I can give you the following advice:
About 1 Year ago I have been toying around with the DroneCell and it behaved strangely. I could connect and I got a prompt via Serial console. However, when the DroneCell was connecting to the mobile network (i think it was after providing the PIN code) i got brown outs. Eric, the developer from narobo.com, advised me to supply >= 1A to the DroneCell. this fixed the problem.
You would probably need a separate power converter of some sort if you want to power it directly from your batteries. but what you need depends on your batteries (how many cells?) and what the DroneCell expects (sorry I don't have time to go through the DroneCell data sheet right now).
Cheers,
-S