Very pleased to announce that the 3DR GPS+mag module, which ran out of stock way too soon after we announced more than a month ago, is back in stock. Any remaining backorders are now being filled, and any product waiting for this should also be going out now. Thanks everyone for your patience on this one -- a combination of overwhelming demand along with supplier problems from the resin provider (the GPS uses a special translucent gray plastic) to the pad printer contributed to the long backlog (we've taken steps to ensure that it doesn't happen again.)
If you've been waiting to convert your APM 2.5 to an external mag for superior copter performance (instructions for doing that are here), this is your chance. It's also the standard for APM 2.6, which is designed from the start for an external magnetometer. I've converted all my copters to this and loiters/navigation have never been better.
Comments
@Chase, not as uncommon as you would like to believe.
RCTimer in 1 week but less $$$
Funny thing for me... my order was delayed by this very product in my order. I received it... and it was defective! i've called several times in the past two weeks and was told it would be shipped that day. Here we are still with no shipment notification. I called them and guess what? They said it would be shipped today... I really wish they would just be upfront with their customers. i still have yet to receive a shipping confirmation- I will try to escalate to management if they even have management, or it might be time for a charge back. I've been pretty patient about my orders to 3DR, but my Y6 I ordered in july hasn't gotten off the ground yet because of faulty components that need to be RMA'd... they're very quick to get you a label to send them the gear back, but very slow to send you replacement gear. I even paid for a new apm 2.6 so they would cross-ship for me, but guess what- my APM arrived their office before they could even ship anything to me. So now I have a $700 paperweight and i'm out $159 until they decide to refund my money.
@Chris Anderson: Do you know when all the backorders will have been shipped? Because my order #R166200124 still says "On-hold" for the shipment state.
@Scoot, maybe you will need this to convert to 3.3V ? https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8745
I'm also willing to try this solution, so please keep us updated from your tests results !
@Scott,
You are right, the APM I2C port does supply 3.3vdc to any device on the I2C bus. That is why the 5vdc jumper on the 3DR stand alone compass must be changed to 3.3vdc or the compass will not work.
The present PX4 is another story. The I2C connector on the PX4 supplies 5vdc to any device on the I2C bus even though the PX4 processor is a 3.3vdc processor, but is 5vdc tolerant.
I have run the 3DR outboard compass on 5vdc with the PX4, however the compass output level converter is tied to Vin (5vdc) so the output is above the 3.3vdc PX4 pull-ups on the clock and data line:(-
Regards,
TCIII ArduRover2 Developer
@Mike
I believe from my my very brief review of the APM schematic that the i2c port does supply 3.3v. I could be wrong, and I haven't measured it yet, but will before I connect anything. If it's 5, I'll probably have to find 3.3v to tap into somewhere else on the APM. I don't want to mess with adding regulator for this project.
How are you going to handle dropping the voltage from 5v down to max 3.3v for the compass?
@cirilo -
I believe this (the sparkfun HMC5883L breakout board you identified) will work. I compared the schematics on this breakout board and the APM built-in compass, and they were virtually identical. The eagle files provided in the 3DR store link for this combo GPS/compass are wrong - they are missing the compass components.
In any case, I ordered one of these (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10530) , as well as what I think will be a connector that'll fit the APM i2C port: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10359. Will post my results back to this thread.
Chase: I'd be happy to personally check to ensure that your request is being processed. Please PM me with the details and I'll escalate it to the right team in San Diego.
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