Cool thanks Neill. From what you said waiting for the 2.6 does sound like the best route to go. I don't think i quite have the knowledge yet to attempt your fun fact suggestion, but is does sound like a cool thing to try. Hehe I'm going to try to keep it from going into lawnmower mode for as along as possible...
Will the 'form factor' of the APM2.6 be the same as the APM2.5 including the 0.1" header locations? We have a carrier board we designed that the APM2.5 plugs into via the 0.1" headers (it marries the APM2.5 to an 800mhz gumstix overo running linux and provides clean power, etc.) Just trying to get a heads up if we need to make tweaks to our board layout to match physical changes in the APM2.6 header locations?
High school student to high school student, the external compass version is likely your best bet.
I would wait a little until whichever month they have suggested it is to be released and then go for it.
The apm 2.5 has a number of problems, none of which really have to do with the compass, and this is a neat feature that improves some things namely loiter and waypoint nav probobly, without really -apparently- fixing some of the stranger and more dire issues of the board.
Like non functional rssi output because of an undocumented variable called copter_leds, and pretty rocky documentation on the whole (not really a problem with the board, but something that should probobly be looks at by someone at some point) also I haven't bothered updating firmware since like December on my quad since "vibration issues" (despite my VI ration dampening) caused my y4 (also a long story) to turn into the worlds least effective deforestation machine. (It almost took out an entire branch of a medium sized shrubbery)
I don't really know if this is fixed, I ended up writing my additions to the firmware to get rssi at pin,I think 8?
Also y4s suck, and despite being coaxial have no yaw authority, so I never bothered rebuilding mine.
Also: fun fact
If you are strapped for cash you can always go buy an AIOP or other 2560 microcontroller and bootleg the apm firmware to run on it. I did that for a while and didn't really notice any difference... it also cost me like 60 bucks. I don't know how much apms run for these days but I am assuming they are still about 200 ish, in which case you might as well, especially if it is your first quad which you will likely turn into a lawnmower of your own.
Sorry for the crappy composition and general quality of this post, my damn flight to Frankfurt is delayed and had nothing better to do than write this on my phone.
@Joshua I know I read the datasheet, could have put an extra avrtiny on the gps+compass unit and configured it as an i2c slave (: ... perhaps little more work, not much though.
I just purchased the apm 2.6 at 3drobotics and gps w/ compass. But shipping state is still "ready" since last week. And I can't seem to find the apm 2.6 anymore on the site. It says "sorry something went wrong"
Comments
Where can I order one?
The GPS with compass has a separate connector for the compass circuit, you can just use the GPS alone if you like.
APM 2.6 is exactly the same in every way except for the omitted compass.
Cool thanks Neill. From what you said waiting for the 2.6 does sound like the best route to go. I don't think i quite have the knowledge yet to attempt your fun fact suggestion, but is does sound like a cool thing to try. Hehe I'm going to try to keep it from going into lawnmower mode for as along as possible...
Will the 'form factor' of the APM2.6 be the same as the APM2.5 including the 0.1" header locations? We have a carrier board we designed that the APM2.5 plugs into via the 0.1" headers (it marries the APM2.5 to an 800mhz gumstix overo running linux and provides clean power, etc.) Just trying to get a heads up if we need to make tweaks to our board layout to match physical changes in the APM2.6 header locations?
Thanks,
Curt.
We've had it on duiscussions for ages.....
High school student to high school student, the external compass version is likely your best bet.
I would wait a little until whichever month they have suggested it is to be released and then go for it.
The apm 2.5 has a number of problems, none of which really have to do with the compass, and this is a neat feature that improves some things namely loiter and waypoint nav probobly, without really -apparently- fixing some of the stranger and more dire issues of the board.
Like non functional rssi output because of an undocumented variable called copter_leds, and pretty rocky documentation on the whole (not really a problem with the board, but something that should probobly be looks at by someone at some point) also I haven't bothered updating firmware since like December on my quad since "vibration issues" (despite my VI ration dampening) caused my y4 (also a long story) to turn into the worlds least effective deforestation machine. (It almost took out an entire branch of a medium sized shrubbery)
I don't really know if this is fixed, I ended up writing my additions to the firmware to get rssi at pin,I think 8?
Also y4s suck, and despite being coaxial have no yaw authority, so I never bothered rebuilding mine.
Also: fun fact
If you are strapped for cash you can always go buy an AIOP or other 2560 microcontroller and bootleg the apm firmware to run on it. I did that for a while and didn't really notice any difference... it also cost me like 60 bucks. I don't know how much apms run for these days but I am assuming they are still about 200 ish, in which case you might as well, especially if it is your first quad which you will likely turn into a lawnmower of your own.
Sorry for the crappy composition and general quality of this post, my damn flight to Frankfurt is delayed and had nothing better to do than write this on my phone.
I was more wondering the opposite, will the internal compass be an option in the 2.6 for airplane use.
Is the 3DR GPS uBlox LEA-6 with compass compatible with APM 2.5?
Can the intergrated compass on the APM 2.5 board be disabled, so the new GPS module with compass can be used with APM 2.5 board?
@Joshua I know I read the datasheet, could have put an extra avrtiny on the gps+compass unit and configured it as an i2c slave (: ... perhaps little more work, not much though.
Hello Chris/ Joshua,
I just purchased the apm 2.6 at 3drobotics and gps w/ compass. But shipping state is still "ready" since last week. And I can't seem to find the apm 2.6 anymore on the site. It says "sorry something went wrong"