Bringing up a PX4 on a FlameWheel F330

I recently got a PX4FMU plus PX4IO board kit and I am installing it on my little DJI Flamewheel F330 that I had been using previously with my APM 2.

The F330 is a perfect candidate for this because it is an excellent and sturdy test bed.

It flew very well with my APM 2.

Previously I was using An Oring suspension mount on the 4 standoffs you can see in the photo above.

This time I decided to try mounting the PX4 stack on a thin fiberglass plate plate which is mounted on some 1/2" pads of Kyosho Zeal anti vibration gel.

The PX4 stack is already pretty high so I thought I'd try this before using both the Zeal and the O-ring mount I had planned.

The Zeal Gel which comes with double sided tape on both sides is almost a quarter inch thick and it seems appropriately flexible and vibration absorbent in this application with the four 1/2" square pads.

The Accel readings will tell the tale.

Note that the inter board connector on the left is about 2mm shy of closing.

3DR supplies 8mm M3 standoffs and I think that 6 mm ones would work better, although their would be a slight interference fit at the other end of the board.

Notice all the stuff still hanging off of it.

The GPS, the arming switch, the buzzer and the battery power leads for the PX4's built in power supply.

Still have to figure out where to stick all this stuff on my little Flamewheel.

I have already installed the firmware and bench tested this PX4FMU plus PX4IO stack.

The PX4 stack is upside down from normal spec, but it makes the connectors easier to get at and it is easy to do with the new Mission Planner adjustable Board Orientation parameter.

I will also be attempting to use one of the little 3DR Receiver servo to PPM-Sum out converters, so this promises to be an interesting adventure.

I will keep everybody posted and new pics as this build - test continues.

Please feel free to post comments and questions.

Cool about the RMA.

I will probably end up picking up another px4fmu and maybe the IO at some point later when I have had more time to play with it and see it works. I really like it sofar and the way the native px4 software works and so on is impressive. Waiting for the receiver to arrive I have been going through some of the documentation etc and looking at some scripting examples too.

I like the fact that you can use it 'bare' aka with only the big DF13 pigtail which will be how it will go on my nano size quad :). the DF13 pigtail gives most of the stuff you need, 4x pwm and uart + ppm and i2c. Makes it also very easy to disconnect and reconnect on different airframes without the need to buy a dedicated carrier for each. You can even just direct solder the pigtail wire wherever it needs to go if you need the ultimate in weight saving, I will probably use a self made micro BEC to power the lot and a small veroboard strip to solder the few extra wires I might need.

Regarding the receivers I suspect JR, Turnigy, FrSky, etc CPPM gear is just an easier protocol to handle as it's not at all proprietary and works across all radio systems. I went for the easy solution, the recommended D4R-2, also since it is tiny. The one big advantage to FrSky is that they are quite cheap, and the Tx modules fit any radio, even vintage stuff, and the performance is supposed to be very good. Telemetry on top of course doesnt hurt :).

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

Gary McCray April 16, 2013 at 7:15pm

Ignore old wiki entry above, correct new (actually working) entry for PX4 firmware download is here.

http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/px4-firmware-install-mission-planner/

Noth666 Please try the above firmware install procedure, it has been updated a lot.

And be sure and install the latest Mission Planner from the supplied link.

If it still only works like a quad, get back to me here and I will ensure that the developers are made aware.
Noth666 April 16, 2013 at 10:39am

So that sounds like we now have 2 working hexa's documented with px4, cool stuff.

I should have some stuff up in the air early next week, the package took over a month to get into the country O_o, won't be doing that again. Hope there is some sample code for the flow as well as I already have it mounted and can't wait to test it out.
Chester April 15, 2013 at 9:23pm

I already put with on my old hexa that already have 4 rubbers. I'm not sure about how it will work and we still does not have datalogs to chek it. Anyway i'll try to fly (as soon it stops raining) at least in STAB mode.

PS: Looks like all fimwares in fimwares.diydrones.com a compiled for quad. I have been tried all available and all gave me same result 4 motors bars in MP and 4 spinning motorsin in CLI ->setup->motors. So i edited APM_Config.h set #define FRAME_CONFIG HEXA_FRAME then compiled code and uploaded to board and this work ok. All 6 motors work ok. I tried ti post info about it diydrones google group but my message does not apper(i don't know why).
Gary McCray April 15, 2013 at 9:13pm

OK guys, got the actually working new PX4 firmware install working on the new ArduCopter Wiki here:

http://copter.ardupilot.com/px4-firmware-installation-mission-planner/

Really nice looking installation Chester.

How are you vibration damping it?
Chester April 15, 2013 at 7:53pm

Hello everyone, here is my px4 boards assembled. I alredy put in on my old hexa. As soon as stops raining i gonna put in air.
Gary McCray April 11, 2013 at 6:17pm

Although there is at least one instance of a hex actually working, clearly there are issues with Hex and Oct right now.

They are working to get a Mission Planner loadable PX4 firmware setup running reliably right now and I think that it is probably best to wait for the developers to get that working properly and then try hex and oct rather than trying to deal with Qupgrade right now.

I don't think they are wanting to interrupt their focus on getting the uploader working properly to address the hex and oct issues at the moment.
Gary McCray April 7, 2013 at 6:41pm

Hi Tristan,

I know of lots of quads, but not hex's.

Just to check, you did load the PX4 HexaCopter firmware from mission Planner right?

And it should be the latest PX4FMU Hex version (the developer version).

Same for the PX4IO.

Sounds like you might be running quad firmware on a PX4.

If that is not the case then please let me know here and I will see that the developers are aware of it.
Noth666 April 3, 2013 at 11:15am

Cool about the RMA.

I will probably end up picking up another px4fmu and maybe the IO at some point later when I have had more time to play with it and see it works. I really like it sofar and the way the native px4 software works and so on is impressive. Waiting for the receiver to arrive I have been going through some of the documentation etc and looking at some scripting examples too.

I like the fact that you can use it 'bare' aka with only the big DF13 pigtail which will be how it will go on my nano size quad :). the DF13 pigtail gives most of the stuff you need, 4x pwm and uart + ppm and i2c. Makes it also very easy to disconnect and reconnect on different airframes without the need to buy a dedicated carrier for each. You can even just direct solder the pigtail wire wherever it needs to go if you need the ultimate in weight saving, I will probably use a self made micro BEC to power the lot and a small veroboard strip to solder the few extra wires I might need.

Regarding the receivers I suspect JR, Turnigy, FrSky, etc CPPM gear is just an easier protocol to handle as it's not at all proprietary and works across all radio systems. I went for the easy solution, the recommended D4R-2, also since it is tiny. The one big advantage to FrSky is that they are quite cheap, and the Tx modules fit any radio, even vintage stuff, and the performance is supposed to be very good. Telemetry on top of course doesnt hurt :).
Gary McCray April 3, 2013 at 10:17am

Hi Noth666,

Yes, 3DR actually responded with RMA in less than 48 hours.

PX4IO headed back to them by FedEx today.

I have also ordered a second PX4FMU / IO kit.

I am highly committed to the PX4 at this point and have actually seen it operational on my system with receiver separately powered.

I figure this way I will have a quick back stop to be able to identify actual hardware problems and I can set up on 2 different vehicles.

So far the JR / Turnigy compatible PPM-Sum receivers are working out better for people than Futaba S-Bus but the developers are aware of the problem(s) and will fix it.
Noth666 April 3, 2013 at 3:45am

Did you get an rma for the px4io? I am still waiting for my receiver to arrive so I can finally get it up in the air.

of 6

This reply was deleted.