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New product in the DIY Drones store: APM telemetry kit!

Posted by Chris Anderson on April 21, 2011 at 5:00pm

3689402008?profile=originalCheck it out: an all-in-one telemetry kit for ArduPilotMega, all set up and ready to go! No more fussing around with Xbee configuration. $165 for the total, which includes the custom configuration.

 

In this kit you will find everything you need to add telemetry features to your aircraft set up. The Xbee modules come paired up and ready to use!  Included with this kit:
- 1x XtreamBee Board (The one manufactured by DIYDrones!), including the two female connectors and right angle connectors.
- 1x XBee-PRO 900 extended range module w/ RPSMA connector and duck antenna
- 1x XBee-PRO 900 extended range module w/ wire antenna
- 1x Xbee Explorer Dongle (USB adapter for the Xbee module!)

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Comments

  • CheBuzz April 23, 2011 at 9:32am
    Wow.  This is close to or more than 100% markup.  Digi sell the modems for $29 each.  I can't imagine the boards and antenna costing more than $20.  Seems a bit shameful.
  • Moderator
    Brian April 22, 2011 at 10:15pm
    Hmmm, I didn't think the 900mhz part was where the license was required, it's the power/distance. But Cool!
  • James masterman April 22, 2011 at 10:14pm
    Just a heads up to anyone with this kit or just buying the parts separately. When soldering the little female headers onto the airborne xbee adapter, be careful not to use too much solder, they tend to suck up the solder which makes it impossible to plug in the xbee board afterwards. I killed one like this.

    The best way I found was to plug the female headers into the xbee first and then solder onto the adapter. Seems to prevent the solder from clogging the female headers.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson April 22, 2011 at 9:57pm
    Nope. It's the frequencies of cordless phones...
  • Moderator
    Brian April 22, 2011 at 6:38pm
    900mhz requires a ham license, right?
  • Distributor
    Martint BuildYourOwnDrone.co.uk April 22, 2011 at 10:37am
    Hi Pete,

    I can tell you how to do "it" with a hardware solution, but please be mindful the hardware reset does not stop the data transmissions so can cause the units to lock up, it sounds like you may already know a lot about these units, but thought it might be worth pointing this out. :)

    Regards

    Martin
  • Pete Birley April 22, 2011 at 10:23am
    Martin:

    Yep been using no probs.

    Im aware of the isues with the 868. The 868's should be good with a bit of work though may require some dedicated h/w to fully get round the duty cycle issue. I'm tossing up between getting some or a freescale radio modem at the mo..
  • Ante Vukorepa April 22, 2011 at 10:00am
    @Mark Colwell - Bought two SMA bees from Sparkfun, since the weight difference isn't too important for me (next to >1 kg made up by the rest of the Arducopter) and they're more convenient for other uses as well that way.

    If'd have known about this kit, i would've bought it regardless of the SMA connector, though, since i don't care much about the range at this point. Plus, as you've said, i can always solder a connector on.
  • Distributor
    Martint BuildYourOwnDrone.co.uk April 22, 2011 at 9:53am
    Hi Darren,
    The coding of the +++ is not the issue with the 868s, they used to be fine, you could send a uart signal and then reset the units, there was a new firmware released last year which stopped this function :(

    Regards

    Martin
  • Sam Kelly April 22, 2011 at 9:03am
    @ Mark Colwell, the XBees in each kit are set up as specified in the APM manual, and each pair is tested for correct transmission/reception.
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