WHAT A PHANTOM SHOULD LOOK LIKE INSIDE...
We recently got a phantom in to play with and see how it was put together, it's a great little drone for basic flying and features. Being an ArduCopter guy and having used APMs on our SD systems since the biggining I though it would be a fun project to stick an ArduCopter board in the Phantom. It was pretty easy to do! Will post how to in the comments, needless to say it's a different drone all together, much more agile and solid + it now has full GPS system with unlimited waypoints, auto, RTL, GPS hold, and a host of other cool features, all free :)
HOW TO: Simply opened her up, unplugged the naza and wires, installed APM, soldered tiny 3A uBEC onto the phantom's pcb for power for the APM, used the phantom's PPM receiver directly into the APM (with a small mod in the phantom's radio to get a switch on channel 5, not 6 as it is) ripped out the phantom's gps, installed our uBlox, connected motors as is and did the AC setup, took maybe 45min in total. She flies much better now
Comments
Max
AFIK the original GPS in the phantom 2 does not communicate with the Naza FMU using RS232, I think it uses a CAN bus hardware connection, with a private protocol.
i think someone on the RCGroups forum was reverse engineering the protocol of the Phantom CAN bus devices.
i bought a new GPS and fitted it in place with the original GPS unit. I just had to make some new plastic pillars and glue them in place.
If you want to use the existing GPS, I think it should be possible as its a ublox unit, however you will need to unsolder or detach the data lines from the DJI board it is attached to. But I guess it may be worth just connecting the rs232 output from the GPS module to the APM and seeing if it works ;-)
Hi to all
I just made a tranformation from a phantom 2 which didn't like to stay 1 hour in a lake. Everything working fine with APM 2.5 con internal compass + AFO 20A small one. I try to use the GPS but seem to made a short cut. Is there a reason why you didn't use the phantom GPS ?
thank you
Hi criro1999
I cant really comment on the PID's as all I have done is basic hovering of my P2 using the default PIDs.
I was intending to run the PID tune when I get a bit more working
Re: LEDS and Compass
Do you have a P2 or P1 or some other Phantom e.g. P2V ?
I have a P2 and the LEDs under each arm are controlled using PWM i.e like a servo, I have written a small Arduino program to control 4 PWM output pins on an "Arduino pro micro", and I've also written code to read the MavLink data. However I've not put these 2 bits of code together, in order to control the LEDs based on the APM status coming from Mavlink
Can you let me know in a bit more detail what information you need on the LEDS
Re:Compass
I've been using the internal compass on the APM, but now have an external compass, however I've not had chance to make a housing for it, i.e so I can put it on the skid of the P2. Its the next thing on my quad To-Do list, but I've been working on another unrelated Arduino project for the last week.
@Roger and Duran:
Could you please share your PIDs for your APM config with Phantom shape quad?
@Roger:
I am trying today to see how to config my LEDs with APM and compass, I will let you know the result.
Maybe you want to try this approach. The QR X350 shell body is $30.
goodluckbuy.com charges 89.95 for a SHELL!???? get yours at Centuryhelicopter in san jose about 50.00
http://www.centuryheli.com/products/productdetail.htm?prtnm=DJIPH09... for the listing for a shell for your ArduPhantom also see David Deweys posting(s) on DIYDRONES for ArduPhantom.
BTW do NOT attempt this Conversion with a Phantom 2 Vision as the interconnect specs to the onboard camera are NOT known at this time so unless you are willing to put all of this on the bench and use an Oscope and logic analysersto separate out control signal lines from the video line and determine any protocols/commands in use.
Its a intermediate level job of reversing wiring and goes a BIT beyond the normal Ardupilot/PIXHAWK autopilot swapout.
other comments are the 3DR telemetry kit uses a FT232 in the ground version so interconnect is standard USB2.
No I've not used ArduPilot before. Thanks for your advise, and cost estimates. UK stock seems to be at very different prices to US though. I think i'll just upgrade the FPV to start with then and consider the the autopilot as a later option or next Drone. Once again thanks
Have you used Ardupilot before? If not, I don't recommend hacking a Phantom as your first project. It requires a good bit of experience with how Ardupilot behaves. I recommend that you get started with a kit copter first, or at least something that doesn't require any "hacking". 3DR offers a few kits like this one, as well as some pre-made copters like this one which is basically a better Phantom, because it can already do Ardupilot things you want it to.
To answer your question though, a Pixhawk control unit with GPS and telemetry will run you about $400 from 3DR. The cons are that it will NOT be ready to fly our of the box like the stock DJI copter is, you will have to put a lot of trial and error into tuning the flight parameters. As I said before, it is a challenging first project. Good luck!
Hi Guys, I've just joined as I'm planning to buy a DJI Phantom 2 this weekend , and am thinking of eventually adding this to it. I think I want to go this route rather than DJI's own route as I'm a software developer by trade , and the ability to hack this is more to my liking. Approx how much does adding this cost ? and what are the cons ? As I want to make sure I buy the right version of the the Phantom (probably Phantom 2 Vision RTF) without wasting too much money, but also knowing I can slowly upgrade her to full autopilot and real time telemetry. I also want to know how well the mission planner software works on Linux as i am planning to hopefully use my Samsung Chromebook ( series 1) which I've Chrooted to run Ubuntu on too, (not sure of driver support etc for the telemetry kit though) as its a nice light device to shove in a small rucksack. My eventual aim for the drone is for filming my g/f and me doing our kite surfing/boarding and kayaking etc . If anyone has any advice etc that would be much appreciated
I've nearly finished converting my Phantom 2 to use an APM 2.5, (with external compass), however I can't figure out how to control the LEDS's on the ESC's
Does anyone know how to do this ?
BTW. In case anyone else is converting a Phantom 2, the output of the radio receiver is Futaba SBUS, so I had to build a converter using an Arduino Nano and an inverter (I had a 74HC00 in my box of spares and it worked fine).(I got the Arduino code from the German FPV website).
I'm using the APM power module so that the APM gets the current flow data, But the ground is shared with the original Phantom 2 ground connection.
I've replaced the Phantom 2 GPS with a LEO 6H, but have not really worked out a good way to fix it in place. I think I'll use some epoxy glue to hold some nuts in place.
BTW. Looking at the Phantom 2 GPS its a NEO 6Q, + what appears to be a DJI UART to CAN bus adaptor, so I suspect that if the RS232 signal lines between the PCB with the NEO6 on it and the DJI CAN bus board were cut,
I think that the NEO 6Q board could probably be connected to the APM, as the NEO 6Q supports UART connection like the LEO 6. However I've not checked to see if there is any difference in the setup and data on these two modules
I have an external compass module which I'm going to attach to the bottom of one of the skids, in a similar location to the DJI external compass, however I'm currently waiting for a new cable, as I had a broken pin in my original cable from HobbyKing (So I've ordered some new cables from eBay)
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