Comments

• 

  Dr Mike Black June 28, 2012 at 2:37pm

  If anyone is watching this thread i dont know...but...

  Interesting day, in a frustrating sort of way....

  Ok..yesterday..AP flew , absolutely the mutts nuts...today...all over the place...so back to basics..

  watching the GCS (with the aircraft on jacks) I watched the ALT go up and down like a strumpets watsits.....

  After careful consideration, and many hardware checks, i concluded the GPS was mucking about...(brand new by the way, bought about 7 a year or so ago from DIYd), so got another brand new one..progged it up, hooked it up...locked in 30 secs, ALT stable..went back to the first one...ALT all over the place.

  Got another brand new one out, progged that up, locked in 90secs, ALT all over the place...wnt out side, left it...same thing..

  got ANOTHER brand new one out...progged that up...locked in 30 ALT stable..

  Did the usual, impact engineering test (tap the gps with ones finger se if anything changes) ALT all over the place.

  There is a pattern forming here....

  tapped the first GPS, it stabilized...tapped again..al over the place..

  By the end, i have tested 4 GPS units, all showing the same faults..

  under heavy investigation it has been shown that out of the 7 NEW GPS units bought, 5 show this fault..

  So....Dug the Epoxy potting out of the GPS connecton ..DRY JOINT....grrrrrr

  solderd it up, al works properly..

  Did the same for the other 4 and WOW they work properly...

  Basically i was sold a dodgy batch of GPS's

  Moral of this story...the next time your ublox craps out on you, its probably NOT the GPS, but the VERY POOR assembly by the factory.

  I dont know how long they will last as the antenna is a very complex item (i did treat the actual antenna's very carefully) but in my view, poor quality build.

  I must have spent about $500 on Ublox GPs units, with 75% of them showing bad antenna assembly.

  Bottom line...your GPS is the key to all the locks, the answer to all the questions..

  If it is screwing around, your aircraft and your AP will never fly properly...

  I know that these days, the MTK is the standard, btu i personally love the quality of the ublox filtering, and they dont drop out (good antenna's not withstanding) which in my case, the MTK can be blocked or they drop out way too easily for my liking..

  Basically the last month of mucking about with the AP need not have wasted my time, if the GPS had been good..there was at that point, no reason to doubt it.

  If anyone has any thoughts...kindly share..
• 

  Dr Mike Black June 28, 2012 at 12:44am

  Hi Guys,

  @Harrry as far as i can remember, without that hook up the throttle plays dead (im sure someone can jump in here if i am wrong though) i rememeber having a head ache in the early day with the 'right' solution and it ws  chosen due to the lack of sata ports.

  (again i am going back 2 years now, but i think that is right, it would also explain the lack of use in a glider)

  @Brian, great to talk again!

  Flying wings...no,. but about too (now designing one up in SW that we can stick though our machines X-8 stylie! (about the same size too 2.2m)

  however, as of last night i hve my FAV version 2.6.9 (the version i have been woprkign on and with for years) working again as it should. Woot!!!

  4 flights, 7WP, auto take off, low lever lioter - It did the lot!

  So i will use that derivative for the wing.

  Now that i have it working again, time to re-combine the cameras, and go on a Trev. to our lakes....

  
  About 2 miles from our site (all on our land) and start pushing the envelope again.

  If you need help Brian, post your .h here so we can have a read through

  hope this helps.

  regards,

  mike.
• Harry June 24, 2012 at 10:13am

  Anybody know what the connection on pin D6-D8 between the Ardupilot and ArduIMU does? 

  I've only been testing stabilize mode and without motor, just glide tests.  The wire came off at some point, but stabilize still worked, so not sure what the purpose is.   
• Moderator

  Brian June 24, 2012 at 8:29am

  Dr.Mike, are you flying any wings? I have been stalled too. I have an early & late board and an arduimu. I'd like to set up my Stryker or my F16 pusher.
• 

  Dr Mike Black June 24, 2012 at 1:30am

  HI Peter,

  Not sure if you are aware, but teh diff between 168 and 328 is the amount of data they can hold...

  Im playing with a 328 on 2.7.1 at the mo (trying to get back into the groove if you will)

  I can deff help you will code on the 328.

  If you get stuck i do have MANY 328 base board still new in thier packs (not that you would want to buy any now that APM is becoming mature)

  my version of 2.6.9 (my personal version works well, with one exception, that teh alt hold refuses to play ball at teh mo adn i dont know why!!)

  if you need help, just ask.

  Krs

  Mike,
• Peter June 23, 2012 at 8:51am

  Last I did was 2.4 for 168 and 2.7.1 for 328.  Is there any other variants that work for these boards?  Please help.
• Peter June 23, 2012 at 8:50am

  I have a number of legacy Ardupilot boards, in fact 5x 168 and 3x 328.  So I would like to ask for your help to locate the right version for 168 and 328.  Last I did the test, none of them worked well in Auto mode.  So I think I like to do it again.  Please advice.

  Best regards,

  Peter
• 

  Dr Mike Black June 22, 2012 at 1:58am

  Daft Q? chaps...

  Where in 2.7.1 can we switch off stick mixing in auto?

  i know wher it is in 2.6.4 (my fave code!) but cannot find it in this version..

  Looking forward to anyones thought?

  (Anyway we need to liven up the 'Legacy' section of this forum!

  regards,

  Mike.
• Harry June 20, 2012 at 7:41pm

  google sirfdemo and there are links for downloading the program.  Probably not the best solution since you need a seperate TTL/serial connection and that can be involved.  I got one from sparkfun.com and my computer has a serial port, but I also needed a voltage regulator.
• 

  Anwar Ali Khan June 20, 2012 at 10:11am

  @Harry, yes you are right. I should weight for over a week to bring it back to the default NMEA mode. But the code should bring it to the Sirf mode any time. However, in my case it has never been in Sirf mode. Let me wait for a week and then see starting from NMEA.

  I could not understand the serial connection, SirfDemo, usglobesat thing? Any link about this?