Updating ArduCopter

Hi guys,

I’m going with my perfectly functioning copter to Ibiza soon, expecting to shoot some great videos.

I’m running a Pixhawk with Copter 3.3.1 that has been carefully calibrated - e.g. PID values, Radio, Failsafe, landing speed, current and voltage sensor, OSD, NavSpeed and many other parameters I most likely have forgotten about (its been a year since I did it).

Here’s the question: I would like to dedicate some time during my holidays to update all of my firmware, e.g. OpenLRSNG and also ArduCopter, to benefit from all the new features and bug fixes.
Is this easily possible? I have never updated ArduCopter from a perfectly functioning Pixhawk, so how is the process? Will I keep all my carefully calibrated settings (hours and hours…) or will I need to start from 0 (in this case, I will probably not update)?

I haven’t tried anything so I figured, I’ll ask first.

Thank you!

Hi Nerox,

not totally sure about all parameters but just in case i would save a backup of your parameters first.
You can load that backup later and compare parameters in mission planner.

Cheers
Linus

Yes, in general it should just work. A very easy upgrade is from 3.3.1 to 3.3.3 but there’s not much new there. Going from 3.3.1 to 3.4-rc5 is quite a large jump, a lot will have changed but any good/bad experiences you have as part of the upgrade would be very valuable information for me and the other developers so please tell us how it goes.

By the way, if you look closely at the PID numbers before and after the upgrade you may find some have changed but it should fly pretty much the same. If it doesn’t I’d very much like to hear back from you about any issues.

1 Like

Hi Linus,

thanks for the answer!

Yes, I will definitely back up my parameters in the advanced view. However,
I might have forgotten about one or two that I changed, so I am really
wondering if nobody has ever updated ArduCopter - do most parameters stay
the same after an update? Or do I need to start from 0?

Thanks!
Malte

Hi Nerox,

cant help much here since i did the upgrade but could not finish or flying the thing yet.
As i understand most parameters should be the same but calibration, pid tuning might need some twiddling.

I will redo all calibrations and see what funtionality / parameters have changed while going.
I think at least there is no throttle mid parameter since it should learn it with the added feature.

Sorry i couldnt get much more done recently.

Cheers
Linus

I did calibrate the accelerometer after upgrading and did not change any parameters.
After switching on safety switch, I tried to arm. No solid green led and just beeping from Pixhawk.
I used to see error messages on Tower with 3.3.2, but now no messages are displayed, so it is hard to determine what is happening.
Any ideas?

Robin,
It’s most likely that the RC Calibration isn’t quite correct so it’s not seeing that the throttle is at zero and/or the yaw is at full.

Did a radio calibration in Mission Planner and it now does arm :slight_smile:

I have noticed that the pitch and roll PID values are not equal in 3.4.6. Is this normal?

Rate roll 0.1610
Rate pitch 0.2294

Robin,
Roll & Pitch gains can certainly be different. By default they’re the same but if the user can change them to be different values. I guess you’ve changed them?

I think I must have done an auto tune at some point. Should I do another after the update?