3DR V1 Radio questions

Hardware Other Hardware
1

General description:
3DR Radio version 1 very old but never used. I am trying to make it work.
PixHawk PX4 very old also and I am not sure which version but I bought it at 3DR store. It is working well.
The question is because I am trying to get the 3DR radio to talk to each other and failed.

The PixHawk PX4 is working well with the latest Mission Planner and I even have telemetry going back to my FrSky transmitter.

I found a pair of 3DR V1 radio and was curious if I should try and make them work or throw them away.

I connected the USB unit to the laptop, it showed up on Mission Planner when I click on optional hardware and SiK radio. There is no longer a 3DR radio button to click. I clicked on load setting and the local unit settings showed up. Net ID is 25 Frequency is 915 baud rate is 57600. Remote unit is greyed out.

I finally get a cable that can attach the remote unit to the PixHawk and I have power. Green LED is flashing. Remote is connect to telemetry 1 port. Telemetry port in standard parameter is set to none. I don’t know if I need to set that to something. If I do what protocol should I set it to?

I also managed to connect the air unit via a USB interface to the laptop direction. Now the air unit becomes the local unit in Mission Planner. I managed to flash (Upload firmware “Local”) to both ground and air unit. They both showed SiK 2.2 as firmware. I did a screen capture of both units plugged in as local and they both showed the exact same setting.

However when I put the air unit on the PixHawk the remote side is still greyed out.

My question is that if I should spend any more time trying to get this to work and just toss them in the rubbish because they are so old. Maybe there is just one area that I should “turn on” to make them work.

I appreciate any help in advance.

2

When the two radios have all the same settings they should get a solid green LED indicating they can connect to each other.

Check that you have parameters set like these for the correct serial port (Telem1)
SERIAL1_BAUD,57
SERIAL1_OPTIONS,0
SERIAL1_PROTOCOL,2

3

When the two radios have all the same settings they should get a solid green LED indicating they can connect to each other.<<

Yes I understand and I was hoping for two solid green LEDs.

Check that you have parameters set like these for the correct serial port (Telem1)<<

Thank you. I just did.

SERIAL1_BAUD,57<<

Yes it is set at 57,600

SERIAL1_OPTIONS,0<<

I checked and none of the boxes are checked.

SERIAL1_PROTOCOL,2<<

I tried setting that to both Mavlink1 and Mavlink2 and no connection still.

However now the red LED on the air unit is flashing.

Thanks for you help.

4

Hi; with an early telem unit (unbranded possibly 3DR clone) I experienced very erratic operation when connecting to the vehicle on Mission Planner. After trying many COM port drivers without success, I installed the driver (CDM-v2.12.36.4.U-WHQL-Certified.zip) from the FTDI website [Drivers - FTDI (ftdichip.com)](Drivers - FTDI (ftdichip.com)). Serial 1 port configuration is Mavlink2.
As this is my first post, I don’t know if the images dragged below will display for you.
Regards, David

USB-Driver_W10_FTDI-v2-12-36-4-2021
USB-Driver_W10_FTDI-v2-12-36-4-2021741×535 76.1 KB

433MHz-Telem_Settings_MP-ArduPilot 750X349pxl
433MHz-Telem_Settings_MP-ArduPilot 750X349pxl750×349 47.5 KB

433MHz Telem Banggood
433MHz Telem Banggood600×600 17.8 KB

5

Thank you. I will give that a try.

6

Just remembered some more hints:-
COM ports are different in my screen shots because they are taken from two different computers running MP;
I find that “Load Settings” in the SiK Radio window only works with COM port disconnected (counter intuitive!);
Even with later COM port driver, if connection problem persists, try connecting telemetry radio to a different physical COM port (I have noticed this work-around mentioned in other posts);
Having got a working solution, I found that in certain circumstances Eg GS is re-booted, the telemetry link won’t work; so it is necessary to re-boot the remote vehicle system (by power cycling off/on).
Even with COM port drivers that didn’t work properly, the telemetry radios usually established the initial link (green LED on steady after initial blinking)

7

Thank you. I downloaded the FTDI driver link. I will mess with it a bit and report back. Right now the computer sees the hardware. They just don’t like to talk to each other.