I am sure this has been posted a few times and am sorry.
But from what I can tell from google no one has a set answer for the question.
I have a Trex 600 DFC that I am building for scale and GoPro work,
What I want to know is will the APM 2.6 Work on this as its FCS and if it’s safe. or am I going to have to buy another FCS and if so what can I get that will use Arducopter or Inav
In the $100 to $150 range
Reading a thread title like this makes me want to scream.
Do you really want to risk a 1000$ helicopter with an old and obsolete flightcontroller?
Buy a new FC! There are many capable options in this list. Something with a STM H7 or at least STM F7 MCU:
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Thank you for your reply. This is why I asked when I bought the APM it was not obsolete.
Could you elaborate on a decent cheap FC?
For example, the Pixraptor seems to have all the nice floating bords like the cube for $100
I’d go with Pixracer, it is a small well-supported flight controller. Not the most powerful, but enough for most applications. It works with Ardupilot out of box and is easy to configure, I’ve never had any problems with it.
Also, it comes with JST-GH connectors, so you won’t need to solder each time you want to (re-)connect something.
Mateksys H743 Boards are relativly cheap and come in different sizes. You get the fastest available MCU and a host of other features. Pixracer and Pixraptor both use an older/slower F4 MCU.
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Agree with this. And they take direct battery power lessening the hassle of another component with a power module. I have PixRacers and Matek H743’s and would go with the later for sure.
Its been a bit and the tech has changed so much. “Been building this Heli since 2015”
I assume you mean something like the H743 Wing?
I have Linked 2 Is there a pro/con to consider other than a bit of soldering?
I have two -Wing boards. They need a decent soldering equipment, because there is a lot of copper to heat up. My unregulated 25W soldering iron was instantly cold after touching the ground pins. I adapted a fine tip to my 70W soldering iron and then it worked.
The -slim board should be easier to solder, but it does not have pins for every function, just solderpads. I imagine it might be easier to place on a heli, though.
@MichaelJMAD I will admit up front that I have not used either of these flight controllers. But here are some things to consider when looking at a flight controller for a heli.
For a 600 size heli, what power system are you running in it 10s? 12s? Just be aware that the voltage limit on the board is 8s (at least for the H743). So you may need a voltage regulator to run power to this board or just use a separate battery than your flight battery.
On a 600 size heli I am generally not that worried about the size of the flight controller. I have a CUAV pixhack V5 on my synergy E5 which was modified to a 600 size (blades and tailboom). I placed the controller on one of the side frames.
I am not one to buy a controller where I have soldering to do. I can solder but not sure I trust myself doing all of the intricate soldering of the pins plus I like having the flight controller enclosed in a sturdy case, but that is my preference.
The H743 wing seems like a nice flight controller with plenty of features so if you are able to do the soldering then it would be a good choice. Just make sure when you mount it that you use a foam pad or something to isolate it from vibrations.
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Ok, so I have the FC, Batteries, and such. Next question can Arducopter handle the controls or do I now need an FBL controller? The document doesn’t mention it or flybarless at all, that I have seen.
Edit been reading and it seems it can go either way but not required
@MichaelJMAD You don’t need an FBL system. The flight controller with arducopter firmware can handle everything.
You should move any other questions to a new thread under ArduCopter, Traditional Helicopter section of this forum
Thanks, I stated this to try to keep everything in one place but.
I will make a new post in the indicated place when further questions come up