Build: QAV500v2, PixHawk, 3DR telemetry radios, X8R, and Taranis X9D
plus. PixHawk boots, and breathes green with a good GPS fix. Can be
armed from the TX, props spin up, but tries to roll to one side when
given enough throttle to lift. (abdallah.hiof.no/drone/index2.html)
Control software problems: Under OSX 10.10 (Yosemite) Qgroundcontrol
finds the Pixhawk both with direct USB and 3DR radio using the
native usbserial1 connection, but in Qg (latest builds) there is no
visual indication of which way to hold the aircraft when configuring
the accelerometer. APM-planner does not find the (FTDI) serial
driver. (Tried "sudo nvram boot-args=“kext-dev-mode=1"”, kextload
and unload, etc., to no avail.)
I have installed OS X 10.7.5 on a separate partion of my MacBook
Air, hoping to find versions of both Qg and APMpl that work as
intended, but booting into 10.7.5 (Lion) gives these problems:
Qgroundcontrol, which connects both with the 3DR radios and USB,
insists that the default attitude of my quadcopter is upside
down, and the instructions for accelerometer configuration are
do not show the required attitude, but lists “front, back, left
side, right side, and down”. Which way is the quad to be held
when Qg wants “front”? Do I point the front up or down?
a. Which version of Qgroundcontrol is correct for OS X 10.7.5?
b. How to reset the PixHawk to factory settings?
c. Which baud rate is correct for USB and which for 3DR radio link?
d. Which air frame type is correct for QAV500v2?
APM-planner never manages to make a connection to the
PixHawk. All versions of 2.0.15 crash when attempting to connect
over radio. (FTDIUSB serial driver v2.2.18 is installed and shows
up as usbserial-DN007EUR when 3DR radio is connected. With direct
USB connection only usbserial1 is available.) Using either serial
mode, various versions of APM Planner 2.0.15 and 2.0.11 refuse to
connect.
a. Which version of APM Planner is correct for OS X 10.7.5?
b. Which baudrate for USB and 3DR radios? 57600 or 115200?
c. What am I doing wrong?
Finally - can someone point me to an example of a Taranis X9D/X8R
model file for PixHawk and similar quadcopter that I can use to
start configuring the transmitter?
Why are using 10.7. APM Planner 2.0.15 works on 10.10. Though in some cases I’ve seen the need for people to install the FTDI driver for it to work. 2.2.18 is the latest and works on 10.10.
QGC doesn’t work with APM at the moment. It needs some work to be updated with the latest release on APM code.
Because it doesn’t work. I have now downloaded the latest build of APM from this site: ardupilot.com/downloads/?did=90 and tested under OS X 10.10.1 (Yosemite) with the following results:
With 3DR radio link:
APM says connected and “Disarmed” with usbserial-DN007EUR at 115200, but
nothing happens. (No response from PixHawk which is breathing blue)
the 3DR radios connect at 57600, no point trying 115200.
I would suggested trying to connect again using the radio, after the crash. It makes no sense why it does crash. You can also send the APM Planner 2.0 log from ~/apmplanner2 folder
What do you mean by no apparent contact? Diarmed means that any throttle control will result in the motors not spinning up. Armed means reading to fly. You will need to satisfy a set of pre-arm checks for that to be allowed. ie. Level calibration (Acceleromter) Compass Calibration & RC Control calibration. The messages will appear in the Primary Flight Display and the Messages Tab in the Action View.
By no apparent contact, I mean that nothing happens. APM Planner does not react. The attitude indicator in the flight data window does not react. (It works in QC.)
I have tried again as you advised, but APM crashes every time.
By “stack”, I assume you mean the PixHawk’s firmware. How do I load the APM firmware without getting APM Planner connected? (I have installed APM 2.0.10 under Windows XP and am having better luck connecting, but it crashes as soon as I try to calibrate.)
Thanks billbonney! APM Planner 2.0.7 on OS X 10.10.1 is finally the version that got things working for me. With a direct USB link, I was able to update the firmware on the PixHawk with APMpl and after that APMpl 2.0.15 also works with the 3DR radios. Now I can go on to configuring and calibrating my QAV500v2. The two clues that got me out of the logjam were finding that at least APMpl 2.0.7 and 2.0.10 worked under Windows XP, and your (crucial) advice about the APM version of the firmware. Thanks again.
Thanks for the update, I’m glad you have it working now.
If you use the QGroundControl application to install firmware it will install the PX4 ‘Native’ autopilot stack, not the APM version.
You can re-install the APM FW version on the Pixhawk by running APM Planner 2.0.15*. Go to the Initial Setup Tab, and click Install Firmware Button on the left. You can then select the FW type you with to install and the port should be shown as in planner2.ardupilot.com/wiki/install-firmware/
Do not connect the autopilot using the connect button in the top right of the screen until you are on the Install Firmware View (you will see it is not enabled in the view)
*NOTE: you do not need to use 2.07 or 2.0.10 on win XP to achieve this. I have tested the scenario using 10.10.1 and PX4 native and was able to refresh it to APM FW using 2.0.15. (2.0.16 will contain the fix to stop the crash from happening if you connect to a PX4 Native stack with the Connect button in the top right.) Feel free to refresh your device with PX4 FW and resets the scenario to verify
Thanks again for pointing the issue out, feedback is valuable so keep it coming
