I am looking for a cheap autopilot for my foam plane, I got a full pixhawk on my hexacopter that works great but looking to get something similar for my fixed wing, preferably smaller and cheaper as I wont need the full support of everything on teh full pixhawk
Things I would like - stabalise, RTH, GPS way point.
Other ‘likes’ for the system would beto use mavlink-osd board from the pixhawk setup that I would like to use here (used telemetry link for the hexacopter), S.Bus (frsky compatible) and PPM input as I may switch between recievers.
I was looking at an APM 2.8 but not sure if there is anything better for the proce as these seem like they may be getting old (but that has brought down the price) and there also seems to be lots of variations (copies that may not be to the same quality) so along with suggestions a reputable place to get it from in the UK.
You have quite a few choices for small footprint inexpensive (~$50 or less) boards that are supported by the latest revisions of ArduPlane. APM is long obsolete. The smallest would be the 20x20mm boards (Omnibus F4 Nano V6, Kakute F7 mini) then there are several 30x30mm boards. Many of these are AIO (all-in-one) with direct battery power, onboard OSD, voltage and current monitoring and a BEC or 2 (or3).
Thanks for the link, I have been taking a look at that, however I was finding it hard to find out which has the functions I need and are cheap-ish from a reputable seller.
What is the difference between the open / cosed hardware, im guessing the open hardware is products based on an open source design?
Is ther any downside going for a closed hardware option?
Yes, right on the difference between open and closed source. No specific downside for closed source hardware. Some of these manufacturues (HolyBro, Matek) work with the Ardupilot Dev’s so firmware can be produced to support the boards.
If you were considering an APM any of the boards will likely have the features you want but what are they?
It depend on where you are as to a reputable dealer. Many of the boards are also used by the FPV crown and can be obtained from many sources.
One flight controller family that is very popular for Planes is the Matek F405/F765-Wing. They have a load of features. I put a Kakute F7 AIO in a V-tail plane and it performed great.
Thanks for the help, decided on the Matek F765 in the end, was a little more expensive than I was looking for with this build but it alows me to expand in the future, I have a larger plane that I have been working on for a LONG time that I intend to finish one day. As such this should be great for that one too.
