How to manually control a Hawkeye Firefly 6S?

ArduCopter Copter 3.5
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I am trying to configure my Pixhawk FC to allow me to control an onboard camera to take a photo or to start/stop a video recording.

The camera is a Hawkeye Firefly 6S and it has a remote control board connected to the USB port. This remote control responds to PWM signals from a receiver channel:

  • 1000 uS is to take a photo
  • 1500 uS is no action, stop recording
  • 2000 uS is to start recording a video

I have configured a 3-way switch on my transmitter to output those 3 values on Channel 8 – UP is 1000 uS, CENTRE is 1500 uS and DOWN is 2000 uS.

Now, what do I need to do to get the Channel 8 PWM signal to appear on one of the 6 AUX Ports (AUX1-AUX6, referred to as RC9-RC14 in Mission Planner) of the Pixhawk, so I can connect the Firefly 6S remote control signal wire?

I guess I need to configure ArduCopter to convert the Channel 8 PPM signal to the equivalent PWM signal and map that signal to one of the AUX ports as if there was a servo connected to that port.

Could someone please point me to the parameter/s that I need to configure to achieve the above?

1 Like
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OK, I think I have figured it out, but I still need to test it.

BRD_PWM_COUNT is set to 4 by default, so AUXOUT 1 to 4 are PWM outputs.
If I set SERVO9_FUNCTION=58, then RC channel 8 should be passed through as a PWM output on AUXOUT1.

Now to go and test the theory … :grinning:

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https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2852885-Controlling-external-devices-like-Gimbals-and-Lights-with-a-Pixhawk

Don’t forget that if you have the safety button enabled you get no output on the Aux ports until the button is active.

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Thanks for that advice Mike - I had no idea that the safety button also inhibited the AUX outputs. I would have been really puzzled trying to get it to work otherwise. And thanks for the link to your article - it is very informative.

And the good news is that my theory was correct - it all works as expected. I can now take a photo or record a video from the Firefly camera on my hexacopter … :rofl:

1 Like
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Congratulations and enjoy!

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Good day, would you mind advice me pls how you have set the firefly6 make it work with pixhawk… its necessary an extra board and cable?

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Yes, you need a Remote Control Audio Video AV Cable for Hawkeye Firefly 6s 8s Action Camera that looks like this:

image

A connection diagram for that interface is shown on page 15 of the Firefly 6S user guide.

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wonderful… this cable can work also with small firefly cameras?
Which tx/rx do you advice me… for mounting one on the drone and one on the gcs

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Sorry, I can’t answer that question - I only know that it works with the Firefly 6S.

There is a huge choice of suitable Tx and Rx available and your budget and local RF rules will help you narrow down the options. If you want to view the video within your GCS, then you will need a Rx that outputs in UVC via USB - the Eachine ROTG01 is the one I use.

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I will oreder and test the cable on my firefly 6s…i will check for a good scheme for connect the firefly6 to the module for transmit the video on GCS…will not be easy

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Signal cable of the remote can be wire directly to the receiver… coz ive done also and DIY board for multi connection frome the receiver cable

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I am using the Eachine ATX03 on the hexacopter as the video transmitter and the Eachine ROTG01 as the receiver connected to the GCS. Eachine have a good range of suitable Tx and Rx video modules to choose from.