Kakute F7 - anyone have bluetooth or 3DR telem radios working?

I’m trying to get a bluetooth connection between the Kakute F7 and my phone/Tower. (I’ve been successful doing this with a PIxhawk).

I bought this Solu JY-MCU HC-06:

I’ve connected the HC-06 to power/ground, and UART2 (as labeled on the Kakute).

I’ve connected Rx to Tx and Tx to Rx…and also tried R to R and T to T when that didn’t work).

I’ve changed Serial 2 in MIssion planner to 1 “Mavlink 1”, and I’ve tried 3 different BAUD rates fo far, 9600, 38400, and 57600.

I paired the HC-06 sucessfully to my phone, and when I open Tower, and click CONNECT, the light on the HC-06 changes from flashing to steady.

But…

No data shows up in Tower.

Any ideas?

Thanks…

It should work but I have come to dislike BT radios and use ESP8266 WiFi radios instead. I have them on several craft including a Kakute F7 AIO.

Thanks Dave…I actually have one of those wifi radios…bought it a long time ago…someone in the forum was making them if I recall…called a MavBridge…I actually never used it…I was afraid the 2.4ghz wifi radio might interfere with Taranis X9D also operating on 2.4ghz.

But anyway, you seem to be saying my Mission planner settings and connections are correct? Set Serial 2 to Mavlink 1?

Thanks…

I use these and have never had a problem with 2.4Ghz interference.

I had BT radios on a couple craft but none now. Are you sure the baud rate is set for 57600 on the radio? I recall having to monkey around with AT commands to reset this. I don’t recall if you need to to use Mavlink 1. You don’t with the WiFi radios.

Dave,

No I’m not sure it’s 57600…I’ve just been changing the SERIAL2 baud rate, hoping it will finally connect.

I’ve never done “at commands”…Are you talking about connecting the Bluetooth board to a PC using an ftdi cable? And then using a certain software?

Anyway, if you don’t have your serial port set to Mavlink, what is it set to? Or… Wait a minute… Are you saying the wifi board is not part of the whole serial port thing? Please pardon my basic questions… Thanks.

Right, use an FTDI adapter and I used the serial monitor in the Arduino IDE. I may be wrong but I think it has to be configured for 57600. I bought one on eBay that said it was configured for “Pixhawk” and it worked 1st try. The others, HC-05 and HC-06 required configuration to this as I recall.

It’s set for Mavlink2. Sorry I can’t be of more help.

Dave,

You’ve been a lot of help…perhaps I can ask for just a bit more. :slight_smile:

So I downloaded Arduino IDE, and I configured my FTDI cable so that volts, GND, Rx and Tx match the bluetooth board.

I plugged the FTDI cable into the computer, and I see I have a board on Com5…I told Arduino IDE to connect to Com 5…so far…so good…I think it’s connected.

I also see the serial monitor…TOOLS…SERIAL MONITOR…and a second box titled COM 5 opens up with a cursor blinking.

So ok…now what (this is all Greek to me). :slight_smile:

Do I have to tell Arduino IDE what kind of board I’m using? (TOOLS…BOARD)…how do I know what kind of board I have? If I do TOOLS…GET BOARD INFO, I get this:

BN: Unknown board
VID: 0403
PID: 6001
SN: Upload any sketch to obtain it

So this is where I am:

The serial monitor is open…it’s blank.

Can you tell me how to proceed to check the baud rate? Or never mind that, I just want to set it to 57600 (I assume).

I guess I type an AT command into the serial monitor?

Thanks…

I found this article…says a lot:

http://www.martyncurrey.com/arduino-and-hc-06-zs-040/

But when I type “AT” (or anything else) into the serial monitor…nothing happens. I’m still wondering if I have to set the board type (TOOLS…BOARD).

Thanks…

OK…well…for those who might come across this thread…

I followed the instructions in the above linked web page…and it worked.

Make sure to select 9600 baud in the serial monitor window, as well as “no line ending” in the drop-down box…as well as use only CAPS.

But…

It still won’t connect to the flight controller…so there’s still something missing.

Are you running 3.7, and if so what is SERIAL2_OPTIONS set to?

Anthony,

I had another bluetooth module…I bought it a while back…it was advertised for Pixhawk…and it works fine on both the Pixhawk and the Kakute.

So the problem really seems to be with these bluetooth boards I just bought. I tried to connect with my Pixhawk with one of the new boards, and it fails (I get a solid light that the board is paired to the phone, but no data).

So it seems to have nothing to do with serial 2 options, but only with the new boards.

I was really proud of myself figuring out the whole FTDI/Arduino thing, but alas, even after setting the new boards to 57600 to match the working board (and match the parameter for Serial2 Baud), they still don’t work.

I wonder if it has something to do with parity?

So I tried setting it to NONE, still didn’t connect.

Set it to EVEN…still didn’t connect to the flight controller, and now I lost communications with it on my Windows machine, even after trying to set that com port’s parity to EVEN as well.

And anyway, I’ve about spent enough time on a $7 board. :slight_smile:

Why not just use the 933mhz telemetry radio over WiFi or Bluetooth? Their speed is a bit slower but they always communicate and at much much much farther distances than wifi or Bluetooth.

Gino,

I am using the bluetooth on a 250-size quad as a way to make parameter changes in the field on my phone (and on the bench with my notebook PC) without having to connect by USB cable. For that small quad, the 3DR radios are kinda big/heavy.

For bigger frames as well that don’t need long range telemetery, bluetooth/wifi is a nice light/small option.

Other than that, yes, the 3DR radios work well.

Bill

Dave what kind of range do you get from the wifi radios?

~200m max. They are not options for in-flight telemetry really but they work well for configuration and calibration. You can download logs also but it’s slow.

You are almost there. You need to get your bluetooth board into listening mode so it can receive commands and thus change the default baud rate so it will work for you. It varies depending on which one you have. Some have a button you press as you power it up.

Check this out. It has HC 05 and HC 06 instructions.

Marc,

Thanks…yes I actually made a lot of progress…I was able to connect the HC-06 to my PC with an FTDI cable (after matching up the pinouts), and “talk” to the board…I was able to change the name (for the heck of it), and also the baud rate.

I set the baud rate to 57600…and still no connection…well…to clarify, the HC-06 pairs with my phone, and when I connect via Tower, the HC-06’s light goes from flashing to solid, meaning connected (I guess), bit no data gets transferred.

Finally in an act of desperation I thought I’d try to change the parity…first I tried NONE (which I think is default), still no data transfer.

Then I tried EVEN…the board responded “OK” (or something like that)…but again, no data transfer.

And THEN what happened is I lost the ability to connect/talk to the board with my PC, even though I went into that PC comport, and changed it’s parity to EVEN and ODD.

So…

I threw the board in the trash. :frowning:

I’ll try wifi next (I have a board enroute), or just buy a “Pixhawk specific” bluetooth board.

Thanks…

10/10 for effort!

Sometimes the thrash is the only way to keep your sanity.

Keep that FTDI adapter handy, you will need it to flash firmware to the WiFi radio. It’s fairly painless with the NodeMCU flasher:

http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-esp8266-telemetry.html