There really isn’t any reason not to use your APM to get the rover going. I used one for over a year on my boat before switching to a real Pixhawk. With AR 2.5 and your APM 2.8 you will have manual, steering, auto, and rtl available. The newer code and flight controllers offer more but to start with you have what you need. Except you don’t seem to have a power module.
Here is a full parameter list from my boat using AR2.5 with the APM 2.5 if it helps a bit.
2.5 boat july 22.param (4.5 KB)
Thank you for the parameter list. Should I input all parameters in the Full List Tree to be the same as the ones you’ve sent me? I’m happy to do that when I get the time if you think it would help
Not really. The tuning will be slightly different because mine are for a boat. But it may be a starting point. I think your problem is what your inputing into the APM from your receiver and using modes that it can’t do. Also I know nothing about 2.51 beta. 2.5 is a stable release. instead of changing RC Mapping just put your throttle from the receiver into input 3 and steering into input 1. It looks like the mode switch is default on input 8. This can be found under MODE_CH on the parameter list
Is my version 2.51 beta? I thought I changed the firmware down to 2.5 stable when you mentioned it before. Maybe I downloaded the wrong firmware
You may have but I never saw a log from it so I don’t know. Its a safer way to start because it was a stable release with no bugs that I heard about and it just worked.
Rover 2.51 beta is what will be installed on an APM when you select current level from MP by clicking the Rover icon. IOW it’s the default for Rover on APM. If you want any other version you have to select it from the drop down menu “pick previous firmware”. I don’t think this will make a difference, I suspect your problems are much more basic but no harm in trying it.
What i don’t understand is how you can square these 2 statements.
Yes that’s the way it is, throttle into CH1, Steering into CH2
in manual mode everything is perfect
As per your channel map, which is default, Steering is in to Chan 1 and Throttle in to Chan 3.
We’ll get to the problem. 2.51 might be just fine. I was just trying to rule out things. proper wiring is the place to start.
Indeed. Let’s get back to basics here. Drive it around in manual mode for a few minutes and post a log of that. Go straight and then put in some turns in both directions. We can tell from the log what RCIN’s are doing what.
And we are assuming the left stick (up/down) is controlling throttle and the right stick (left/right) is controlling steering right?
yes. With the old APM it was get manual working properly, move on with steering mode to make sure it turned in the proper direction and held a compass course. Then Auto in a box shape mission to play around with tuning. There is less than a dozen tuning parameters I think. I’ll have to look again. Maybe a little more than a dozen. Not like the latest code.
Yes that’s the way its setup right now, left is throttle and right is turning. I will give it a spin and post a log for the RCIN’s for you to review.
Maybe I’ve done something wrong from the beginning which has caused problems.
But like I said in manual mode it drives well, just when I go into auto it turns crazy.
Once the kids are in bed I can take it for a drive in 30 mins or so and will post up the log
Before you do auto stuff use steering mode. Have your switch set up for manual and steering. Take it slow. Steering mode uses some of the auto mode controller. Otherwise this will take forever.
I did that before and sent 2 logs one with manual and one with steering mode but I will do it again and see what you can find. Steering mode seemed to also work well but was a bit slower than manual mode but still worked well. Will post the logs soon.
Yes I believe steering mode uses cruise speed and cruise throttle parameters. Or something close to that.
This time round I’m proud to say I will be using telemetry so will you require the Tlogs or just the Bin file?
Both would be great.
One last thing. make sure the outputs of the APM are right. Output one goes to the steering servo and 3 goes to the speed controller. All the logs in the world won’t matter unless stuff is plugged into the right inputs and outputs.
A question about the throttle. Is at neutral with mid throttle and forward and reverse with more/less stick input? This is what your RC3_TRIM parameter would suggest just want to confirm.
Usually the RC_TRIM is determined when you calibrate your transmitter with mission planner. Full reverse will be somewhere around 1100, neutral around 1500, and full forward around 1900. It varies from transmitter to transmitter. This is expecting an ESC that is set up for forward and reverse.
Yes, that’s typical. I prefer neutral with stick down and a forward reverse switch (like a real car) so I have a mix for that but that’s besides the point here.