New to Arducopter

I’m new here and have a question for someone with more experience than me.

I have a 2.8 version APM flight controller and need to know which version of mission planner it will support, whakt firmware I need, etc. If anyone can help, please do.

Ric

Try these
http://ardupilot.org/planner/docs/mission-planner-installation.html

http://ardupilot.org/copter/index.html

MP gets the latest stable firmware 3.6.10 for copter

I think QGC will load firmware on that board.
I was thinking you meant 2.4.8 , 2.8 Its a pretty old board to work with you may be better off upgrading.

Actually, I’m running a 850mm hexacopter drone and have an older, (discontinued) apm2.8 flight controller I’d like to use. I read somewhere that these controllers only work up to a certain firmware update and Mission Planner version.

Rick

go for a 40$ upgrade and get a much better performance :wink:

You are correct. Its also hard to find old MP versions you may want to search other posts for this topic I have read a few but don’t recall any solution.

I have one apm 2.8 retired and running rover. I had to use QGC to upload firmware and get through calibrations. Now it works fine with MP. The problem is I can’t upgrade so support for newer hardware, safety issues and performance are not available. Truthfully my 2.8 rover is about 70% MP compatible many modes and features wont work.

Arducopter 3.2.1 is the last supported version for the old APM’s. From February 2015…

Using an APM2.8 is not advised any more. The simple truth is that there are safer, more reliable flight controllers out there for lower cost than the APM series was originally.

Disclaimer aside - I have an old F330 still running an APM2.6 and it is a ton of fun to fly. You will be limited by the Arducopter firmware version (3.2.1 as Dave said) and some features you might be reading about in the wiki and docs may not be present simply due to the fact that it is not the latest. Mission Planner version is independent of the arducopter firmware. Go ahead and install the latest mission planner.

Why on earth would you buy a completely obsolete hardware, which is unable to run the current software ?? Beside greed, I can’t figure it out… :wink:

It came with a kit and I’m just now getting around to setting it up. I thought it would be a good learning experience in APM technology. Guess what, Microsoft bought Mission Planner. I wonder who sold it?

Rick

I have an 850 Hex I’m setting up that started out as a kit 650 Tarot kit and the flight controller came with it. Then they discontinued the project. Look at the Microsoft site and you’ll find out why.

Rick.

Does anyone have a suggestion on a better Flight Controller system I’m open to suggestions.
By the way, here’s a link to some older versions of mission planner I ran across.

http://firmware.ardupilot.org/Tools/MissionPlanner/archive/

Rick

G’day Rick,
the list of supported autopilots is here:
http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-autopilots.html
It’s hard to suggest which is best for you: it really depends on where you want to take things!
I’d suggest figuring out which peripherals you might want to eventually add, and then use IO as a discriminator.
If you want to keep costs minimal and don’t mind a bit of messing about splicing cables, Mateksys or Holybro Kakute are a good starting point. After that, pretty much anything from mRo, Hex, Holybro or CUAV will be fine. The newer F7 (and H7) based boards have more flexibility than F4 boards.

The craft is basically a camera platform with a gimbal and a smaller video camera. I like the programmable modes in of the APM system and was looking at the Pixhawk system but don’t know how stable it would be with a larger hexacopter. Any ideas?

Rick

I use 900 mm motors to motors octo quad (quad with 8 motors) for heavier loads.
Stable as a rock. looks like a truck in the air (Pixhawk clone mounted on platform insulated with 4 little rubber monts.)

Only thing is that the compass / GPS is mounted far away (35 cm) from the electrical noise sources (opto isolated ESC) .

And last but not least separate power battery and linear low noise LDO voltage regulator for Rx, Pixhawk, GPS compass…

Made many and no worries when such simple precautions are implemented. :wink:

Henri

Microsoft bought Mission Planner? You figure that because it shows up in the Microsoft App store?

No “project was discontinued”. Obsolete hardware was no longer able to be supported for the advancements in capability in Ardupilot.

Any Pixhawk variant with 6 outputs will work for you. There are several to choose from. There are also F4 and F7 boards that would do the job. No magic to selecting a FC for an 850 Hex.