After updating the firmware to Arducopter V4.5.7 from V4.3.6 and test flying I realised that the drone was not taking photos.
I started checking the parameters and I found some parameters that were not right. First the relay1_function was set to 1 that says camera, I found that the right one was to set to 4 that is relay switch. Then the relay1_pin was set 55 but the right one is 54, after I made research on the documentation and on the hardware itself. I tested the payload on the bench with the new parameters set up and when I was toggling the relay switch manually from mission planner, it was taking photos.
I flew tested it, but the payload wasn’t taking photos during the mission. I made a new mission using Q Ground control on the laptop. I flew the mission using Q Ground control on windows, on the screen of Q Ground control it shows that the camera takes photos, on windows and on the RC software. I also tried a different mission using 75% overlap. It didn’t work either.
After that I changed the parameter CAM1_Duration from 0.1 to 0.5, I found online that the duration of the shutter being open might not been long enough. I also found that with the updated firmware a command was missing from the missions, the image_start_capture command. I updated the version of Q Ground control on the system 45 RC to check if it was an issue of the RC firmware.
I made a new test flight with the new mission with the command missing added manually through mission planner and the changed duration.
Both failed to capture pictures. I tried on the field with a longer duration of the camera shutter, from 0.5 to 1 but again it didn’t take pictures. I tried to make a different mission using the updated Q Ground control, but it didn’t work. I tried to make a new mission using 75% overlap, that also didn’t work.
The payload is Micasense Rededge P and the settings of the payload are Ext. Trigger, rising edge, pulse high, rest low, PWM Width: 1.5 ms
I am sending also the parameters file, if someone has an idea how to fix it, I would be grateful. newest params V4.5.7.param (18.4 KB)
You probably be better off by opening a github issue (regression bug) in the ardupilot repository.
Did you uploaded a ArduPilot 4.3.6 parameter file after doing the firmware update? You should NOT do that. The FW update process automatically updates the parameter values. If you upload an old parameter file you break the automatically updated parameter values. If that is the case, do not open a bug report.
Thank you for your fast reply, I made a compare parameters and I uploaded some parameters from the older version after I updated and booted yes, for some of them it gave me a notification and I did not change them, do you think that this messed everything up? Should I update again and set up every parameter manually?
You should not have to change any parameters manually after the update.
Usually doing that messes things up, unless you really know what you are doing and are familiar with the changes between those two FW versions.
Thank you for your reply again, I need to set up the parameters for the external trigger of the payload. Is this gonna make a problem? Is there another way to do it?
Can you explain to me how the automated parameter update works? Or provide with a link to a tutorial? I just made a firmware update and then compare the parameters with the older version parameters and insert the ones that I wanted.
Hello again, to make everything fine again should I reset the parameters to default? What is the procedure to recover if I have messed things up with inserting parameters from the old firmware?
I recommend you flash the original (older) firmware version and then use your original parameter file to get it back to where it was before this debacle.
Then update to latest stable and do not mess with the parameters anymore. They should auto update as needed without further manual intervention.
