Pixhawk PX4 on DJI F450 Setup, problem arming

Hello Folks,

It’s been about a year since we last flew the DJI F450 quad, with a Pixhawk PX4 autopilot. Our memories are a little fuzzy, and we could use some help sorting out how to get this off the ground. I made a short video (2 min) showing what we’re experiencing.

DJI F450 Need Help

We tried going through the Setup in Mission Planner, but got stuck on loading firmware, following the instructions at https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-loading-firmware-onto-pixhawk.html The Mission Planner software crashed every time we tried to update the firmware.

Actually, we’re fuzzy on whether we were using Mission Planner or APM Planner.

Any suggestions on how to diagnose this would be most appreciated. We’re at the “are you sure there’s gas in the tank?” stage…

Thanks,
Al

Try QGroundControl at least for the firmware update.

Shawn,

I appreciate the suggestion to try QGroundControl. I looked at it. It seems like an alternative to Mission Planner and other ground control systems. Since I’m already familiar with Mission Planner, I’m inclined to stay in that environment for now.

Al

In Mission Planner, found Flight Data>Messages tab, and it looks like I’m running Copter V3.5.5. Is there any reason based on my initial post to think that firmware is likely to be the culprit for not getting off the ground? Looks like latest firmware is 4.0.3. As I’m not flying the quad with the ground station, I’m thinking this is not the issue. I’m going to continue with other basic setup for now.

9/5/2020 11:09:53 PM : u-blox 1 HW: 00070000 SW: 1.00 (59843)
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : PX4v2 0038002B 3135510C 35333436
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : Frame: QUAD
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : PX4: 0384802e NuttX: 1bcae90b
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : APM:Copter V3.5.5 (27229c83)
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : PX4v2 0038002B 3135510C 35333436
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : Frame: QUAD
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : PX4: 0384802e NuttX: 1bcae90b
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : APM:Copter V3.5.5 (27229c83)
9/5/2020 11:09:50 PM : GPS 1: detected as u-blox at 115200 baud

Definitely update to latest stable unless you know of a specific reason not to.
Sometimes people have reported trouble with firmware updates via MissionPlanner - if that’s your case too then use QGC to do the update but you can continue to use MP for everything else if you wish. They will coexist.

Shawn,

Thanks for the explanation. I was thinking that to use the QGC, I would have to abandon what I know in mission planner. But apparently, that’s not the case. I’ll give it a try.

Al

We got it going. Used QGC to upload latest firmware, and went through the basic setup within. Its in the air! Thanks very much for the help.