malex_sky, would you be willing to share how you did it?
Hi markagate, i basically upload the original firmware of the 1240x esc into the m600 esc… you will need the usb rs485 converter…
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Hi Jason,
Did you have problems on your S900 with the ESC blinking and beeping? All of mine on my S900 are just blinking and beeping even after arming the copter and I can’t figure that out. Any help would greatly be appreciated
NTP Powerline Tethered Drone absolutely fantastic “Franken Drone” M600 with Pixhawk 2.0 FC.
Proof as he said it can be done! Let us resurrect this thread.
There are bound to be plenty of airframes available at a discount from insurance claims.
OK full disclosure, I am very much interested, but my C++ programming skills are not developed. So the whole most important part of this project is not yet my expertise. How I do plan to accomplish? I am just now exploring this option, power distribution/management and propulsion technology from DJI with open source flight control and groundstation technology. Once fully integrated, no more firmware nightmares from China.
Fuel for thought!
Hey Ricky
Nope, haven’t had that issue. I chose X6 frame. I do remember that if I tried to calibrate the ESCs from Mission Planner, I had an issues (but cant remember what the issue was). I then just used the DJI tool to reflash their standard firmware to their ESCs (I was using the E1200 propulsion system).
I have had an issue with an older pixhawk (may or may not be related), but it would not stop ESCs from blinking and beeping even when armed and it was due to the IO firmware doing something strange. I had to flash to Ardurover, then back to arducopter and all was ok.
Sorry, I’m not much help with this.
Very Nice Michael
So the M600 batteries are inserted as a ‘backup’ should your tether solution fail? Just curious
No sir this product is the design efforts of Mr. Charles Spoto, Owner of NTP. See above posts for his descriptions.
I would hope to follow his lead and exchange DJI flight controller for Pixhawk on a M600 airframe.
Thanks for the reply Jason. I figured out my problem. I am new to Pixhawk but not the A2 controller. I was using the JR connectors on my wires that go from the Pixhawk to the Power Distribution board. I had the polarity correct on the Pixhawk but not the PDB. They all were all backwards. Had I been using the Futaba wire connectors I would have eliminated that problem so instead, I feel really stupid. I will carry on with trying to work out the PID settings this week. I am sure there will be more dumb stuff coming. Thanks again Jason!
Hello,
I am currently trying to build a larger payload drone. I have been looking into building up an S1000+ using Pixhawk and the here+ rtk GPS module. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look to get a proper parts lists etc?
Hello,
I am new to the drone arena and am trying to build a large payload drone package using Pixhawk. Do you have any advice on where to start, parts lists, etc?
I’d suggest watching a couple of YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YoYuPMXvjc
To see what others have done, and get some ideas. Then ask about specifics.
Hello everyone,
are there any updates on activities integrating the Pixhawk FC on an M600 airframe?
I’m planning to do so. Therefore I would be glad for some information on the communication interfaces, protocols or messages used between the A3 and the batteries or the ESCs resp. (iBat and iESC buses). Does anyone of you has information about that?
Throw away all dji electronics. Keep motors and ESC’s only.
ESC’s are normal PWM 1100-1900 range.
Batteries must be replaced as well, since iBat is not public. (alternatively you can use them as normal batteries but must switch on one-by-one.)
Hi malex_sky,
Are you able to share how you uploaded the original 1240x firmware when the ESC isn’t recognised by the DJI assistant?
We did a little bit of reverse engineering on the protocol. The ESC requires constant RS485 communication with the autopilot. Additionally, special PWM commands are used to ‘arm’ the ESC, and the ESC must receive certain RS485 commands between the arming pulse and regular pulses.
Additionally… the RS485 commands appear to be somewhat synchronised to the PWM width, further complicating things.
Based on this, reverse engineering the protocol is possible but likely not safe to fly with due to too many unknowns. We got to the point where we can arm / run the ESC /motor from a computer, but it would need many hours of testing before we felt it safe for flght.
For that reason, we’re looking at overwriting the original formware with the 1240x ESC firmware.
If you can give some direction there, that’d be great!
Thanks,
Nick
Late to this whole forum thread but we have an M600 converted to pixhawk we are trying to sell. Anyone can reply with questions or an interest.
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I would like to thank you at the outset,
I am pleased that you have presented this topic here,
I have been looking at this for some time now and I still have many questions.
The first is about the ESC: Did you use the same ESC that comes with the M600?
And how was it possible to run ESC, knowing that I had tried it directly and did not work?
Does it need reprogramming?
The first is about the ESC: Did you use the same ESC that comes with the M600?
And how was it possible to run ESC, knowing that I had tried it directly and did not work?
Does it need reprogramming?
Second about the order of engines:
Is a particular order used for each program uploaded to the Pixhawk?
What about stability during the flight as well:
Does the aircraft maintain its stability? Do you need a tuning process?
What about your offer?
Do you sell the M600 after converting it to Pixhawk?
I would be very grateful if you could answer our questions, and thank you very much in advance, and wish you all the best.
As for the ESC specifically, I searched for a way to program it by an external program but I did not get a result, but I know ESC has two types, one that works with the A3 controller and the other works with other types of flight controllers such as Pixhawk.
Therefore, there must be more than one program for each ESC, and the question here is how do we get these programs?, and even how ESC can be connected to the computer for programming.
Are you still working on this?
I got sidetracked and moved away from the M600. So no progress from my side.
Cheers