PixRacer Wifi Firmware update

ArduCopter
1

I have a PixRacer R15 that has lost its USB port. I read on the docs for this FC that you can do firmware updates over wifi with the esp8266 board.

https://docs.px4.io/v1.9.0/en/flight_controller/pixracer.html#wifi-no-usb-required

So, with nothing to lose I’ve been trying. I can get it to connect over wifi, and I’ve tried QGC and MP, on mac, windows and Ubuntu. They will all connect to the quad but I can’t seem to get anything to go into the firmware flashing mode.

I have a sinking feeling that flashing firmware over wifi is just a bit too much to ask. Has anyone got it to work? Is it possible? Or do I need to resign myself that this board will be on AC4.2.0 till the end?

2

I flash the bootloader and firmware using a STLink to USB converter connected to the debug port. That works pretty well, just need a picoblade type 6 pins connector

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3

Would something like this work?

The wiring looks straight forward. Would this power the Pixracer through the 3.3v pins?

4

It is a model like this:

And you need to download software from ST.com to get the STM32 ST-Link Utility (yes you will need to fill a profile for download). There are many tutorials to use this tool and Yes you an use it to power the PixRacer @ 3.3V

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5

Ordered. Thanks for the tip. I’ll probably be playing with this next weekend.

6

Since the board in question already has AC running on it, do I need to flash the ACxx_BL.hex or should I flash the ACxx.hex (or the .apj version) of the firmware?

7

Flashing with bootloader is safer as you have only one memory location to deal with

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8

That did the trick! Thanks. Was a bit of cluster fighting with permissions, and admin rights blah blah blah. But it worked. I was worried that uploading the bootloader through this port might reset everything but that doesn’t seem to be the case and all my parameters still seem to be in place.

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9

Thanks Patrick! I’ll have to keep this in mind as I still have 2 PixRacer’s flying/driving and the USB port has been worked over.

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