Starting a mower project - F405/H743 ok?

Hardware Rovers and boats
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Hey folks -

I am only an egg.

I’m just starting an autonomous mower project as I’m not getting any frakking younger.

My hardware setup for this project is very fluid at the moment and based on the stuff I have here - but
I haven’t settled on a controller/AP yet.

I’m planning on a gas push-behind mower (for now, would like to go electric eventually), with large (350w) brushed electric motors for propulsion, RTK for positioning (I have 2 of the Sparkfun ZED-F9F units, but never used them), some sort of IR at first or maybe LIDAR eventually ($$$) for immediate/non-mapped obstacle avoidance, Pb-acid deep cycle for power, and some sort of wireless control (thinking WiFi or maybe 915MHz LoRa because I’m familiar with it and the range would be better). Ardupilot for software/firmware.

However, the controller is up in still completely the air. I do have an old old Crius AIO Pro v2 from a drone project that doesn’t seem to be supported in Ardupilot (I was using MegapilotNG, which kinda looks like it doesn’t even exist anymore.)

Anyway, I think it’s at least 4-5 years old and doesn’t seem to be supported in Ardupilot. So. New controller.

I’m seriously looking at the Mateksys F405 family. I like the price and the ecosystem (being able to buy stuff that I know will work is nice. Minimum therbligs.) I can get everything I want for like $100ish, and that’s like 1/3 the price of some other controllers.

Here’s the questions I have and would appreciate your help with -

  1. Is there any reason I SHOULDN’T use one of these controllers with my setup? Any specific one I should use? (the new? H743 vs the 405? They look very similar except for processing capability and $) Any quirks I should plan to work around?

  2. Is the F405 and Ardupilot compatible with the Sparkfun RTK board? Looks like it’s definitely compatible with the base-station/corrections, but what about using the Sparkfun rover/GPS board on the rover? I’m really not in the market for another RTK setup - this one was expensive enough, but I’m think some basic GPS modules might be able to receive the corrections too and I can then save the other RTK board for something else.

Anyway, as I said, I’m new to all this. I do have some aviation-type drone and a decent electronics background, but haven’t worked in this area for some years. I would appreciate your help and thanks in advance!

As this project develops, I thought I might keep my progress updated somewhere - is there any interest in this, or is it a case of “yet another”?

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I am using an H743-Wing V3 on my mower and it works well. I’m sure the F405 would work OK as well, but be sure whichever controller you choose has 2MB of Flash. You cannot install the full ArduRover firmware with all features on a 1MB controller. For instance, you would give up the possibility of using a Moving Baseline (aka GPS for Yaw) configuration, which many of us use in a mower application. Read the section enitled “Firmware Limitations” here: Loading Firmware — Rover documentation (ardupilot.org) and click on the link at the end of the first bullet there to specifically check for limitations for a particular controller.

The Sparkfun F9P board will work very well. I know at least 2 other mower users who are using those boards. I personally use the Ardusimple RKT2B boards, but the Sparkfun boards are nearly equivalent.

Good luck with your project!

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I’d skip any F405 hardware at this point, especially for a mowing/agricultural application. It’s rapidly becoming outdated, and many of the features that we’ve come to rely upon simply do not work on those older boards.

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Yuri_Rage, again you have offered great advice (you helped on my NTRIP issues). Which FP would you recommend for a mower? I’m also doing a mower application and have the same decisions to make. I reviewed the list of unsupported commands and its long for most of the units. But I really have no idea which ones I’ll miss in my application until I get there. Even the Pixhawk 6C has a long list of exclusions. While I’m asking the same questions as PerryRT is asking, which USB radios do you recommend? I’m seeing $60 for Holybro 433 or 915 radios. Anything cheaper? Someone mentioned this RTK GPS as well. Much cheaper than Holybro. Think it’ll work? https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806517861023.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

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Dude, following this with interest. I’m also beginning a mower project. I have an older robot mower that has all the mechanical “stuff” i need. electric drive motors, electric blade motors, battery box, lot of room for controls. SO I’m concentrating on the controls. Is there a forum for autopilot mowers? Seems like a lot of us are out there…

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Are you using the Matek H743 Wing V3? I’m also doing a mower and trying not to make a fundamental mistake in FP selection. Is the H743 “big enough” for all ardurover functions?

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If you want to have all current features, any supported autopilot with a H7 and an SD card should work. Nothing to agonize over.

The agonizing decisions come from those who want to spend nothing and have everything.

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I’m cheap and on a budget, but willing to spend what’s required to not buy something useless. I don’t want to be limited later. So the Matek H743 is OK? Other one I was looking at was the Holybro Pixhawk 6C. I see more posts about the Pixhawk. Its a rover and space is not an issue. The Pixhawk seems to have plugs for most things, rather than soldering the wires. Thoughts? The F405 is tons cheaper, but H743 and Pixhawk 6C are pretty close. Sorry for the dumb newbee questions. I like the LC29HEA at $60, and the Holybro $15 LIDAR for obstacle avoidance.

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Matek is fine. I like their products. If you don’t want to solder as much, the Holybro autopilot might be more convenient. For your use case, the two H743-based autopilots you mention are similar enough in capability.

I can’t recommend an F405. They tend to cause nothing but frustration.

The cheap GPS looks like a good find, but I’d wait for some concrete results from the discussion on it before committing to it. Otherwise, I like the CUAV RTK GPS offerings for slightly less expensive options.

Cheap LIDARs tend to do poorly in bright sunlight. Buyer beware. I don’t have expertise with that model.

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Richard, not to go off on a tangent, but I’m also interested in a mower application. I’ve been trying the ardurover and Mission Planner simulator and having a tough time. Getting the rover to turn tightly on a waypoint, as a mower would, has been a struggle. Have you figured out the MP parameters?