Support for the Runcam protocol

I think so. There was not an option for the Split 2S. Which one did you use? I will play around with these settings again as that may explain the erratic behavior. I have also ordered the new Runcam Hybrid 2. I assume the controls are the same as the original Hybrid – seems they just improved the FPV cam.

Not sure if you have seen the mavlink camera control done by Olli. I have on the bench managed full camera settings control of all Hero 7/8 /9 setting via QCG. The only drawback is that it requires a Storm32 board and an ESP32. If you dispense with gimbal control the ESP32 could do it all but that is not within the scope of Olli’s project. He also has a fork of OpenTx/EdgeTX that allows full LUA control.

You need to use type 2 = RunCam Split

Hi, I’m using a runcam phoenix 2 JB edition with pixhawk 2.4.8 (chinese version). I wired runcam on serial port 5 of pthe pixhawk. I work with Mision planner 1.3.75 and arducopter 4.0.7. I set up the SERIAL5_PROTOCOL to 26 and I am booting the camera in UART control mode.
I dont get the message for “APM: RunCam …” as indicated in the support page.

I tried both firmwares,fmuv2 and fmuv3, no success. I wired TX to RX and RX to TX, I switched too after to test. Not possile to get the message for run cam in MP.

I don’t use RC, the drone is piloted by computer via the pixhawk. My purpose is to take photos and videos on using autopilot for the drone.

The video signal from the camera is well captured on an Android device via a VTX.

Have you any ideas on how to make working my run cam with pixhawk?

It only works on arducopter 4.1 - no support in 4.0.7

Oh, I understand. I’m very new on using ardupilot, can you let me know how to get the 4.1 ?

In mission planner click the box for beta firmwares and then install the latest beta

Done:
02.09.2021 17:00:40 : fmuv2 0035003A 3436510B 32393637
02.09.2021 17:00:40 : ChibiOS: 08877972
02.09.2021 17:00:40 : ArduCopter V4.1.0-beta8 (9ac9b21e

but still don’t see the run cam message or params in Mission planner

Post your parameters

Thank you Andy for helping me!

So, I wired runcam to the serial port 4/5 from pixhawk as below:

  • VCC pixhawk to video transmiter and from video transmiter to vcc of run cam
  • the same for GND
  • between pixhawk and run cam, I wired TX of camera to RX of pixhawk, and RX to TX

When I connect to the pixhawk I get this in mission planner:
02.09.2021 17:07:31 : PreArm: Hardware safety switch
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : Frame: QUAD/X
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : IMU0: fast sampling enabled 8.0kHz/1.0kHz
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : RCOut: PWM:1-12
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : fmuv2 0035003A 3436510B 32393637
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : ChibiOS: 08877972
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : ArduCopter V4.1.0-beta8 (9ac9b21e)
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : Frame: QUAD/X
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : IMU0: fast sampling enabled 8.0kHz/1.0kHz
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : RCOut: PWM:1-12
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : fmuv2 0035003A 3436510B 32393637
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : ChibiOS: 08877972
02.09.2021 17:07:20 : ArduCopter V4.1.0-beta8 (9ac9b21e)
02.09.2021 17:07:17 : Frame: QUAD/X
02.09.2021 17:07:17 : IMU0: fast sampling enabled 8.0kHz/1.0kHz
02.09.2021 17:07:17 : RCOut: PWM:1-12
02.09.2021 17:07:17 : fmuv2 0035003A 3436510B 32393637
02.09.2021 17:07:17 : ChibiOS: 08877972
02.09.2021 17:07:17 : ArduCopter V4.1.0-beta8 (9ac9b21e)
02.09.2021 17:07:14 : GCS Failsafe Cleared

When I list the params I get only these one for the camera:

CAM_AUTO_ONLY 0
CAM_DURATION 10
CAM_FEEDBACK_PIN -1
CAM_FEEDBACK_POL 1
CAM_MAX_ROLL 0
CAM_MIN_INTERVAL 0
CAM_RELAY_ON 0
CAM_SERVO_OFF 1100
CAM_SERVO_ON 1300
CAM_TRIGG_DIST 0
CAM_TRIGG_TYPE 0
CAM_TYPE 0

Do you need anything else from params?

Download all the parameter files using mission planner and send the file

Here is it 2021-09-02_V4.1.0_beta8.param (15.6 KB)

The RunCam parameters all start with CAM_RC_ - I don’t see those in there which makes me think you have the wrong firmware. D’oh - you are using a 1MB PixHawk so not supported. If you think your board does not have the 1MB flaw then you could use the 2MB build which will have the feature in - otherwise you will have to use the custom firmware builder to create one

Yes, normaly should be a 2MB build. I will verify again

I tested in a new pixhawk i get recently and works fine, i get the RC params now:
|CAM_RC_BT_DELAY|7000|
|CAM_RC_BTN_DELAY|300|
|CAM_RC_CONTROL|10|
|CAM_RC_FEATURES|96|
|CAM_RC_MDE_DELAY|800|
|CAM_RC_TYPE|1|

I still don’t see in MP the message for “APM: RunCam …” , so i don’t know if my camera is visible from MP and can be used.

Btw, should I set CAM_RC_TYPE = 1 or 2 for this type of camera?

The fact that FEATURES is populated means something happened. Not sure if this is correct for you camera. What buttons does the actual camera have?

There are no button on the camera. here is the link from where I bought it:

And I use this VTX to transmit the info to the phone: https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-VTX02-+-ROTG02-FPV-Combo-5_8G-40CH-200mW-Diversity-Audio-Transmitter-Receiver-Set-Black-for-Android-Phone-Non-original-p-1731113.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN

What I want to finally obtain, is to do missions with the drone, and I want to trigger the camera to take photos at same points during the mission

I don’t think this camera has any picture taking capabilities - it just outputs continuously to the VTX. The control aspect will just allow you to change settings.

Have you any suggestions for what I should looking for?

Hi all, I am new to this place, a little less for Arducopter use and I am french (sorry if I make language mistake).

I have recently buy a Runcam 2 4k for my quadcopter and wire it to my Pixhawk controller for remote recording video and more if it possible.
There is very poor information about the serial connection for this camera (https://support.runcam.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500000261762-How-to-Use-TX-RX-UART-Control-of-Runcam-2-4k) but it run good and I am able to receive the informations and features.
For the Runcam 2 4k we have 2 key OSD fonction and 0x77 (POWER, WIFI, MODE, SETTING, DPORT, START) for features.
I have test it with different camera type parameter but none run correctly.
This camera have the picture fonctionnality and the OSD menu have not Save and Exit item.
If I test it with the type (Split), I can switch between the camera and OSD mode but impossible to launch recording or navigate to OSD.
With type 3 (Split 4 4k), the recording command run but swith beetwen the mode are eratic.

From there I started to study the code to understand why it does not work correctly and how it can modified.

At this moment I have done modifications and now I want to test it (I am not a beginner but I is my firt time into Ardupilot developpement).

@andyp1per thank a lot for you job and if you want see the modifications I suppose it is possible to share it via Github .

Sure, put the changes up as a PR. If it has a different menu structure you will need to add a new camera type and the menu structure.