Which flightboard for a collective pitch drone

ArduCopter Copter 3.6
1

I am new to ardupilot so forgive me if this was asked and answered before, I am just looking to confirm that PixHawk 4 will work with the CP drones (same as with http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/heliquads.html), I am doing literally the same thing. But before I purchase the pixhawk, I want to make sure I get the right one as its a little confusing what works with copter and what doesnt. I am also trying to avoid buying an older pixhawk that may be incompatible with CP drones. I also asked this in the adrupilot forum but no response yet (yesterday) so I figured it was opened in the wrong forum location (so forgive the double post).

I plan to buy this one off ebay:

Pixhawk PX4 Flight Controller Autopilot PIX 2.4.8 32Bit 8GB SD Card+I2C Splitter

As long as this is confirmed working, I will order today, so thank you in advance!!

2

Hi.
I’m running a heliquad on the Pixhawk Cube, so I can confirm that works. I do however believe that it will work on the one you posted as well. Can’t confirm it though, as I have not tested it myself. If you look on the picture all the way at the bottom (http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/heliquads.html) it looks like a Pixhawk PX4 controller.

3

Yeah you’re right, I don’t know how I missed that myself! THANKS

4

Does it matter if I buy a PIXHAWK PX4 from holybro, readytosky, or from radiolink? I am confused on the differences (if any). I see them both listed when I go to checkout but I dont know if it matters or not. Are they the same thing just packaged by different companies? Or totally different and I should stay away from one or the other? Thanks in advance, I just have 1 shot at buying the right flightboard, meaning I only have budgeted a certain amount for this piece for the project so I must ensure I buy the right one that works with CP drone.

I thought I had answered my own question (removed below) but now I am not so sure. Can someone just let me know if it matters which one I use for a collective pitch drone, is one better than the other or will any version work with CP drone and ardupilot with copter-3.6?

Also do I need to purchase an additional PPM encoder board to use any PIXHAWK with my standard (NON-S-BUS) 10 channel standard controller/receiver? Or does this plug and play with the PX4? I just want to ensure I buy the right thing the first time so I can get this bird in the air and flying ASAP!!

6

Or is the mini better:

All I need from the FC is to handle collective pitch drone (4 rotors) from a standard (non-SBUS) controller.

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I’m not entierly sure about the differences. If I were you I would have a look here for supported hardware: http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-autopilots.html

8

Thanks I’ve gone through it, I finally landed on a pixhawk version that looks to be supported. Also I figured out my radio supports the single wire connection so that’s no longer a concern.

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Pixhawk arriving any moment, once I get it installed, configured, and tested, I will report back the status!

1 Like
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been a while, almost a year. How’s that report back update coming? looking to make something of my own in this realm.