Sure. Send it back when you're finished with it. For example, by Wednesday of next week. We need it to keep Oregon green! Better install AeroSimRC on your laptop so you can practice flying when you lose power! Andy.
Steve, I just over came my gps issues as well as my mx20 telemetry issues.... Maybe I can help? Ps, did you build your own CS8? If so, did you happen to use the build DVD from Quadrocopter? Phil
I'm good now...had a bout of newbie-itis, but I'm over it. Thanks for the offer! And yes, I built my bird and I am a happy viewer/user of my friend Andy's DVD. Wouldn't have gotten very far without it!
Yes it is. I updated all the MK boards and the mx20 to the latest firmwares, and installed the English voice file from the distro. I works nicely. Are you having trouble getting it to work?
I did at first. It was actually bricking and had to find the secret way to unlock. Good to go now and so much better with voice while flying. Phil
Errrr....so what's the secret way of unlocking it, Phil? (Yeah, I know. It won't be a secret method if you post it on the Internet!) Andy.
Andy: When upgrading MX20 firmware per Quadrocopter video ( ): When I did this my firmware download failed half way thru. Transmitter screen went blue and displayed "Miss Match Product Number". I couldnt get the transmitter out of this locked situation. Riley at Quadropcopter said: 1. You will have to turn your radio off by unplugging the battery. Then plug your battery back in but DO NOT turn your radio back on 2. Next when you are in the firmware upgrade program instead of selecting "firmware upgrade" under the transmitter option, select the "emergency" option instead 3. Next it will pull open a menu very similar to the firmware upgrade menu. Select your file as you normally would (.bin file) 4. Once you have your file loaded and ready you will hit the download start button. As soon as the download process starts you will THEN switch your transmitter on. This should jump start the bootloader in the transmitter 5. Your transmitter should then begin downloading the file. Once downloaded you shouldnt have to do a separate firmware update I followed this and all is well now on my MX20. Try finding this fix ANYWHERE online and you won't be able. Phil
Press firmly on the first knuckle and stand with your feet at 90 degrees. Oh. No. Sorry....that's the Freemasons....
This is a great post. Steve can you share with us what was wrong? Also a question, the Navigation board comes with the micro SD card with the license on it. Doesn't that need to be in the card? IF you put a blank card in it does it automatically write to it? Should I remove the license card so it doesn't write on it?
Hi Dave. GPS is working OK now. I still have to get in there and tune it. PH works well, but I'm still trying to figure out how I want to configure AH. And I don't know about a license for the Navi board. I didn't get a SD card with mine, and I started with a new, blank one. Maybe you have the fancy unlimited waypoint license? I didn't buy that. Don't know about it.
Hi Steve I got the 500 meter license. Can you tell me what you did to get your GPS and PH to work? I am about to fly mine for the first time as soon as the snow clears and I would like to double check my settings. thanks in advance. BTW: Did you see the video's Thiago made for Drones4you about the GPS, stick and gimbal settings?
Caveat: I am something of a newbie myself, so take what I say with a grain of salt. The most useful thing I can suggest is to take your bird out into the field, do the proper compass and gyro initialization with the props off, then place the bird in an open area, cable up the MKUSB to the Mikrokopter Tool software running on a laptop, and look over the "OSD" screen. Look at the lat/lon that's returned by the GPS, and type that into Google Maps on your smartphone, and make sure the GPS knows where you are. Then just set the various GPS settings to their defaults and start from there. But be prepared to immediately wrassle control back from your bird if it feels squirmy. I also strongly suggest disabling Carefree mode for the time being, because it caused a spectacular (and fortunately inexpensive) crash when I accidentally turned it on. There's no real visual feedback if you don't have an OSD running, and if it's on, your bird will behave like it has a mind of its own (which, of course, it does in that mode).
For what it's worth, in my shop, which has a flat wooden roof, I can get six GPS satellites while the bird is on my bench, so I don't have to go outside into the cold! But Steve's right: 1. The default settings for GPS do work. You can fine tune'm later if you want. 2. The GPS system and PH rely on the compass being properly calibrated. If the compass calibration is wrong, it will make the GPS seem wrong and you'll get the bird flying in circles in the sky (aka toilet bowling). 3. The compass calibration ritual is clumsy at best with the props on, and borderline impossible with a 5D Mk III dangling on the gimbal. 4. Don't use Carefree unless you'd like to crash your bird. 5. Did I mention not using Carefree? Andy.
.....And make sure you go for Magnetic North during calibration, NOT true north. There are several free apps for your smartphone that give this tool. Also, I'd suggest a 2nd person to help with flipping you bird during compass calibration. This may also give you more accurate of a calibration.
Given that you have to rotate the copter around in the nick/tilt axis, I also find it easier to locate Magnetic East--and then locate a tree or some other distant object that's right at Magnetic East. Then I can face Magnetic East, grab the copter by boom #7 (if it's an C8), and rotate it while keeping the boom #7/#3 axis pointed at the distant object. Certainly if you have a helper, get them to hold boom #3, while you hold boom #7. When you need to yaw the C8 around to rotate it in roll for calibration, you hold boom #5 and your helper holds boom #1. I'd put your respective cell phones and other e-devices on the ground away from where you are as I suspect they have some pretty strong magnets in them. Andy.
thanks everyone for the responses. I did not know that carefree mode was that unstable!!! Anyone know why? IF I put a micro SD card in the navigation board will that mess up the license? My navigation board came with a 500 meter license (and card). Do you need to keep it in there or just to initialize it?
Hi Dave: Carefree mode isn't unstable...it's very predictable. The problem is that different rules apply under different circumstances. See message #6 on this thread. The microSD card logging logic is completely disjunct from the 500 meter license. Keep it in the Navigation Control Board if you want flight logs created each time you fly (they're useful if something bad happens!) The 500 meter license ONLY affects the ability to do waypoint flying to waypoints outside the 500 meter radius, as I recall. Another forum member can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that's the only thing that is limited by the technology. See below if you want the geeky details of why I say this. Mikrokopter's license agreement at https://www.mikrocontroller.com/index.php?main_page=termuse says that you can only use the firmware for the MK Boards for "private purposes" -- a term that is not defined in the license agreement. It appears to mean "by an individual" (as it, "one should not use public funds for private purposes"). But absent any definition, I suspect its meaning would only be determined by a court (at least in the USA). The license agreement therefore does not, on its face, appear to preclude the use of the firmware on the MK Boards by an individual for monetary gain -- another term that is also not defined (or even mentioned). This license agreement, with some unrelated modifications appears in each version in the Subversion repositories. For the GPS board at https://www.mikrocontroller.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69&products_id=632 there is no license agreement nor any link to it. I may be mistaken, but the only Mikrokopter reference I can find to the GPS license is at http://www.mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/en/MK-Parameter/Navi-Ctrl 2 where it says (with emphasis added): GPS maximal Radius This value in meter defines a circular area around the start position. Only inside of this circular area you can set position targets (waypoints/POI). If a waypoint-position is outside of this area the target will be set on a spot of the edge of the circle which is close to the nominal position. The maximum radius (without a License) is about 250m. That's equal to an area of approx. 500m in a diameter around the start position. I can't find any reference to "license" on quadrocopter.com other than at say, http://www.quadrocopter.com/MikroKopter-ARF-Okto-XL_p_657.html (emphasis in the original): A commercial license for the software of the MikroKopter with a GPS radius of 500m and 100 waypoints is also included. and at http://www.quadrocopter.com/Cinestar-6-RTF_p_643.html where it states (under the configuration option for Waypoint Distance): Option Info: All our RTF platforms include a 500 Meter radius navigation controller which also includes a software license of MikroKopter Germany. The navigation controller will enable you to fly way points and points of interests fully autonomous. So the 500m GPS license really does appear to be just for Waypoint flying. Hope this helps clarify the situation. Andy.