Originally Posted by jabram

the data flash is not on this board, it is on the original APM 2.5 board, I have one of those, to be honest, I don't find it useful.

I used "Method 2: Flying Attitude Tuning with CH6:" on this page, that makes PID tuning real easy
http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/AC2_Tweaks

Wow you've done it again, great page I don't know how i missed it.

I will have a 3dradio soon I'll just wait until that arrives before tuning.

Received my board today and the supplied gps cable is different colors than the first post. Then I just remember that gps is rx2 to tx and tx2 to rx

Oh and the gps auto config tip was awesome! Thanks!

Originally Posted by TheFernMan

Received my board today and the supplied gps cable is different colors than the first post. Then I just remember that gps is rx2 to tx and tx2 to rx

Oh and the gps auto config tip was awesome! Thanks!

Thanks, I will edit the first page to refer to the labeling rather than the changing GPS wire colors.

Originally Posted by LegendLength

Wow you've done it again, great page I don't know how i missed it.

I will have a 3dradio soon I'll just wait until that arrives before tuning.

3DRadio is great, definitely not a luxury item, when you receive it pay attention to the setting, refer to the first post in this thread, the default setting are not ideal and can frustrate you to near insanity,

When using 3DRadio be aware that you should always click disconnect on Mission Planner before turning off power to your frame.

Reason for doing that;

Say you have been using Mission Planner connecting via 3DRadio and you just unplug your lipo.

When you reconnect the Lipo you will be convinced something is suddenly wrong with your board as it wont start, the lights don't blink etc.

All you have to do in that case is to go back to Mission Planner and click on disconnect

If mission planner is already connected to the ground station and you then power up the board, the attached air 3DRadio [which has been up and running all the time powered by the PC remains fully connected] sends out data to the HK Mega board's serial port and confuses it as it is NOT expecting data while trying to boot. This doesn't happen with USB as once you unplug it the Virtual COM port no longer exists.

The thing to remember is always click disconnect in Mission Planner before you switch off your board, that way next time you go to use it can't catch you out.

Anyway just be aware, if you get trapped, you will remember reading this post.

Hello
OK here is my problem,
If I load mp 2.7 I can hook up to mission Planner but do not get any thing
working, I can move the board and the indicator does not move.

Tried MP 2.6 and it works tilting the board and the indicator shows it
compass works. However I can not get the gps to work .

When I started with the Multiwii everything worked including the gps.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry to be such a pain, I have tried
different setting but no Luck.

Thanks Cliff

Originally Posted by Clavin01

Hello
OK here is my problem,
If I load mp 2.7 I can hook up to mission Planner but do not get any thing
working, I can move the board and the indicator does not move.

Tried MP 2.6 and it works tilting the board and the indicator shows it
compass works. However I can not get the gps to work .

When I started with the Multiwii everything worked including the gps.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry to be such a pain, I have tried
different setting but no Luck.

Thanks Cliff

Are you using the HK Mega board or some other board like the whitespy mega?

Does mission planner connect ?

in other words do you see white text on a black background displaying a bunch of file names just after you click on connect, like this

Heads up for anyone not using genuine HobbyKing Mega.

Anyone using whitespy mega 2 which has different sensors, at this point it is NOT safe to be following the instructions in this thread with whitespy mega as that board has different sensors in a different alignment.

I am sure MP NG can be made to work on whitespy mega BUT that requires some work followed by thorough testing.

If you are using whitespy mega board and post here for help PLEASE state clearly that you have a whitespy mega or whatever OTHER board you are using, avoids a lot of confusion.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with whitespy mega, it is just that the information currently in this thread is not suitable for the newer sensors used in the whitespy mega.

@subaru4wd
Oops, my bad... I forgot you had a witespy 2.0
Like jabram said, your APM_config.h is correct for your baro.

/J

Originally Posted by jabram

...When you reconnect the Lipo you will be convinced something is suddenly wrong with your board as it wont start, the lights don't blink etc...

+1
Damn good info jabram.
Thanks, I would never have figured that out.
I've seen it happen, apparantly random, a few times, and always got around it with a reset. (Which is really, really embarassing when there's an audience...)

Hello, Yes it connects. I am not sure what multiwii it is. It was not bought from Hobbyking, so it might be a whitespy version. It was bought new along with
the ublox gps, all the sensors have dark type on them, very hard to read.
Cliff

Originally Posted by Clavin01

Hello, Yes it connects. I am not sure what multiwii it is. It was not bought from Hobbyking, so it might be a whitespy version. It was bought new along with
the ublox gps, all the sensors have dark type on them, very hard to read.
Cliff

You cannot find out exactly which board you purchased.

You would like help with it.

You hope we can guess which board you purchased.

I suspect this may shock you, sadly we just aren't that good at guessing

I guess your board does NOT look exactly 100% like this Hobby King mega

No it is not the Hk version
looks like a whitespy. I looked at both
This AM. I am sorry for not checking which
Board i have. I looked at the specs and mine
matched the Hk so I though it was the same
mine looks identical to whitespy's version 1
Can this board work with MP?
Again I am sorry about this. And i really
Appreciate what you have done to help me.
I have contacted the seller, it is from Airbot, Which is
most likely the same as Whitespy's board
Spec's Atmega 2560
Baro - BMP085
Acc - BMA180
Gyro - ITG3205
Compass - HMC58831
In software config it say's to use FFIMUv2
Hope this help's
Cliff

Hello all;

I will be the first to admitt that I am a hardware guy. Some of the terminology used here (Arduino, Averdude, Lazyzero, etc.) confuse me. I have so far downloaded Arduino 1.0.2.

1. Can someone compile a list of the programs I will need to properly configure this board. I don't need links and can do the searches to find the stuff I need but I am just not sure what that is. Maybe just a brief description of what each program does.

2. Will this board do anything right out of the box? Are these "flashes"and program uploads just revisions to the original firmware and software? (I think this is just new/better performing firmware)

3. I am thinking that the Mission Planner programming is held in the eeprom, is that correct? So I have to erase and reload the eeprom for each different flight profile I want to fly.

4. How does this board act when just flying the quad?

5. I see nice graphics of maps and overlays in the Mission Planner. Where do these come from?

I have not done a thing with this board yet. It is the Hobby King board and I just got it last week. I have four quads and want to build another with this board. I have a frame and will order some motors and speed controls after Christmas.

Bottom line I have fried 2 KK2 boards trying to "flash" them and don't want to do the same thing here. I'm getting old and may not have time to order many more boards from HK.

Sudsy

1) Software
a) Arduino to upload the firmware
b) Actual MegaPirate firmware MegaPirateNG_2.7_R4.zip
c)Mission Planner to config flight options

MegaPirateNG is actually a port or copy of the original Arducopter project.
Arducopter is for those APM1 2 and 2.5 board.
Arducopter was modified and changed to MegaPirateNG support "cheap Arduino MEGA and some sort of IMU boards"

Originally Posted by Sudsy

Bottom line I have fried 2 KK2 boards trying to "flash" them and don't want to do the same thing here. I'm getting old and may not have time to order many more boards from HK.

Sudsy

I find it hard to believe you bricked a KK2 while trying to flash it.

You wont have to worry about any of that with this board, as it uses a USB cable and not a ISP plug. So its pretty fool-proof.