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Naze32 Acro Flight Controller available by HobbyKing

Posted by sgeorgiev on August 20, 2014 No comments

Two weeks ago HobbyKing released their Pixhawk “clone” – HK Pilot32. I ordered mine as I wanted to step in the 32bit world of flight controllers (click here for my first impressions and photos of the 32bit controller).

Last week, I guess on August, 13th HobbyKing made also the AfroFlight Naze32 Acro 32bit controller available on their site. It is also a 32bit flight controller. As it is getting more and more popular in the last two years, I wanted to test it too, so I ordered one. This Acro version of the Naze32 does not have any barometer or magnetometer as my old one HK MegaPirate AIO board or the HK Pilot32. It is basically like the KK2.0 or the new KK2.1.5 controller, but instead using an 8bit Atmega processor, it has an 32-bit ARM Cortex M3 on board. The gyro and accelerometer is the same as on the KK2.1.5 and HK MegaPirate AIO – Invensense MPU6050. The Naze32 Acro does not have a display like the KK2.1.5 board, but it should be not so hard to set it up with the PC. So the AfroFlight Naze32 Acro is definitely a competitor to the KK board, as the price for the Naze32 is at the moment by 24,99 $ and for the KK2.1.5 it is 29,99 $. And the Naze32 is only 7.3 grams. Well, I still cant tell for sure if the Naze32 is a better controller to start with multirotors. But I will tell you this in a few weeks when I receive my package and test this shiny 32bit flight controller.

Update 02.09.2014: The Naze32 Acro arrived today 🙂 Here some more details.

HK Pilot32 – The Pixhawk "clone" arrived

Posted by sgeorgiev on August 11, 2014 16 comments

Last week HobbyKing released the HK Pilot32, a controller for Copters, Planes and Rovers, based on the open source project PX4. I mentioned in my last post that I ordered one for me.

Update 21.04.2015: This one looks the same package as the one from HobbyKing, but the price is much better.

And today I received my package from HobbyKing, only 6 days after I made the order 🙂 The shipping time with DHL Express to Germany was just amazing!

Here are some photos from the HK Pilot32 and my first impressions with this flight controller:

On the label you can see that the hardware version is as the Pixhawk from 3DRobotics – PX4 2.4.3.

Overall the quality of the case is good and it doesn’t look cheep. Screws are on top of the case, which is not a bad idea. I miss that there are no holes in the bottom of the case, so I could mount it with screws on my SG Adventure carbon frame. Now I must use the mounting foam.

There are the HKPilot Mega 10s Power Module, Buzzer, Safety switch button, I2C Splitter module, 4GB SD Card (in the HK Pilot32), SD Card reader, Micro USB cable and other tiny cables as well.

I wanted to see the quality of the production, so opened the plastic case by unscrewing the bolts. The solder connections look fine. I don’t know why, but some of the chip labels were slightly erased. Hope these are new, and not used before.

And here one last photo of the case itself. There is some foam on the down size. This is were the barometer on the board is, so you don’t need to do this yourself, as for the Crius or APM board.

Then I connected the board to my computer and the drivers were automatically installed on Windows 7.

Opened Mission Planner, connected the PX4 and there came a message, that a new firmware for the board is available. The HK Pilot32 came preloaded with the open source ArduCopter 3.1.3. The latest stable (not beta) version is at the moment ArduCopter 3.1.5. Downloaded and installed it without a problem, just as on the “original” Pixhawk.

So far everything is fine. Later I will test it on my carbon quadcopter and post how it works. Overall I am very happy going to the next 32bit level 🙂

Update 12.08.2014: Yesterday I replaced my HK MegaPirate AIO board and FrSky D8R-II Plus receiver with the newly arrived HK Pilot32 and the smaller FrSky D4R-II receiver (It was flashed with the new 27ms CPPM firmware exact as I did it with the D8R-II Plus).

HK MegaPirate AIO = 15 grams; FrSky D8R-II Plus = 13 grams. HK Pilot32 = 33 grams with case; FrSky D4R-II = 5 grams. Overall 10g more of weight.

Connected the motors as shown on the 3DRobotics site and calibrated the ESCs. I also did some small adjustments on my GPS-cable to fit in the HK Pilot32. Calibrating the flight controller and configuring the settings in the Mission Planner was an easy job. What took me a bit more time is to realize, that the new 32bit controller can not be used without the safety switch (Update: Here is how to disable it). With the actual 3.1.5 firmware of ArduCopter if you don’t connect the safety switch, you can arm it, but the motors don’t spin. So Google helped me finding that fact out. Connected the safety switch, hold it for about 3 seconds (until solid red) and then armed the copter. I tested it a bit at home and it was perfect, but the real tests outside are coming 🙂 So here two more photos of my carbon quad before and after.

Pixhawk “clone” by HobbyKing – HK Pilot32

Posted by sgeorgiev on August 5, 2014 No comments

I’m using my HK AIO MegaPirate (Crius clone) board since a few months and I am already very happy with it. The problem with this board is, that I cant get the newest official ArduCopter firmware and I must wait until the developer “SirAlex” port his version of it (MegaPirateNG) to the HK AIO board. The official or clone APM (HKPilot Mega) was not an option. As I saw that the developing of the ArduCopter firmware was going on and on and the APM will not be able to use all the functionality of the coming firmware updates, I decided to go for the PX4 open source board.

This 32bit board is on the market for a half a year thanks to the team of 3DRobotics. You can buy the Pixhawk controller from this page for about 199 $. As I know you get a free support for their products, so if you have problems, you can easily contact their team. That is the benefit buying from them (and the quality of the product… and the case looks very good in my opinion).

But as many people don’t have such amount of money only for the flight controller it becomes a problem. I thought I can order an RTFHawk from witespyquad, but there are big time issues.

And the solution for me came today: Hobbyking has announced their version of the PX4 open source board – HK Pilot32 (I cant name it clone, as the PX4 board is a open source project). The price is about 145 $, for platinum members 136 $ (RTFHawk about 127 $). In my opinion it is fair enough. You don’t get the professional support from 3DRobotics, but save a bit money. I cant say anything about the quality of production until it comes to me, but HobbyKing has never disappointed me so far.

So everyone should decide for himself and most important: you CAN take a decision as there is competition. I ordered mine already 😉

Update 11.08.2014: The HK Pilot32 arrived today. Photos and first impressions here.

Update 15.09.2014: There is also another board based on the PX4 open source project – the AUAV-X2 by Nikolay Arsov. It it smaller and have some nice features compared to the Pixhawk. More in my article about it here (for now only in german, but you can use google translate).

Power distribution board vs. Cable harness

Posted by sgeorgiev on July 28, 2014 No comments

When I started with the Multicopters in the late 2012, I used cable harness/power breakout cable for the power distribution from the battery to the ESCs in my first quadrocopter. Until last month I always used my self-made cable harness in my copters. There were no problems during the flights and everything was just great.

Last month I decided to buy one from these so called power distribution boards. Just because of the weight and it looks a bit better when there are not so many cables. My goal was to safe some grams and optimize the overall weight of my SG Adventure quadcopter. It is a small quad and every gram matters.

Soldering was a bit tricky, because I left the ESCs mounted on the quad and I am not so good at soldering. In general there is no difference, but it looks better for me now. The quadcopter flies great, as it was with the cable harness.

How many grams do I saved?

Cable harness and the 3.5mm gold connectors, that I cut from the ESCs wires: 28g + 12g = 40g. Power distribution board + 4mm gold connectors to the battery + some tin-alloy: 3.5g + 10g = about 15g. So I saved about 25g, which is not much, but for small copters every saved gram means more flight time.

Another cool feature on this flyingfolk board is, that it is possible to solder other low current components such as LED or Voltage-Sensor on the corners.

SG Adventure with the KK2.0 board

Posted by sgeorgiev on June 21, 2014 No comments

My new SG Adventure carbon frame was designed to be used for FPV flights and filming with my GoPro Hero 3, so the arms on the front are not on 45 degree, but on 60 degree to the pitch axis. In order to have a stable and good flight, I should change this settings in the Mixer Editor of the KK2.0 board. How do I do this:

As said the front arms are on 60 degree to the pitch axis, and 30 degree to the roll axis (if your frame has other angles of the front arms such the TBS Discovery, just figure out the angles and keep reading). The numbers in the KK2.0 Mixer Editor are sinus of this angles:

Aileron/Roll: sin(30)=0,50 or for the KK2.0 settings 50.

Elevator/Pitch: sin(60)=0,86 or for the KK2.0 settings 86.

These settings should be changed in the Mixer Editor for CH1 and CH2 (front motors), and on CH1 the Aileron should be negative number or “-50”. CH3 and CH4 should not be changed, as the rear arms are on default 45 degree to the pitch and roll axes.

Update 23.09.2014: I also wrote a more detailed how-to of the “problem” with different frame types.

On Thursday I had the chance to test my SG Adventure QuadCopter with the KK2.0 board and it worked as it should be – stable and responsive. A lot of fun flying in the wild! Here are some pictures of the QuadCopter.

If you liked this article please share it with your friends. Thank you and have a fun!

FrSky CPPM firmware update with Arduino

Posted by sgeorgiev on June 1, 2014 17 comments

I have an FrSky D8R-II Plus receiver on my “SG Adventure” quad. I read on the DIY Drones site, that it is possible to update this receiver with the firmware for the FrSky D8R-XP, so I could use with CPPM signal. With CPPM you only use one wire for all the channels and not separate wires for every channel.

You can easily buy this FrSky Update Cable or you can save a bit money and time by updating/flashing the receiver with Arduino, which has an FTDI chip on board. I have an Arduino Uno, but my revision of the board doesn’t have an FTDI chip. So I decided to simply use my actual flight controller – the Multiwii Megapirate AIO board. You can use any Arduino based board with FTDI chip.

First you need to download the 27ms CPPM firmware from the FrSky website. This firmware is actually for the D8R-XP receiver as mentioned, but it works with the D8R-II Plus too. Please keep in mind, that is officially not supported for the D8R-II Plus and I am not responsible for any damages on your hardware by doing this too. If you agree keep reading 🙂

Download the official FTDI Prog. – EEPROM Programming Utility and install it on your computer.

There is a jumper on the side of your receiver. Take it out and place the jumper on the signal pins for channel 7 and 8, so these are bridged. This will then take the receiver into update mode.

Then connect the TX, RX and GND pins from your Arduino board to the TX, RX and GND pins on the side of your D8R-II Plus receiver. Important: Do not reverse the TX and RX as usual by Arduino. Connect TX to TX and RX to RX. To power your receiver: you can use a 5V battery or connect it as usual to the flight controller.

To use the Arduino board for this we only need the FTDI chip, so we will suppress the Atmega chip by a constant press on the reset button. After the reset button is pressed, connect your board to the USB port of your computer. It could possibly install some drivers, so give it some time. Keep pressing the reset button 🙂

Open the FTDI Prog. Scan for FTDI Devices. Then invert the TX and RX as shown on the screenshots below and click on the flash icon. In the new opened window click “Program”. (Tipp: Remember to undone this procedure after flashing your receiver.)

Keep pressing the reset button 🙂 Now go to the folder, where you downloaded the firmware file from the FrSky website, extract it and start the .exe file.

Chose the right COM port in the dropdown menu, chose the firmware file from the same folder by clicking on “File”. If everything is fine, you should see the UID number in the bottom of window. If so, just click “Download” to upload the firmware. (For more info about these last steps, there is a pdf-manual in the folder, where the .exe file is. At the end you should have a working CPPM FrSky D8R-II Plus receiver. Now you can release the reset button of your Arduino or Multiwii Megapirate AIO board. I hope I have helped you, save some time and money with this method.

p.s. To use your receiver in CPPM mode after flashing, place the jumper on signal pins CH3 and CH4, so these are bridged. The CPPM signal will be on CH1 pin.

Update 12.08.2014: I updated the same way my new FrSky D4R-II receiver. It is smaller than the D8R-II Plus, weights only 5 gram and with the CPPM 27ms firmware has 8 Channels and the exact same functionality as the D8R-II Plus. Check how my SG Adventure carbon frame look now with the Pixhawk and the D4R-II receiver here.

My new carbon quad frame: SG Adventure

Posted by sgeorgiev on May 22, 2014 1 comment

About two months ago, I posted a picture of my broken quad frame. As mentioned in the post, I started developing a new one, more durable frame. I had certain requirements for the new frame:

Durable and light
Looks stylish and good
Enough space for GoPro and FPV-Equipment
Easy for transport: frame for 8” and 9” props

I used some of the ideas/details from my old frame (which is a very good frame, but it would be very expensive to do it from carbon*). So I started drawing a new one on a piece of paper 🙂

Then with the priceless help of my sister, we draw it also digital in a CAD software. That was not an easy process, but it was worth it. And finally today I received my package with the carbon* parts for my new frame. I named it “SG Adventure”. I’m planning to have this new quad always with me for trips and adventures, so I thought it will fit very well.

All the carbon parts weight 120g. It is a bit more compared to the 75g-plywood old frame. But the carbon is much much more durable then the plywood.

All-up weight (without battery) is 585g. The frame is designed to be used with several flight controllers such as my HK MultiWii Megapirate AIO and KK2.0. As KK2.0 and the newer one KK2.1.5 are same size, it will also fit very well. There are also holes for the APM board. The motor holes are for standard 19mm:16mm, as on my Turnigy 2830-11 motors. I already mentioned that there is space on the front for my GoPro Hero 3 camera. The summer is coming, so it is time for some FPV and nice videos 🙂

I will be very happy to hear, what do you think about my new “Adventure” frame. Feel free to comment 😉

* Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer

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