Hi all.
I'm new(ish) to drones, and I'm trying to get GPS Hold working on my home-built multiwii drone. I'm running version 2.3 on an arduino nano, with a GPS receiver connected using an i2c module.
I have the drone connected to my phone via bluetooth and using the EZ-GUI app. I can engage baro mode, angle mode, mag mode, etc, but I cannot seem to engage GPS Hold mode the same way. Here is my procedure:
- Configure drone such that angle and mag modes are always engaged, and that Baro and GPS Hold modes engage when AUX1 is pushed high.
- Take drone outside, power up and connect via bluetooth. Keep AUX1 low for now.
- Wait for at least 5 satellites to connect (visible in bluetooth GUI). Usually about 30 seconds.
- Arm, and manually fly to altitude then flip AUX1 high.
At this point I see in the GUI that Baro mode is engaged but not GPS Hold, and the drone obviously also doesn't hold it's position.
What am I missing? Any thoughts?
Multiwii: Cannot seem to engage GPS Hold
Re: Multiwii: Cannot seem to engage GPS Hold
I have had days where 5 satellites still wasn't enough. I've also had it go in and out of Pos Hold over and over again without touching any switches on days when only 5 satellites were acquired. I flip it into PosHold and it goes in and out and in and out all by itself. More than five it is almost always fully functional. When my Pos hold isn't working, my alt hold will still work even if both are switched on. When it hooks up right to 7 to 9 or 10 satellites it stays rock steady almost.
Re: Multiwii: Cannot seem to engage GPS Hold
Well the 5 satellite was just a bare minimum. I've tried this morning with 7 sats, and more in the past, with no luck. Interestingly, I can get GPS Home to engage (or so my bluetooth GUI says - I can't check due to a damaged bullet connector on one of my motors). But not GPS Hold. I would assume that, like the GPS Hold option, GPS Home would be ignored if there was no solid satellite lock?
Re: Multiwii: Cannot seem to engage GPS Hold
What GPS are you using and what serial speed?
Are compass and accelerometer calibrated correctly?
Are compass and accelerometer calibrated correctly?
Last edited by JoacimW on Wed Sep 02, 2015 5:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Multiwii: Cannot seem to engage GPS Hold
matt_prox wrote:Well the 5 satellite was just a bare minimum. I've tried this morning with 7 sats, and more in the past, with no luck. Interestingly, I can get GPS Home to engage (or so my bluetooth GUI says - I can't check due to a damaged bullet connector on one of my motors). But not GPS Hold. I would assume that, like the GPS Hold option, GPS Home would be ignored if there was no solid satellite lock?
Had I known that I would have not made my suggestion. In your original post you only made mention of getting a 5 satellite fix. We can only guess and chip in ideas you know. Sorry I could not be of more help.
I will give it one more guess. Are you uploading your settings from the EZ GUI to the FC after you enable it in the AUX menu there? does it acknowledge that the settings have been read? Not being there hands on I can only try and give suggestions as to possible causes. You said "Any thoughts"? Well, that's all I have for now. That (not uploading) would have been one of my newbie mistakes.
Re: Multiwii: Cannot seem to engage GPS Hold
@JoacimW, I am using a ublox LEA-6 GPS unit, connected to the FC via an i2c module so the serial speed shouldn't matter, but just in case, it is communicating at 57600. The compass/accelerometer work fine because the drone flies great and mag lock works perfectly.
@Kbev5709, in my original post, I said "at least 5". Sorry, I should maybe have elaborated that I have tried more. Next time I'm out flying, I will try powering up and giving it a good few minutes to connect before trying to arm. Maybe that will fix it. And yes, I am using EZ-GUI to configure the aux switches, and I did consider that the settings were not being written correctly. What I tried once was to set things up, then disconnect completely, power cycle everything, and reconnect to see what settings persisted. Everything seemed fine so I guessed that the config was correctly written. Oh well, thanks anyway for the thoughts.
@Kbev5709, in my original post, I said "at least 5". Sorry, I should maybe have elaborated that I have tried more. Next time I'm out flying, I will try powering up and giving it a good few minutes to connect before trying to arm. Maybe that will fix it. And yes, I am using EZ-GUI to configure the aux switches, and I did consider that the settings were not being written correctly. What I tried once was to set things up, then disconnect completely, power cycle everything, and reconnect to see what settings persisted. Everything seemed fine so I guessed that the config was correctly written. Oh well, thanks anyway for the thoughts.
Re: Multiwii: Cannot seem to engage GPS Hold
matt_prox wrote: And yes, I am using EZ-GUI to configure the aux switches, and I did consider that the settings were not being written correctly. What I tried once was to set things up, then disconnect completely, power cycle everything, and reconnect to see what settings persisted. Everything seemed fine so I guessed that the config was correctly written.
What I was getting at is, do you actually upload your changes to the flight controller from the EZ GUI? You have to use the little up arrow in the AUX section to upload your changes. You said your were new to quadcopters and that is a newbie mistake I made for a while. I have no way of knowing if you do it that way or not, especially from your description of your procedure above. First you make the changes in the checkboxes, then you upload them to the FC with the arrow. Other than that I have nothing.