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Welcome to the Hardware wiki!

For now a beginning issues/notes list that we'll flesh out later

This is an OPEN SOURCE HARDWARE and SOFTWARE 3 axis solution. There are some commercially available copies of the 1.2 version. When evaluating those options, please make sure you pick the one that has been modified with the addition of the 3k3 resistors on the low side FET's... This was incorporated in the 1.3 redesign, but the 1.2 board from some vendors have been modified by soldering the resistors across the BSS chips already.

As of 2013/8/18 I know of now commercially available 1.3 boards, they are completely a DIY solution.

1.2/1.3 boards

PWM is running at 18khz on the 0.3g and up firmware, up from the 8khz that was in the 0.3e and below used. Autopan was working on Yaw axis only in 0.3e and below, in 0.3g and above, I believe it was also enabled on one of the other axis. RX control works on 2 of the axis (I'll have to check the code to see which unless someone knows?)

Hardware All hardware files are located in the github repo https://github.com/EvvGC/Hardware

As of 2013/8/18, the current version is the pre1.3ce2 version. It is very new and most people are just building boards currently. It was generated to resolve some fundamental issues with the 1.2 solution. There are pull down resistors on both the high and the low side FET's. The usb interface was corrected to include inline resistors and the appropriate disconnect for host enumeration. Most high power traces were increase in size by 30-50%, an attempt at providing 50-100% more heatsink capability to the high voltage FETs was included. The board is single sided. Additional LED's were added for power and user configuration. the 1.3 and 1.2 boards are fully interchangeable from a software standpoint with one exception. The 1.3 board has the markings for the Pitch and Roll attachment reversed. While this matches the schematic, it doesn't match the firmware. We'll correct this most likely in the future, but for now when running the 1.3 hardware, you'll need to connect the Pitch motor to the header marked Roll and the Roll motor to the header marked Pitch.

Firmware All firmware versions are located in the github repo https://github.com/EvvGC/Firmware

NOTE on the firmware repos.... The master branch is the latest 0.3g firmware setup to build under eclipse. It will only run with optimizations disabled... If you follow the instructions for setting up a build environement, you won't have any problems here.

The original firmware is in the original-src directory

The Experimental branch is just that, use at your own risk... I has a number of fixes to the original source that correct a number of time, timer, deadband issues... But it's very early in it's testing and one user experienced a hardware problem that we've be unable to determine if software caused. Others are using it just with no issues....

IMU

• ONLY support for the MPU 6050 I2C sensor.... Other I2C only sensors could be used, but software only supports the MPU 6050 at the moment... (In theory the 6000 would work two, but only on the I2C bus)

Motors

• 22xx series motors with 80 turn wiring
• I think there are some 3xxx series motors that would work I just don't know what the model numbers are
• 40xx series motors (not sure what the turns are here)
• 50xx series motors (I think these are 100 turn motors)
• 5206's - pretty sure this is the limit on this board.

Batteries

• 2S - not sure I'd go this low, but probably would work in a pinch
• 3S - sweet spot most likely
• 4S - 1.2 board may have some issues here as some components were only spec'd at 15V

1.3 only

• 5S - needs further testing, will most likely be the max on a 1.3 board
• 6S - in theory this should work... HOWEVER, the 3v3 regulator and the filter cap on the motor side of things are only rated to 25V. There are some other components, but they should all be on the 3v3 buss that are rated at 15v... I need to check a couple of diodes on the high power bus to make sure everything is rated to at least 25v... The FET's all max out at 30 so nothing larger than 6S (and one user showed signs of smoke when instantly connecting a 6S battery).... For now, I would stay away from 6S and only 5 or 6 on the 1.3 board, it will smoke components on the 1.2 board. (even at 25V, there is no margin with some of the components on the high power bus 6S lipo is 24.x and most items are rated to 25v only).

CRITICAL - Please DO NOT connect motor power via the main power connector while you also have your usb/serial adapter connected to UART1 the programming connector - This will blow up a FET's at the minimum and more likely the processor as well!

NOTES:

• when using 0.3g and earlier software with the pre1.3ce2 board, please remember that you need to connect the Pitch Motor to the ROLL silkscreened connector and the Roll Motor to the PITCH silkscreened connector