Arducopter display mod

[mike_kelly]

I know Solo was designed as an appliance like the Phantom but I don't like trying to interpret flashing lights and beeps. One nice thing about the Green Cube and mainstream Arducopter is being able to use the new features. One of which is a text display, using a Oled .96 display, of boot information which I connected to the Solo I2C#1 bus. I tapped into the compass port and put in an I2C expansion brd which allows me to attach 5 I2C devices.

Rather than waiting for the controller to connect, this display starts giving information right after boot. It gives the GPS status, battery, EKF and a rolling line at the top gives info about calibration and errors.

New Display for Pixhawk status instead of lights and beeps - RC Groups

 

[Saijin_Naib]

Sweet as hell. This integrated into the bottom of the Solo's shell between the accessory bay and the gimbal port, or ontop of the "Link" bump would be really slick.

 

[mike_kelly]

It is only useful on boot up so I want it easily visible to check the status. It is not as important with Solo because I assume everyone flys with a ground station like Solex and it will tell you most of the same things. But with other multirotors I have, that I might not drag a ground station around with it provides critical info about satellite lock.

But it is really handy when the controller just says "waiting for Solo" but the display tells you a lot about what is going on and that the Solo booted properly or not, long before the controller is giving any info.

 

[cynfab]

What did you do about setting NTF_DISPLAY_TYPE? I can find it in the ArduCopter docs and source code, but I can't find it in the solo's AC 3.5.x parameters list

 

[mike_kelly]

It is there. Do you have mission planner set to the Advanced Menus? Are you looking at the Full Parameter list?
You are not looking at the Arducopter parameter file provided for the upgrades but in Mission Planner at the 3.5.3 firmware loaded on the Solo Green Cube?

The Solo Arducopter parameter file supplied by Matt only has the parameters Solo needs to run Arducopter. You need to start up your Solo and controller. Connect your laptop wifi to the controller and then connect to sololink from the laptop. Start Mission Planner and connect in the upper right to UDP, does not matter the speed then ok for port 14550. Once the parameters load from Solo you can find the NTF_DISPLAY_TYPE.

Then config/Full parameter list and search for NTF

 

[cynfab]

Ah, I see the problem now, I thought the Solo_parameters file had all the parameters, it only has a subset. Thanks.
BTW, I have one of those oled displays that says the I2C address can be switched from 7A to 78. The address is really 3C and 3D.
The 1306 spec says 3C and 3D as well.

 

[mike_kelly]

Exactly. While you are in there an get everything right save your parameter file and you will have a copy for restore if you every need to.
There are a lot of variations on that basic display and all of them seem to be different. Most have 4 pins for connection with gnd, vcc, scl and sda but some are wired in a different order! Some you can't change the I2C address at all.

Have fun.

 

[prgeno]

As Matt has stated many times while he tells us to be patient during the upgrade, there is no way for the Solo to tell us what is happening while the OpenSolo upgrade and reboots are occurring.

Obviously this is a chicken and egg thing (Solo needs to be running 3.5.3 before the display works so it can't help with the initial upgrade). But will having this display provide a window into what is occurring during future OpenSolo updates? Is it active during the boot loader and firmware updating processes or is only available once ArduCopter is fully up and running?

 

[mike_kelly]

No, it is useful to see reports on error conditions during/after boot. A quick look at the status of satellite locks etc. It will tell you if you failed pre-arm checks, something is wrong with your barometer or you have EKF problems. Certainly things that the controller never tells you.
During the installs it does indicate, by it turning on, that Solo has booted Arducopter and at least you would know it is up then see it reboot etc. But it can't show anything during-while a Pixhawk/Arducopter is in bootloader mode, when new firmware is being written.

 

[cynfab]

I had no clue that this capability was in 3.5+ It is really cool to have it. Now for the hard part... getting it all connected and working.
Thanks for the heads up, cluebat and info.
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