Green Cube Issue....

IrishmanPDX · Mar 4, 2019

So I was routing through my 3DR solo stockpile, sorting out bits and bobs and I noticed I had a green cube lying about (inside an electrostatic proof bag). So I took one of my older birds with a stock cube (Open Solo successfully installed already) and decided to swap out the cube. So this would be the 4th bird I've put a Green Cube in. Only this one did not go as planned. The bird seemed to boot up fine, but then suddenly the LED's all turned bright blue and started strobing very quickly. At the same time the solo started emitting a beeping noise somewhat akin to smoke detector. There was no chance of it pairing to the controller during this time and after 2 reboots the result was the same. So I powered down, swapped the cubes back, rebooted and......... everything was fine. Seems that it just didn't like that Green Cube!

So anyone got any suggestions or remedies to get this misbehaving cube in order?

mike_kelly · Mar 5, 2019

Check to make sure the green cube sd card was engaged fully, and formated fat32 or is just plain a bad car.

IrishmanPDX · Mar 5, 2019

Aye, twas fully engaged, popped her in and out. I'll pop it in the PC this evening and do a media check. Appreciate the help!

mike_kelly · Mar 5, 2019

IF it is not the card then you really need mission planner to figure out what is going wrong.

IrishmanPDX · Mar 5, 2019

Aye well when I get home I'll do the check on the SD card, make sure it's formatted properly, do a disc check on it etc. I'll also install Mission Planner on the laptop (or I may have already installed it but just not set it up). Appreciate the advice and info as always! Mind you, with Open Solo 4 in the works, is there going to be a need for people to upgrade to a Green Cube?

mike_kelly · Mar 5, 2019

The 3.7dev version tries to incorporate the modifications that 3DR did to allow the Solo to function. But those modifications were not ideal. They were "clamps" on performance so the Solo could not go where in might fall down and go boom. So I think the green cube or other solution that opens the Solo up is a better choice abet a more expensive or time consuming choice depending on the solution.

IrishmanPDX · Mar 5, 2019

"might fall down and go boom". or as apple would call it "An undocumented feature".

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 5, 2019

One thing we have no control over is what firmware is loaded on that green cube from the factory. It is usually some variant of master circa 3.5ish. So best thing to do if you are so inclined is to hook the cube up to Mission Planner by USB. The cube must be attached to the carrier first or the USB will not work. If you really want to make sure everything is nuked clean, use MP to load ArduPlane firmware.

After that, I would just download the 3.7-dev FW from this link on my github (Pedals2Paddles/OpenSolo). That has the Solo parameters baked in and will be good to go.

Kiraniv Group · Mar 6, 2019

dear @Pedals2Paddles @mike_kelly

help me please choose. I really want to go ahead with the exploitation of my Solo and install Pixhawk 2.1. I can't find the green cube, that's what I found.

point 4 - asks for 50 bucks for a soldering, while jestersdrones immediately offers with this option.

When buying any of these products, I will not be forced to touch the soldering iron and the board with a knife?

IrishmanPDX · Mar 6, 2019

Go for option 3. (The Cube Only, for 3DR's Solo Platform, this is Experimental)
No, you won't have to do any soldering if you purchase a Green Cube. You will however have to be comfortable with taking your drone apart and have the ability to follow instructions.
Pedals2Paddles wrote excellent instructions here (https://github.com/OpenSolo/documentation/blob/master/green_cube_install.md) which you can follow if you decide to do this upgrade. Please have a full understanding of the instructions before you do the upgrade and ask questions if there's something you don't understand.
Good Luck!

NYG · Mar 6, 2019

Kiraniv Group said:
dear @Pedals2Paddles @mike_kelly

help me please choose. I really want to go ahead with the exploitation of my Solo and install Pixhawk 2.1. I can't find the green cube, that's what I found.

Pixhawk2.1 Cube 94393516699 | eBay

Pixhawk 2.1 Cube | eBay

The Cube Only, for 3DR's Solo Platform, this is Experimental

Pixhawk Cube

point 4 - asks for 50 bucks for a soldering, while jestersdrones immediately offers with this option.

When buying any of these products, I will not be forced to touch the soldering iron and the board with a knife?

I tried ordering a Green Cube from Jesters a few days ago but the checkout process wouldn't complete for me. Not sure if it was me or them. I ended up buying a Black Cube from amazon. I'll do the board modifications myself.

There aren't many sources for the Green Cube from what I can see.

IrishmanPDX · Mar 6, 2019

Ok, so checked the memory card in the Green Cube last night, it's formatted as FAT 32, there's a few bin files in there too (No I didn't take screen shots, I was pressed for time). So I'm thinking the card is probably good.
So will try to get the cube hooked up to Mission Planner. Only have one question about that. On the mission planner homepage it gives clear instructions for picking which firmware you want to upload but it does mention you will be asked if you want to choose between ChiBios and NuttX. I take it I want to do the ChiBios option? (and that it may not matter if I'm doing the 3.7 firmware afterwards?).

Thanks for the help folks!

mike_kelly · Mar 6, 2019

You can put any firmware on the cube you want. But if you want it to work

.... You need to follow Matt's instruction. The 3.7dev version from his link can be saved onto your computer. Then you choose "Load custom firmware" then you choose the 3.7dev file you downloaded.
Make sense?

mike_kelly · Mar 6, 2019

Kiraniv Group said:
dear @Pedals2Paddles @mike_kelly

help me please choose. I really want to go ahead with the exploitation of my Solo and install Pixhawk 2.1. I can't find the green cube, that's what I found.

Pixhawk2.1 Cube 94393516699 | eBay

Pixhawk 2.1 Cube | eBay

The Cube Only, for 3DR's Solo Platform, this is Experimental

Pixhawk Cube

point 4 - asks for 50 bucks for a soldering, while jestersdrones immediately offers with this option.

When buying any of these products, I will not be forced to touch the soldering iron and the board with a knife?

The installation of the Green Cube is not trivial. Just a warning. For an appliance operator taking apart the Solo could be stressful. But it is the least destructive technique. Just take it slowly and watch that no cables get pinched or broken off during re-assembly.

Remember you CAN NOT use any of the options except the Green Cube#3 without:

A hardware fix to the "power bump" problem
The new 3.7 dev version of Arducopter. Which is not a release firmware at this time.

IrishmanPDX · Mar 6, 2019

mike_kelly said:
You can put any firmware on the cube you want. But if you want it to work .... You need to follow Matt's instruction. The 3.7dev version from his link can be saved onto your computer. Then you choose "Load custom firmware" then you choose the 3.7dev file you downloaded.
Make sense?

Well now you've just gone and just made it sound simple.... Ok. Will download the 3.7dev file. Hook Green Cube up to Mission Planner (attached to carrier board). Load custom firmware and choose the 3.7 dev file.

After that is it boot as normal and do all calibrations and power cycle and fly?

mike_kelly · Mar 6, 2019

It is pretty simple. I tried the 3.7dev version and had some quirks. IF you are not interested in "Playing" then you might stick with the 3.63 version. Remember you don't connect in mission planner. Just select the correct serial port and then go to the install firmware section. You can install /refresh the firmware without being able to connect. It is a lot faster having access to the usb connection rather than doing it over wifi. JUst remember that the cube dos not get powered by USB unless it is in the carrier. There is essentially a jumper in the carrier/motherboard that connects the USB power from the cube back to the cube.

IrishmanPDX · Mar 7, 2019

I'll see if it's possible, like I said, when I booted the drone with the cube in there it did start that blue strobing light and high pitched beeping. So not sure if there's going to be a chance to connect via WiFi without a soundproof room available.

This is a non gimbal bird that I was going to use for other camera work, so I don't mind a few flying quirks. The only quirk I saw as identifiable on one of my other birds was the Gimbal constantly moving up and down. Not great for video but still ok for photography. I'll hopefully get a chance this weekend to delve into the Green Cube issue.

Thanks for all the help!

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 7, 2019

There shouldn't be any quirks now. All the gimbal twitching was fixed a few months ago. If you load the 3.7-dev firmware from the link and do a parameter reset, it will be fully operational with nothing messed up or strange.

IrishmanPDX · Mar 7, 2019

So on my other bird, I did the update to 3.7 using Solex. The gimbal was panning up and down (in minute movements mind you). That was about... 1 month ago? (I had filmed snow footage with it and then did the update). Mind you, this was just a live feed, wasn't recording, drone was just sitting on the floor. I'll actually fly the thing and see if it happens. Mind you, this was also the bird that had a sudden case of LGS (Limp Gimbal Syndrome) on the 2nd flight, so that could also be an issue.

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 7, 2019

All the gimbal twitching was fixed in master in November. All before the first solo 3.7-dev was ever available on Solex, which was in December. So if you're having gimbal weirdness, something else is wrong on your copter I think.