M8N Mod Video Tutorial and Test

tesmithp · Aug 16, 2015

NYG said:
I don't think it matters which cable you get. They all need to be modified anyway. One end will got to the M8N, the other end clipped off to be modified.

I think you're right. I bought the connectors, pins, and ferrite cores from mouser.com but man, oh man is crimping those things a tedious process...

David Weston · Aug 16, 2015

I just ordered the APM cable and will solder them together. Only 4 wires, grd, 5V,Tx and Rx. No compass so cut them off

sixshooterstang · Aug 16, 2015

David Weston said:
I just ordered the APM cable and will solder them together. Only 4 wires, grd, 5V,Tx and Rx. No compass so cut them off

Exactly what this guy said folks. You can get a proper connector through electronics sites but the simplest method is shown in the video. Just solder the wires.

NYG · Aug 16, 2015

I just finished adding the M8N to my quad. Did a quick test on my front yard. First time ever firing it up. Didn't time it but got 12 sats and ready to fly in a couple of minutes or so. Stock GPS module would have me waiting much longer at times. It's always a crap shoot in my front yard. My P2V+ would sometimes never get lock in my front yard.

At least I know it works. I'll have to go for a small flight a bit later and test it at another location tomorrow.

Edit.. Did a quick flight out a few thousand feet. 19 sats 1.0 HDOP. When wifi connected at startup I immediately had a ready to fly with 12 sats. Impressive mod.

Brian Mowry · Aug 19, 2015

I was working on a mod from another thread and ended up breaking the connector off of the original NEO-7n. So I decided to try this mod and ordered the parts today. I will post my results when I get it. I'm more excited about this one than the other one. Thanks for the info...

Update,

I finally received my new GPS Module (took a little longer than I thought) and I installed it last night after work. After I did the compass and level calibrations it picked up 15 sats within the first 20 seconds. I didn't have props on it because it was late, dark and there are a lot of trees in my yard but I spun up the motors anyways and after about a minute, it found as many as 20 sats at an HDOP of 1.3. I have to say this new GPS module is pretty impressive considering that the weather conditions were not optimal (not raining but overcast) and there were trees all around me. Before this mod, I could not get a sat. lock in my yard at all.

I also told 3DR about my broken GPS module and they are sending me a new one at the cost of $23.00 which isn't too bad and I'll have it incase of future updates that may require it. BTW, I ordered it on Thursday Aug 20, and I still haven't received any confirmation of it shipping.

Thanks for the info and all the posts, this is the most helpful forum I've ever been a part of.

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David Weston · Aug 19, 2015

Just finished mine also. Quick Power On test. Before would get 6 or 7 in a few minutes, then RTF. Back yard location with about 1/3 of sky blocked by roof line and some trees. 1st Power ON, got 9 Sat's and RTF in 30 seconds (timed it). On 3rd Power On got 15 sat's and RTF immediately after controller connected. Havent flown yet but before usually came back with 12-13 Sats. I expect at least 18. Installed exactly like sixshooters video.

Just a side note: The holes on the new board don't line up exactly with the old ones. Also, the screws that came out of the old board are 2 small for the new one as they easily pass through. Made a trip to the local hobby store for a screw to lock down the board and a little GOOP as only 1 screw will line up.

Hoover185 · Aug 19, 2015

Waiting for my new antenna to come - can't wait! All Hail Sixshooter!

Hoover185 · Aug 19, 2015

SteveMyers75 said:
Didn't get a chance to do serious testing of the plastic as I had to return my Solo.
I ran out of days on the trial period.
Day 29 and no Gimbal to test = return to store for refund and wait.

I would venture a quick educated guess that the metal spring for the battery latch located directly in the line-of-sight between the antenna and the satellites causes more issues, but I wouldn't rule out the plastic not being to spec until further testing.

I have no use for a Solo without a Gimbal and didn't want to get stuck with it if the Gimbal sucked.
I'm still curious to see how they are going to handle not filming the fixed position legs in action shots.

When the Gimbal actually is released, I'll buy another Solo to continue testing and post up clear results.
I plan to keep it if the Gimbal works well as I already know I can overcome any issues with the GPS via a M8N and a little re-coding of the Open Source firmware.

3DR has confirmed by email to me that they will extend the 30 days til 30 days AFTER you receive the gimball (preorders only). If you haven't damaged the copter (scratches, etc) they will take it back. That was my major concern too when I got it last month (or June?)

David Weston · Aug 19, 2015

sure you are on the right thread? This is the GPS mod,,maybe looking for DBS Mod or FPVLR thread? BTW I have the DBS and have done the gps mod,,both awesome in there own right!!

tesmithp · Aug 21, 2015

Has anyone done the FW update with the M8N still installed?

There have apparently been improvements to GPS with the new firmware but I doubt that it is specific to the original card.

ALLA · Aug 21, 2015

tesmithp said:
Has anyone done the FW update with the M8N still installed?

There have apparently been improvements to GPS with the new firmware but I doubt that it is specific to the original card.

I have done the update with M8N installed, and it went through without a hitch. Got 16 sats and 1.4 hdop in my backyard in 20 seconds from power up. Flies well. No issues.

NYG · Aug 21, 2015

ALLA said:
I have done the update with M8N installed, and it went through without a hitch. Got 16 sats and 1.4 hdop in my backyard in 20 seconds from power up. Flies well. No issues.

No problems updating here either. I did a quick flight in my back yard. 18 sats 1.2 HDOP flew perfectly fine.

tesmithp · Aug 22, 2015

Thanks, guys! Same here.

Only issue I experienced was immediately after update, there was no wireless network available from the controller.

I power-cycled controller but it did not boot completely, screen went blank, non-responsive to any buttons.

Pulled controller battery, waited a few seconds (bc I'm too impatient for minutes), plugged battery in, booted up, upgrade success.

Flew several times with zero issues.

Rodney Johnson · Aug 22, 2015

David Weston said:
Just finished mine also. Quick Power On test. Before would get 6 or 7 in a few minutes, then RTF. Back yard location with about 1/3 of sky blocked by roof line and some trees. 1st Power ON, got 9 Sat's and RTF in 30 seconds (timed it). On 3rd Power On got 15 sat's and RTF immediately after controller connected. Havent flown yet but before usually came back with 12-13 Sats. I expect at least 18. Installed exactly like sixshooters video.

Just a side note: The holes on the new board don't line up exactly with the old ones. Also, the screws that came out of the old board are 2 small for the new one as they easily pass through. Made a trip to the local hobby store for a screw to lock down the board and a little GOOP as only 1 screw will line up.

Dave
Just a question,
A month ago or so, I posted a video showing how well the 8 performed on my Pixhawk hexacopter around my house and in the back yard under a heavy tree canopy.

You told me that you could do the same with your Solo, I guess you found out that you can't,,, if you could you would not have updated..

Dave I'm glad you have seen the light and took the jump ,, you can always teach an old dog a new trick.. just have to give him a BIGGER bone... Now that you installed that bigger bone please do your own testing around the most unlikely places and see how well it performs.

Everyone that has done this update needs to test and verify there experience with this update and if there are no failures and it works as well as it did for myself and other testers then I hope 3DR is reading this forum.

Now if we can only get 3DR to do what should have been done from day one.. all the firmware updates in the world will not resolve hardware issues...

Love ya Dave.
Now get outside and test.

David Weston · Aug 22, 2015

Hey, How ya been? Good I hope. Actually that isn't at all the reason I went to the 8. The reason I went to the 8 was to get a faster lock as I was usually having to wait a minute, sometimes 2 minutes to get 7-8 sats. (Impatient, bad fault of mine) After I would take off I usually had 12-14 on trip home. The 8 gives me great speed to lock, usually almost immediately with 12-14 sat's. That's awesome. But to say it performs "better" or that I can do things now that I couldn't do before, well, that's just not the case. Now that the latest firmware update has addressed the "time to lock Issue or at least that's what I am hearing I am going back to the Neo 7. The reason being that the Neo 7 is made specifically for SOLO and 3DR. I didn't realize that there is the potential to brick SOLO on firmware updates. Had I known that when I updated at 5am when it was released I wouldn't have done it. Fortunately my update went smoothly even though a good portion of the update addressed the Neo 7. So, for the future I will be re-installing the NEO 7 as the only thing I did not like was the time element and won't have that concern on future updates that something just might not work correctly or worse case, brick it.

Best of luck and thanks for the note.

sixshooterstang · Aug 22, 2015

I doubt swapping the gps has the potential to brick solo. The neo7 and the m8n both operate separate from solo and the update might adjust the config file but not the modules firmware. What they likely did was adjust the sensitivity in the neo7 config and the lock requirements in solo.

I personally had zero improvement from the update with a stock module and then factory reset and updated with the m8n with zero issues. Still locks faster than stock and with a better antenna it will be able to fly in worse conditions as well.

Rodney Johnson · Aug 22, 2015

David Weston said:
Hey, How ya been? Good I hope. Actually that isn't at all the reason I went to the 8. The reason I went to the 8 was to get a faster lock as I was usually having to wait a minute, sometimes 2 minutes to get 7-8 sats. (Impatient, bad fault of mine) After I would take off I usually had 12-14 on trip home. The 8 gives me great speed to lock, usually almost immediately with 12-14 sat's. That's awesome. But to say it performs "better" or that I can do things now that I couldn't do before, well, that's just not the case. Now that the latest firmware update has addressed the "time to lock Issue or at least that's what I am hearing I am going back to the Neo 7. The reason being that the Neo 7 is made specifically for SOLO and 3DR. I didn't realize that there is the potential to brick SOLO on firmware updates. Had I known that when I updated at 5am when it was released I wouldn't have done it. Fortunately my update went smoothly even though a good portion of the update addressed the Neo 7. So, for the future I will be re-installing the NEO 7 as the only thing I did not like was the time element and won't have that concern on future updates that something just might not work correctly or worse case, brick it.

Best of luck and thanks for the note.

Dave
I hope 3DR gets a handle on this before it's obsolete.. I had high hopes as did everyone and I have a few people in my area that are still hanging in there holding on to hope that the gimbal gets out soon.

I hope this extra time it takes on the gimbal won't be as disappointment. I'm glad you haven't had the issues like myself and others have had. It does get frustrating to say the least. I have no room for wall hangers,, if they don't fly, float or roll it's out the door....

I guess after 40 years of being in this hobby and always building your own ,, you can control the hardware you install and if you don't like it's performance you can alway take it out and replace it. .
Not so easy on the (unbox and fly) equipment.

I'm hopping that 3DR will start selling the pixhawk II soon but I'm sure it won't be until the bugs are out of the Solo. So until then I keep using the Pix gen one..

Well my friend keep it up.. stay cool on the hot days and fly hard..
Rodney

NYG · Aug 22, 2015

Isn't the M8N backward compatible with the 7N?

David Weston · Aug 22, 2015

Yes, something comforting looking at 18 sats and 1.2 HDOP,,,and the lock on speed,,as soon as controller is booted it's RTF with 12 or more. I am going to put NEO 7 back. As I said I never personally had an issue other than the time it took although I know some others did. Personal preference I suppose. BTW, thanks for the help, replies, the video, all that. Appreciate it much.