mRo GPS upgrade is definitely worth it!

XevetS · Mar 31, 2018

pat-love said:
What are the benefits for the green cube?

3DR Solo - ArduCopter Master Upgrade — Copter documentation

Cost about 170 bucks easy peasy install, no soldering involved

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

DaveB · Mar 31, 2018

pat-love said:
Hi there, interesting tread here !
Were do i get that purple thing ?
Any tips, or videos on how to install ?

Thks !!!

What is nice about it is it's a drop in replacment for the solo's , you even reuse the cable. No cutting ,drilling just screw it in.

pat-love · Mar 31, 2018

DaveB said:
What is nice about it is it's a drop in replacment for the solo's , you even reuse the cable. No cutting ,drilling just screw it in.

You mean, direct fit, same cable?? Even for stock solo???

jerryn · Mar 31, 2018

pat-love said:
You mean, direct fit, same cable?? Even for stock solo???

Yes. My Solo is Stock. The GPS upgrade is plug and play. It works extremely well. There are videos on youtube that show you how to replace the GPS. The link to buy the GPS is mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade (New) Also the company was founded by engineers that left 3DR. The GPS is awesome! The youtube howto videos make it easy. It's a direct fit. It's made for Solo.

DaveB · Mar 31, 2018

pat-love said:
You mean, direct fit, same cable?? Even for stock solo???

Yep if you can remove the battery tray you can do this in 10 min no software to update

pat-love · Mar 31, 2018

jerryn said:
Yes. My Solo is Stock. The GPS upgrade is plug and play. It works extremely well. There are videos on youtube that show you how to replace the GPS. The link to buy the GPS is mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade (New) Also the company was founded by engineers that left 3DR. The GPS is awesome! The youtube howto videos make it easy. It's a direct fit. It's made for Solo.

Sounds cool ! Is it the same unit as the other one at 59$? At 10$ more it looks like a "dual" unit. Any difference in performance? Someone said aall we need is a cable-adaptor at 4$ for it to fit solo.

XevetS · Mar 31, 2018

pat-love said:
Sounds cool ! Is it the same unit as the other one at 59$? At 10$ more it looks like a "dual" unit. Any difference in performance? Someone said aall we need is a cable-adaptor at 4$ for it to fit solo.

There is no cable to buy you use the stock GPS cable inside the Solo.

User Name · Apr 1, 2018

Just to clarify, the mRo gps specifically for the Solo does not have any magentometer/compass chips. It's a direct replacement for the stock GPS, uses the stock cable and is a total plug and play install.

The similar mRo unit with compass, I believe, should be used with caution. If the compass was detected (not sure the stock Solos firmware supports the mag chips), but if it does, the location of a magnetometer so close to the other internal components could cause issues. That's part of the reason the Here GPS locates the unit on an elevated pod.

XevetS · Apr 1, 2018

User Name said:
Just to clarify, the mRo gps specifically for the Solo does not have any magentometer/compass chips. It's a direct replacement for the stock GPS, uses the stock cable and is a total plug and play install.

The similar mRo unit with compass, I believe, should be used with caution. If the compass was detected (not sure the stock Solos firmware supports the mag chips), but if it does, the location of a magnetometer so close to the other internal components could cause issues. That's part of the reason the Here GPS locates the unit on an elevated pod.

I posted this a few Posts up that it may not work, (as somebody was posting incorrect info). mRo GPS upgrade is definitely worth it!
I also contacted mRo just to get clarification whether it works or not but they have yet to get back to me. It seems to me that the stock Solo pixhawk lacks the correct microcontroller, it also needs Arducopter 3.5.4 and above to function. Perhaps the GreenCubed Solo's can utilize this unit.

XevetS · Apr 3, 2018

rmasci said:
MRo makes one with a dual compass built in. Only downside is you have to buy a $4 cable to get it to work on the solo. You can see it's the same board, just different connector.

mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N Dual Compass LIS3MDL+ IST8310

According to mRoThe above listed GPS module will not work with a stock or green cube solo.

Here is the reply Email they sent me, but its vaque and it only mentions the wrong connectors it does not answer if it will work with a custom harness??

Hi Steven,

I'm sorry, the GPS you mentioned will not work for either cubes, the GPS must be the gps SOLO version ( No compass on-board ) mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade (New)
Because this GPS has the required Clik-mate connector, it works with stock 3DR Solo cube or green cube.

Best Regards,
Fabian (mRobotics)

XevetS · Apr 4, 2018

XevetS said:
According to mRoThe above listed GPS module will not work with a stock or green cube solo.

Here is the reply Email they sent me, but its vaque and it only mentions the wrong connectors it does not answer if it will work with a custom harness??

Hi Steven,

I'm sorry, the GPS you mentioned will not work for either cubes, the GPS must be the gps SOLO version ( No compass on-board ) mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade (New)
Because this GPS has the required Clik-mate connector, it works with stock 3DR Solo cube or green cube.

Best Regards,
Fabian (mRobotics)

UPDATE:
So this GPS/Compass may very well work, I received another reply to some questions I asked from mRo

Ah ok, yes using a custom "Y" harness ( JST-GH 6Pin <> Clik-mate 6Pin + Clik-mate 4Pin ) the " mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N Dual Compass LIS3MDL+ IST8310" can effectively be installed in the SOLO drone.

Also the LIS or IST compass should be identified with no problems using the Green Cube with a recent autopilot firmware version on it.

Best Regards,

Who will be the first to try it out??

DaveB · Apr 4, 2018

I think that the price is now about the same as the Here gps and the compass would be very near the bat. And elects.

pat-love · Apr 4, 2018

So, bottom line, for my stock Solo... The one at 40$ is fine ?

XevetS · Apr 4, 2018

This one its $49.90
mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade (New)

Cuzman · Apr 4, 2018

XevetS said:
This one its $49.90
mRo GPS u-Blox Neo-M8N / 3DR SOLO Upgrade (New)

Sorry, I am a bit confused. So is that purple one plug and play like the other mRo, or is there more to it to install the purple one?

XevetS · Apr 4, 2018

Cuzman said:
Sorry, I am a bit confused. So is that purple one plug and play like the other mRo, or is there more to it to install the purple one?

No and yes

mikediggs · Apr 4, 2018

MRO GPS is the best way to go after GPS loss and my solo flying into my house. got the MRO GPS .i had 17 sat in 1min 24 in about 2min so yeah if you haven't you Will.

User Name · Apr 5, 2018

Cuzman said:
Sorry, I am a bit confused. So is that purple one plug and play like the other mRo, or is there more to it to install the purple one?

The Solo specific one is a plug-and-play replacement with the same connector and wiring as the stock Solo GPS. Unplug the stock unit, plug this one in and you're done.

The other mRo versions with on-board compasses are compatible but not plug-and-play as the connector wiring is different to account for the compasses. If you wanted to make your own cable(s), you could use it with the Solo, but locating a compass so close to internal sources of magnetic interference could cause issues. This is why the Solo locates the compass in one of the legs.

Long story short, if you don't have any complaints about the stock compass/compass location, just buy the Solo specific unit. It's trivially easy to install and totally eliminates the stock's poor GPS performance.