I bought a flight control board. (See Pic) I don't know anything about it. I've been all over the internet F.C. forums and nobody seems to really know this board. So I thought I'd come to the source and try to learn from the ground up. Does anyone know which Arduino board this is based on? Can I do simple sketches to learn on this board? I've tried to connect to my computer but don't know what to do next. Mine does not have the USB port shown here. I do have the FTDI connector that has a mini-USB to USB cable to plug into my computer with and when I do I get a green and red led light up and that's about it. How do I "talk" to my board? Any help you guys could bestow upon me would greatly be appreciated as I really do want to learn this board. Thanks
Google found this: http://www.diymulticopter.org/?page_id=1031
Yes sir. Thank you. Those sites are all over the internet and tell us nothing about the Arduino.
I would really like answers to my questions but thanks for responding.
That is not an official Arduino board, so this is not exactly the source.
Since you say that the one in picture is not the one you have, how exactly are we supposed to know what you do have?
Why don't you give us a link to the one you have?
Jacknet:
Yes sir. Thank you. Those sites are all over the internet and tell us nothing about the Arduino.
I would really like answers to my questions but thanks for responding.
Actually, it did tell you which board to select to use it with the IDE: Mega 2560. Plug in your FTDI cable and see if you can run a "Hello world" sketch that will send something to the IDE's serial monitor.
Jacknet:
Mine does not have the USB port shown here.
That's not a picture of your board, then? If you want us to identify the part for you, you need to show us the actual board and manufacturers name, part numbers etc printed on it.
The first thing you need to identify is the micontroller chip. Presumably you're hoping that it's Arduino compatible. With that you can select the appropriate board type in the Arduino IDE and use the FTDI connector to upload a simple sketch.
When you say "nobody seems to really know this board" do you mean that nobody you've asked has the slightest idea what it is, or that you haven't found anyone who seemed to be an expert in using it? In order to do anything substantial with it you will need to know which microcontroller pins are connected to which physical pins, what ancillary devices are integrated onto the board and how those are connected to the microcontroller. Working that out for yourself from scratch would be quite a challenge and you really would benefit from finding the manufacturers data sheet, hopefully some worked examples and ideally other people who have used it. There's no way we can do that for you based on a photo of a different board.
wildbill:
Jacknet:
Yes sir. Thank you. Those sites are all over the internet and tell us nothing about the Arduino.
I would really like answers to my questions but thanks for responding.Actually, it did tell you which board to select to use it with the IDE: Mega 2560. Plug in your FTDI cable and see if you can run a "Hello world" sketch that will send something to the IDE's serial monitor.
I understood that part about selecting in tools > boards: Arduino Mega 2560 or Mega ADK. And going into tools > ports: and selecting the one my Arduino is on. Fine so far. My board came loaded with some software (MegaPirateNG and Mission Planner) which is rather complicated. I don't want to wipe it out by running "Hello World". Is there a way I can go in and see what sketch is loaded on the board and maybe download and save it? Then I have to make adjustments to the sketch as per my particular Multi-rotor flying machine. Hope that helps clarify.
PeterH:
Jacknet:
Mine does not have the USB port shown here.That's not a picture of your board, then? If you want us to identify the part for you, you need to show us the actual board and manufacturers name, part numbers etc printed on it.
The first thing you need to identify is the micontroller chip. Presumably you're hoping that it's Arduino compatible. With that you can select the appropriate board type in the Arduino IDE and use the FTDI connector to upload a simple sketch.
Yes, sir: That is my board exactly, the only difference is where this board shows a usb port mine is blank (no hardware present). So is everything else the same: pinouts, names etc. The only thing that doesn't show up on this picture is the name of the manufacturer: hexTronik which googling doesn't show much. The processor is the Atmega 2560.
When you say "nobody seems to really know this board" do you mean that nobody you've asked has the slightest idea what it is, or that you haven't found anyone who seemed to be an expert in using it? In order to do anything substantial with it you will need to know which microcontroller pins are connected to which physical pins, what ancillary devices are integrated onto the board and how those are connected to the microcontroller. Working that out for yourself from scratch would be quite a challenge and you really would benefit from finding the manufacturers data sheet, hopefully some worked examples and ideally other people who have used it. There's no way we can do that for you based on a photo of a different board.
I certainly don't mean that the people I read "has the slightest idea what it is" as we are all intelligent people but sometimes it's hard to really understand what someone else is trying to get across. The only understandable guide to this board I found I followed to the letter and when I verified the sketch code they told me to upload it blew up and had parameter errors. So I commented out that parameter and then got another one and there were just too many params to deal with so I gave up. I did post a question to Simon Monk from his book I found on Amazon and even he was scratching his head as he really has nothing to do with this software. I posted on the same forum I got the guide from and no one ever answered. This guide was written in 2012 and was the only thing I could find current. Yes, there are other guides out there but not specifically for this board. Thanks for answering.
This is your board:
It is a mega2560 clone and the closest Arduino is
But just because it is the same uC dies not mean that the fuses are correct, same clock, etc.
Ray