178 lines
8.0 KiB
Markdown
178 lines
8.0 KiB
Markdown
# Getting started
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We decided to base this build on the excellent DJI 450 Flamewheel ARF kit. The kit provides a good solid base on which to experiment and it is fairly straight forward to add a camera to the platform.
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## The build
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There are many excellent build videos available on-line that detail how to build the basic Quadcopter kit. We've included a few pictures below that detail our build.
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##### Unboxing frame and propellors
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##### Motors
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These are the motors and ESC's. Two motors are CCW and two CW. The propellors are self-tightening so need to be paired with the correct motor.
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##### Motors mounted
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The motors are mounted to the frame arms.
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The wires on the ESC's will also need to be cut to length and the ends tinned with solder.
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##### Power
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The power connection should accept 5v DC - the power you connect here is isolated from your Raspberry Pi and only goes to the servos unless you have the **POWER** jumper in place.
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##### Expansion area
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This area to the right of the board is for adding extra expansion boards to increase the functionality available to you. For more information on adding expansion boards [look here](/expansionadding.html)
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##### Address selection
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The ESCAPE board uses I2C to control the motors. You can have a lot of I2C controlled boards on your Raspberry Pi at the same time, but each must have a unique address.
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We have set up the ESCAPE board to use the address **0x61**. If you find that this conflicts with another board you want to use, and you can't change the address of that board, then you can use these 5 solder jumpers to change the ESCAPE board address.
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###### How to change the address
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Each of the address pins (A0 - A4) can be set to 0 (un-soldered) or 1 (soldered). You set an address pin to 1 by adding solder to each pad of the address pin until the two parts join.
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Each address jumper has a binary value - A0 = 1, A1 = 2, A3 = 4, A4 = 8
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The starting address for the ESCAPE board is 0x61 - if you look closely at the jumper pads labelled A0 you will see a small connection between them setting this jumper to 1.
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If we solder jumper A1 then the address will be 0x61 + 2 = 0x63. Soldering A1 and A2 will give us 0x61 + 2 + 4 = 0x67
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## Setup your ESCAPE
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Now that we know what each part of the board is for, it's time to solder all the connections - it doesn't matter what order you attach the connections to your board, but we've found that the order below is the simplest.
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### Assemble the parts
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**IMPORTANT** - if you have an expansion board that you want to add to your 640 board, then you should add that first as it will be a lot easier than adding it after soldering connectors to the board.
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As we don't know what headers and connectors you selected when you ordered your ESCAPE board - we're going to show you how to connect the most common selection - other connectors and headers should attach in the same way.
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*Hint* - A lump of plasticine or clay is very useful to hold your board level.
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### Attach the 2 pin Power jumper
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The small 2 pin jumper is the first part to put in place. It goes in the two holes labelled **POWER**.
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Place it in the holes but don't solder it in place yet.
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### Attach the 7 pin motor header and 6 pin servo header
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The next parts to slot into place are the 7 x 3 connector for the CPPM and motors and the 6 x 3 connector for the servos. The holes for these parts are aligned so that the connectors should fit tightly and be held in place.
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Slot them in place, and then using a piece of paper or card to hold the connectors in place, turn the board over.
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Slide the paper away and use a piece of plasticine or clay to keep the board level on your desk if needed.
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Solder all the pins in place - if you solder a single pin on each connector initially, then you can check if they are level and aligned correctly.
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If they aren't then apply the soldering iron tip to the soldered pin and move the connector until it is level.
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### Attach the power terminal
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Now we need to add the power connector - slot it in place making sure that you have it the right way around (for the screw terminals the holes should be at the front of the board).
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Use a piece of paper or card to hold the connector in place and turn the board upside down. Slide the paper out from under the board and use a piece of plasticine to prop the board up level.
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Make sure everything is lined up correctly - use extra plasticine to align connectors if needed. Once you are happy, solder each of the pins.
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### Attach the header
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For this example we'll show you how to connect a stackable header, as it's the most complex.
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Due to the length of the stackable headers pins, it can sometimes be a hassle to get them through the holes on the board.
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We've found that if you slide up the spacer on the stackable header so that it is near the top, you can get the pins into the boards header holes a lot easier and then slide the spacer back down again.
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Once you have your header in place, use some plasticine to make sure the board is level and then solder away. You should solder a single pin first, then make sure the header is level - if it isn't then apply the soldering iron to the pin again and move the header until it is correct.
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Now that your board is set up, it's time to configure your Raspberry Pi so that you can use it.
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## Setting up your Pi
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Before we can start using the ESCAPE board we need to enable the interfaces that the board uses on your Raspberry Pi.
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The ESCAPE board is controlled using the I2C interface. Any expansion boards attached to your ESCAPE board are controlled using the SPI interface.
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### Enable I2C and SPI in Pixel
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If you are using the graphical interface on your Raspberry Pi then click on your main menu icon, move down to *Preferences* and click on the *Raspberry Pi Configuration* menu item. Once open click on the *Interfaces* tab and you should see something like in the image below.
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Make sure that the line labelled I2C is set to enabled.
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If you have an expansion board then you'll need to enable the SPI interface as well on the line above, so click the *Enabled* setting next to the *SPI* label
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Once you click Ok you may be promtped to reboot your Raspberry Pi - go ahead and reboot.
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### Enable I2C and SPI on the command line
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If you are only using the command line on your Raspberry Pi then you will need to use the text version of the Raspberry Pi configuration tool to enable the interfaces.
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Type the following to bring up the configuration interface:
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``` bash
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$ sudo raspi-config
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```
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Once the menu is showing, scroll down to the *Advanced Options* menu and press Enter.
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Now we'll need to enable the I2C interface, so move down *I2C* menu and press Enter. You'll be asked if you want to enabled I2C - select *Yes* and you will see a confirmation and be returned to the main menu.
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Go to the *Advanced Options* again and do the same for *SPI*
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This time when you are returned to the main menu, move down to the *Finish* option (pressing the right arrow key twice will get you there) and press enter.
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You have now enabled the interfaces you need to use your board.
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### Next steps
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[Programming in Python >](/escapepython.html) |