Tricopter Software

I built a tricopter in February ,2011 using your DEV-09218 Arduino Pro Mini with a DEV 10008 breakout board and MultiWii_1_6. Everything worked O.K. until I rebuilt the frame etc to remove some weight. On the initial start-up everything seemed to work O.K. , however on subsequent tries, (trying to change the P.I.D.) I now can not arm the motors or get them to rotate. The receiver is giving a good PWM wave to the throttle pin of the Pro Mini, but no PWM wave is coming to the ESC–just a 50% square wave. I suspect I have a problem with the software in the Pro Mini, however, MultiWii_1_6 is no longer available, and I do not have a copy of it in my desk computer. I am not an electronics or software person (had some help from a software person in Florida on initial build, but can no longer get in touch with him) so I hesitate upgrading to MultiWii 1.7 (or later version)if I am missing missing something with what once worked O.K.

What would you suggest I do to get the motors running? The Pro Mini works O.K. with the GUI except the left, right and rear motors are all at 1000. Also I can not run the “blink” or a sketch on Arduino 0022.

Thank you for any advice you can give me,

Don

DRose:
I built a tricopter in February ,2011 using your DEV-09218 Arduino Pro Mini with a DEV 10008 breakout board and MultiWii_1_6. Everything worked O.K. until I rebuilt the frame etc to remove some weight. On the initial start-up everything seemed to work O.K. , however on subsequent tries, (trying to change the P.I.D.) I now can not arm the motors or get them to rotate. The receiver is giving a good PWM wave to the throttle pin of the Pro Mini, but no PWM wave is coming to the ESC–just a 50% square wave. I suspect I have a problem with the software in the Pro Mini, however, MultiWii_1_6 is no longer available, and I do not have a copy of it in my desk computer. I am not an electronics or software person (had some help from a software person in Florida on initial build, but can no longer get in touch with him) so I hesitate upgrading to MultiWii 1.7 (or later version)if I am missing missing something with what once worked O.K.

Have you tried 1.7? I would…

What would you suggest I do to get the motors running? The Pro Mini works O.K. with the GUI except the left, right and rear motors are all at 1000. Also I can not run the “blink” or a sketch on Arduino 0022.

The Arduino software is at 1.0.5. You need to download the new IDE as all code will have have changed to this new version.

If you tried to upload and run the blink sketch, what errors did it give or what did the Mini do? Did you have a LED attached or did you use the onboard LED?

I downloaded 1.0.5 and was able to run Blink. When I try to run the sketch, I get a compiling error–undefined reference to "loop.

How do I fix this?

Don

What code? Hint, post it in code tags…

I don’t understand what you mean by code tags.

click on to open

Codlink,

I’m not familar with software talk and I think I really have messed this tri up because I can’t get the Multiwii 1.7 into it now. Could you also tell me how to get 1.7 into the Pro Mini?

My email address is donaldrose07@att.net if that will help us to comunicate.I really appreciate your help.

Don


I’m really new at this–where do I find my code?

Don

That would be the blink code/sketch that was giving you the compiling error–undefined reference to “loop.” Open it in the Arduino IDE editor, right click and select all then copy from the editor window and paste between the code tags.

You can find some info on their Wiki page, http://www.multiwii.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Mee_n_Mac

I feel pretty stupid. I’ve been searching Arduino 1.0,5 and the internet for the last hour or more to find the Arduino IDE editor to do your suggestion, and have not had any luck. Where can I find the Arduino IDE editor?

Thank you for your help.

Mee_N_Mac

Reference my 3:48 pm reply. I had the blink working O.K. but was not able to run the sketch_sep22a because of a compiling error. What am I missing?

DRose:
Mee_n_Mac

I feel pretty stupid. I’ve been searching Arduino 1.0,5 and the internet for the last hour or more to find the Arduino IDE editor to do your suggestion, and have not had any luck. Where can I find the Arduino IDE editor?

Thank you for your help.

Read this first ...

http://arduino.cc/en/Guide/Environment

The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is the code/sketch editor. So open up that sketch (sketch_sep22a) in the IDE and copy’n’paste it into a post here (using the code tags).

When I try to open the sketch_sep22a in the IDE I get an error that the internet explorer can not display this page. Tried it several times. I’m tired and am going to bed.

Thank you for your patience and help.

Don

DRose:
When I try to open the sketch_sep22a in the IDE I get an error that the internet explorer can not display this page.

And yet you've gotten the sketch (gack, I hate that term) to open and load into the IDE window before ? Odd ! Try a reboot, the IDE is Java based and I've had weird Java problems on my PC in the past. A reboot has solved them.

Are you opening the sketch from within the IDE (using file, open, etc or file, sketchbook, etc) or clicking on the .ino file from a Windows window ? If the latter try the former.

When I try to open the sketch in the IDE I get an error that says,“Internet Explorer can not display this page”. I am trying to open the sketch by using the “open” indicator in the File list of the IDE.

Mee_n-Mac

I am going to have the computer people look at my computer to see if they can correct the internet problem. I had that problem beffor and they cleared it up. I will try op open the sketch later this afternoon and get back to you.

Thanks again,

Don

DRose:
When I try to open the sketch in the IDE I get an error that says,“Internet Explorer can not display this page”. I am trying to open the sketch by using the “open” indicator in the File list of the IDE.

The IDE is not an internet program. The only reason why you would need to access the internet is to download the IDE software.

You should get it [HERE.

Install the software by double clicking the exe file and follow the steps to install it. Once installed, open the program, click file>open, browse for the “sketch” (the code you are going to upload), then open it in the IDE (Integrated development environment).

It’s from here that you can upload the sketch to your Arduino UNO board.

More info: http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino/lesson1.html

If there are any errors once you compile your sketch, please copy and paste the error here.](http://downloads.arduino.cc/arduino-1.0.6-windows.exe)

Mee_N_Mac

The Blink works O.K. I have trouble running a sketch–2 verify errors (undefinied reference to setup, and unidefined reference to loop) Can I install the Multiwii v1.7 software even though I have a sketch problem?

Also, I don’t know how to install Multiwii v1,7. I have downloaded it, and copied it to clipboard, but it will not inatall using the breakout board on the Pro Mini board. I have identified the board and comp 4 using Arduino 1.0.6, but the lights on the breakout board won’t blink–indicating a conversation between the breakout board and desk computer. What do I do with Multiwii 1.7 in the desk computer to let the breakout board upload it to the Pro Mini?

DRose:
Mee_N_Mac

The Blink works O.K. I have trouble running a sketch–2 verify errors (undefinied reference to setup, and unidefined reference to loop) Can I install the Multiwii v1.7 software even though I have a sketch problem?

What sketch and why haven’t you posted it yet?

Also, I don’t know how to install Multiwii v1,7. I have downloaded it, and copied it to clipboard, but it will not inatall using the breakout board on the Pro Mini board. I have identified the board and comp 4 using Arduino 1.0.6, but the lights on the breakout board won’t blink–indicating a conversation between the breakout board and desk computer. What do I do with Multiwii 1.7 in the desk computer to let the breakout board upload it to the Pro Mini?

You mean you can’t find a tutorial that tells how to use it? I find that doubtful… You are not giving us anything that we can use to help you. Please go back through the posts and answer our questions.