Airframe is nearly debugged - autopilot engages
I was able to procure a replacement voltage regulator board. Instead of going with the default 2.25A onboard regulator, I purchased an 8A continuous, 15A peak regulator from Danielle's R/C, and a battery to go with it (a LiPo battery is recommended, but I'm driving it with a NiMH for the moment.) You can see the wire melee in the pic (sorry, took it with the Pre instead of my camera setup.)I plugged in the new regulator, and the autopilot board booted right up! Unfortunately, as I was removing the old regulator, I crushed a tiny, microscopic Schottky diode out of existence. It's less than 1mm in size. I have ordered a set of 20 replacements for $1.86 from Mouser, but they will take a few days to arrive. The diode in question controls the GPS's reset line, so GPS will be offline for the moment, unfortunately. I did take the time to iron out my airframe config, and after about 8 hours of work, I finally was able to get it to compile! Even better, when I uploaded the firmware to the AP board, the servos greeted me, all working properly! (once I had reassigned a few lines.) The mode switch also is demonstrating that it works properly - on engagement of the autopilot modes, the system automatically enabled the throttle and set a course correction in motion.
Once the replacement parts come in from Mouser, I think I should be able to head to the field to do some full-manual-control testing. Once I'm satisfied that all control inputs are being executed according to my wishes, I will extensively debug my airframe config, and then give the autopilot the go! More later.
