• Tarot Gimbal Manual

I just purchased a Amazon 5th gen kindle fire to use as a ground station for my drones. The device supports OTG and has the power needed to run the 3dr usb telemetry device. Out of the box the fire is kind of useless for anything but an e-reader amazon buying tool.

Tarot Gimbal Manual

Rooting and a ROM upgrade solves this! It is fairly simple, however the process is time consuming with lots of waiting (have something else to do like a book or a movie while you’re waiting on certain processes). Step 1: Make sure you have 5.3.1.0 fire OS installed on device Go to Settings - Device Options - Software Updates to check the version.

My device shipped with 5.3.1.0 so I did not need to load a different firmware. Your mileage may vary. If version is less than 5.3.1.0 follow instead. If version is greater than 5.3.1.0 follow to install the 5.3.1 firmware. DO NOT attempt to downgrade a 5.3.1.0 device below 5.3.1.0!!!

This it will BRICK your fire. Once version is 5.3.1.0 go to step 2 Step 2: Reset to factory settings Go to Settings - Factory Reset and perform a factory reset. This will reboot the device. When device boots skip all set up and do not connect to WiFi yet (this will slow down any unwanted update process).

Step 3: Enable Developer Mode Go to Settings - Device Options and tap the build number seven times to enable dev mode. Go to Settings - Device Options - Developer and turn on USB debugging and ADB. Step 4: Download needed files Download the latest and extract somewhere you will remember. Download the latest but DO NOT extract it. Step 5: Run SuperTool From a command line navigate to the SuperTool folder and run the appropriate file. In Linux the command is $./3-Amazon-Fire-5th-gen-linux-mac.sh You will see a screen like this: Press 2 and Enter to root device. First it will install KingRoot to your device which you will then have to run from your device when directed to do so.

KingRoot will ask you to connect to WiFi. You will likely have to run KingRoot repeatedly before it will work. Time to grab a book or a movie as this part takes time. Each time you run KingRoot it will reboot your device a few times and show progress on the screen. Each attempt takes about 10-15 minutes or more. After the first attempt I unplugged my device from the computer and had to run KingRoot a total of 4 times before it worked. Just keep trying.

Once root is gained plug your Fire back into the computer (you may need to cycle the ADB setting on your device for it to be recognized) and continue the SuperTool process following all instructions there. This will install SuperSu which will need interaction from you on the device. Follow the setup procedure according to the instructions in SuperTool.

Once this process is done run “Block OTA updates” to prevent accidentally losing root access. Step 6: Install Rom via FlashFire While still in SuperTool install FlashFire (option 6). From your computer copy the zipped ROM file downloaded in Step 4 over to the INTERNAL storage of your Fire device. On your device run FlashFire and follow these steps exactly, otherwise you risk the installation having problems: Select the red plus (+) button to expand a selection of options, choosing Wipe. Select System data, 3rd party apps, and Dalvik cache if they are not already checked. Click the red plus (+) button again and choose Flash ZIP/OTA. Search for the Nexus ROM that you’ve copied over and choose it.

Automount and Mount /system read/write need to be unchecked. Drag Wipe to the top of the queue. Hit the flash button to start the process. This will take a few minutes and the screen might go blank for a while. It will eventually boot into the new ROM.

Step 7: Enjoy! With new ROM installed be sure to update Google first.

After it updates clear google app and framework cache and reboot. Install apps. You will need EVERYTHING as this is a very vanilla ROM. OTG works great with APM/Tower or DroidPlanner software.

Much faster, full play store support and NO ADS! Having trouble getting serial devices in Linux to show up as COM ports ( eg, COM1 ) in Wine?

Getting the correct software to configure your Tarot Gimbal and getting the com ports to work can be a nightmare. Problem solved! So you have a Tarot Gimbal and the included USB programming dongle. On your.nix machine ( I am using Ubuntu, your mileage may vary ): Make sure user has dialout privileges: $ sudo usermod -a G dialout username Log out and back in. Install Wine: $ sudo apt install wine Configure wine to run XP $ winecfg Add required items to Wine registry (/.wine/system.reg): Hardware Devicemap Serialcomm 'Serial0'='COM1' More info here: Plug in your USB to serial adapter to computer. Link device (ttyUSB0 in my case) to Wine com1 $ ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 /.wine/dosdevices/com1 Download programming software: Uncompress the file, right click on main application and select run with Wine.

Plug in connector on USB to Gimbal. Select COM1 in software and click connect. Power on drone/gimbal.

Connecting the gimbal to the Pixhawk The Tarot gimbal’s red and black power wires should be connected directly to a 2S or 3S battery. If you plan to use 4S, please use a voltage regulator to ensure the voltage stays within safe operating limits: DC 7.4 V - 14.8 V (recommended 12 V). 3DR RTF Quad, Y6, and X8 include a voltage regular to allow use of 4S batteries with the Tarot gimbal.

The “T” pin should be connected to the Pixhawk’s AUX1 signal pin. One of the two “-” pins should be connected to the Pixhawk’s AUX1 ground pin. Operation Upon powering your vehicle, the gimbal will display a solid yellow light while it is starting and calibrating. Do not touch the gimbal while it is starting up. When the gimbal displays a blinking blue light, it is ready for flight. If the gimbal is not connected to the autopilot, it will perform basic stabilization without autopilot control, indicated by a solid blue light.

LED meanings Solid yellow = calibrating Blinking blue = ready, connected to autopilot Solid blue = ready, not connected to autopilot. Configuring the gimbal Tarot gimbals purchased from 3DR should come pre-configured to work with Copter but if you have purchased from another source or just wish to change the configuration you should:. Use the provided USB dongle to connect the Gimbal board to your computer (Windows only). If this is the first time you have plugged in the dongle you will likely see a USB device installation window.

After successful installation of the driver a new COM port named “Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port” should appear in the Device Manager as shown below. If drivers cannot be found you may be able to install Windows 7 or Windows XP drivers using one of the.exe files found in the “driver” directory of the file. Note Windows 8 and 10 users may find issues with the Prolific USB-to-Serial driver not starting. This issue can apparently be resolved according by. Download and unzip the file to a convenient place on your computer.

Double click on the ZYX-BMGC-ENV1.5.exe file (found in the above zip) and the configuration UI shown below should appear. Power the Gimbal by plugging in the battery. In the configuration UI, select the COM port and press the Open COM Port button. After a few seconds the image of the camera should begin moving as the gimbal is moved.

The most important setting is to set the Default Mode (just above COM port drop-down) to Default Mode: stick position mode. Select this and press Write Settings To Flash. Alternatively to load all the 3DR recommended configuration:. First right-click on and save to somewhere on your computer.

Press the Load Config button on the configuration UI and select the 3DRTarot.bgsc file downloaded above. Press Write Settings To Flash button. Set-up through the mission planner The channel 6 tuning knob’s output can be used to control the pitch angle of the gimbal by:. Connect the Pixhawk to the mission planner.

Open the Initial Setup Optional Hardware Camera Gimbal screen set:. Tilt drop-down to RC9 (equivalent to the Pixhawk’s AUX OUT1).

Input Ch drop-down to RC6. The “Stabilize Tilt” checkbox should not be checked mission commands and the MP’s “Point Camera Here” feature should work if the Tilt Servo Limits and Angle Limits Min and Max values as set as shown above.

The “Servo Limits” holds the minimum and maximum PWM values that will be sent from the APM/Pixhawk to the gimbal (i.e. On RC9 if set-up like above). The “Angle Limits” are the earth-frame angles (in degrees) that the gimbal can achieve. “0” degrees is straight ahead, “90” degrees is straight up, “-90” degrees is straight down. The Tarot gimbal is capable of pointing straight down (i.e. “-90”) to straight ahead (i.e.

Testing the gimbal moves correctly Testing the pilot’s control of pitch Once powered the gimbal should point to it’s Tilt Angle Min (i.e. Straight down) when your transmitter’s channel 6 tuning knob is at it’s minimum pwm value (perhaps around 1000) and the camera should point to it’s maximum tilt angle (i.e. Straight forward) when the tuning knob is at it’s maximum (perhaps around 2000). The mission planner’s Radio calibration page can be used to check the Ch6’s current input pwm value. Testing ROI You must have GPS lock to test ROI. The ROI feature points the vehicle and/or camera to point at a target.

The instructions above describe setting up the APM/Pixhawk so that it only controls the Tilt (i.e. Pitch) of the Tarot gimbal so when a command is received Copter will attempt to turn the vehicle’s nose to point in the direction of the target and tilt camera depending upon the vehicle’s distance and altitude. You can test the gimbal tilt moves correctly by connecting with the mission planner, then on the Flight Data screen’s map, right-mouse-button-click on a point about 50m ahead of the vehicle (the orange and red lines show the vehicle’s current heading), select “Point Camera Here” and input an altitude of -50 (meters). This should cause the gimbal to point down at about 45 degrees.

Updating the gimbal software The gimbal must be running firmware version 1.4 or higher. Follow the instructions below to update both the controller and motor firmwares. Connect the gimbal to your computer using the USB dongle.

Ensure that the gimbal end is plugged into the “Gimbal Controller Connector” (see diagram in the Connecting the Gimbal to the Pixhawk section above). Leave the gimbal unpowered for now.

Start the “ZYX-BMGC-ENV1.5” configuration application. Select Open Firmware and select the./FirmwareV1.5/Gimbal Controller Firmware V1.5.bgsf file from the.

Select the COM Port that has been assigned to the gimbal, then select “Open COM Port.”. Select Start Upgrade.

Connect the battery to power the gimbal. You will see a green progress bar on the screen indicating the status of the update. To verify that the firmware has updated successfully, disconnect and reconnect the battery.

Select Open COM Port, and check that the version firmware number now displays the updated version. Now you’ll need to update the motor firmware.

Disconnect the battery from the gimbal so that it is not powered. Disconnect the USB dongle from the “Gimbal Controller Connector” and reconnect to the “Motor Driver Connector” on the other side of the board. Select Motor Configuration. Select Open COM Port. Ensure that the same COM port as before is selected (the gimbal controller and motor controller use the same COM port). Now select Open Firmware, but this time select the./FirmwareV1.5/Motor Driver Firmware V1.5.bmcf file. Select Start Upgrade.

Connect the battery to power the gimbal. There will be another progress bar indicating the status of the upgrade. Disconnect and reconnect the battery from the gimbal to complete the upgrade process.

You may need to check/set the configuration settings again, as above. In particular, check that the manual control mode is “Stick Position Mode” and remember to write your settings when you’re done!