BlueRov2 - Unable to connect to Pixhawk

Blue Robotics Software
1

Good morning. We’ve recently acquired a BlueRov2 from another agency and we are in the process of getting it running. I have the following versions:

Companion: 0.0.26
QGC: 4.1.2

The system is connected to our QGC computer with a Fathom-X.

When bringing up QGC I have the camera feed but shows the system as disconnected.

When connecting to the companion, I have the following system status:
Active Services:

  • mavlink2rest
  • bridgemanager
  • wldriver
  • nmearx
  • file-manager
  • audio
  • commrouter
  • webterminal
  • webui
  • video
  • mavproxy

Detected Devices:

  • Video: H264_USB_Camera (Blue Robotics HD Low Light USB Camera)
  • Audio: H264_USB_Camera (Blue Robotics HD Low Light USB Camera)
  • Serial: Pixhawk1

Companion Version: 0.2.26
ArduSub Version: Not Found

I’ve attempted to upload the firmware ArduSub firmware to the latest stable via the web interface and get the following:
Downloading stable ArduSub firmware from https://firmware.ardupilot.org/Sub/stable/Pixhawk1/ardusub.apj
Stopping mavproxy
Flashing Pixhawk…
Loaded firmware for 9,0, size: 994256 bytes, waiting for the bootloader…
If the board does not respond within 1-2 seconds, unplug and re-plug the USB connector.
Attempting reboot on /dev/serial/by-id/usb-ArduPilot_Pixhawk1_2F004D001451373232393438-if00 with baudrate=57600…
If the board does not respond, unplug and re-plug the USB connector.
Attempting reboot on /dev/serial/by-id/usb-ArduPilot_Pixhawk1_2F004D001451373232393438-if00 with baudrate=57600…
If the board does not respond, unplug and re-plug the USB connector.
Attempting reboot on /dev/serial/by-id/usb-ArduPilot_Pixhawk1_2F004D001451373232393438-if00 with baudrate=57600…
If the board does not respond, unplug and re-plug the USB connector.

I am able to upload the Pixhawk firmware if I connect the USB directly to my laptop and use QGC. I’ve tried the following firmware versions which load fine but when re-connection to system, it still does not communicate:

  • ArduPilot - ChibiOS - Sub - Pixhawk1 4.0.3 - Stable
  • ArduPilot - ChibiOS - Sub - Pixhawk1-1m 4.0.3 - Stable

Output from - screen -r mavproxy

/dev/autopilot
Connect /dev/autopilot,115200 source_system=200
Failed to load module: No module named terrain. Use ‘set moddebug 3’ in the MAVProxy console to enable traceback
Failed to load module: No module named adsb. Use ‘set moddebug 3’ in the MAVProxy console to enable traceback
Listening for GPS Input packets on UDP://127.0.0.1:25100
Loaded module GPSInput
Outputting depth on UDP://0.0.0.0:25102
Loaded module DepthOutput
set SERIAL0_PROTOCOL to 2.000000
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
timeout setting SERIAL0_PROTOCOL to 2.000000
Loaded 1 parameters from /home/pi/companion/params/serial0.param (changed 1)
Log Directory: /tmp
Telemetry log: /tmp/telemetry.tlog
MAV> Waiting for heartbeat from /dev/autopilot
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type
Sensor failure: Unable to detect board type

Output from - ls /dev/tty*
/dev/tty /dev/tty19 /dev/tty3 /dev/tty40 /dev/tty51 /dev/tty62
/dev/tty0 /dev/tty2 /dev/tty30 /dev/tty41 /dev/tty52 /dev/tty63
/dev/tty1 /dev/tty20 /dev/tty31 /dev/tty42 /dev/tty53 /dev/tty7
/dev/tty10 /dev/tty21 /dev/tty32 /dev/tty43 /dev/tty54 /dev/tty8
/dev/tty11 /dev/tty22 /dev/tty33 /dev/tty44 /dev/tty55 /dev/tty9
/dev/tty12 /dev/tty23 /dev/tty34 /dev/tty45 /dev/tty56 /dev/ttyACM0
/dev/tty13 /dev/tty24 /dev/tty35 /dev/tty46 /dev/tty57 /dev/ttyAMA0
/dev/tty14 /dev/tty25 /dev/tty36 /dev/tty47 /dev/tty58 /dev/ttyprintk
/dev/tty15 /dev/tty26 /dev/tty37 /dev/tty48 /dev/tty59 /dev/ttyS0
/dev/tty16 /dev/tty27 /dev/tty38 /dev/tty49 /dev/tty6
/dev/tty17 /dev/tty28 /dev/tty39 /dev/tty5 /dev/tty60
/dev/tty18 /dev/tty29 /dev/tty4 /dev/tty50 /dev/tty61

Output from - ls /dev/serial/by-id/
usb-ArduPilot_Pixhawk1_2F004D001451373232393438-if00

Output from - screen -ls
There are screens on:
953.mavlink2rest (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
943.bridgemanager (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
933.wldriver (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
922.nmearx (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
908.file-manager (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
891.audio (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
873.commrouter (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
861.webterminal (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
844.webui (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
828.video (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
818.mavproxy (23/04/21 14:03:27) (Detached)
11 Sockets in /var/run/screen/S-pi.

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JP Faucher

2

Hi @jpfauchdot ,

I’m sorry to hear it, but I believe you have a defective Pixhawk.
After flashing it via USB, do you get any signs of telemetry in QGC? The virtual horizon moving when you move the Pixhawk, for example?

Anyway, this error means that ArduSub was unable to identify what board it is running in by probing the sensors in the i2c bus, which probably means one of the chips on the Pixhawk is defective.

Please get in touch with us via support@bluerobotics.com linking this thread.
I’m sorry for the trouble!

3

Thanks for the reply. I don’t get any telemetry in QGC. I’m in the process of getting a new PixHawk as the USB port on it fell off while I was swapping back and forth. Just waiting on a quote from BlueRobotics.

Thanks again.
JP

4

Oh, okay,

I hope you get your BlueROV2 back in the water soon!

5

Just curious if 4.1.2 of QGC is fine to run with ArduSub?

6

The new PixHawk fixed my connection issue. Thanks for the assistance on this matter.

JP

7

Hi @jpfauchdot ,

We are still recommending 4.0.6.
QGC 4.1.2 may still have some issues. If you do want to use it, let us know if you run into issues that are not in QGC’s issues list.

8

Thanks for the response. After working on getting our gripper working I noticed that I was running an unsupported version of QGC so downgraded to 4.0.5 which fixed my issues. I did not see 4.06. Is that worth an upgrade?

Also I’m running:
Companion: 0.0.26
ArduSub: 4.0.3

Are these good versions to be running?

Thanks again for your time.

JP

9

I think you need to update the information on the ardusub site “Installing QGroundControl”. The recommended version there is 4.0.5, you are recommending 4.0.6, and you get the latest QGC if you hit the download button. Same with companion and ardusub software.

10

Hi @almathisen ,

I’m sorry about that!
I double checked our QGC links so they point to the right versions.
And it is really 4.0.5 for now, my bad.

1 Like
11

Hi

I have almost similar problem. When connecting pixhawk to raspi 3B, It shows flashing orange and ardusub web (raspi 3b) says:

Serial devices: None!

However, when i connect it directly to my laptop, its connected (also on QGC)

Is it also because of defective pixhawk?

Need help here (urgent)

Thx in advance

12

Hi @budiono, welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

Is it flashing in pairs (failing pre-arm checks), or a consistent flash (battery failsafe)?

It would help to know whether you’re using a standard BlueROV2 or some other setup, along with the relevant firmware and software versions you’re on (ArduSub should be 4.0.3, Companion should be 0.0.28, QGC should be 4.0.5 or possibly 4.1.4 on Windows).

If you’re sure that everything has sufficient power, then it might be worth trying to reset your mavproxy settings, and if that doesn’t help try manually flashing the latest companion update onto the Raspberry Pi SD card. If QGC is detecting the Pixhawk correctly as running ArduSub then that’s likely ok, but it might be worth updating it from the QGC Firmware page to make sure it’s on the latest version.

Not sure at this point, there are likely several other possible causes, but it’s always a possibility that something is defective.

13

Hi,

Did you use the same USB cable when connecting to your laptop? The cable could be bad.

Try also disconnecting all other USB peripherals from the raspberry PI, leave only the Pixhawk and check if that works.

1 Like
14

Hi

Thanks for the advice,

I think that’s not the problem, since i didn’t connect anything to my pixhawk (only raspi 3b and pixhawk).

And yeah, after i manage to update the ardusub image to the latest version (from 0.0.26 to 0.0.29), after i tried several times, the pixhawk connected to raspi accidently (flashing blue)

Hi @williangalvani

I already changed the USB cable, and it still same. However, i hope my pixhawk still safe :smile:

Thanks for your answer

15

Is that now working consistently, or just sometimes?

16

For now, it’s working constantly.

If something happens, I’ll let you know

Best,

1 Like
17

A post was split to a new topic: ArduSub firmware update failing - SSL