EDTracker Bundle (HCKITS0021, 21B, 21E, 21F, 21G, 21H & 21I)

[juspopnap]

Hi,

it seems I'm another one that have an issue with 9250 calibration. My freshly built EDTracker2 unit (HCKITS0021H: https://hobbycomponents.com/home/440-37 ... _enclosure) stuck at " Calculating Gyro Bias" forever.
Regarding LEDs: while stuck at auto calibration, 2 of them are solid RED and 3rd one flickers. No LED color changes noticed.

I've done some research looking for a solution and this are the steps I've done in order to get it to work properly:

1. Install Arduino drivers and download GUI 4.0.4.0
   Result: device manager shows Arduino Leonardo, GUI shows device as COMx- Arduino Leonardo (COMx)
2. Flash device with EDTracker2_9250 4.0.5
   Result: device is flashed successfully, Calculating Gyro Bias pops up and lasts " forever".
3. Flash device with EDTracker2_9250_old 4.0.3
   Result: device is flashed successfully, Calculating Gyro Bias successfull.
   With this instance I get gyro readings and " Head" reacts with device being moved around, but i don't get any temperature readings and magnetometer is not showing any activity (I'm unable to get any points in it's calibration menu).
   I've checked device in game (Elite Dangerous), and it's working, but it's also auto centering yaw axis and it's performance isn't satisfactionary.
4. Flash device with EDTracker2_9250_dev 4.1.0 (using DEV mode)
   Result: device flashed successfully, Calculating Gyro Bias " forever".
5. Flash device with EDTracker2_6050 2.20.9 and 2.21.0
   Result: flash successfull, I get gyro and temp readings.

So I tried to flash it manualy using Arduino IDE and GitHub repos:

1. Upload EDTracker2_9250 sketch
   Result: Serial Monitor remains clear. No errors.
   Can't get through auto calibration (same issue as with GUI flashing)
2. Upload HobbyComponents example sketch (viewtopic.php?f=73&t=1956)
   Result: Serial Monitor is showing raw data from the device. Values changes with device being moved around. No errors pops up.
   Can't get through auto calibration.

While doing all these steps, I was restarting system and reinstalled drivers several times. Nothing helps.
I'm stuck. Hardware seems to be working fine, all the components have been soldered by a professional, I get the readings from the device, but I have no idea how to calibrate it at this point.

Help please!!

Edit:
Updated hardware and LED informations.

[andrew]

Regarding LEDs: while stuck at auto calibration, 2 of them are solid RED and 3rd one flickers. No LED color changes noticed.

None of the LEDs are multi-colour so you should'nt expect any to change colour. For the one that flickers is it flashing at a constant rate or is it just fading in and out randomly?

I've done some research looking for a solution and this are the steps I've done in order to get it to work properly:
Install Arduino drivers and download GUI 4.0.4.0
Result: device manager shows Arduino Leonardo, GUI shows device as COMx- Arduino Leonardo (COMx)

That's good.

Flash device with EDTracker2_9250 4.0.5
Result: device is flashed successfully, Calculating Gyro Bias pops up and lasts " forever".

Not sure why it would get stuck at this stage. Are you keeping the EDTracker completely still whilst it performs this calibration process?

Flash device with EDTracker2_9250_old 4.0.3
Result: device is flashed successfully, Calculating Gyro Bias successfull.

That's very puzzling as I don't know of any reason why it would work with an older version of the firmware, but not with the newer version but see above comment.

Result: device is flashed successfully, Calculating Gyro Bias successfull.
With this instance I get gyro readings and " Head" reacts with device being moved around, but i don't get any temperature readings and magnetometer is not showing any activity (I'm unable to get any points in it's calibration menu).
I've checked device in game (Elite Dangerous), and it's working, but it's also auto centering yaw axis and it's performance isn't satisfactionary.

Al least that shows something is working but if you can't calibrate the accelerometer and the magnatometer properly then it defiantly won't work properly and you'll just get weird results like you report. The auto centring in particular is a symptom of the magnatometer not being calibrated correctly.


For calibrating the magnatometer you must increase the sensitivity using the slider bar until it just starts to register points. Then you need to do the full magnatometer calibration until you get at least 500 points.

Take a look at this video which will take you though the full process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2xCjdC4X0I

Note that although its for calibrating a 9150, the 9250 is identical in operation.

Flash device with EDTracker2_6050 2.20.9 and 2.21.0
Result: flash successfull, I get gyro and temp readings.

I would not expect that to work as the firmware is for a completely different accelerometer !


Can you confirm that your holding the EDTracker completely still whilst calibrating at the 'Calculating Gyro Bias' step, and if you haven't already, can you go through the youtube video just in case you've missed something. If you still have no luck the please let me know.

[juspopnap]

Dear Andrew, thanks for fast reply!

For the one that flickers is it flashing at a constant rate or is it just fading in and out randomly?

It’s flashing at constant rate. It’s nowhere near fading in and out.

Are you keeping the EDTracker completely still whilst it performs this calibration process?

That's very puzzling as I don't know of any reason why it would work with an older version of the firmware, but not with the newer version but see above comment.

Yes. It’s laying on the desk, flat, in a place nothing is able to move it.

For calibrating the magnatometer you must increase the sensitivity using the slider bar until it just starts to register points. Then you need to do the full magnatometer calibration until you get at least 500 points.

Magnetometer with 4.0.3 remains unresponsive regardless of sensitivity level.
Moved slider back and forth several times, moving device around, and it shows the same data constantly: every bracket has value 0, points stuck at 1.

Take a look at this video which will take you though the full process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2xCjdC4X0I

Note that although its for calibrating a 9150, the 9250 is identical in operation.

Watched it several times already

Can you confirm that your holding the EDTracker completely still whilst calibrating at the 'Calculating Gyro Bias' step, and if you haven't already, can you go through the youtube video just in case you've missed something. If you still have no luck the please let me know.

Yes, I can confirm it’s laying still on the desk.
I’m really out of ideas... it looks like hardware is working properly but I don't know...maybe I'm wrong.
Similar issue was discussed here https://github.com/brumster/EDTracker2/issues/3, but I'm afraid I'm not tech savy enough to fully understand all this.

[andrew]

Thanks for checking. I think unfortunately we're going to have to assume there's something wrong with the MPU9250. This is a rare issue that we don't normally see with our kits so I doubt it's anything to do with driver or firmware versions otherwise we'd be seeing it more often. It must be something that's slightly out with the device. Please feel free to return it back to us. I myself would be interested to take a look at it. You can find information about returning items here:

https://hobbycomponents.com/content/6-returns


Alternatively you can email sales (at) hobbycomponents.com and just reference this thread.

[juspopnap]

Ok. If so, while the device is soldered I assume I have to return it as is right?
Is it possible to get another unit in exchange ( without casing of course, because mine has drilled holes for button and usb cable) instead returning the one I have and purchasing another?

Cheers

[andrew]

Can you send a quick email to sales (at) hobbycomponents.com with your order number and reference this forum thread and we'll sort it out from there.

[ARandy]

Hi, Ive just recieved my second EDTracker bundle and it seems to have problems eith yaw. I havent modified anything and ive tried all the firmware including the experimental one and im still encountering the problem. Ive inspected my soildering job. Its not perfect but all pins seem to be connected and not shorting. Its an MPU 9250 gyro board with a Pro Micro Leonardo and the EDTracker PCB. Heres the problem:

The yaw gyro seems to be defective and when i turn the unit it seems to register pitch also, and if i leave the unit in a yawed position the software registers it turning to zero without me moving it.

Could the gyro board be defective?
Thanks for a reply.

[andrew]

if i leave the unit in a yawed position the software registers it turning to zero without me moving it.

The yaw moving back to the centre position is normally a sign that the magnetometer isn't calibrated correctly. Did you perform the full calibration process on the magnetometer? You can find out how to do it in this video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2xCjdC4X0I


It's about 6 min and 40 seconds into the video.

[ARandy]

Yes i have and can confirm i got 2 full spheres.

Here is a link to a youtube video of my magnetometer calibration and what happens when i yaw my unit. This was done on a flat surface and after the yaw to the right i held the unit steady.

https://youtu.be/-6_FYiHIw9o

[andrew]

Thanks for the video clip, that helps a lot to understand your issue. I can't see anything wrong with your setup and the magnatometer calibration results look very good. I've to been experimenting with one to try and see if I can somehow replicate what your're experiencing by changing settings, configs, and firmware etc but I can't get one to do what yours is doing.

It's a public holiday here in UK so I'm not in the office today but as we have two current reports of potential issues with the MPU9250 we've taken them off sale just in case there is a batch problem. I'll get some built up tomorrow from our current stock to see if any of them behave in a odd way. So if you can bear with me I'll see if I can find any potential issues and take it from there.