Arduino altimeter - dual recovery for less than 20 dollar

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I've been thinking of a way to use the two jumper inputs as a pair of buttons to allow for programming. Haven't really thought it through too much yet.

Kevin

Yes me two. Its easy to use and change. Once I a compile I don't need to change units.
However I almost ALWAYS want 500' main. I was thinking of no pins normal DD with main at 500', one = redundant apogee one second apart. Something like that. Just thinking...
 
I've been thinking of a way to use the two jumper inputs as a pair of buttons to allow for programming. Haven't really thought it through too much yet.

Kevin
The problem is on the Tiny altimeters, the code is taking nearly 8k so I cannot add complexity to it.
If I go smt I will add more jumper and I should be able to use an atmega 644 or 1284 which has a lot more memory so we will be able to do more things.
Lot's of thing to keep me busy over the winter...
 
Yes me two. Its easy to use and change. Once I a compile I don't need to change units.
However I almost ALWAYS want 500' main. I was thinking of no pins normal DD with main at 500', one = redundant apogee one second apart. Something like that. Just thinking...

Jeff
For people that know programming my altimeters are very flexible and you can tailor it to your need like any Arduino board.... however when you are on the field recompiling the code to change the altitude is not really what you want to do....
Setting jumpers is good because anybody can do with nearly no tools (depending on the size of your fingers)
What I would like to do eventually is to use a smart phone or a PC and its bluetooth interface to configure the altimeter
I will post some video in the next few weeks to show you what I mean
 
You mean like a wireless connection to the altimeter?

THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!
 
I have been playing with Eagles this afternoon to design an smd board of the mini altiDuo
So far I have the design below which is smaller than the adapt 22 and lighter... and does pretty much the same thing
altiduo ver2.0.png
Now I want to make sure that the board program can be upgraded (ie that people can flash it) because unlike in the mini altiDuo on the smt version the ship wil be soldered for good....
 
Overall it looks nice, but one piece of advice... don't run traces on the component side of the board underneath the BMP085. Most manufacturers that use LCC packages will tell you this specifically, and in general it's not good practice because the clearances are so small. You should also avoid running traces between the pads of SMT resistors, caps, LEDs, etc. Running traces under a SOIC package is OK, there's a lot more room. In general, I try to leave .025" (about .6mm) between pads and traces, and .016" (about .4mm) between any two traces. Check the OshPark design rules, they're a good place to start because they're pretty conservative.
 
Thanks for your advices, I am going to change that.
In the mean time I have been playing up with Eagle3D
altiduo ver2.0-comp.png
 
Hi Boris,

I've been trying to build your Rocket datalogger. It is a great Projekt.
So far everything is working fine. After the start apogee and minimum height are correctly identified and the Pyrooutput get power at the right time. This works exactly 2 times, then the software will remain available after the launch detection and data is not written to the eeprom. Only after delete the eeprom new flights can be stored.

But I do not use your layout but've put my own board built around a Adroino nano to fit itinto a 24mm tube. The documented can find here: Http://www.raketenmodellbau.org/forum?action=viewthread&threadid=801347&page=1
Do you have an idea what´s going wrong?

Best regards Ralf
 
It depend how long is your flight.
In the past I have seen some issues that was because the rocket landing was not detected.
Which version of the program are you using?
 
Hi,
the flights (in the vacuum chamber) were just a few seconds long. The Softwareversion I used is the 1.0 and 1.1.
The Version 1.3 does not work. Another change is that I take a 3.3 V BMP085 with a 4,5K resistor. Maybe a wrong choice?
 
version 1.3 should have some bug fixes to read or write to the EEPROM because they were some bug in the EEPROM flight partition table reading. Were you using the Arduino serial console or the Java front end?
Could you please describe the problem with version 1.3.
Yes the resistor is a wrong choice to drop the voltage, you should etheir use the 5volt sensor module or add a 3volt régulator. I hope you have not damage your sensor
I have had a look at your forum with google translator as I do not speak German looks like your guys are have fun...
 
Be assured we have a lot of fun. We are a big funny family :)
The sensore is not damage. I looked yesterday, there is a regulator for 3.3V (662K) on the Board. In V1.2 and 1.3 the Programm start in the Serialmonitor, but there is no reaction at input of Commands. I can not start the AltiConsole, how does it work?
 
if you cannot see anything on the serial monitor then press the reset button.
Do you have troubles starting the AltiConsole?
Which platform are you on?
 
The platform I work is Win7 Professional.

At V1.2 I can see:

Start program
Rocket flight data logger. A maximum of 25 flight can be logged

Commands are:

w = record flight

r (followed by the flight number) = read flight data

l = print flight list

e = erase all flight data

c = toggle continuity on/off

Enter Command and terminate it by a ; >>


But if I enter a Command (l;...) anything happend! If I reduce the air pressure the Monitor print "we have lift off" and then nothing happend


The same at V1.0:
Start program
Rocket flight data logger. A maximum of 25 flight can be logged

Commands are:

w = record flight

r (followed by the flight number) = read flight data

l = print flight list

e = erase all flight data

Enter Command and terminate it by a ; >>

l
Flight List:

Flight Nbr: 1 Start address: 101 End address: 212

Rocket flight data logger. A maximum of 25 flight can be logged

Commands are:

w = record flight

r (followed by the flight number) = read flight data

l = print flight list

e = erase all flight data

Enter Command and terminate it by a ; >>

we have lift off

stop recording

l
Flight List:

Flight Nbr: 1 Start address: 101 End address: 212

Flight Nbr: 2 Start address: 213 End address: 392

Rocket flight data logger. A maximum of 25 flight can be logged

Commands are:

w = record flight

r (followed by the flight number) = read flight data

l = print flight list

e = erase all flight data

Enter Command and terminate it by a ; >>
 
I will check version 1.2 that was uploaded on my website to make sure it is correct. This is strange because this is the version I have been playing with during summer so it should be ok.
try version 1.3
it also has an option to turn the sound off
The java front end also plot the flight for you (tested on windows so far)
Now version 1.0 was developped using an arduino board but starting from version 1.1 it was tested only using my board so make sure you are checking my schema and use the same wiring that I do.
 
hi,
the reason way the serial monitor in V1.3 do not work is serial speed is at 9200.

**// initialise the connection
**Wire.begin();
**//Serial.begin(9600);
**//Serial.begin(115200);
**Serial.begin(9200);


with the speed of 9600 everything works. Only does the recording up to the 3rd Flight, then addressing the Eprom is wrong.
Enter Command and terminate it by a ; >>

l
Flight List:

Flight Nbr: 1 Start address: 101 End address: 248

Flight Nbr: 2 Start address: 249 End address: 460

Flight Nbr: 3 Start address: 461 End address: 460

Rocket flight data logger. A maximum of 25 flight can be logged

Commands are:

w = record flight

r (followed by the flight number) = read flight data

l = print flight list

e = erase all flight data

c = toggle continuity on/off

Enter Command and terminate it by a ; >>

r3
Read flight:
3


StartFlight;
EndFlight;
Rocket flight data logger. A maximum of 25 flight can be logged

Commands are:

w = record flight

r (followed by the flight number) = read flight data

l = print flight list

e = erase all flight data

c = toggle continuity on/off

Enter Command and terminate it by a ; >>

r2
Read flight:
 
This is strange it does not seam to retrieve the data from the EEPROM
What size of EEPROM are you using? what is the part ref?
 
ok I have downloaded the program that was on my web site (ver 1.3) and loaded it to my board to make sure that we are using the same one an it works perfectly. flight logger arduino console.png

I guess I will have to try it on my old prototype which was using an Arduino nano
 
Hey Boris,

Just wanted to let you know that I got a package from you in the mail today! I'll be building the kits you sent this weekend. My avr programmer showed up as well, so I'll be able to play with that too :)
 
Cool
let me know how it goes.
the micro controler have been programmed as well so you can use them with the default program which should be version 1.3
 
Hallo Boris,

first of all, thank you for the great work you have done so far! Great work ;)

I would like to say, that i am have the same strange behavior with the Code. My Alti is a Breadboard Version with an Arduino Nano 5V, the BMP and 24LC512.
Took version 1.3 from your Page and mostly it is working fine. So what i have done......

Flight List: --Power on/off, open serial connection every time and pressed w;

..... here are the results->

Flight Nbr: 1 Start address: 101 End address: 340
Flight Nbr: 2 Start address: 341 End address: 608
Flight Nbr: 3 Start address: 609 End address: 820
Flight Nbr: 4 Start address: 821 End address: 1072
no recording :cry:
no recording :cry:
no recording :cry:
…..

Please, can you check with your Version that your Code is recording up to full 25 flights?!


Here is a second one (Flight Nbr: 2 End adress is lower than start adress ->reset button pressed Arduino nano)
Flight List:

Flight Nbr: 1 Start address: 101 End address: 372 normal, pressed w;
Flight Nbr: 2 Start address: 373 End address: 372 :cry: reset pressed, no power off, pressed w;
Flight Nbr: 3 Start address: 373 End address: 676 power off/on, normal pressed w;
Flight Nbr: 4 Start address: 677 End address: 1000 power off/on, normal pressed w;
Flight Nbr: 5 Start address: 1001 End address: 1324 power off/on, normal pressed w;
no Recording :cry: power off/on, normal pressed w;
no Recording :cry: power off/on, normal pressed w;
….

What i can see, when the start adress is much over 1000 it will stop recording. ....sorry i would like to say, that it hangs after it say "We have a liftoff"!
Do you have any ideas?

Best regards,
Kai
 
Last edited:
version 1.3 from your Page and mostly it is working fine.

...means.....when i use the batterie as power supply and no serial connection is established.....

Flight List:

Flight Nbr: 1 Start address: 101 End address: 468
Flight Nbr: 2 Start address: 469 End address: 820
Flight Nbr: 3 Start address: 821 End address: 1316
Flight Nbr: 4 Start address: 1317 End address: 2040
Flight Nbr: 5 Start address: 2041 End address: 2232
Flight Nbr: 6 Start address: 2233 End address: 2488

ok, seams to work.

Regards,
Kai
 
I have managed to get it to work on my old prototype with an Arduino nano board
by changing the following line from
Serial.begin(9200);
to
Serial.begin(9600);

Let me know how it goes for you
 
Got my altiDuo mini and my AVR Adapter kits put together with no problems. I also replaced the voltage regulator and the transistors on my original AltiDuo with the smaller version:

IMG_3492sm.jpg

Now if I could just figure out how to get the programmers to work... :)
 
Got my altiDuo mini and my AVR Adapter kits put together with no problems. I also replaced the voltage regulator and the transistors on my original AltiDuo with the smaller version:

View attachment 149206

Now if I could just figure out how to get the programmers to work... :)

They are not always easy to use .... You might have to download a driver for the AVR programmer
I wrote a little documentation to flash the altimeters when you are on windows 7
https://rocket.payload.free.fr/Download/Flashing your altimeters-19-05-2013-eng.pdf
If you are still having troubles after you have read it let me know were the problem is and I will help you.
This would be a good start to write a troubleshooting guide for people who want to hack their altimeters.
 
Hello Boris, I must confess, that the fault lay with me.
The layout had a bug. I have changed and now all works perfectly.
Here are the pictures of the finished board. If you want, then I'll post the layout of the board as Sprint layout file and write documentation.
However, my layout has only two pyro outputt,but it fits into a 24mm tube .

20131013_211455.jpg

20131013_211540.jpg

Regards Ralf
 
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