Arduino altimeter - dual recovery for less than 20 dollar

kruland said:

Boris,

Sorry I didn't respond. Yes, I have a serial adapter now but haven't tried flashing the altimeter. I'll pull your github repo. Send me some email and tell me what you want it to do.

Kevin

Click to expand...

Kevin
I have not had a chance to release the Java code for the altimeter, I need to tidy it up first...
however you can pull the latest version of the code for your altimeter.
Boris

I have added some short operating/installation instructions for the alti Duo to try to answer all the questions I have had so far.
They can be downloaded from my web site
https://rocket.payload.free.fr/Download/Dual Alti kit Operating instructions-03-04-2013-eng.pdf
Feel free to contribute, any suggestions are welcome

I have fly successfully my alti uno prototype today
https://rocket.payload.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=9&lang=fr
This is very good new because it is a serious competitor to any apogee detector, the difference being that it also beeps you the apogee altitude.
It will be a couple dollars cheaper than my other altimeters. I should be receiving some boards soon for those who want a kit.
For people that can do pcbs themselves you have all instructions and program to build it yourself on my web site.

Is the alto-UNO the one with only one deployment output? In that case, I would love to get on the list for one of these. I have a MPR pyramid that needs some kind of apogee detection.

Thanks again for all of your work on these! I don't think there are many single-deploy electronics out there, so this is really a niche that I think your device will fill.

ok I will let you know when I get the board.
again If you can do PCB yourselves all is on my site

Hello all
I am now testing my new kits


The alti uno is very small and its weight is only 12.8 grams (should be 0.5 once)



I have all the boards but I am missing a large quantity of componants such as the sensors

That is tiny. Awesome design.

Did you ever get any more of the kits together?

cwbullet said:

Did you ever get any more of the kits together?

Click to expand...

yes I have lots of boards. However a limited number of components and a waitting list for the moment (just send me a private mail to let me know how many you want and which one).
I have had now dozen of flight with the Uno, Duo and mini Duo and it just work fine; no failures so far. Next I need to check the accuracy of the altitude (not sure which altimeter to check it against...) and perhaps have an option to convert it to feets.

Email sent. Thanks.

bdureau said:

and perhaps have an option to convert it to feets.

Click to expand...

Please do the Meter to Feet update. Thanks Boris

Hello
I have added some documentation and all kits building instructions
https://rocket.payload.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2&Itemid=2&lang=en
You can also download versio 1.2 of the program for all altimeters
and I did a quick document to help you flashing all the altimeters.

I am working on some AVR adaptor kits for the ATtiny 84, 85 and ATMega 328 microcontrollers
Comments to improve thing are welcome.

I just finished soldering my AltiDuo.

Since I want to compare the altimeter with my own ALTDuino altimeter I needed to add a 512k eeprom so I would have the same functions on both.

I also slimmed it down so it would easily fit in a BT-55 body tube.



The pictured assembly weighs 23.4 grams (0.83 oz.)

The buzzer isn't soldered to the board as I'd like to be able to use a LED as well. I'll probably add a female connector to the board so I can use a buzzer or a LED.

I have already converted my ALTDuino firmware to work with the BMP085 sensor. The next step is to import the ALTDuino code to the AltiDuo altimeter.

Leo
I never thought about the EEPROM under the sensor board
that is is some cool hacking since they are both using the serial port.
Nice work
keep us posted .
Boris

Well I am not the best assembler in the world. But I think mine is working. Not as clean as you experts. But for my first attempt, I'll take it. Seems to work according to the vacuum canister. Of course I'll test in a rocket with Q2G2s bare and use motor eject for the first tests.

This was my warmup soldering test for assembling the Eggtimer. The Eggtimer is a bit more challenging (but has a lot of features!).




Yes I fixed that one missed joint on the pressure sensor board.

looks good to me.

as long as battery is connected it will continue to beep. after flight will beep out alt in meters. don't disconnect power until alt has been determined, doesn't have memory. i don't have speakers hooked up to this computer at the moment.

Yes it is working, you just simulated a 530m apogee a main deployment between 40 and 50m. I guess you had no jumpers on the board.

gdjsky01 said:

This was my warmup soldering test for assembling the Eggtimer. The Eggtimer is a bit more challenging (but has a lot of features!).

Click to expand...

I do not think that the Eggtimer is much more complexe to be honest and it seam to be a very good choice.

accpool said:

as long as battery is connected it will continue to beep. after flight will beep out alt in meters. don't disconnect power until alt has been determined, doesn't have memory. i don't have speakers hooked up to this computer at the moment.

Click to expand...

I am working on a design with a 512 EEPROM that can memorise up to 25 flight and then plot the flight. So far my hardware works: it has also 3 pyro output so that it can be used to do airstart however the software is a bit more chalanging !!!!

bdureau said:

Yes it is working, you just simulated a 530m apogee a main deployment between 40 and 50m. I guess you had no jumpers on the board.

Click to expand...

Correct... I tested it later with 150m jumper. And it said 140m. Perfect.


Now I need to test in a real rocket (just as a backup first). Also I need to get a cable to program it. I do not get the version on power up so it is probably version 1.1. Too bad my FTDI USB will not work. The header needed only for you to add a CTS for the pins to line up. Instead I need to get jumper cables.

You have RTS RX TX VCC GND but the standard FTDI is RTS RX TX VCC CTS GND

No matter. I should have jumpers soon!

I am excited that it all works!

I have had some problems lately to program the chip using the cable and I am waiting for some componants and board to provide very cheap AVR programmer

You can use the cable that comes with the Eggtimer with the AltDuo. The pins are essentially the same, so you should be able to connect it as follows: Black-GND, White-TXD, Red or Green (depending on which cable was shipped)-RXD. You'll have to install the Prolific 2303X drivers and configure the COM port first, of course.

gdjsky01 said:

Now I need to test in a real rocket (just as a backup first). Also I need to get a cable to program it. I do not get the version on power up so it is probably version 1.1. Too bad my FTDI USB will not work. The header needed only for you to add a CTS for the pins to line up. Instead I need to get jumper cables.

You have RTS RX TX VCC GND but the standard FTDI is RTS RX TX VCC CTS GND

No matter. I should have jumpers soon!

I am excited that it all works!

Click to expand...

I like my avr dragon. not super cheap, especially if you add a socket, but it works.

I have published a document on my site to show several method to reprogram the altimeters and I will be interested by some feed back.
Any ideas to improve it are welcome.

Since you're using the Arduino environment, all the user needs to have on their computer is AVR-Dude; the bootloader, hex file, and a simple .bat file will take care of the rest. Any serial-TTL cable should be able to program an Arduino-booted ATMega.

bdureau said:

I have published a document on my site to show several method to reprogram the altimeters and I will be interested by some feed back.
Any ideas to improve it are welcome.

Click to expand...

These are AVR programmer, then you will need another board for each different chip that you want need to program
Don't worry I am waitting for some board that will be the adaptors, I will have a low cost solution for those who want to buy blank chip or reprogram the ATtiny 84 or 85 used by the mini altimiters that can not use a USB to TTL adapter
I am also thinking of using more powerfull chip such as the ATMega644
lots of fun comming up....

gdjsky01 said:

I don't want to turn this into an ATMega tutorial, what are these? I would expect a programmer to have a socket (ZIF or otherwise). Anyway I am reading and reading and reading...

Got a few ideas for the code...

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programmers like that program your chip in system and use the 6-pin isp programming header.