Autonomous Drone Build “Fruit Bowl”| Holybro S500 V2 | Pix32 V5 autopilot |

Had a fantastic time building this drone kit! This was my first attempt and introduction to the world of DIY drones so I picked a kit that came with everything I needed.

There were several guides available to help me along the journey of creating this drone. I decided to share my story of creating this particular kit as the guides available were using the Pixhawk 4 flight controller instead of the Pix32 V5 that came with this kit, there were a few adjustments and tweaks I had to make along the journey that I thought would be worth sharing.

Fruit Bowl Completed!

Guides used :

Holybro S500 V2 + Pixhawk 4 Build | PX4 User Guide

Building your first flight with Holybro S500 V2

Alex Fache

Part 1 — Building the Base

Building the legs is rather simple, 3 screws come out of the landing feet that allow the legs to be slotted in.

Install the legs to the bottom plate using the M3*8 socket cap screws (4 for each leg).

Voila! We now have the skeleton of a drone forming.

Part 2 — Arms

Use the included M2.5*6mm socket cap screws to attach each arm to the base plate from underneath.

Make sure the cables for each motor are going through the gap in the arm!

4 arms connected.

Part 3 — Motors and avoiding my mistakes!

In this kit there will be two boxes of the Holybro 2216 880kV motors, each pair will be threaded in a DIFFERENT direction. This is important to check to understand where each motor must be installed on the drone arms.

The best way to check is to open the propellers, you will notice their threading direction will be coded by either grey/black on the top.

Tighten them onto the motors, if you can thread them on and they lock then you’ve got the right motor!

Grey — Counter Clockwise (CCW) Motor

Black — Clockwise Motor (CW)

Remember the propellers will lock in the opposite direction to the direction the motor will spin.

Its important to check this early on, otherwise you’ll make the same mistake as me and watch your drone violently throw your propellers across the garden :)

https://www.getfpv.com/learn/fpv-essentials/motor-propeller-rotation/

This image will help you understand the correct orientation of the motors and propellers.

The propellers are “self-locking”, as the motors spin the propellers will keep their threading tightened.

For more information on motor and propeller orientation please visit here :

Understanding Motor and Propeller Rotation | GetFPV Learn

To install the motors use the M3*8 socket cap screws along with a motor plate. The holes on the motors are not identical, two are slightly further out.

Make sure the motor is installed so the cables are aimed towards the drone arm.

Feed the cables to the underside of the arm, this will help with ensuring the cables cannot interfere with the propellers in flight.

Part 4 — GPS

Mount the GPS mount to the back of the drone using the included screws. (This should all be included in the Pix32 V5 Box).

Connect the pole to the mount and attach the GPS using the included 3m tape.

Make sure the arrow on the GPS is facing the front of the drone!

Part 5 — Top Plate

Using the M2.5*6 socket cap screws, attach the top plate to the drone arms.

NOTE
If you are using the Pix32 V5 like myself, the guides will recommend all the screws are connected from the top.

I decided to screw the middle screws from the bottom of the arms as otherwise, they interfered with sticking the flight controller to the top plate.

As it’s only held on by 3M tape and zip ties I was conscious that making contact with only 4 screw heads wasn’t enough.

NOTE #2
Before installing the top plate it’s worth connecting one of the provided cables into the small power delivery circuit on the bottom plate to avoid fiddling around after the top plate is installed.

Part 6 — Flight Controller

The flight controller and baseboard will come like this in the Pix32 v5 box.

A bit like a CPU and motherboard, the flight controller will slot into the board.

Use the included screws to secure the flight controller to the board.

Using 3M tape I stuck the flight controller to the top plate. Make sure the flight controller is as close to the centre of the drone as possible.

Make sure the arrow is pointing to the front of the drone just like the GPS!

Finish it off with an ugly zip tie for the full hack-job look.

Part 7 — Battery mounting board

Rather simple to put this together, screw the battery plate to the hooks using the M2.5*5 cross countersunk head screws and clip in the poles.

Slide the rubber hangers onto the poles.

Finally using the M2.5*6 socket cap screws, secure the battery mounting board to the bottom plate.

Part 8 — Telemetry radio

I used some 3M tape to stick the telemetry radio to the back of the drone. (Not pictured here is the zip-tie I added afterwards).

UPGRADE THE FIRMWARE ON THE TELEMETRY RADIOS BEFORE INSTALLING IT TO THE DRONE. (See Part 10)

Part 9 — Connections!

Connecting the motors is as easy as it looks. Each motor will have 3 cables that look a bit like AUX cables.

Counter Clockwise (CCW) — Red to Red, Black to Black, Blue to Yellow.

Clockwise (CW) — Red to Black, Black to Red, Yellow to Blue

If your motors are different, you can check their direction using the QGroundControl software and then swap the cables around.

Using the airframe reference page here:

Airframes Reference | PX4 User Guide

Note down the number order of each motor, this is important when connecting them to the flight controller.

For the S500 the “Quadrotor X” is our frame.

Following the Pix32 wiring quick start, we can work out what pins we need to connect our motors to and the correct order.

Pix32 v5 Wiring Quick Start | PX4 User Guide

Starting from the far right and moving left, connect the motor connections to IO PWM OUT 1,2,3,4.

https://docs.px4.io/master/en/assembly/quick_start_holybro_pix32_v5.html

For plugging in the GPS, telemetry radio and power module, follow this image or use the wiring quick start.

Drone frame complete, time for software issues.

Part 10 — QGroundControl installation, Pix32 v5 & Telemtry radio firmware.

The Pix32 v5 supports both Ardupilot Mission planner and QGroundControl. I have found more luck with the latter.

QGroundControl is very easy to install and available on most platforms (even phones !)

QGC - QGroundControl - Drone Control

Using the provided USB-C to USB cable, plug your drone into your device to begin setup within QGroundControl.

I recommend beginning with updating the firmware for both the Pix32 v5 flight controller and telemetry radios before anything else.

The flight controller update should be rather straightforward (make sure the software is detecting your drone is connected and follow the wizard to install the firmware).

Holybro Telemetry Radio V3 firmware issues

One of the main reasons I created this guide was to help with any others that run into problems getting these telemetry radios to work with QGroundControl.

If you are running into issues with QGroundControl not detecting the telemetry radios when you are attempting to upgrade their firmware, here is how I solved the issue:

While the documentation for these radios suggests they are plug and play and the drivers will be auto-installed, I ran into issues with Windows 10 correctly installing them.

I came across this Reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/diydrones/comments/iek6bb/sik_radio_compatibility_issue/) after several hours of hitting a brick wall.

It was suggested to install the FTDI drivers (https://ftdichip.com/drivers/vcp-drivers/). After uninstalling the existing drivers and installing these generic drivers the telemetry radios popped up as Serial Bus Devices.

QGroundControl then detected them and the firmware was able to be installed!

When the firmware has been updated, follow the calibration steps of the wizard and you should be almost ready to fly your drone!

If your attempting to fly autonomously now is the time to unplug your drone and try using both telemetry radios with QGroundControl to plan a mission.

For help with planning a mission in QGroundControl, check out this video:

I hope my journey building this platform will aid anyone else who gives this a go. Building drones are so much fun I already have ideas for my next drone.

What’s Next? — Hacking Platform!

You might have noticed the odd name “Fruit Bowl” |(suggested by manager and fellow drone enthusiast Dean Taylor). My end goal for this drone is to turn it into a mobile hacking platform with a Raspberry Pi and Wifi Pineapple, hence “Fruit Bowl”.

Keep an eye for my follow up to this blog where I will show my progress with pimping out Fruit Bowl :)