Is the Flight Core V2 a direct replacement for V1?

nickyblanch

Hi,

I damaged for Flight Core V1 board inside of my Seeker drone (VOXL CAM). I see that the V1 boards are no longer available for purchase. If I purchase a V2, will I be able to use it as a drop-in replacement without modifying any other hardware or software?

Best,
Nick B

Vinny

Hi @nickyblanch
It depends:
Can you elaborate on what functions you are using and what cables you have?
Most likely you may need to update a cable or two:
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-userguides/#flightcore-v2-conversion-cables-info
Most of those are available for purchase, but you can modify your own if you so choose.
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#cable-catalog

I cannot speak for the SW side of things, so I'm sure someone else from our team may chime in.
But, this resource may help in the meantime:
https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-v2-firmware/

nickyblanch

@Vinny Hi Vinny, thank you for your response. I will update with list and picture of the connections in a few hours when I am back in my lab. The connections are all the default connections used for the Flight Core V1 Seeker drone.

Certainly, there are connections for the GPS on the back, the ESC, the VOXL, and several other peripherals. I believe the connector that broke is J1 [VOXL Communications Interface Connector (TELEM2, /dev/ttyS4, UART5)]

nickyblanch

@Vinny

Vinny

Hi @nickyblanch
Here are some cable upgrades you'll need:

The RC cable picks up J12 for the UART wire, and J9 for Power and GND using what appears to be MCBL-00021:
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00021
For FCv2 you'll need MCBL-00221:
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00221
The difference is we removed PPM SUM from FCv1, so now the 5V to power your receiver needs to come from the CAN bus header J8: https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-v2-datasheets-connectors/#j8---can-bus-connector
J10 for GPS is the same as FCv1 to FCv2, Dronecode compliant. We even still call it J10 and it is in the same spot
This center connector is J6 on FCv1:
It was basically another Dronecode compliant UART+I2C. I cannot tell if you are using both UART_I2C or just UART (My suspicion is that I do not see I2C) , but on FCv1, it was UART4 in the MCU and I2C3. On FCv2 we only have the GNSS port J10 that has both UART + I2C on it. Otherwise, we have two 4W UART ports that can be used as TELEM1 (J1) or TELEM2 (J5). The I2C3 port moved to the Power Port on FCv2 J13 for power monitoring
This side port is J1 on FCv1: We referred to that as primary TELEM on FCv1 and it operated at 5V signal levels. We did away with all 5V signal levels on FCv2, so if this was connected to VOXL J12, you will need to reconfigure the VOXL port that is used to talk to FCv2 since J12 on VOXL is 5V too. FCv2 is 5V tolerant on J1 only, but it may create bus errors at the VOXL side since it will send 3.3V levels, not 5V. So, you need to switch your VOXL port to J10 or J11. To do that, you'll want an MCBL-00008-1: https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00008
There are software guides and notes around the tech docs and forum that explain how to change which port on VOXL is the FC UART. I am not from SW, so I am not 100% sure where that is, but I know it's easy. I asked someone from SW to respond here, but if they cannot in a timely fashion (our key Forum guru is on a much needed vacation). please post a new topic asking specifically about changing UART ports in VOXL for the Flight Controller (or search for it).
If that was your ESC port, please refer to this guide to help narrow down your specific configuration needs: https://docs.modalai.com/cable-userguides/#flightcore-v2-conversion-cables-info and specifically download that ESC-UART Cable Guide diagram and review the cable details
This port here is J4 and is another TELEM port UART: and I can tell here you only did use the UART + GND as is common with MCBL-00014 : https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00014
I'm not sure what you hooked up there, but it can more than likely be achieved with another Dronecode compliant UART port we have: https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-v2-datasheets-connectors/#table-of-contents
You may want to pick up a couple of our 6-pin JST cables for various uses:
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00016
https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00031
Lastly, Power. On FCv1, we had a weird constraint early on that power was to come from one of the TELEM ports. But, as you can guess, that created a lot of issues and confusion. So, we went with a dedicated power port, and the option to support QGC upgrades using only the USB port, see this description:https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-datasheets-v2-functional-description/#power-supply-and-power-source-mux-details
So, to make sure you can power up, I suggest also getting one of these: https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00062 or one of these you can splice into from your power source: https://docs.modalai.com/cable-datasheets/#mcbl-00015

You really have a lot of options to play with.
You want to make sure you go through this section slowly to ensure you are covered: https://docs.modalai.com/flight-core-v2-user-guides/

Hope this helped!
It is tough and sometimes frustrating to change hardware configurations and the resulting SW efforts to get parity with your goals(especially if you already had something working), but I'm sure once you go through the pain of it, you'll be rewarded with quality hardware and software that is HIGHLY capable and can achieve what you need.
Keep us posted!
Thanks!

nickyblanch

@Vinny Thank you for providing all of this info! Extremely helpful response. FCV2 isn't quite as backward-compatible as I had hoped, so I will still try to track down a FCV1 - if I can't get one, then I will be upgrading to the FCV2 per your notes here. I'll update the thread if I discover any other required modifications.

Vinny

Hi @nickyblanch
Anytime.
yeah, we had quite a bit of cables and mods to get to FCv2, but we think it's worth it, and now much more aligned with Dronecode and present/future hardware we make.
FCv1 was a bit of a anomaly from it's early design inputs and constraints, so we do view FCv2 as much easier now to work with (if you are starting from scratch).

We do have on our roadmap a much more "standard" drone mounting pattern w/o changing any other functions, but that effort keeps moving to the right... haha