CADDX Gimbals¶

CADDX GM1, GM2, GM3 gimbals are small 1, 2 and 3-axis gimbals weighing between 16g and 46g and can be paired with 19mm x 19mm FPV cameras

Warning

Support for these gimbals is available in ArduPilot 4.7 (and higher) and requires the gimbal’s firmware be 3.4 (or higher)

Where and What to Buy¶

The GM1, GM2 and GM3 gimbals can be purchased directly from CADDXFPV
The GL and GM Upgrade Cable is likely also required to upgrade the gimbal’s firmware to 3.4 (or higher)

Connect the gimbal’s RX, TX and GND pins to one of the autopilot’s serial ports as shown above

Connect with a ground station and set the following parameters. The params below assume the autopilot’s telem2 port is used

SERIAL2_PROTOCOL to 8 (“Gimbal”)
SERIAL2_BAUD to “115” for 115200 bps
MNT1_TYPE to “13” (“CADDX”) and reboot the autopilot
MNT1_PITCH_MIN to -90
MNT1_PITCH_MAX to 90
MNT1_YAW_MIN to -170
MNT1_YAW_MAX to 170
MNT1_RC_RATE to 60 (deg/s) to control speed of gimbal when using RC targetting
RC6_OPTION = 213 (“Mount Pitch”) to control the gimbal’s pitch angle with RC channel 6
RC7_OPTION = 214 (“Mount Yaw”) to control the gimbal’s yaw angle with RC channel 7
RC8_OPTION = 163 (“Mount Lock”) to switch between “lock” and “follow” mode with RC channel 8

Firmware upgrade instructions are in the “Upgrade” section of the user manual but in short:

Download the GimbalConfig windows application and latest gimbal firmware from the CADDXFPV Download Center (look for the “Firmware / GM Gimbal Firmware” link near the bottom of the page)
Extract the contents of the downloaded zip file and run the GimbalConfig application
Connect the Upgrade Cable to the upgrade port shown below, connect the other end to your PC

Open the GimbalConfig application, select the COM port, then “Open” and find the “CwGimbalZGV2Main_V3.4.cahf” file and push “Upgrade”

See Gimbal / Mount Controls for details on how to control the camera and gimbal using RC, GCS or Auto mode mission commands