Alexmos SimpleBGC brushless gimbal manual 

External link : ​https://goo.gl/L8b3hr

Description

Lifetime warranty

Electrical wiring diagram with camera

Part 1 - Installing your gimbal

Part 2 - Configuring your gimbal

Calibrating the sensor
3 axis only
2 axis & 3 axis
Pan & Tilt pins
Receiver in PWM/PPM mode
DJI Pitch Control
Receiver in Sum PPM mode
APM / Pixhawk gimbal control
APM / Pixhawk 2 gimbal control
Receiver in SBUS mode
Advanced controls for Flir Vue/Flir Vue Pro/Flir Vue Pro R camera
Advanced video transmitter cable for Flir Vue/Flir Vue Pro/Flir Vue Pro R camera

Part 3 - Powering your gimbal

GUI installation
2 axis board (8 bits)
3 axis board (32 bits)

Bluetooth connection

Profile of your gimbal

Firmware upgrade

Tips

Basecam SimpleBGC original user manual

3 axis board
2 axis board

Optional video transmitter manual

Thank you for your purchase in our shop. We hope you will find full satisfaction in our product.

Description 

The gimbal secures small camera like the GoPro or Mobius.

It is made ​of ABS and carbon material.
The gimbal received great care in its design and it comes tested.

This gimbal can be attached to different frame. Accessories are available to bind to specific frame.
Ask us if you want a particular accessory.

If you ordered a controller card, it will be configured automatically.

Settings are suitable for Mobius ActionCam HD camera. It may be necessary to change to other models of
camera.

Lifetime warranty 

If you broke your gimbal, we can send you gimbal parts for free. Just send $15 for worldwide shipping costs.
We would like you send us photos of broken parts.
Electronic / motor parts are not warranted but can be replaced too.

For nano gimbals and some 2 axis models:

 

Electrical wiring diagram with camera 

 
Part 1 - Installing your gimbal 

Installing your camera into the housing.

- Attach your gimbal over your frame, taking care to isolate the connectors from the rest of the frame.
- Check connections of all modules of the platform
- Connect the control board on a lipo battery type (2S to 3S)
- Keep the gimbal to initialize itself on a stable surface, please don’t climb/move it while this operation.
- A Orange LED flashes, your gimbal is now ready.

DO NOT USE 4S OR HIGHER VOLTAGE BATTERIES AS IT WILL DAMAGE THE CONTROLLER!

DO NOT USE BATTERY CAPACITY UNDER 1000mA OR IT WILL DAMAGE THE CONTROLLER TOO
Use a 12V voltage regulator like ​Pololu U3V12F12 ​https://www.pololu.com/product/2117

Part 2 - Configuring your gimbal 

Calibration is already made by Copterlab team. Your gimbal can be used out of box.

Calibrating the sensor 

3 axis only 
 
If you need to re-calibrate the gimbal or set the tilt angles by hand, please use the small black menu button on the
controller as follows:
1. Mount the camera in a balanced position
2. Connect the gimbal to the battery and wait for initialization (approx. 5 seconds)
3. Press the menu button on the controller:
- 1 click: Calibrate ACC
- 2 clicks: Calibrate Gyro (like initialization sequence)

4. The motors will stop for a few seconds after pressing the button, during this time you can set the camera
together with the holder plate to a level position

2 axis & 3 axis 

The gimbal uses the well-known Alexmos controller with 2.40b7 firmware preloaded. In order to change the
gimbal settings you will need to use the setup GUI (PC software). ​Please read Gui installation section​.

Note: Always keep the camera holder plate with the sensor on leveled surface during the calibration process.

1. Click ​CALIB. ACC​ first, hold the gimbal perfectly leveled horizontally and wait till the orange led stops flashing
on the board (4-5 seconds).
2. After this click on ​CALIB.GYRO​, hold the gimbal steady and wait until the leds stop flashing.
Pan & Tilt pins 

Setup controller card to your RX mode and channels

Do not connect + 5VCC with Rx to use external pitch control if already connected to another source (ESC...). It
can fried your gimbal controller.

Pins assignations
Receiver in PWM/PPM mode 

DJI Pitch Control 

- Go to RC settings TAB and change Pitch control minimum and maximum angle to -90 and + 90 degrees.
- Enable the gimbal control in the assistant PC program of the Naza on the Gimbal tab.

You can adjust pitch control between -1000 and 1000. It is recommended to set automatic gain control to 0 or 1.0
for pitch.

Connect only the GND and Signal pins of

 ● your free receiver channel
● or in F2 port in DJI Naza or in DJI Phantom FC
● or S1 on Quanum Nova
● or D2 connected to RC-Pitch in A2

to the pitch control port of the gimbal controller. The GND is the bottom the Signal is the top pin on the board.

For pitch control you only need a simple male to male servo wire or 2 DuPont cables. If you use a servo wire
please disconnect the middle power red wire and use only white or yellow as signal and black or brown as ground.
Note: Never use middle pin under the signal (this is usually red servo wire) as it is the power supply and is not
needed for pitch or tilt control and ​can damage the board and will void warranty​.

You can check the PWM control signal on Real time data Tab as you move your control potentiometer on your RC
radio.
Press WRITE button, disconnect the gimbal from the PC and power up the gimbal.

Receiver in Sum PPM mode 

Some receivers may have this signal output. It is a PWM format modification, in which every channel transmits
sequentially through one cable. In this case you do not need to connect other channels (read your receiver's user
manual to check if it has SumPPM out).

APM / Pixhawk gimbal control 

Assign to your RC transmitter a channel for Pitch control (same method if you want to control roll and yaw)

Turnigy 9XR example

You must use gimbal PWM mode if you want to control your gimbal throught Pixhawk

Factory default settings are corrects

Now edit gimbal settings in Mission Planner

RC9 is an aux pin A9 labeled on the APM board and AUX 1 on the Pixhawk
RC10 is an aux pin A10 labeled on the APM board and AUX 2 on the Pixhawk
RC11 is an aux pin A11 labeled on the APM board and AUX 3 on the Pixhawk
RC12 is not available on the APM board and AUX 4 on the Pixhawk
RC13 is not available on the APM board and AUX 5 on the Pixhawk
RC14 is not available on the APM board and AUX 6 on the Pixhawk

Now connect Pixhawk AUX1 to RC Pitch like diagram bellow

(don’t forget to remove Power +5v of servo connector or it will damage gimbal controller and Pixhawk)

APM / Pixhawk 2 gimbal control 

You need to buy Accessory Breakout Board sold ​here

You can power your gimbal by using BATT and GND pins from Breakout PCB Board
Each axis can be controlled by pins PWM6, PWM7, PWM8 and GND
Receiver in SBUS mode 

Futaba SBUS (12Z) with Naza (DBUS) works fine when split also to Basecam board. Use channels above 10.

Advanced controls for Flir Vue/Flir Vue Pro/Flir Vue Pro R camera 

Use your provided Flir accessory cable for connection Flir camera to Male JR Plug servo cables (PWM 3 & PWM
4 servo cables)

You can use these 2 servo cables in order to connect to Pixhawk

Advanced video transmitter cable for Flir Vue/Flir Vue Pro/Flir Vue Pro R camera 

Use your provided Mini USB plug for connecting to Male JR Plug servo gimbal cables to enable video
transmission signal (Video & +5v servo cables)
+5v voltage comes from voltage regulator integrated into gimbal

These 2 cables provide ability to use Flir camera functions like:

- Color palette
- Scene presets
- Sharpness
- Active Contrast Enhancement
- Smart Scene
- Recalibrate

Part 3 - Powering your gimbal 

NOTE: Please make sure that the camera is mounted on the gimbal before it's powered on, as without the
counterweight the gimbal cannot work properly!

When connecting the power, the gimbal should be left in a stable position until it completes initialization (5-10
seconds). If the gimbal is ​moved or shaken​ during the calibration period it can cause unbalanced operation and
malfunction.
If the gimbal does not level correctly, disconnect and reconnect it with the battery, hold your camera in leveled
position and wait until the gimbal starts up.

GUI installation 
(Only for PC computer)

With GUI, you can change the settings

- Connect a USB cable from your Windows PC to the USB connector on the card
- Generally Windows will install the driver for your card if Arduino units have been already installed, you can
download drivers here: ​https://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx

2 axis board (8 bits) 

- Download utility on the internet: ​https://www.basecamelectronics.com/files/v10/SimpleBGC_GUI_2_2b2.zip
USB drivers if needed : ​ ​http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/CDM/CDM%20v2.12.00%20WHQL%20Certified.exe
Do not try to download more recent version than 2.2 because you won’t be able to connect to gimbal controller
board.

Please notice that you can’t​ upgrade your firmware version​, it could brick your gimbal controller.

We recommend to back up initial values​ before changing anything. If you have lost them, call us to get them.

3 axis board (32 bits) 

- Download utility on the internet: ​http://www.basecamelectronics.com/files/SimpleBGC_GUI_2_42b7.zip
Do not try to download more recent version than 2.42b because you won’t be able to connect to gimbal controller
board.

Please notice that you can’t​ upgrade your firmware version​, it could brick your gimbal controller.

We recommend to back up initial values​ before changing anything. If you have lost them, call us to get them.

- Start Utility
The following window appears (here is SimpleBGC 2.40b7 version)
Select the COM port and press the Connect button
- An upgrade of gyros is done at this moment, do not move the Platform
- A message indicates that the platform is connected

After you have changed the settings, press the WRITE button to save to EEPROM in the memory map your
values

Bluetooth connection 

Because of size, 2 axis mini Alexmos board ​can’t be plugged to a Bluetooth module​.
If you want absolutly to connect to Bluetooth module, please ask us before order.

All 3 axis boards can be plugged with Bluetooth module as displayed in picture bellow

Profile of your gimbal 

If you forgot your gimbal profil, ask you Copterlab to send you a new one.
Firmware upgrade 

Don’t upgrade firmware or you will brick your controller card.

Tips 

- In case you want to use the gimbal in special conditions at low temperature or fast flying with high speed
yaw turns it is recommended to set Gyro thrust parameter higher than 100 on the Advanced tab (in AHRS
section)

High Gyro trust value sometimes helps to keep the 0 angle of roll axis in quick yaw rotations.
If the Gyro trust is not set correctly, horizon drift can occur. This usually happens when the calibration doesn't
match the current temperature.
If you are mostly going to do slow yaw rotations you might get better results using lower Gyro trust.

- In Follow mode, if your gimbal slowly rolls to the right perhaps 5-10 degrees when you turn around
something:
Go to the follow mode angle on the roll and set them to 90 degrees meaning Locked Roll.
Follow start, deg to 89 and Follow Roll mix, deg to 1

- Try to not fly in a windy / cold day in order to avoid vibrations in your video shoots.

Basecam SimpleBGC original user manual 

3 axis board 
 
http://www.basecamelectronics.com/files/v3/SimpleBGC_32bit_manual_2_42_eng.pdf
2 axis board 

http://www.basecamelectronics.com/files/v10/SimpleBGC_manual_2_4_eng.pdf

Optional video transmitter manual