[SOLVED] WalkSnail WS-M181 GPS: Compass Fix for MicoAir743-AIO

[FreedentGoutGit]

WalkSnail WS-M181 compass not recognized

When connecting the GPS module WalkSnail WS-M181 to my MicoAir743v2-AIO-45A, PX4 (tested with versions 1.15. and 1.16.) does not recognize its compass. and reports that no compass present. GPS part of the module seems to work fine. Oddly enough, Betaflight and ArduPilot do recognize it, but identify the chip as IST8310, while the official webpage says the chip is QMC5883. I have carefully checked the wiring and measured the correct voltage at the module’s input (behind the UART port). Does an…

Cause: Contrary to what is stated on the web, the WS-M181 is not equipped with a QMC5883 chip, but an IST8310…

Fix: add one line to the board startup script

Startup script: boards/micoair/h743-aio/init/rc.board_sensors

# External IST8310 compass (Walksnail WS-M181)
ist8310 -X -b 1 -a 12 start

To verify it works first, run in NSH:

ist8310 -X -b 1 -a 12 start
listener sensor_mag 1

You should see live X/Y/Z magnetometer data.

Root cause: The IST8310 driver defaults to address 0x0E. The WS-M181 uses 0x0C, so auto-detection fails. No driver modifications needed, just put the correct chip.

Confirmed working on PX4 v1.16, MicoAir743-AIO-35A.

Note: Don’t forget to change sys_has_gps to true . Also, wanted to answer the previous topic, but it’s closed now, sorry.