Hello, I’m making my first quad but having a lot of trouble. I connected to the “Mission Planner” and calibrated my accelerometer.
Then calibrated my receiver and transmitter:
Then when I followed the instructions on the video from the webpage:
I run into this problem:
ESC’s won’t calibrate, I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong since I couldn’t find the problem searching the internet, so I’m guessing im making a simple mistake.
Can you help me please?
Specifics:
APM2.8 ArduPilot Mega2.8 Flight Controller
Emax XA2212 1400KV Brushless DC Motor
40A ESC 2-4S Simonk Brushless ESC
4S1P 1300mAh 75C 14.8V LiPo
Flysky Transmitter FS-T4B
Flysky Receiver FS-R6B
12V to 5V converter to feed receiver
First, do not expect anything to work with APM2.8 and a recent version of Missionplanner. APM2.8 is really old hardware and is out of support for many years.
Second, the calibration values look odd. All channels should have more or less the same travel. The values in your video are all over the place.
The ESC will most likely beep, because they are not happy with an input value of 1100us for low throttle. Most ESCs need a value below 1000us to arm.
I would trash the APM2.8 and buy recent hardware. Ardupilot supports many boards now:
I made a mistake with the version of the flight controller, it was APM2.6, even older…
This is my 3th flight controller my local shops suggested to me now.
I tried with “multiwii” arduino first to make my own but I had many problems.
Then moved onto “CC3D Atom” since my local electronics shop suggested me to use a premade one.
Then into the normal “CC3D” and now they told me to get what they were using which was the APM2.6.
So i really don’t wanna buy another flight controller and make this one work.
“the calibration values look odd”
What could be the reason for this? wrong connections? I connected looking at these diagrams:
“The ESC will most likely beep, because they are not happy with an input value of 1100us for low throttle. Most ESCs need a value below 1000us to arm.”
With Arduino, when I used the value 1064~1070us they start turning. Not sure how to put a “input value” with the “mission planner” though. Looks like i can only calibrate it with my transmitter/controller.
This is my thesis project for school [making a spraying drone for farms]. I am a student so I can’t really afford expensive flight controllers.
Can you suggest me a board maybe, if I can’t make this one work.
Did you have the APM2.6 lying around for several years, or is your flightcontrol odyssey from recent times?
You must make sure all trims are centered, no expo, no mixers and no dual rates are set in your transmitter.
If your ESCs worked with a value of about 1060us, the 1100+us seen in the video for low throttle are too high.
And, the last version of firmware that the APM will run doesn’t have some sophisticated spraying features that a Flight Controller running Arducopter current versions would. How many outputs do you need in addition to the motors?
“These are all obsolete. Find another hobby shop.”
Looks like I have to.
“Did you have the APM2.6 lying around for several years, or is your flightcontrol odyssey from recent times?” just bought it from my local hobby shop… should have made my research before trusting them.
“You must make sure all trims are centered, no expo, no mixers and no dual rates are set in your transmitter.”
Not sure what you mean by “no expo” and “no mixers” or “centered trims”, I’m fairly new to drone crafting. If you mean the messy cables, I just want to make sure it works before I trim everything and attach it to the frame.
“If your ESCs worked with a value of about 1060us, the 1100+us seen in the video for low throttle are too high.”
How can I change those values though?
“And, the last version of firmware that the APM will run doesn’t have some sophisticated spraying features that a Flight Controller running Arducopter current versions would. How many outputs do you need in addition to the motors?”
I can add the “spraying features” with an external Arduino board attached to the drone. Will also attach one to the controller I have for transmitting to the “Spraying Unit”.
As long as I can get the thing fly, Rest will be easy.
It’s already easy with current functionality. I don’t see much point in using an Arduino to do what’s already there. https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/sprayer.html
Perhaps the best path for you is a cheap Pixhawk 2.4.8 Flight Controller. It will run the latest version of firmware and have all available features. The peripherals you have for the APM (GPS, power module, etc.) will all work. I don’t know where you are but these are available on eBay, Amazon and just about every Chinese vendor of RC stuff.
So I did some research on my local shop and found a
“MINI PIX Pixhawk 2.4.8 32bit ARM”
Does this also work for me like the “Pixhawk 2.4.8” ? or should I look or a normal one. Looks like I can’t trust my local shops so I will trust you guys.
My shop has a photo of it as a set:
I wouldn’t buy that Flight Controller. That is one of the more obscure “Mini Pixhawks” around. There was a recent post about it:
Unless you need a small form factor FC just go with the Full size 2.4.8. Or if you do need a small FC there are many good choices from Matek and HolyBro.
First thing I realized that there weren’t any GPS modules in the package I have. Do I need one for the drone to fly? On its official site, it says it’s “Required” but I wanna make sure before I buy one.
Next thing I realized it uses a PPM input instead of PWM and there is a “PPM encoder” in the package. But not sure how to connect it to the “Flysky Receiver FS-R6B” I have. With a little research, I found that it doesn’t matter how I connect it?? but I am probably wrong about this? I am a little confused but here is what I found:
I assume I need to choose either “Pixhawk 1” or “Pixhawk 1-1M” but I am not sure which one, also which version do I choose? 4.0.3 or 4.0.6, or do I just ignore it, all the videos I found are different, they just click firmware and it installs for them, unlike mine.
tried the same things with that firmware but the same result.
no idea what is wrong,
as if all of the flight controllers I bought are broken
motors never spin unless I send direct pwm commands with an Arduino
The ESC will not initialize with the low end throttle value shown in that radio calibration video (1128). It’s too high. You probably have something setup wrong in the Transmitter or it’s that PWM/PPM converter. I haven’t seen anyone use one of those in awhile. I’m sure there is noting wrong with the Flight Controller.
Is it possible that I messed up the connections from the receiver to the PPM encoder ?
My connections were up top, do I need specific Connections? or can I do it randomly?
Encoder just says
GND,5V, IN2,IN3 … IN8
While my receiver says
BAT, CH6,CH5…CH1
not sure which is which and how to connect them. Pixhawk responds when I turn off/on my transmitter and I can see red light appear on my receiver when I turn on my transmitter + all those values I setup. Not sure what could go wrong other then the wiring while “calibrating the radio” ? any ideas ?
No, you can’t do that. It looks like you have it right. Rx chan 1 out to encoder 1 in and so on. But the throttle values shown on the Radio Calivration screen don’t look right (1126-1818). The other chanells do. I don’t know anything about that transmitter, check the outputs configuration.
If you are talking about the trim sliders on the Transmitter those need to be centered and never touched for any reason whatsoever for a multirotor (plane is different).
