Connecting to Pixhawk with BLHeli suite 32 32.8.0.8 but no ESC's detected

ArduCopter
1

I am now able to get BLHeli suite 32 to connect to my Pixhawk. My ESC is Turnigy Multistar BLheli_32 ARM 4-in-1 32bit 31A 11g Race Spec ESC 2~4S w/BEC

This is how the ESC is connected to the Pixhawk

All the signals are in the signal line. I removed positive and I have ground in the ground line. I removed positive because I wasn’t sure if it would burn out the Pixhawk. I don’t know if this is where the problem is.

Mission planner version 1.3.75 build 1.3.7883.26333. I am using Arducopter
These are my parameters in Mission Planner
SERVO_BLH_AUTO = 1
SERVO9_FUNCTION = 33
SERVO10_FUNCTION = 34
SERVO11_FUNCTION = 35
SERVO12_FUNCTION = 36

I used this video to get the values

This is how the BLHeli suite 32 screen looks after I connected. For some reason it thinks there are 8 ESC’s

When I click on check then it says no valid ESC configuration found

Is it possible that the Turnigy Hobbyking ESC is maybe not a BLHeli 32 ESC? I guess BLHeli suite 32 wouldn’t be able to connect at all if it wasn’t.

2

you have those ESC wires in the Main outs, you need to plug them in the Aux outs, job done!
Aux 1 = Servo9 and so on…

3

It is true what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words :slight_smile: Thank you

I will now start looking at BL heli suite 32. “Setup not in sync with master” can’t be good.

4

It just means some settings are different between ESC’s. Different motor direction for example. No big deal typically.

5

I did more research on the connections to the ESC’s because it was bothering me that I made a mistake having them in the pins where I started at.

According to this video my original pins were correct

And this page
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/connect-escs-and-motors.html

So now I wonder.

Why could the drone not fly past 15.8V with the esc wires in the ‘correct’ pins but it could fly down to 14V and probably to 13V when the esc wires are in the aux pins?

I understand it probably had to go into the aux ports to connect to BLheli 32. I didn’t start off with the blheli changed in the parameter list. I only made those changes because of issues, trying to see of the issue was with the esc.

So maybe there is another issue still?

6

In order to use DSHOT you need to use the AUX outputs or you are restricted to ordinary old PWM on the Main outputs.
Different flight controllers have a different range of outputs that are DSHOT capable.

Have you got a latest .bin log of a flight attemp?

In the BLHELI settings in the ESCs make sure these are set:
Low voltage protect = OFF
Low RPM power protect = OFF
and timing/demag settings can be defaults (or Auto where possible)
I also use Sine modulation = ON and Rampup Power = 25% , but these are not essential.

7

Thank you.

I completely broke the drone in half and the magnets fell out of the motors when I hit the concrete floor in the factory parking area.

I ordered slower motors and busy rebuilding. When it is up and running again I will be able to generate logs.

Do I still use aux output then to control servos? So that would use up motor outputs? Not a problem for me since I only have 4 motors.

Trying tonight to activate servos before I order the retractable legs that use servos.

8

you can use either aux or main outs for landing gear and other servos

9

Watching a video from 2015 long before Dhsot was supported by Ardupilot or even developed yet is a waste of time. Less YouTube watching and more Arducopter Wiki reading would be my suggestion.

10

Is this the correct wiki page?

https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/connect-escs-and-motors.html

I also looked at that page. That is why I installed the motors in the main pins. Is that page wrong?

11

I was able to get it to work. My old pixhawk didn’t like power on the pins. I had 5.2V and 4V on the pins.
According to this page the pins should be able to handle 10.5V but my Pixhawk kept on freezing.
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-powering-the-pixhawk.html

I removed positive and just had negative going into the pixhawk from an external battery pack.

This page shows to install the positive and negative but that doesn’t seem to be a good idea.
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-servo.html

I used pin 8 even though the page says it isn’t recommended. I couldn’t use 1 to 4 because the motors are on those pins.

So now I can order my retractable legs because I know they will work :slight_smile:

12

No, this is the right page:
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-brushless-escs.html
If you read it all you will find the relevant information for Flight Controllers that have an IOMCU like a Pixhawk.
On the main Copter page there is a search box that says “search docs”. Input “Pixhawlk Dshot” and see what you get.

1 Like
13

Keep in mind the positive power supply pins on all the servo outputs (Main and Aux) are all joined together, so you can’t supply (for example) 6 volts to one servo and 5 volts to another via those positive supply pins.
You would need to wire your devices directly to their supply voltages if using two different supply voltages.

The servo positive supply pins also have the scope for being a backup supply for the flight controller, but operation of that could be doubtful with a Pixhawk 2.4.8 because they have some of the power supply parts removed to simplify and cheapen the board.
Probably best to just avoid those positive pins altogether unless you plan on testing the power supply fail-over.
The RCin connector is the only one there that has regulated 5volts available and it should only ever be used to power a conventional RC receiver.

14

My Pixhawk is from 2014 (SKU4725321). So very old.

I don’t think I care at this point in time for backup power so will just not worry about that part but it does worry me that it freezes when I plug in positive and negative.

Do you think the documentation should be updated to show that the AUX pins should rather be used and not the main pins for motors and that it is fine to use pins 1 to 8 for servos?

Would it be a good idea for me to make videos showing how I built my drone using the latest software so that people don’t make mistakes by watching videos from 2015?

15

This is already in the documentation. And that’s not quite right. If you have a Flight Controller with an IOMCU, like a Pixhawk, you cannot use those (Main) outputs for Dshot. They work fine for PWM or Oneshot protocols. Many Flight Controllers don’t have an IOMCU in which case this doesn’t apply. It’s more nuanced than you are stating. There are other considerations. Output timing groups, mixing Dshot with PWM by parameter configuration…

The mistake many make is either not reading the Wiki at all or only after something is not working.

16

Yes but do you truly know how much research someone has done before coming to ask for help?

Some might want to be spoon fed. Some might spend hours to try and get things working. Reading and trying to understand and looking at tutorials and old videos.

For instance I spent last night about 3 hours to get the servo working.

I followed the documentation that I found and it seems it wasn’t right. I did exactly what the documentation said not to do and now the servo is working.