I’m in the process of building the Holybro X650 Dev Kit with the Pixhawk 6X flight controller. I initially set up the motors to work with PWM, but today changed to DShot 600. The motors seem to work, but the LEDs (NeoPixel) which had been set to NTF_LED_OVERRIDE = 2 (Outback Challenge) have changed their behavior. They used to be green until I armed the drone, at which point they would turn red. Now it is the opposite: they are red until I arm the drone at which point they turn green.
I’m not sure what I’ve done wrong here, but I’ve included the parameters list as a zip file.
I tried setting NTF_LED_TYPES so that only Neopixel was selected for the bitmask. I also tried setting NTF_LED_TYPES so that NeopixelRGB was the only selected type. The LEDs are still red when disarmed, green when armed when NTF_LED_OVERRIDE = 2 (Outback Challenge).
I can control the LED brightness using NTF_LED_BRIGHT and the results are as specified in the documentation.
Last night I took the drone and all the GPS hardware outside to see if the drone could arm after configuring Drone ID. The drone armed, but the LEDs were the wrong colors. Only 2 of the four motors began turning. I rebooted the flight controller using the reboot button on the compass tab in Mission planner, and when I armed the drone only one motor rotated. I rebooted again using mission planner and three motors started spinning when the drone was armed. I disconnected the battery to reboot the Pixhawk, and all four motors spun when I armed the drone, but the LEDs were the wrong color.
This morning I reset the NTF_LED_TYPES to the default value, and then added the NEOPIXELrgb to the bitmask. I took the drone and all of the GPS hardware outside and connected a fully charged battery to the drone. It is now lighting up the LEDs with the correct colors for both Outback Challenge and Standard colors. All of the motors seem to work as they turn on when the drone is armed and the respond to throttle inputs.
I am a bit concerned that there is something wrong with my parameters or the Pixhawk because the LED issues began after enabling dshot, and also because the motors were not all spinning upon arming when I was testing the drone last night. While everything seems to be working right now, I don’t want to discover that I’ve made an error in the parameters that effects the ability of the Pixhawk to properly control the motors while in flight.
The Holybro X650 came with two power modules. The PM02D, which is connected to the battery, outputs power to the both the Power Distribution Board (via XT60 connector) and to the Pixhawk6X Power1 port. The other power module (PM02) is connected to the power distribution board, and supplies power to the servo rail on the Pixhawk 6X through a Dupont style connector which has only red and black wires. The connector is plugged into the Pixhawk at the output port labeled “Main”, position 8. The red wire is connected to "+’ and the black wire is connected to “-”
The LEDs are connected to the Pixhawk baseboard V2A output port labeled “AUX” at positions 1,2,3, and 4. The yellow wires are connected to “S”, the red to “+” and the black to “-”. I think they should get power from the PM02 if they are wired like this.
It’s possible that you are victim of the VDD NeoPixel issue - NeoPixels require 0.7VDD to register as a high output. The signalling on those outputs are 3.3v, so the maximum VDD that is guaranteed to work is 4.7v (3.3/0.7) so 5.1 might put you outside of the specified range.
I have the Pixhawk 6X with V2A baseboard. The LEDs are connected to the AUX port. It looks like that parameter will only change the PWM voltage of the MAIN ports. The MAIN ports are setup for DShot600 to control the ESCs.
Thanks! I’m a bit nervous about my first flight. A bad crash would be a significant setback for my project, so I am trying to do my best to minimize risks.
The first series of flights went extremely well! By the end of the testing session, the drone was able to automatically take off, fly to waypoints, return to home, and land. Everything seems to be working so far.
