ESC not connecting to Pixhawk Cube

ArduCopter Copter 4.1
1

Hello,

I’m back with another question haha. So, I have swapped the ESC in this Hexacopter being built and am running into an issue where the ESC being used will not arm (acting like there is no signal) which I believe to be an issue with how the pixhawk and ESC communicate. The ESC are Flier 500A 22S I have reached out to the Flier to see what type of protocol they are using but I believe they are PWM and not Dshot… Has anyone had an issue with Flier ESC’s before and connecting to pixhawk? Any suggestions or literature to read would be greatly appreciated! I have made sure all the connections are correct from the ESC to pixhawk and receiver.

ESC:
http://www.fliermodel.com/en/multi-rotor-electrically-regulated-22s-500a.html

There is not much info on these from the website but here is the link for reference.

Thanks

2

Never heard of Flier ESC’s here or anywhere else but I’m certain it’s PWM only. So just set MOT_PWM_TYPE to 0 (PWM) . Post your parameter file, we can often diagnose simple problems from that.

From the Download page there is a link for the ESC Programming software.

3

have you done ESC calibration?

4

I cant even do the esc calibration. I initiate the sequence from the computer but goes straight into the no signal chime sequence.

5

Have you enabled the motor output using the safety switch?

6

There is no safety switch being used on the pixhawk in our case. If you are refering to the physical switch that you can plug into the pixhawk

7

And you have disabled it in the parameters?

8

yes, we had it arming and motors spinning prior to switching the ESC’s

9

big hex 1.1.param (17.0 KB)
Here is the parameter file you had asked for @dkemxr

10

have you tested the ESCs with something like a servo tester or RC receiver to verify they work?

11

Yes it will power on when plugged into the reciver. Could it be a voltage output issue from the flight controller?

12

See this other almost-identitcal thread
https://discuss.ardupilot.org/t/massive-200-lb-drone-esc-issue

13

Switched it to 5v and didnt make any difference?

14

its possible the escs have low resistance protection resistors that require more driving current than a pixhawk can give. you could try a 3.3v-5v logic level shifter to boost the pixhawk pwm voltage.

15

True opto ESCs of old actually needed a 5v supply which would be provided by the reciever. Have you got a BEC connected to the + and 0v pins of the servo rail? Those pins are common across all servo outputs on the flight controller.

1 Like