Need help for connect Hobbywing esc opto to pixhawk

Hi everyone, I’m new here, I’m planning to build a tarot 650 sport quadcopter.

My list.

Tarot 650 sport frame
5010 360kv motor
Hobbywing 40a esc opto
1755 propeller
Pixhawk kit
battery 4s 5000mah
Gimbal 3 axis for next 5

My question is, if I power the pixhawk with the power module in the kit, how can I connect the esc properly to the Pixhawk? Do I need absolutely a esc with a bec 5v? If anyone has a picture with connection.

Thank you.

Welcome :slight_smile:

I have the 650sport, great frame. Well, great frame but it does have some significant design flaws. The plastic motor mounts it comes with I found are complete junk (I’ve seen others complain similarly) and they frequently break or rotate. I bought the metal vibration-reducing mounts from tarot which have never once rotated or broken since, they’re a good investment.
Also they haven’t thought much about ESC placement - the middle of the two plates where you would normally hide things like ESCs has very little free space and it’s difficult to organise in there. I ended up getting (Afro) slim ESCs that fit inside the arms, bit fiddly but a neat solution. You don’t need BECs on your ESCs at all - in fact you’re much better off getting ESCs without them. You only need to solder the ESC power to the upper plate of the frame (which is the power distribution plate, and make sure you solder both the red and black - you need the ground reference), and plug the signal cable into the pixhawk, just the ground and signal pins not the middle power pin which your ESC won’t have if it’s opto.
If you can find it, hobbywing brought out a 4-in-1 ESC sometime this year which would be perfect for this frame. It also has power support for the pixhawk, and it would make setting your quad up much easier and neater.
Look if you really need such a high amp ESC - most low KV motors don’t need that much. I have 3508 580kv motors that don’t come anywhere near using the max 20a of my ESCs. Also decide if you really need such large pancake low kv motors - they won’t be very responsive for this type of quad and you can’t get big enough props without extended arms on this frame anyway. Low kv motors are at a much greater risk of desync (causing your quad to plummet to the ground), although hobbywing ESCs are an excellent quality ESC and should be less prone to this. You can only fit 14" props if you want to use the canopy, and probably only 15-16" without. If you actually put anything on the top plate then I would have thought 17" would be too big, aside from the rather ‘leisurely’ handling you would get from this setup. Look at your thrust figures carefully from this setup, you may find you struggle to lift a nex5+gimbal and even if it does fly you might not have enough thrust headroom to cope with sudden wind or other movements. If you do go down this route, do tell us how you get on! Also I would look at bigger batteries - you won’t get very much flying time out of 5ah, I would go at least 8-10ah.

Thank you very much for your help fnoop :slight_smile:

Martin3190. I am using pretty much the same system. PXH 2.1, Tiger T3508 motors, and hobby wing xRotor 40 A ESCs. Could you show how you had them hooked up on your copter?

If I may…

This is going to be a beater craft.A test bed of sorts.And it hasn’t flown yet.

Arms stretched to 700 for 15" + props (may take 17" by the looks).Hobbywing 40A ESCs underneath.Cheapo RCtimer motors (may be replaced with also cheapo Multistar 330kvs).I had a Pixraptor laying around.Cheap and nasty again.(can you see a trend here ? ). Will need to be 6S I think but I’ll try most things once so 4S can be arranged for a laugh.Like the 650Sport there’s not a lot of real estate for mounting stuff.

After a lot of messing this is where I have my ESCs on my 650Pro as well.I’ve never had a problem with the ESCs or motors but I’ve had plenty with bullet connectors.Solder them up.

I’m also thinking about building a similar setup. Looking at your photos, it seems like you only need to connect the ESCs black and white( the ones for signaling) wires to the Pixhawk’s main out. The other read and black cables just go to the pixhawk’s power module and that is it ?

I’m a newbie on this so any super specified response is much appreciated : ’ )