Pixhawk 2.4.8 power?

Hardware Pixhawk family
1

I got a new controller and new user. Going to go in an Eflite Carbon Cub which is 6S, and while setting up the controller on the bench first time today I got everything going well, the radio seems to be inputting the channels right, etc.

Then I got to the point that I thought “I will hook this to the plane” and see that the input on the power module is 4S. Can I just use a separate battey into the power module? Then just plug my 6S into the plane ESC? Or can I just find a way to plug a battery into the 2.4.8 and ditch the power module?

Thanks in advance, totally new to this, just today!

2

If you do that you wont have voltage or current readings or mah consumed readings etc

3

A matek wlite or wing fc can handle 6s, the power module is the bottom board of the stack and it’s all more suitable for your application.
Pixhawks the popular choice because people know the name and they associate pixhawk with flight controller. But they are not the most suitable for current day fised wing applications

4

You can use the pix, and a separate 3s or 4s maybe even 2s to power the fc through the power module and run the esc off your 6s directly, you’ll just miss out on low batt failsafe, v and c telemetry etc

1 Like
5

I think I will use the included module and a 4s to power the board and servos, and a separate 6s to powr the esc and motor. Do I need to do anything with the power that would ususally come from the ESC? I will see if it is separate and just not use it, but if it was the throttle channel or soemthing that is a different story.

6

I would use a 6S capable power module.

7

Dave,

You mean just get a new one like this that will go all the way to 12s?

8

I think I killed the 3s one, I had it connected to the mission planner by the USB, and then I pugged a 3S into it and it smoked.

9

In reading more, it looks like I can not even use this and just plug the servo wires in and the throttle on the plane from the ESC will power the whole thing…

10

Yes, that’s commonly what’s done.

11

Thank you Dave. Ordered.

12

Yes if you have an esc you can use its 5v supply on the throttle cable to power the servo pin headers to power the rest of the servos

13

But not the Pixhawk, right?

14

Not the best idea. The reason the Power Modules output 5.37V for the Flight Controller is so you end up with 5V after the diode drop they all have in the circuit…

15

if you’re using a pix you need a power module of some kind to power the flight controller and normally its peripherals are also powered from the same ie GPS, external mags etc. then if you want to use servos you also need a (normally higher capacity 5v supply) to the power rail of the servo header. this would normally be the red wire from the esc if you have an esc with a built in bec on a plane for instance. if using the modern BLheli32 esc they mostly don’t have a built in bec anyway so the solution for a simple build is normally to steer away from pixhawk for many applications these days