I have a Holybro X500 V2 drone with a Pixhawk 6c. I have flashed Ardupilot 4.5.6 to it and I cannot get it to test the motors. I have calibrated the gyros/accel/mag, radio, ECS etc. It beeps as if it is doing the test, but motors do not spin.
History:
When I first got the drone 10 months ago, I immediately installed Ardupilot on it and used Mission Planner. It worked perfectly fine. I followed this 3 video series: Link. I did a few flights, but it was difficult without a radio controller, so I let the drone sit for 9 months until I got a radio. Then I flashed PX4 to the Pixhawk and started using QGC instead of Mission Planner. However, I decided to move back to Ardupilot, as I was unable to get stable lift off. After flashing Ardupilot, I can no longer do any motor tests. The tests work with PX4 and Mission Planner.
Any thoughts on how I can debug this? Why did it work initially but not anymore?
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - doCommand cmd DO_MOTOR_TEST 1 0 10 5 0 0 0
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - set giveComport Base Thread current False new True
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - doCommand cmd resp DO_MOTOR_TEST - ACCEPTED
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - set giveComport current True new False
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - 9/10/2024 3:17:56 PM 6 starting motor test
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - set giveComport Arm State change current False new True
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - getWPint 16 0 0 0 0 opt 0
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - set giveComport current True new False
INFO MissionPlanner.MAVLinkInterface - 9/10/2024 3:18:01 PM 6 finished motor test
params.param (17.6 KB)
Here you go. I flashed the plane firmware and then drone firmware back (as per some advice I’d received), but it did not help. Plus I put in a new 32GB SD card to replace the stock one.
I’m using the stock ESCs that come with the 500v2, BLHeli S ESC 20A, set to dshot300.
I flashed the standard firmware, not bdshot (I did try it before, no success).
Did you flash Bluejay on the ESC’s? You should if not to take advantage of Bdshot.
A few parameters but do this 1st and then flash the Bdshot version of firmware to the FC.
If you are not going to do that then you have to configure the main outputs you have configured for Dhsot.
Thanks. I will look into how to flash the ESCs. I am new to drones, but not new to electronics.
I am still wondering why it worked the first time I flashed it last year, but now not working anymore with the same workflow. Maybe chalk it up to changes in firmware and software since then?
In my efforts to look into ESC Bluejay flashing, the ESC Confgurator website doesn’t appear to work. I did have to modify the “SERVO_BLH_AUTO = 1” parameter, which was at 0, to get it to even attempt to communicate with the ESCs.
The logs show the following:
2024/09/12 09:23:01: Port selected
2024/09/12 09:23:02: Opened serial port
2024/09/12 09:23:03: MSP command failed: Timed out after 1000ms
2024/09/12 09:23:03: TX: cmd_DeviceInitFlash - 0x0
2024/09/12 09:23:06: Failed processing command cmd_DeviceInitFlash after 5 retries.
2024/09/12 09:23:06: MultiWii API version received: 1.42.0
2024/09/12 09:23:06: Flight controller info, identifier: ARDU version: 3.3.1
2024/09/12 09:23:06: Running firmware released on: Mar 16 2018 08:42:29
2024/09/12 09:23:06: Board: ARCH, version: 0
2024/09/12 09:23:06: Unique device ID received - 0x03a003a3430510938303334
2024/09/12 09:23:07: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
2024/09/12 09:23:08: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
2024/09/12 09:23:09: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
2024/09/12 09:23:10: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
2024/09/12 09:23:11: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
2024/09/12 09:23:12: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
2024/09/12 09:23:13: Unknown command detected: 15
2024/09/12 09:23:13: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'connectedESCs')
2024/09/12 09:23:13: Could not enable 4 way interface - reconnect flight controller
2024/09/12 09:23:13: Trying to read 0 ESCs
2024/09/12 09:23:14: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
2024/09/12 09:23:14: MSP command failed: Offset is outside the bounds of the DataView
I am a little confused that it shows that Ardupilot version, while I have just flashed 4.5.6 with Mission Planner. The ESC Conf is unable to do anything.
I also have a Holybro X500 kit with Pixhawk 6C and can’t get motors to spin up… I’m new to drones and have read and read and watch and watched videos to learn how to put this thing together to fly with no luck. I’ve tried the bluejay app thru esc configurator and couldn’t even get it to hook via usb. Jumped thru one prearm error after another and got that straightened out.
When I try esc calibration via mission planner i get a long tone after rebooting and all colors flashing on the gps indicator light and it freezes up. Ive tried testing each motor and again same long tone with no spin.
I’ve had the kit for a year now (actively trying to get it to work for about a month). I have another rc project with INav that ive been able to get up and working but this pixhawk has me questioning arducopter and mission planner. I have a big VTOL that I’m starting to put together and starting to think the Arducopter program is very glitchy and not stable or reliable.
Follow the steps (don’t skip any) and it will get you going. I think there’s a template for the X500 with the pixhawk 6C in there already, (but not 100% on that), but even if there isn’t the process will get you going.
A few hours after I decided to make my first post on ANY forum after a month of working on it I finally got it working. I have the ELRS on Telemetry 2 port/UART 5/ Serial 2. I had been trying to control motors on servo 1-4. As soon as I read i needed to have motors on 9-12 it worked. I was then able to get the ESC’s calibrated with the Esc.calibrator.org with bluejay with the pacman tune!
I got the methodical configurator installed and I will be going thru every thing. Got two low and slow test flights with autotuning apparently successful. Then spent several hours digging thru logs and dataflash to get a taste of the program.