I am facing an issue where the power connector cable from the Radiolink Crossflight to the official power module, given is smoking, and the ground wire is completely melted. I have used two wires, and the same issue has persisted. It is a hexacopter, using a 3S 5200 mAh battery, a SE100 GPS, and PPM communication. While I was flying, this happened, and there was no issue in the drone flying; it was stable. As soon as I saw the smoke, I landed it. I have attached the log files for the flight. There was no change in motor performance, and all the ESCs are working perfectly. Before this, I had faced an issue where my Radiolink Pixhawk-based drone kept flipping randomly during flight. Logs showed that there was an issue with the power supply. But even with two batteries, one dedicated to the fc, and one for the motor side, it still persisted. The power module was also replaced twice. Hence, I came to the conclusion that the FC was faulty. Please let me know your suggestions.
Thanks.
To clarify, the logs I have uploaded are from the recent issue. I mentioned the previous one to understand whether it was the same fault causing both. I am using the F550 frame with a built-in PDB connected to the ESCs and the Radiolink Power module. The ESCs have not been soldered onto the pads provided by Radiolink.
Thanks for the reply. I’m aware of the Crossflight unsupported warning. However, I’m using the Mission Planner version recommended by Radiolink for the Crossflight, and this setup has been used successfully by me before.
Do you have a photo of your setup? a cause can be the spark cap bridging the hot and ground wire making a nasty short, at times made by the heat shrink squeezing the wires of the cap.
I too had the same issue and the setup was identical to yours, from my understanding it’s a hardware level design issue or something as like the ports on the fc was not able to deliver sufficient power for the gps and rc, it was like its capability degraded over time and if you keep tinkering with the fc rather than replacing it, there’s a high chance it would take your SE100 gps with it like in my case it’s a good gps to lose
So it’s better to replace the fc as it is damaged than losing everything else with it
Best to rebuild this connections as seen in the gray box. looks like a cold joint. Also you need to use one black wire and one red wire for good etiquette. More heat is needed and a bit of flux. overall the connections should be made as one joint, this can be done by twisting a small wire around the two wires of contact then welded.
How are the ESCs connected to the battery. Out of the photos I am not able to reproduce your cable plan.
Please write down exactly which wire is connected where.
And for your joints follow the good advice of @Quadzilla
Did you do this before or after you had the problem with the hot ground wire?
I know from past experience having multiple BECs in parallel can cause problems. As you likely know, you don’t want multiple voltage regulators connected in parallel unless they are expressly designed to work that way.
Thanks for adding photos. It’s a lot easier to see what’s going on.
-> ESCS, Power module, and Battery (3S 5200 mAh) soldered
2. Crossflight OUT:
ESCs cable connected - power cable removed
3. RC IN and Buzzer - RX cable of receiver and Buzzer cable
4. Power Port of FC - Power cable from Power module
5. All motors connected to ESCs, with standard 3-bullet-hole pins
5. GPS:
How was exactly your ESCs connected to the PDM
The cable was burned due to high current. This could be either a short cut or the current flow through a wrong cable. I assume your ground wiring wasn’t as needed. So some motor current goes a wrong way.
So again show exactly how your ESCs was connected to the PDB and the battery.
