Quadcopter flips over on takeoff. All usual suspects checked. SOLVED

[lida2003 (Daniel Li)]

@vandjac

I’m using DSHOT300 right now, it’s the only one that even allows the motors to spin at all. But it’s still not taking off.

The only differences between this ESC and my old one which worked are that it’s BLHeli_S instead of BLHeli_32, it’s DSHOT300 instead of DSHOT600, and it doesn’t have ESC telemetry.

Hmmm… it’s strange. as BLHELi_S supports DShot 600 refer to BLHeli/BLHeli_S SiLabs/BLHeli_S manual SiLabs Rev16.x.pdf at master · bitdump/BLHeli · GitHub

@vandjac

So the issue must be with one of those things. Unless there’s still something else I’m missing.

Yeah, we are going to find out. How about the voltage supply, which is matched for this ESC???

[dkemxr (Dave)]

@vandjac

When I try to connect I get this error

You haven’t configured it properly.
MOT_PWM_TYPE,6
SERVO_BLH_AUTO,1
SERVO_DSHOT_ESC,2

Then see if they spin correctly.
Then after flashing, if you make it that far, you need to configure for Bdshot.

[vandjac (Jacob VandenBosch)]

Yeah, we are going to find out. How about the voltage supply, which is matched for this ESC???

I’m using a 3S battery, which should work for this ESC.

[Quadzilla (brandon macdougall)]

My 2 cents. As a test you can try this. I would make a copy then delete the config in the PARAMS, Using the default setting I would go to a larger prop and test fly it without any pid adjustments at all. Recalibrate everything. if it feels better i would adjust manually with the with the twitch sensitivity program in copter. that should fix it or get it close but if not you can try the above. Tuning is very prop centric so using a larger prop could make a huge impact in the balancing of the motors.

Side note sorry but not all FC’s have built in isolation so this is also a metagating issue to deal with.

[vandjac (Jacob VandenBosch)]

Ok, I got the motors spinning with DSHOT600 using those parameters. I still can’t connect to the ESC configurator though, it gives that same error about the port already being in use.

Edit: I was using the wrong Baud Rate. It should be 57600, so it connects now.

[vandjac (Jacob VandenBosch)]

Ok, I was able to flash BlueJay and I set the parameters according to the documentation for bidirectional DSHOT:

SERVO_BLH_BDMASK: 15
SERVO_BLH_POLES: 14
SERVO_DSHOT_ESC: 2

But now my motors don’t spin at all. I tried setting SERVO_BLH_BDMASK back to zero and they didn’t spin either. What am I missing?

Edit: I didn’t restart the ESC after flashing it. Now the motors spin fine.

[vandjac (Jacob VandenBosch)]

Ok, here’s where I’m at. I implemented all the parameters changes that xfacta suggested earlier, now that I have DShot600 and bidirectional Dshot working. However, I’m still at the same place I started. The quadcopter wobbles and oscillates on throttle increase until it flips over, just like in the video I originally posted. I’m really not sure what to do next.

Flight log: 29 12-31-1969 7-00-01 PM.bin - Google Drive

Edit: I figured it out! When I looked at the MissionPlanner HUD, the roll and pitch were flipped (as in when I pitched the drone forward, on the HUD it rolled right). I changed the AHRS_orientation to 270 and now it flies! I still have no idea why the orientation was off in the first place though. The flight controller is definitely facing forward on the drone.

[bobzwik (John)]

Ah ha! To me it didn’t look like PID or ESC issues. I was about to push to make sure props are turning the right way, but switching roll and pitch will produce a similar result!

I can’t find if this was already mentioned, but what flight controller are you using?

[vandjac (Jacob VandenBosch)]

I’m using the HolyBro Kakute H7 Mini.

[Tristan_Redish]

Any pics of the install?

[vandjac (Jacob VandenBosch)]

Here’s a picture of how the flight controller is oriented in the drone. I didn’t want to take it all apart so I placed the extra FC on the table in the same orientation.

[bobzwik (John)]

Can’t seem to find anything about having to set a specific AHRS_ORIENTATION for this board. Did you flash your FC with the KakuteH7Mini version of the Arducopter firmware?

According the the firmware list, there doesn’t seem to be a bdshot version of the firmware for the KakuteMiniH7 (maybe because the default firmware version for the board supports bdshot?). There are 2 firmwares for the H7Mini, one with “NAND”, one without. Arducopter docs suggest to use the NAND one.

I don’t know which is the correct firmware to use, but in my mind, board-specific firmware contains IMU orientation settings (but I might be wrong). Which is why I am wondering which firmware you installed.

[lida2003 (Daniel Li)]

@vandjac

I changed the AHRS_orientation to 270 and now it flies! I still have no idea why the orientation was off in the first place though. The flight controller is definitely facing forward on the drone.

KakuteH7Mini
a) support bdshot for quad copter
b) default IMU is revised at IMU Invensense SPI:mpu6000 ROTATION_YAW_180
c) If you installed as the arrow suggested, then AHRS_orientation should be zero. (According to your installation diagram, that seems to be a problem, need to check with manufacture)

BTW, what target or firmware version are you using for the test? KakuteH7Mini?