I am rebuilding a quadcopter that used to work OK.
I have ungraded the PPM encoder on my APM2.5 (purchased Sept 2012)
I have the latest Mission Planner 1.2.97
I have upgraded the firmware to V3.1.
My testing is with no props.
The problems:
when armed, the motors do not spin up slowly (as configured to do)
when throttle is applied, motors 2 and 3 spin up in unison, motor 1 lags slightly and motor 4 starts up only when more power is applied and then lags the other 3 motors.
The log shows output changing at the same (line number), but by somewhat different amounts.
A log is attached.
I suspect the ESC’s are a problem, I think the motors are OK,
Before I spend money on the ESC’s, I want to be sure the APM is doing the right job.
Have you calibrated your ESCs? If not, then please follow these steps:
Props off
Radio on
Throttle stick to full
Plug in APM
Wait a few seconds
Unplug APM
Plug in APM
Wait for ESCs to beep
Throttle stick to zero, should hear all ESCs beep
Unplug APM
That should calibrate the min and max throttle on each ESC. They can still have variation due to temp etc. If it is bothering you, increase MOT_SPIN_ARMED until it goes away.
Yes, I had previously calibrated each ESC manually.
I do have a separate BEC so ‘plug in the APM’ is a separate operation to plugging the main lipo into the ESC’s.
If I follow your steps, and plug in the main lipo to the ESC after your point 7 (after plug in the APM the second time), the ESC’s seem to go into settings mode. I drop the throttle and the setting mode stops.
Should I do this differently?
My ESC’s are Hobbyking 40A SBEC.
I would like to understand the MOTORS log entries i.e. what the output measure is all about.
Thanks
[quote=“totallycontrolled”]Yes, I had previously calibrated each ESC manually.
I do have a separate BEC so ‘plug in the APM’ is a separate operation to plugging the main lipo into the ESC’s.
If I follow your steps, and plug in the main lipo to the ESC after your point 7 (after plug in the APM the second time), the ESC’s seem to go into settings mode. I drop the throttle and the setting mode stops.
Should I do this differently?
My ESC’s are Hobbyking 40A SBEC.
I would like to understand the MOTORS log entries i.e. what the output measure is all about.
Thanks[/quote]
Well, get the APM into calibrate/passthrough mode by following the steps (probably a better guide on the wiki), then power your ESCs while the stick is still high. The MOT log is 0-1000 for each motor.
Working OK now.
Motors spin evenly and also spin slowly when armed.
The problem with the HobbyKing ESC’s was that they go into programming mode when the throttle is high.
This is OK if you want change ESC settings.
However, to actually set the throttle end points, the throttle had to be dropped during the very first programming cycle. The English translation in the manual did not make this obvious.