Almost ready to give up :( Not sure if my ESCs are callibrating, any help would be appreciated

Chucknorr1s

Chucknorr1s

Member
Hey, This is my first build and I seem to be having a little bit of a problem.
For reference, I'm building a 250 quad I got from Ebay (Wish I spent a bit more and got it from elsewhere but what can I do now.) It says I have a,
CC3D FC,
a 12a SimonK ESC (Unbranded) &
2204 2300kv Brushless Motors.

I am also using librepilot to config the FC board.
Everything seems to be running fine up until the esc calibration process I have noticed the beeps I get are completely different to all the videos & guides I have looked at which is making me wonder if they are SimonK. I go through the calibration process to the best I can but when you adjust the minimum power for each motor they all seem to be different.
Even so, I can adjust them so they roughly spin the same, I save the calibration to the board but when I use the Radio controller the motors spin at different rates and the tiniest bit of throttle just enough to power up makes the motors spin like crazy.
I've set up the RX (flysky fs CT-6B) with the software it came with and everything seems to be ok. I've checked all my wires, they are all plugged in correctly, I've tried manual calibration of each esc and also will try again when my batteries are recharged. I'm ready to buy some new escs but I'm not sure if it's to do with them, or the FC or the RX.

Sorry if it doesn't make much sense, but any help would be amazing.



2204 2300KV Motor
Specifications:
- Structure: 12N14P
- KV: 2300KV
- Length: 26.7mm
- Rotor outer diameter: 23mm
- Shaft diameter: 2mm
- Lipo battery: 2-3S
- Max. pull: 300g
- Prop suggest: 5-6inch

12A Simonk ESC
Specifications:
- frequency:30HZ-499HZ
- Voltage: 2-4S lixx,
- Working current:12A
- Instantaneous current:14A
- BEC: 5V/3A
- Size: 28mmx20mmx6.1mm
- Weight: 12g

CC3D Flight Controller
 
Last edited:
Jackson

Jackson

USA member at large
Chucknorr1s said:
Even so, I can adjust them so they roughly spin the same, I save the calibration to the board but when I use the Radio controller the motors spin at different rates and the tiniest bit of throttle just enough to power up makes the motors spin like crazy.
I've set up the RX (flysky fs CT-6B) with the software it came with
Click to expand...
When in the software is the ch3 (throttle) perfectly centered when at rest?
 
Chucknorr1s

Chucknorr1s

Member
yeah i tried that. I've flashed Betaflight onto the cc3d and the escs seem to be more in sync. But I'm having trouble configuring betaflight to work. Any experience with betaflight?
 
GJH105775

GJH105775

Off and on
Moderator
Chucknorr1s said:
yeah i tried that. I've flashed Betaflight onto the cc3d and the escs seem to be more in sync. But I'm having trouble configuring betaflight to work. Any experience with betaflight?
Click to expand...
It is basically cleanflight, just need to get the betaflight configurator. I suggest the one from the chrome app store. What specifics are you having trouble with?

Also if you are arming the quad and testing the motors to see if they are the same then it won't necessarily work as the quad is likely trying to level it'self. If you correctly complete the ESC calibration then they should be good. All it is doing is configuring the throttle's range so that the minimum and maximum is the same for each and for what the receiver will be feeding the flight controller and it to the ESCs.


To get better control with the sticks you might need to setup expo later, but that is not a real worry right now.
 
Chucknorr1s

Chucknorr1s

Member
Right the problem i am having at the moment is, I can only get one motor to spin. On the config tab on betaflight configurator, The only RX input that works for me is PWM rx input the other ones do allow all the motors to spin but i get no signal from my RX, but as soon as I select PWM that only one motor works. I also have the Esc/Motor protocol on PWM. All the motors spin when on PPM or Serial bus but i get no Radio signal?
 
Chucknorr1s

Chucknorr1s

Member
I've managed to get my quadcopter flying. If anyone is interested, I gave up with betaflight as I could not get the RX to work with it. I reverted back to librepilot, I then calibrated each esc manually through the transmitter, did not touch the calibrator within librepilot. Then done all the usual steps to set up a quad. Then went through each solder again trimmed back the wire added new bullet connectors, wrapped electrical tape around each connector and I had my first successful flight today. So happy!! I think my problem with the motors and esc at first was it was not calibrating to my Radio, as I have a cheap one the RX range is crap. Manually calibrating the escs to the radio made the range of the throttle match the esc.

So, lessons learned. Spend the extra £10 a get a better radio in the first place, Use solder flux, sand down wires before soldering. Correctly insulate each connection. And something I would recommend is testing all the components before fully building the quadcopter. The most painful part was having to take it apart each time something went wrong.
 
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