Flight controller board and radio receiver connection

[CodingPuppy]

So I am back with a question....
Our parts arrived and everything is going well, but we can't connect the radio receiver with the flight controller. We are using the HK6s 2.4 Ghz radio system with the HkPilot Mega Mini flight controller. We connected the channels fine, but we can't find where the power wire should go on the receiver, so the receiver is not turning on at all. We tested it with a servo, ESC, and a Li-Po battery and it turns on and works fine. We just need to find where to connect the wires. Any help is much appreciated.

p.s. we did search the Internet but couldn't find any schematics to help our case.

 

[GJH105775]

Ok, sounds like you are having trouble arming it. Hold your left down and right. THis arms you. To disarm hold the left stick left. To enable auto level (Stick mode) Hold the right stick right while either arming or disarming.

 

[CodingPuppy]

Well, I think we are just confused as to how the radio receiver is supposed to get power from the controller. There is a wire for VCC and Gnd, which our teacher explained is the power source, but the receiver has ch1-ch6 and and ID Set. Where should we plug the power?
Thanks for your support again

 

[GJH105775]

Power comes over the red (usualy) wire (depends on your cables) from the KK2.1.5 board. The pins are as follows: outer edge: - Middle: 5v+ Inside: Signal(data)

 

[CodingPuppy]

Hmmm....here is a picture of the receiver, there are three pins in a row on all 6 channels. I assume we don't need a power source on each row. So just connect power on the first channel's two other pins and leave the rest alone?

 

[GJH105775]

I like to connect mine in an L shape. You only need 1 ground and one power from the KK, because all of them are bussed(connected) together. You can take the signal wire down further than three of course.

 

[CodingPuppy]

Got it! Thanks man, you are a hero (Google can be pretty useless sometimes)

 

[GJH105775]

Haha, I googled this for a little before I was satisfied. Aslo make a note that if you plug power into the side or the HK's Tx using the 9mm power jack, it will not transmit. You need to have batteries in it. This greatly annoyed me so I modded mine to accept batteries. You can use the jack they already have installed by just moving the wires, but I wanted the XT60.

Spoiler: pics

 

[CodingPuppy]

We had the same problem this morning. The batteries were good in another controller but couldn't work in this Tx. When I noticed the jack port, I grabbed a 9v and it worked fine. We decided the batteries were not good but nice to know it can be modded. We will look into it if the 9v can't serve us long enough. Thanks

 

[GJH105775]

I was supprized to see a single sided PCB. You could make one of these if you could get a transmitter module and a couple of compatible joysticks.

 

[CodingPuppy]

I really wanted to buy one of those stick joysticks and build/program it myself but my team refused to let me (trust issues haha), but my personal next build will probably have a custom built/tweaked joystick.

 

[GJH105775]

Haha, you can use a PS3 controller over bluetooth, but they don't have anywhere near the range. They of course can be modded if you like the feel of the controller i your hand.

 

[CodingPuppy]

I like these ones.....I think I have watched too much Hollywood CSI
On another thought, have you used any other method to stream FPV other than Radio Video Telemetry? Our current setup is a Raspberry Pi No-IR camera but of course the lag is going to be painful.

 

[GJH105775]

Haha, it is possible to make up to a 6 action joystick, i think you only need a 4 action to fly a quadcopter. This would allow you to fly with one stick.

 

[CodingPuppy]

Definitely looking forward to it then. This stick seems to have a hand full of buttons, so assuming I can tweak it to work with a radio tx/rx I should be able to fly a quadcopter fine.

 

[GJH105775]

Haha, you are actually going to try? If so you are going to need 1 axis for: Roll1, Roll2, Yaw, Throttle. For that joystick you probably would need to mod it or get 2.

 

[CodingPuppy]

Sorry I forgot to keep an eye on this thread; I got very busy since it's finals week. Anyhow....
Yes, I am actually going to try the joystick idea for my next build. We will see how it will turn out


As to our current project, here are some updates.
One of our escs isn't working. We have a red light on it, and unlike the other three, we can't arm it. Looks like the issue is not uncommon at all but there doesn't seem to be any solutions other than uploading a new firmware (which requires a cable). We have ordered two more escs to replace it and one just in case another one breaks down.
Our throttle seems to be inverted (max is down; min is up), but I think that is a minor calibration issue. The flight controller doesn't seem to have controller over all four motors (or just three right now since one esc is out). By that I mean it doesn't read the gyro and accelerometer and adjust the motors' speed accordingly. Again, I feel like this is just another minor wiring or calibration issue which will hopefully get resolved quickly.

My team mate designed the frame so I don't have the files, but I will attach some pictures of the designs. Here is a link to a video of our barely functioning quadcopter.

Oh, the frame will look like the Death Star from Star Wars with the camera positioned where the laser comes out! And there will be a Raspberry Pi inside equipped with some Penetration testing tools.

 

[GJH105775]

If you need some ideas or help on coding a custom controller @Nick has been working on one, it is still in development, but it is working pretty good as of now. I am sure with a little more testing it will have some little things that have to be tweaked. If you message him, let me know so I can have him check the forums.


Just watched your video, is that your painted finger nail I see in the video? Refreshing to see that it is not all male nerds that are into quads haha.

 

[CodingPuppy]

Haha, no I am a guy and that's the girl who's working with me. But your point holds....she's been very excited about it and actually designed the frame on her own so the Death Star was her idea. (She's also an amazing programmer).
I will get in touch with Nick, and hopefully get my hands on his source code.

 

[Nick]

I watched your video and it seemed to me like you were testing your quad with the props on and nothing to keep the quad strapped to the ground... Very bad things can happen... Anyways, I'm happy to help in any way.