Board Problem?

C

Charles Prest

Member
I went over the pre-flight checks on the KK Multicopter sight. Everything seemed in order until I got to the part of reversing the roll. When I attempted to reverse the roll I had the gain pot setting backwards. No big deal, right? Just do it again inverting the minimum. Wrong, after I did it I could not get the board to arm, period. I downloaded a different firmware (minsoo kim's latest) and when I tried to arm, the led just kept blinking as thought it was waiting for a response. My pots were all set at 50% so that should not have been an issue. I decided to download a different firmware. In this case I downloaded KK's 4.7 and now I can get it to arm and set the ESC's but motor 4 will not spin. I have repeated the ESC setting to no avail. I tried a different motor and that did not work either. The board I own is from JMT: KKmulticopter V5.5 Board V2.2 Program + USB Programmer Firmware Loader. Also I cannot get the USBASP loader to connect to AVR's Studio4. I discovered M4 will turn if I pitch or roll but another motor will stop. Oh, this is a X copter. Any suggestions?
 
When I had my KK board, I had a lot of trouble with the 4.7 firmware. I remember having the lazy motor 4 issue. I had to change he trims a lot to get it to get off the ground. Not recommended. It has been such a long time since I've used a KK board, but I think I had to use an older version of the minsoo kim firmware to get it working right. I think it was 2.5 or older.
 
I installed 2.5 which solved the lazy motor but it appears I may need to reverse a gyro. Following the board manual I was not able to reverse the gyro. I then discovered that Minsoo has removed the reverse capability since 2.1. I installed 2.1 and will try that this evening. Thank you for your reply.
 
It is resolved. Funny, I tried trimming on the tx and that did not seem to work. I have not adjusted much on the transmitter since I got it but when I reset it to factory default everything started behaving better. Also I have set the throttle on the ESC's 20 times but no progress. But, doing it after the trimming attempt, the ESC's made a different tone/beep configuration. Now it all seems to be working. I made a short flight attempt and it was the first time it has acted like it might fly. I did not try very long because it is very windy.
 
Weird! I'm glad it's working now. I know that with some boards, they tell you not to touch your trims on your tx, but I think on KK you'd normally trim on your tx since the software doesn't calibrate the board to your tx. I need to get a KK board soon to play with so I know these things.

Flying in the wind sucks for testing, but if you got any kind of flying out of it, it sounds like you're in much better shape!
 
Weird! I'm glad it's working now. I know that with some boards, they tell you not to touch your trims on your tx, but I think on KK you'd normally trim on your tx since the software doesn't calibrate the board to your tx. I need to get a KK board soon to play with so I know these things.

Flying in the wind sucks for testing, but if you got any kind of flying out of it, it sounds like you're in much better shape!
 
My last reply was from my experience 2 days ago. I flew it again last night and it was doing very well until a couple of landings(not smooth). The magnets came loose in 2 motors. Once the fall semester starts I will go into the machine shop and build myself some tools for setting magnets and rebuilding the motors. I am sure Devcon or someone makes better glue than what they are using at the factory. I am sure I can bulletproof them. I guess I better come up with some kind of landing gear as well.
 
What motors are you using? I've bent shafts and even motor housings and haven't had any issues with loose magnets yet.
 
I bought them on Amazon at JMTTop1. They have been good about replacing parts. They ship a lot quicker than HobbyKing. I don't want to send the motors back because I want to work on them.
 
It turns out that when the M1 froze up it overheated the ESC. Now the ESC is bad. When I installed a new motor it started smoking immediately. I got the ESC from JMT in China so I won't be flying for a couple weeks.
 
Sounds like the motor may have been shorted. That's pretty common (especially if the windings aren't done well) and it will burn the ESC right up. I've heard stories of ESC's catching fire in the air and being nothing but ash when the copter comes down.
 
I have learned a lot about this hobby in the last month and one day I will compile my findings and post them. At this point I can say , I believe the KK 5.5 board (at least the ones coming from China), may have a quality issue. I can have it flying somewhat steady, land it, then in a second attempt, a few seconds later, it is not steady at all. It is, as though, someone adjusted it while I was not looking. I have tried several different versions of firmware and it is the same with respect to the instability and lack of repeat-ability. I am convinced it is a matter of quality with respect to the board. I have another 5.5 being shipped to me and will compare it. I could have ordered something different but, inquiring minds want to know. I am sure I will be using a different board in the near future. For those who care; I am an engineer and believe i can assess this issue fairly accurately. My experience is with Allen-Bradley controllers in automated systems. As they say, "It's the same but different."
 
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