Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lloyd Breckenridge on May 20, 2012 at 7:16am

It's the stock ESC (looks like DGTRUM branding hard to read) in a Hobbyking Dynam ICanFly.

This is a pretty good platform for the APM although a little underpowered possibly.

It's an 18 amp ESC with a 1350 KVA motor.

It's not a quad that's the problem its arduplane.

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3D RoboticsPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on May 20, 2012 at 7:32am

Ah, got it--sorry for the confusion. Maybe something funky about those ESCs? Can you replicate the problem on a different brand of ESC?

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Permalink Reply by Lloyd Breckenridge on May 20, 2012 at 7:41am

I will try a 20 amp ESC from my arducopter.

Will take a bit of fiddling because the current ESC is wired directly to the motor and glued into the airframe.

Will have to cut the wires and  re-solder to the new ESC.

I was hoping for a firmware fix but if not many are having the problem then I guess that's unlikely.

Thanks for your help.

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Permalink Reply by IronStone on June 3, 2012 at 11:22am

Hi,

got the exact same behaviour with a very cheap suppo esc (hobbywing compatible) and my apm2 (last batch). First comes the 3 sounds, then nothing. Interesting is that after 2 resets with the resetbutton on the apm2 the rest of the init routine follows, 3 tones (for the 3s battery) and the readytone. Tested 5 times or more everytime the same behaviour. When i first powered the apm2 over usb and connect then the battery the esc starts right through normal. If i powered it first with the battery i got the behaviour described above.

As long as it takes only 2 resets to get it running its not so frustrating, but it would be fine if it starts normal ;)

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Permalink Reply by Todd Hill on July 23, 2012 at 8:44am

Have there been any further developments on this? i am now having the same problem with my APM2 running Arduplane 2.40.  I have also tried different ESCs'.  When powering up the board the APM initializes normally, but ESC will not arm.  When i added another UBEC to the receiver side and powered it up first and the output rails second the ESC arms upon initialization.  I already had the ESC's BEC and an external UBEC powering up the output rails with jumper installed to power up the input rails, but now it seems I have to have a UBEC on the input rails as well.  Never had to do this before.  

However, if powering the board up through the output rails via ESC/BEC and UBEC the ESC will initialize after hitting the reset button twice.  The first APM2 that I ordered version 2.4.0 worked normally, but board version 2.4.1 is requiring additional input power on the input rails to function normally.  To eliminate a firmware problem I uploaded an older firmware onto the new APM2 v2.4.1 board that I knew didn't pose this problem on the original APM2 v2.4.0 board.  The problem still persists.  Again, i have tried two other ESCs' with no change.  This has led me to believe that the problem lies in the APM2 version 2.4.1 board.  

Like IronStone stated, pushing the reset button twice to arm the ESC after initialization works, but is frustrating, especially considering this has never been the case.  I am not having this problem with my APM2s' on my multirotors, yet.  Any thoughts would be appreciated from the rest of you in the community.    

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Permalink Reply by Antonie Kruger on August 19, 2012 at 9:36am

Yeah, mate

This did the same for me after having the same problem, Thanks, I only reset once but the second one did the trick, Up and going now.

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AdminPermalink Reply by John C. on August 10, 2012 at 10:33am

I'm running into the same problem here.  Turnigy 40A Plush.

Unfortunately, my reset button does not appear to work either.  If I leave the battery plugged in and unplug and replug the signal cable, it starts up correctly.

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AdminPermalink Reply by John C. on August 19, 2012 at 5:36pm

Do we know exactly WHY these ESCs aren't arming right?

These are very common ESCs, I'd certainly be willing to put some effort into fixing the issue with them.

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3D RoboticsPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on August 19, 2012 at 5:47pm

John, the first step is to find a way for the dev team to replicate. I use Turnigy ESCs all the time (not Plush, but regular) and have no problems with arming. Is it possible that the ESC is set to some non-default setting? You can reprogram them for the defaults...

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AdminPermalink Reply by John C. on August 19, 2012 at 6:52pm

This is a 40A Plush that is right out of the package.  It's a couple years old though.  Definitely stock settings.

I'll double-check, but I think I have the same issue on a 30A plush as well.

Is there a certain chipset/timing that we know doesn't work right?

There are definitely a few threads on this at this point.  I'm not complaining, just tired of connecting the laptop/USB to get a proper boot in the field.  The guy I fly with says, "that's the only way it will boot right?" Yep...

http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/esc-arming-issue-turnigy-plush-40...

http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/arduplane-won-t-arm-engine?xg_sou...

http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/apm-2-5-turnigy-plush-30-amp-will...

http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/esc-arming-problem?commentId=7058...

Let me know what I can do to help....

JC

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Permalink Reply by Darren Royle on August 28, 2012 at 12:00pm

hi everybody

i am also new to ardupilot .

i have a arudupilot 2.5 , like many others in my quad frame all worked well.

but now in my easystar the only way to get the motor to arm is to plug the usb in to laptop

at the and have flight pack connected at the same time .

i cant remember the make of my esc as its buried in the fuz..

any ideas ?

cheers

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3D RoboticsPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on August 28, 2012 at 1:57pm

Darren: what version of the code are you using? If not 2.60, please load that. Then go to the CLI (terminal screen of the MP) and type "setup", then "erase" and "reset". Then go through the Configuration process again in the MP.  Please let me know if that works. (If not, it may be that your ESC is getting confused by the startup sequence, in which case we'll have to drill down on that).  

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