Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Dominguez on May 7, 2012 at 4:03pm

Anyone?

Looking around the board with a loupe I also found one of the chips has 2 shorted/soldered leads (shown by the arrow)...which might be correct, but since I don't know what the problem is I figure I'd ask. Also, the two "input" pads on the back are showing continuity which I'm also stating just in case it's not normal. Middle resistor or cap is missing from just under the reset button in case that's not normal either...

Check the image below

I've emailed tech support but still waiting on a response.

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Permalink Reply by David Dominguez on May 8, 2012 at 4:04pm

So far from tech support...

Hi David,

Thank you for contacting 3D Robotics Technical Support. Some receivers need to be plugged into the APM in a certain order for them to work. You can try checking the blogs and forums for more information. You can also try re-loading the firmware or downloading the latest Mission Planner. It sounds like the problem is most likely software related.

The characters you see in the CLI screen are normal; they are just the MavLink which is illegible.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you.

Regards,
Carmen

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Permalink Reply by Vernon Barry on May 11, 2012 at 4:00am

That's normal, those pins are connected together by the trace copper and the solder mask just lets the solder pridge them too. It's fine. This is not your problem.

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Permalink Reply by David Dominguez on May 9, 2012 at 12:18pm

Ok now I've tried the Arduplane firmware, the one for helicopters, octas, and back to quad.

The PPM output still won't do anything when I move the radio. All bars stay grey in the quad setup. I have green values in the arduplane firmware but that's there by default because they don't move (see pics).

Below you can see the two PPM signals. The red is the output from the APM2 and the yellow is the output from the receiver (input to the APM2). The PWM signal from the receiver changes with radio inputs (pic on the right is throttle up), but no response from APM2, no matter what firmware is loaded or when I reset it.

Here's the radio calibration screen from the arduplane firmware loaded (green bars don't move at all):

Values:

And here's the one with the arducopter firmware (no green bars):

Values:

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Permalink Reply by David Dominguez on May 11, 2012 at 7:01am

Hi all, I appreciate your replies and help.

The pins are connected as shown in the official wiki here:

The wire in my first pic of the Rx connection that looks like it's going to one of the bind pins is an optical illusion from the angle...you can actually count 3 pins "above" the connector so you can see it's not actually in one since there are only 3 pins per column.

Here's a different angle with it connected now to a naze32 FC (which works fine)

I have also tried this Rx:

The inputs have been verified with the oscilloscope. The PWM signal is 'moving' as intended with both Rx

Soon after that first picture was taken, I had also flipped the ESC servo wires up so that only the signal wires were in the pins.

Most of my other testing was done with just the receiver connected and a servo/single esc in arduplane mode (since it's easier to keep my microplane by my desk than the quad)

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Permalink Reply by Vernon Barry on May 11, 2012 at 11:43am

Soon after that first picture was taken, I had also flipped the ESC servo wires up so that only the signal wires were in the pins.

My concern is that is normally a bad idea as well because then how is the PWM signal referenced to ground, most likely creating a rather nasty noise level? You definitely don't want to go back to the main battery as, from that ground point, the short ESC power ground wire has a voltage increases (the return current puls it up above ground) when the motors start drawing current thus actually introducing noise to each ESC input.

Following the standard wiring layout is always better than trying roll your own. I'm just saying the forum is full of problems where people do just this type of scheme and then have problems and crashes.

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Permalink Reply by Jake Stew on May 11, 2012 at 12:44pm

The + and - pins are all bridged on both the receiver and the APM, so there's no reason to connect more than one of each.

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Permalink Reply by Vernon Barry on May 11, 2012 at 11:46am

Also, I'd like to better understand. Through your testing, other receivers work fine, just the AR8000 doesn't work right?

All I'm saying is I have 2 AR8000 and 2 APM2.0s both work just fine. I cannot come up with a reason there is something wrong with the APM if 2 other different branded receivers also work, but not the AR8000, then it pretty much must be something up with the AR8000.

 

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Dean Wynton on May 11, 2012 at 3:13am

Hi David,

I am not too familiar with Spektrum equipment but judging from the above pictures I would say your problem lies in the way you have connected the reciever to the apm.

It appears you are only using one wire per channel?

Try using the proper 3 wired servo leads male to male such as these and you will find it will work there are 3 outputs - negative, positive and signal, with the signal wire usually being white or orange.

Make sure you plug them in the right orientation for it to work..

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Permalink Reply by Vernon Barry on May 11, 2012 at 3:53am

No, it should work as he has it wired, I have the exact same Spektrum receiver and APM 2.0 wired the same way.

Are you sure the receiver has been binded to the TX?

Does the orange LED on both the receiver and the satelitte go solid on when the radio TX is on and everything is powered up?

 

Have you checked to see if the receiver is getting power?

Once I didn't have the wires seated far enough into the receiver since they bind a little because they are square and the holes are keyed for a rounded shape.

 

I do see one error, why is the black wire on the left hand side of the receiver going to the "BND/DAT" terminal? That could be causing the problem.

OH, another MAJOR error in wiring! DO NOT PLUG the ESCs DIRECTLY into the APM outputs!!! You are shorting all 4 BECs in the ESCs together. You MUST use a power distro board that uses only 1 of the BECs to power the APM. This will cause you problems in the long run. DO yourself a favor, buy the power distro board from 3DR. It's worth it to not damage hardware and cause noise and power issues. Your other alternative is to clip or remove the red center wire in the ESC plugs on 3 of the 4 ESCs. The reason is the regulators in the 4 ESCs are all different and have slightly different voltages and will fight each other and get hotter, wasting battery power, possibly even browning out in flight.It causes more problems than it's worth. DO it right, either build your own to EXACTLY match the 3DR wring or just buy one. This is the biggest error here and at least somebody does this once a week. This isn't the cause of the radio not working, but it will be a problem the first time you connect the battery and try to fly with load on the motors.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Dean Wynton on May 11, 2012 at 4:04am

I see Vernon, you are talking about the wire on the far left of the receiver?

If that is for binding then it probably would cause a problem

I would assume any receiver can be wired in this configuration, having one feed and then just using signal out? But purely as a matter of interest and because I cant figure it out :) what is the benefit of wiring to the receiver this way?. Or is it just a matter of preference..

 

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Permalink Reply by Vernon Barry on May 11, 2012 at 4:17am

It's just less wires and in this specific case, OK since all the signals go to the APM. You wouldn't want to do this with servos or loads, but the single common signal and power ground in this case normally isn't and issue with any receiver. Again, the only caution is to not plug any load such as a servo into the receiver with this single power/signal ground wire, then we might start seeing noise, but because the receiver draws a constant DC low power load and it's just going to the high impedance inputs of the APM from a signal perspective, we can "get away with" using a single ground.

Less wires, less expensive.

Again, I didn't trace it but that wire going to bind could constantly be setting the receiver into bind mode and thus no outputs from the receiver, or causing some other wierd mode. Definitely, need to go back through and fix the wiring at the receiver side. The power and ground to the receiver look OK, and most of the signal wires look correct, but obviously there is a channel order problem since a wire is plugged into "bind".

Also must fix that output side as I indicated.

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