Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jan Schermer on January 25, 2012 at 6:03am

sweet _and_ cheap ;)

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Permalink Reply by Guy Van Rentergem on January 25, 2012 at 6:12am

I tried this. Use a bec to power the apm. Then only signal wires to the ESC's and I can say that they turned in little ovens.
So I reconnected the -wires again and all is well again.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Schermer on January 25, 2012 at 1:48pm

ok, so now I'm confused again :))

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Permalink Reply by Guy Van Rentergem on January 25, 2012 at 1:55pm

Sorry man, I think it is my fault. I'm speaking about the jdrones esc's. Should have read the whole tread...

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Permalink Reply by Jan Schermer on January 25, 2012 at 2:15pm

Hmm, I'm certain it works with grounds connected, I'm uncertain it won't fry when I touch it :)

And I want to comprehend it, only then can I blame myself when it blows up instead of blaming all of you, and only then am I comfortable passing this knowledge to other confused souls. 

Permalink Reply by HangerRat on March 21, 2012 at 3:06pm

I have my ArduQuad flying, but I am really confused about powering the APM 1.4 / 2.0, and in need of clarification for powering my custom Hexa/Ardu build.  The parts I have:

1. Diydrones Hexa PDB

2. Dimension 5V / 3 amp BEC

In the PDB instructions there is a section describing the soldering of the APM power wires, and near the end of the document is says: "Finally solder in the small two-wire cable into the small holes marked “To APM” “+” and “-“, again with the red wire into “+” and the black wire into “-“.".

Should I instead solder the BEC into this location? I don't  know if this +/- connection on the PDB is being being power from the big battery leads, or from one of the ESC/BEC built into via the right angle headers?

Will the RC Receiver still be powered from the APM, through this BEC?

Also, I am concerned about getting the grounds right. If I use the stand-alone BEC will I have the right ground paths for all to work? 

Thanks!

Mike/Confused newbie

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Permalink Reply by HangerRat on March 24, 2012 at 8:00pm

Michael,

Thanks for your note. I still have a few questions. BTW, I am NOT using opto-isolated ESCs.

The 5 volt + / - output on the PDB, how does it produce output of 5 volts?  Is there some kind of conversion within the board itself or does that 5 volts come from one of the plugged in PDBs?  I just don't see how that output becomes 5 volts, when my 3S or 4S batteries are plugged in.

Really confused here: you say "The "APM (-)(+)" on the PDB is a 5 volt output, which you connect directly to your APM.    You then connect only one 5 volt BEC to the right angle header pins. "

Then you say "A stand-alone BEC connected in the way describe above will be fine (having the PDB solves ground related issues to do with incorrect wiring). " 

I am not sure which one you are suggesting I should do, or which one is recommended. Sorry to be thick.

>>Lastyl If you have servos, powers these by a seperate BEC, independant of the PDB.

OK, I have the UDrones camera mount with roll/pitch servos, and according to the Ardu wiki I simply plug those servers into the receiver 1/2 positions  (http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/AC2_Camera). Can you explain why you are suggesting use a separate BEC for such servos?

Thanks again,

Mike

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Permalink Reply by james sowell on March 25, 2012 at 4:08pm

how many amps for copter or plane with all the bells & whistles

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Permalink Reply by HangerRat on March 25, 2012 at 7:27pm

Michael,

Again, thanks for educating. I will do as you suggest, draw things up and post.

Mike

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Permalink Reply by Brad Hughey on March 26, 2012 at 9:46am

Perhaps in addition to advocating star grounding topologies, the idea of additional power supply rail decoupling for the APM might be in order for more complex wiring schemes.  For example, I added a 10uF tantalum to my APM just to make sure the 5V line has a better chance of staying clean.  Bypassing that with a good 4700 pF ceramic might not be a bad idea either, considering the highly complex noise environment in which these things operate.  (my apologies if this has already been suggested)

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Permalink Reply by Torg on April 14, 2012 at 11:05am

I understand how to wiring everything for a clean power to servos and sensors?
 

Thanks for your attention

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Permalink Reply by Torg on April 15, 2012 at 5:23am

did you mean to NOT do something like that? but use a distribution board...

 

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