Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Martin Seven on January 16, 2011 at 6:48am

Whatever it is it isn't normal. You can hear the RPMs change after each click and that could have an effect on flight stability. You should definitely try to isolate the ESC+motor stack that's responsible - my guess is that it's a faulty ESC (rotor position sensing).

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian Gralla on January 16, 2011 at 7:05am

unplug 3 of the motors and check if the last motor ticks, if not, plug another one in and so on

at least it will tell you which motor is ticking

it could be a connector problem (no mechanical problem, because it's not ticking every rotation)

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Permalink Reply by Paul Feely on January 16, 2011 at 10:01am

Thanks for confirming it's not normal that was my main concern :(

 

Good suggestion Sebastian for working out which motor, I try that and hopefully be flying click free soon....

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Permalink Reply by Heino R. Pull on January 16, 2011 at 11:48am

I have this same motor clicking on multiple motors. I've replaced the bullet connectors on several motors/ESC's due to bad solder and loose fitting bullets which have caused flips (motor hesitation) on my Arducopter. I've gotten those isolated (stopping/staring motors) but the clicks remain. I just went through all of the connections and replaced the majority of my bullets on both motors and ESC, but I still get occasional clicking while on the ground and in flight. I went through my motors - one by one - and it seems to me that 3 out of the 4 motors/ESC have the clicks.  I've been flying with the clicking (20 flights or so) and I have one spare ESC to swap with.  I'll going to swap the ESC on the motor with the most clicks and see if I notice a difference in flight.

 

Heino

 

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Permalink Reply by Paul Feely on January 16, 2011 at 12:20pm

Heino,

Is it the stock ArduCopter kit you're using?

I've been running each motor individually now and 3 out of 4 escs/motor 'click' very occasionally, couple of minutes can go by with nothing then a couple of 'clicks'. Motors seems to run smoothly through it and remain responsive always.

Think the combination of 4 motors is giving the more regular clicks. After listening for the clicks for a while now they sound like an electrical arc. 

I've decided to strip the board down and check connections, tracks and cable over (again).

Paul

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Permalink Reply by Heino R. Pull on January 16, 2011 at 3:13pm

Yes - I have a stock kit from the first production run (November). I think I'm getting exactly the same behavior. It is hard to get constant clicks running one at a time, but all 4 in unison click fairly frequently, especially when props are attached and under load. I've heard the clicks move from one motor to another when all are running. I actually saw arcing in my bullets early on with louder "bumps" from the corresponding motors, but not the clicks as you recorded in your MP3. There was a thread earlier (now gone) that mentioned crackling in the motors and I originally thought that was the symptom I was having during flight.  There is a statement in the Arducopter on line manual mentioning that crackling at higher RPM was normal so that is what I thought my clicks were.

 

Heino

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Permalink Reply by Peter Seddon on January 17, 2011 at 11:50am

I found it disappeared when I converted my ESC's to I2C. 

 

Peter

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Permalink Reply by Steve Burton on January 18, 2011 at 1:09pm

When you say 12C what do you mean??

I have the same issue, thanks for any response...

Steve

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian Gralla on January 18, 2011 at 1:25pm

I2C is a bus

currently your ESCs are controlled via PPM

I2C is faster, more reliable, uses less cpu power, easier to wire up

the only problem: there are only a few ESCs which support I2C (but you can convert most standard ESCs)

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Permalink Reply by Robert Nalesnik on January 18, 2011 at 1:36pm

I have the same issue but no loss of control.  Seems to cycle through all the motors.  Looking into the I2C bus as mentioned before.

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Permalink Reply by DODY on January 18, 2011 at 2:28pm

Good evening, from time to time I listen to clics on an engine and this week end my Arducopter left in flip to approximately 50m the ground, I twisted a bar and broke 2 propellers.

I seek also why I have noise of clic in the engine?

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian Gralla on January 18, 2011 at 2:59pm

have you checked all connecters before flight?

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