Which board did I damage?
Arducopter was flying fine for about 10 flights over the last 4 days. Today, hovering about 4 ft off the ground the heli did a flip (for no reason, it was in stable mode) and landed upside down. After repowering, 2 ESCs were sounding error codes (rapid beep), so I thought maybe I blew some ESCs or motors.
After rebooting, though, I could give rudder input and 2 motors would spin even though the Green LED was solid (indicating the "unarmed, safe to move" condition). Stranger still, I repower the board an hour later, and the heli initializes and I am able to arm it and the ESCs all work again. I even test hover over some grass. I land a bit hard and then the problem reappears.
Now at home, however, I cannot re-arm the board. Configurator does not show any Tx inputs. I know the Rx is good, since I switched it out with another known good one and double confirmed using a standard servo. My sensors all respond in Configurator. The board boots normally (flashing R G B, then solid Green).
I just do not know which board is damaged? I'm assuming it's the lower Mega board (since it's the one with the servo headers, plus it's cheaper), but want a more informed diagnosis.
Was fun while it lasted :^(
After rebooting, though, I could give rudder input and 2 motors would spin even though the Green LED was solid (indicating the "unarmed, safe to move" condition). Stranger still, I repower the board an hour later, and the heli initializes and I am able to arm it and the ESCs all work again. I even test hover over some grass. I land a bit hard and then the problem reappears.
Now at home, however, I cannot re-arm the board. Configurator does not show any Tx inputs. I know the Rx is good, since I switched it out with another known good one and double confirmed using a standard servo. My sensors all respond in Configurator. The board boots normally (flashing R G B, then solid Green).
I just do not know which board is damaged? I'm assuming it's the lower Mega board (since it's the one with the servo headers, plus it's cheaper), but want a more informed diagnosis.
Was fun while it lasted :^(
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sebastian Gralla on -
check all your connectors, check if all pins are correctly soldered on both (the red and the blue) board
check your motor connections, check ESC power connections
i don't think that one of your main boards is damaged
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Permalink Reply by chris g on -
I checked the pin connections as best I could and they seemed to be ok. I noticed that there is a blue led on the mega board (red board) that indicates the link status to the Rx. At boot, sometimes it will light up (good) and sometimes it stays off, so I think it has something to do with the trace that leads to the Rx input.
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Permalink Reply by Gunnar Forsgren mobimation.com on -
If you have those bullet connectors between ESCs and motors, make sure to check they all have good contact.
In my case I found several of them were rotating freely also when mated, causing bad electrical contact. I soldered them up solid.
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