2014 3DR quad issue?

I am hoping someone could maybe give me a few ideas on some problems I have been having with my new build:

2014 3DR Quad Frame Kit
3DR APM 2.5 w/external compass/gps (trace cut on APM board)
3DR 880Kv black motors
QBrain 4x20A ESC (all calibrated)
4S 5200mAh liPo battery pack
10" x 4.7 APC Props from 3DR
The apm was on an older 3dr quad, so I reset everything to factory defaults and started over. I also upgraded to the latest non-beta firmware today which is 3.15.

I have done all calibrations(accel/compass), compassmot shows 11%, vibrations are low and I am still fine tuning the pids. I did try auto-tune a couple times, but after calibration was done and I had tried the new settings, my quad would wobble like crazy, totally bad settings.

I've noticed that the motors get very warm, almost too hot to touch. Today I was testing out RTL and just before it touched down, less than 3ft from the ground one motor(front right) went completely out, no power so it ended up flipping over. After removing power then plugging the lipo back in, everything is fine, motor starts along with the rest without any problems, I did a short hover and it's fine?

I attached the log from todays tests, I am wondering if I should be going with better esc's, maybe 30amp ones? Possibly different props like possibly CF 10x4.5 ones? The motor temps I am not used to , most the time with my other quads the motors are warm, but not to the point where these ones are.

If someone could please take a look maybe someone can see something I missed, I would really appreciate it.

I had started another post a few days ago from here: http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/3dr-2014-quad-frame-kit-pid-settings

2014-05-27 13-27-45.log

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    • This morning I was able to get some fine tuning done, and I noticed that replacing the 4 in 1 esc with 20amp SimonK esc's from 3DR made all the difference. Autotune took less than 4 minutes, and after a total of 8 minutes of flight time the motors are just warm now, no more running hot. I attached a screenshot of after autotune ran.

      AfterAutoTune.png

      • Using 4S 5200mAh liPo battery pack? What is your current configuration?

        • Yes, i'm using the 4S 5200mAh pack with the config at the start of this thread and separate simonk 20amp esc's

          • Which manufacturer battery do you have or what is the weight? Also, do you have Gimbal? Do you think your problem is solved now?

            • The battery is from RMRC, it's actually a 5100mAh battery, I also have a 5.8 video tx and a small camera onboard. So far after about 3 additional flights I think it's safe to say the problem is solved.

              • I am wondering if the Gimbal + HEAVY battery put's it over the top, I know with everything on (Gimbal, FPV Gear, Camera) it feels pretty heavy.

                SJ4000 58G
                Tarot T-2D v2 200g
                3DR 2014 Frame/motors/ESC 1.3kg (From 3DR)

                6k battery *680g*

                • It's possible, but with the weight of mine all loaded up being 5lbs it's doing pretty good. The only other thing you could do would be to get better motors and bigger props

  • Also... You mentioned that the q-brain esc are new for this build... Cam you try the ones you had on your last one?
    • Hi,

      From what I can tell in the logs, current draw was around 8000mAh at it's highest point with the 4 in 1 esc.

      This morning I had a chance to try out the new configuration with the 20Amp SimonK esc's from 3DR and even though the current draw is almost the same, maybe a little lower, the motors are not getting hot like they were before, you might be right about a timing issue, I know the 4 in 1 esc does not run the SimonK firmware and I just ran it stock with no software changes other than changing battery type to LiPo.

      I don't have much time today so tomorrow looks like a good time to test everything out, I had about 8 minutes of hover time with it, it seemed more stable as well, what I am wondering about is I did not have to change any of the PID settings for this to work?

      • I think you are right, It must be timing related. Your configuration really doesn't sound bad at all, and 2A per motor is well within range

        Also the the standard PIDs should be pretty close. The black motors are stronger than the blue ones, but you're heavier too.

        I might have even looked at an 11x4.7 for that motor. :) In fact I did some tests with that combination and no problems whatsover.

        I use a Multistar 4822 - 690 and get better performance results though on 12x3.8s. 

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