Cheerson CX-20 problems

I bought a Cheerson CX-20 from HK.  Kind of...

The one I bought was sold without a radio.  The ad stated "just add your own radio".  I received the unit and it had absolutely no instructions (except the basic ones explaining how to use the "included" remote control).

I opened it up and connected my radio.  The channels on the controller were marked "A-E-T-R-1-2-3-4"

I figured out what the "AETR" ones were, and connected them up. After checking on the net, I found that the controller was an Arducopter, so I tried Mission Planner.  That seemed to work, and I used that program to calibrate the radio channels and set things up.

The controller was getting no power from the battery (it DID get power from USB, however), and I noticed that the red wires from all the ESCs were disconnected.  The controller in this machine sits on a power distribution board that happens to have a small switching regulator on it, and 3 wires (red, black,white) came from the board.  A voltmeter showed that 5V was on the red wire and 12V was on the white one.  I connected the red wire to one of the wires connecting the ESCs to the controller and that powered the controller from the battery.

I went through all the mandatory setups in Mission Planner and put the unit in the "loiter" mode, but it will not arm.  The red and green lights are flashing, but it simply will not arm.

I should state that the motors "sing" when I plug in the battery, and that I did get it to arm one time - by accident. The motors spun in response to the throttle.  I have no idea what I did to create that conditon, and I haven't been able to duplicate it.

So I have some questions:

Is there some sort of diagnostic that I can run that will show WHY the unit won't arm?

I didn't see any voltage indication in Mission Planner.  Could it be that the controller doesn't see the appropriate battery voltage and cause the unit not to arm?  Should the wire that has the 5V and 12V be routed to the controller somwhere so it can not only get power but sense the battery voltage (I don't see where it could plug in).

There is a small PCB that holds the USB connector on the bottom of the machine, and there is a 3-conductor wire coming from that. It is not connected to anything now.  What is that for?

There are a bunch of pin headers surrounding the USB connector.  What are those for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  HK is of absolutely no help whatsoever.

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  • I changed a compass setting as directed by an advanced use in Parameters But the CX20s lights went out and it just beeped continuosly.

    I didnt know what to do as it would NOT conect to Missionplanner so I could NOT even fix parameters.

    Solution:

    I disconnected battery.

    Started Mission Planner

    Plugged in the USNB from the quad to the PC which of course saw the Quad beep every second very annoying.

    I let it beep its brains out and clicked connect in MP

    It still wouldnt connect  and timed out so I went into the termibnal screen in MP and clicked the green connect box there

    Then after that appeared to worlk I clicked the main pages connect plug icon and it connected.

    I reloaded a good Full parameter list and then disconnected MP and the USB

    On reconnecting the battery the quad worked properly

    Thank God I thought i had bricked it for good

    Lesson stay away from Mission Planner it really can cause issues.

  • I changed a compass setting as directed by an advanced use in Parameters But the CX20s lights went out and it just beeped continuosly.

    I didnt know what to do as it would NOT conect to Missionplanner so I could NOT even fix parameters.

    Solution:

    I disconnected battery.

    Started Mission Planner

    Plugged in the USNB from the quad to the PC which of course saw the Quad beep every second very annoying.

    I let it beep its brains out and clicked connect in MP

    It still wouldnt connect  and timed out so I went into the termibnal screen in MP and clicked the green connect box there

    Then after that appeared to work I clicked the main pages connect plug icon and it connected.

    I reloaded a good Full parameter list and then disconnected MP and the USB

    On reconnecting the battery the quad worked properly

    Thank God I thought i had bricked it for good

    Lesson stay away from Mission Planner it really can cause issues.

  • I changed a compass setting as directed by an advanced use in Parameters But the CX20s lights went out and it just beeped continuosly.

    I didnt know what to do as it would NOT conect to Missionplanner so I could NOT even fix parameters.

    Solution:

    I disconnected battery.

    Started Mission Planner

    Plugged in the USNB from the quad to the PC which of course saw the Quad beep every second very annoying.

    I let it beep its brains out and clicked connect in MP

    It still wouldnt connect  and timed out so I went into the termibnal screen in MP and clicked the green connect box there

    Then after that appeared to worlk I clicked the main pages connect plug icon and it connected.

    I reloaded a good Full parameter list and then disconnected MP and the USB

    On reconnecting the battery the quad worked properly

    Thank God I thought i had bricked it for good

    Lesson stay away from Mission Planner it really can cause issues.

  • Hi!

    I have a CX-20, installed the Mission Planner and connect the CX -20 to the PC, after upgrading the CX-20, never more armed, and after making restore defaults passed beeping and flashing consecutively... :(

    Do you have any firmware version that you can install or parameters file that makes the CX -20 able to fly again?

    Thanks,

    José

    • I had the same issue , i cant arm the cx-20 after upgrading the firmware. The solution as mentioned by SteveD above, solved the problem.

      Have you checked that the "Arm/Disarm" option in the Mission Planner software is set correctly. I had this same problem after I had completed a firmware update. I found that with the CX-20 connected to the Mission Planner software and then clicking on "Config/Tuning" Tab and then click on "Standard Params" Tab then look at the first setting at the top of the page ARMING CHECK And the you need to select "Disabled" in the drop down box and then click on the top green WRITE PARAMS button to send the data to your CX-20. - SteveD

      So i dont need to restore to the original firmware.

      Hope this helps.

      • Thanks Bayu Octariyanto  for letting us know you have also resolved this problem by following my post.

        Many problems can be fixed from changing settings in Mission Planner software including changing the point at which the CX-20 shows a Low Battery Alarm

        Regards

        Steve

         

        • Hello i wonder if you could help me please  my cheerson cx20 also emitts the low voltage alarm at around 11.8 volts is there anyway to adjust this please

          • again, try downloading Mission Planner and connecting your CX-20 via the usb connection and check the settings in Mission Planner to see what the Low battery alarm setting is set to... 

            • its set at 10.5 the low volatge works fine throught telemetry as i use a power module so the apn can see the battrey voltage but it the pdb inbuilt circuit which is the issue as that independant to the flight controller in pdb is still activating at 11.8v at the first warning beep and flashing i was hoping of awayto set this lower 

              • I am a little confused.You haven't mentioned you have checked that its set in Mission Planner.

                Have you downloaded Mission Planner Software and installed it on a pc or laptop and connected your cx-20 to it via usb connection and then gone into the settings for changing the low voltage alarm and set this to 10.5v and then saved it to your cx-20.    

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