Now the following has happened to me quite a few times with different codes. Latest code I've tried is 2.1. APM is version 1:
I'm hovering in stable mode. In flight, the quad just tips over and crashes. After that, one of the motors is squeaking loudly without rotating.
Moreover, the arducopter does not respond to any stick movements. The leds are on, but I'm unable to disarm it. I need to disconnect and reconnect the battery to get it responding again.
Any ideas? Faulty APM?
Replies
Well, it failed again today... but in a slightly different way :( It started spinning around the yaw axis uncontrollably, and then crashed. I had no control on throttle. Two of the motors (1 and 3) continued spinning after it crashed. I was unable to disarm the arducopter.
Can a BEC brownout cause problems like this? I'm using the BEC in esc #1. I have a stock ArduCopter with telemetry, but no other electronics at the moment.
Now I've tried replacing the ESC and motor that was just screeching. Same sad story.
I think I also got hit by this. Crashed my hexa today with 2.1 firmware. After the crash all 6 motors were stopped and squeeling (I think it were all 6, sounded awfull). Couldn't disarm, so had to pull the battery.
This seems to be happening a lot lately no ? Can this really all be contributed to bad magneto solderings ?
I've about 100 troublefree flights and about 6 crashes. This is my first crash that was clearly an APM failure.
When this happens does the quad continue to respond as if it's trying to keep itself level? For example if you do a hand test (please be careful!) can you feel it fighting against being leaned over? I'm wondering if basically the APM seems alive but is simply not responding to radio inputs.
If 'yes' then you should try updating the PPM encoder (the code that runs on the MUX, the little Atmel328 responsible for the radio input/output). Instructions are on the wiki here. Note that you need an Atmel programmer (sorry!). The latest version of the ppm encoder code can be found in the download area, look for "ArduPPM_v0.9.87_Arducopter-APMv1.4.hex" if you're using a quad or heli (there's another version there for planes).
Ok, I have reflowed the solder joints on the compass. The problem still persists.
Is there anything else I can try?
The compass failed. Check the solder joints.
This is the I2C hangup we're trying to fix. If the compass fails in flight due to vibration and a bad solder joint you can have this issue.
Jason