Help! Sparks and burning electronics... no

Rebuilding a 3DR hexa to a y-6
Switching the battery from Deans to XT60
Switching from 3S to 4S batteries
Reversed polarity on a power module (mold line in the connector made the - look like a +)
Big spark and toasty circuit smell
replaced the power module
3DR APM 2.5 still lights up, responds to APM software via USB and wireless telemetry
Went through all of the setup steps

No matter what I do, I can't get the motors to spin back up.
I'm pretty sure I get into ESC calibration mode (blink pattern on apm 2.5 matches description in ESC calibration guide), but no 'beeps' from the ESC/motors, no nothing.

I have a voltmeter and a digital oscilloscope, but have a 14mo kid and time is precious, am hoping to avoid the detailed investigation on what I fried.

Question:

Do I need to replace the 6 20amp 3DR ESCs? they seem 'dead'
Do I need to replace the APM itself? It seems to work in all other ways
Is there a simple way to test where my problem is? How to test ESCs? APM?

I love this stuff, and this silly problem is standing between me and my first FPV flight. ARgh!!DF#@$#

If your APM lights up OK when running only on your batteries (not the USB) then it's probably OK. There's a fuse between the PM input and the main power rail of the APM. If you blew that the APM won't power up via battery. But it could still appear to work when plugged in to the USB because that connection bypasses the fuse.

If you hook up your APM to both battery and USB, have a look at the HUD in Mission Planner. If it's reporting correctly and it's showing your right battery voltage then your APM may be OK.

Your PM may have blown out before damage occurred to your APM. But there's no buffer for the ESCs. They got the full brunt of reverse polarity and may all be blown. Times 6.

An easy check would be to connect one or two directly to the output of your RC receiver and see if you get any response. If not, then you have bad ESCs. If you do get a response from the ESCs, then you have a damaged APM.

I did something of even greater dumbness by hooking an APM setup to an 8S power source. It wasn't pretty. It took out the PM, the APM and MinimOSD. The GPS survived. Surprisingly my Castle ESC lived through it (it was a fixed wing setup so just one ESC)

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Tom Mahood July 30, 2014 at 9:58pm

If your APM lights up OK when running only on your batteries (not the USB) then it's probably OK. There's a fuse between the PM input and the main power rail of the APM. If you blew that the APM won't power up via battery. But it could still appear to work when plugged in to the USB because that connection bypasses the fuse.

If you hook up your APM to both battery and USB, have a look at the HUD in Mission Planner. If it's reporting correctly and it's showing your right battery voltage then your APM may be OK.

Your PM may have blown out before damage occurred to your APM. But there's no buffer for the ESCs. They got the full brunt of reverse polarity and may all be blown. Times 6.

An easy check would be to connect one or two directly to the output of your RC receiver and see if you get any response. If not, then you have bad ESCs. If you do get a response from the ESCs, then you have a damaged APM.

I did something of even greater dumbness by hooking an APM setup to an 8S power source. It wasn't pretty. It took out the PM, the APM and MinimOSD. The GPS survived. Surprisingly my Castle ESC lived through it (it was a fixed wing setup so just one ESC)
- Justin Hardin > Tom Mahood July 31, 2014 at 2:47pm
  
  Thanks Tom!
  
  After replacing the PM my APM is booting up happily from the battery
  
  Yep... I tried the direct receiver -> ESC test and no response. I'm pretty sure I fried all of my ESCs x6. :)
  
  Now I'm off to shop for new ESCs. The castle ones look nice. Not sure if I'll go with those or direct replacements from the 3DR store.
  
  Thanks again for the debugging steps, really helped a lot!
  
  -Justin

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