Hi all,
I am looking for advice from someone with experience using KDE ESC's with Pixhawk. I know from this APM page that I am to manually set RC1_MIN/RC1_MAX ... RC6_MIN/RC6_MAX to 1100 and 1900, respectively (this is a hex):
The KDE ESCs have fixed PWM ranges so you must manually set the output range of each PWM signal so that RCx_MIN is 1100 and RCx_MAX is 1900us using the Advanced Parameter or Full Parameter Settings Page in the planner.
Once I had done this, the motors would spin as expected when armed. However, I wonder if trim needs to be adjusted as well? It seemed as if the throttle was more sensitive once I had set these manual values, vs. the curve when I had simply done an ESC "all at once" calibration.
So is there a particular order this should be done, between the ESC calibration and/or the manual 1100/1900 in advanced params?
Any other advice from folks with this setup? Seems to be working, I've got a "flips every time on launch" craft but I strongly suspect that's a CG issue (two 10Ah 6S's on top, not enough to balance on the bottom yet).
Thanks!
Replies
I know it's been some time since you posted this, but I was wondering if you ever had an issue with all motors arming except for one of them. I'm flying a Pixhawk with Spektrum receiver, and KDE ESC's and motors. I have adjusted the values that you listed but it didn't seem to help. I have been at this for around two weeks now, and have ran into nothing but problem after problem. Any information that you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Issue:
I can arm the motors and once I start to increase throttle four out of six motors will begin to spin, but 2 will not be spinning. Once I get to almost Mid throttle the 5th motor will begin to spin, but the sixth doesn't kick in. Can anyone help me with this?
Hi crayfellow,
It's been a long while since you posted this, but I made some progress after following a thread over at multirotorforums.
Anyway, KDE ESCs don't need calibration. Well, you can, but I understand you need a special device and some programming skills. I had a lot of issues trying to get things to play nice and I couldn't even get the motors to arm before I figured how to make sure the Pixhawk was putting out the min-max of 1100-1900 on the throttle.
I have the following bits:
KDE 4012XF 400Kv
KDE XF 35A OPTO ESC
Pixhawk + 5v BEC plugged into main out #8
Taranis transmitter
I'm going to copy and paste my instructions from another thread:
Now this is bench only at the moment so who knows if problems will present themselves once airborne. I'll detail my steps:
Fresh install of copter 3.3 and reset all parameters to their default. (I notice that RC_MINx & RC_MAXx all seem to be 1100-1900 by default now)
Do mandatory setup for frame type, compass and accel calibration.
*Radio Calibration* is where I had success. I noticed that if I set my throttle min max in my Taranis transmitter to 1100-1900, the radio calibration screen in Mission Planner/APM Planner would show a different value. 989-2015 let's say.
I navigated to page 7/12 'SERVOS' of the Taranis and adjusted the min-max for the throttle while looking at the radio calibration screen of Mission Planner.
On the Taranis my throttle min is -79.6% for a value of 1132us
my throttle max is 77.2% for a value of 1932us
and my ppm center is 1539 delta.
On the radio calibration page of Mission planner though, throttle min is exactly 1100, throttle max is exactly 1900, and the midpoint is exactly 1520.
When I power up, the motors make that familiar beep every half second. When the arm button is pressed, beeps double in speed before a confirmation tone. Throttle down right then sees the motors spin up.
I had no need to change any of THR_MIN, MOT_SPIN_ARMED, or THR_MID as I've seen suggested elsewhere.
This has worked flawlessly every single time since I've done it so for me, at the moment anyway, this seems to be the key to get the KDE stuff and the Pixhawk to play nice (for me).