Hi There,
I am just about to setup my Tricopter and before I hooked the Power Module, everything was ok.
Now that I powered the PM, my servo does not work since I removed the ESC BEC red wire (to avoid burning the board).
I have questions on how to power the APM correctly and still provide 5v to the yaw servo.
My board looks like the pics attached.
Without the extra BEC and just using the power module, my APM does not power up, neither my RX. So I plugged an external BEC to the inputs and it works. Overall I do not know what the power module "Powers" - The APM inputs+RX or the outputs? Mine seem to power nothing but I still get the telemetry voltage reading in MP.
To simplify, how should I wire my power using PM + External BEC + ESC BEC so I can power the servo?
Right now all is armed but the servo does no move anymore. I am puzzled.
Thanks for your help!
Replies
Hi Sergio....That external BEC shouldn't be necessary and shouldn't be there if you have a real Power Module hooked up. By "real" I mean a 3DR or equivalent, as some clone PM boards being sold do not provide the 5.5 volts to power the APM although they claim to in their advertising. If you do have a clone PM that can't provide power, then you will need the external BEC. Otherwise the PM will power both your APM and RC receiver. If you have a 3DR PM, and it's not putting out power then perhaps it is damaged.
Of course JP1 needs to be removed.
For powering your tail servo you need to have only one of your three ESCs have its red wire connected to your output bus (and obviously you need all three servo wires connected!). You shouldn't have more than one as the slightly differing voltages between the three ESCs hooked up together isn't good for them. So pick any one of your three to provide power. To help me remember I use the tail rotor ESC.
@Sergio,
Why are you using a BEC and the PM to power the APM?
When the PM is attached to an appropriate LiPo battery and its output cable is attached to the APM PM input, it will provide 5.25 vdc power to the APM and the APM's input power rail which can be used to power the Receiver. See the wiki instructions here: APM Power If the PM will not power your APM when an appropriate battery is hooked to the PM and the PM cable is attached to the APM, you may have a bad PM power cable.
With jumper J1 removed, you will have to power the APM servo output power rail with a separate BEC or ESC BEC to power your Yaw servo.
Regards,
TCIII