no power to RX?

ip9 December 11, 2010 at 3:14pm

OK, first basic test completed and everything is spinning and trying to get off the ground, so will be out for the first test flights tomorrow. Thanks once again for all the help everyone.

took a little while to figure out as the power board had been soldered up differently from the instructions (i'd ordered the soldered kit) so i had to pop the connectors out of the plug and replace back in the correct order.

ip9 December 10, 2010 at 2:27pm

OK, had a nice little envelope waiting at home for me this evening - thanks so much Chris - so I now have a working RX once again. Must have been some dodgy ones from HK before :( i'll make sure to pop out and pick up Wired for the next few months by way of saying thanks.

i've managed to arm the motors and can get them all spinning up but as i'd calibrated the ESCs with my 2 channel gear during the RX troubleshooting stage, I would have thought that i'd need to recalibrate them again. I think this should be done using the RX directly still as i can't see how it could be done in the configurator. Can someone confirm for me before i rush ahead as this was where something went wrong for me last time..

i think i need to plug each ESC into the RX in turn as calibrate just as i would for a "normal" ESC.. is this correct?

ip9 December 9, 2010 at 2:53pm

Hi Guys,

ok an update here - got myself a multimeter and have tested the output voltage from the APM to the RX connector, and its reading 5v (well, 4.96 to be precise) so it looks like the problem can't be with the kit or PDB, so it must have been that i had two dodgy turnigy RXs ;(

As Chris had kindly offered to send me his spare (and known-good) RX hopefully that will be here soon and i'll be able to give it another test. Fingers crossed.

seems i've been unlucky with turnigy this time as the TX lipo i bought at the same time seems to have a faulty cell too :(

ip9 December 6, 2010 at 3:51am

thanks for all the help so far guys - especially you chris..

just one thing more to check - I am using all the 3 pin connectors from the ESCs and connecting into the power board - all the example pictures only show a single ESC - but I assume its correct to connect all 4 ESCs to the deans and all 4 normal "RX leads" from the ESC to the connections on the power board - i dont need to remove any of the wires from the 3 pin connectors?

ip9 December 5, 2010 at 2:34pm

Thanks everyone,.

update so far

Both RX's out and on their own seems to be a no-go, nothing, just a brief flash of the red led as power is connected and then nothing

All 4 ESCs and motors out and connected to my 2 channel spectrum gear - all ok

Arducopter connected to configurator is reading data and all sensors seem to be ok (not tested GPS yet)

all 4 ESCs beep when connected to copter - but still no response when sending commands to motors from configurator

So if i'm correct, so this would suggest a faulty power distribution board? unfortunately i don't have a multimeter but am thinking it would be useful to have one.

i think my logic is sound as above, at least the most expensive components (Ardu,IMU,ESCs, Motor) seem ok i'm just out a couple of $9 RXs

Is there anything else i can do to confirm if its the power board? or should i now take this up with fahpah?

Mark Curry December 5, 2010 at 2:18pm

Yes I would get the RX working on its own, just pull out the wires and connect up an ESC or battery with a servo and get it working with TX before trying again. If the RX is not working, I dont think you will have joy with the motors.

Mark Curry December 5, 2010 at 1:31pm

Receiver side looks good, I am a little worried by the wires on the far side of the APM. Difficult to tell but from the pic the power wire from the ESC/PB looks inverted. Shoulp be black in bottom row red in middle.... could be the angle of the picture??

ip9 December 5, 2010 at 1:22pm

Pictures (hopefully) - had some real issues getting these to upload..