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RC Calibration Kills PixHawk with latest firmware 3.2.3

Posted by Brian Christal on April 26, 2015 at 12:16pm

I loaded Plane 3.2.3 so I could try terrain following. Everything seemed fine, no errors, but no output to the ESC or servos in any mode. The mode switch works because I can see the modes change in Mission Planner. 

I noticed the IO B/E Led was glowing amber.

Resetting all parameters removes the amber IO B/E LED and "fixes" the problem so the servos and ESC work (in any mode, although they're all backwards since my settings have been erased).

If I Calibrate my Radio the B/E led will glow amber again and I will no longer have servo output, in any mode. No errors show up in Mission Planner. In fact the Message Tab on the Flight Data screen says "Ready to Fly".

Using a DX8 with satellite.

This can be duplicated on two different hawks - 3DR and HK32

Both Hawks work with Plane 3.0.x

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Brian

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Replies

  • Developer
    Andrew Tridgell May 17, 2015 at 4:27am

    Hi Brian,

    I've pushed a fix for this bug, many thanks for reporting it!

      https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/commit/db871cc5811e257b47cc1...

    Meanwhile, a quick workaround is to set RC8_TRIM to 900.

    Cheers, Tridge

  • Developer
    Grant Morphett April 30, 2015 at 6:29pm

    Hi Brian.  This is odd.  I'm not sure how calibrating the radio could cause an IO bus error.  Your not powering things in a funny way?

    Could you please reset your parameters and then calibrate  your radio again so you get the issue and post your tlog from Mission Planner and your dataflash log from your 3DR Pixhawk (because I'm most familiar with those).  Can you note the time you calibrated the radio as well please and put it into the response?

    Thanks, Grant.

    • Brian Christal > Grant Morphett May 1, 2015 at 7:19am

      Thanks for getting back. The B/E error occurs on Pixhawk reboot. There are two data logs in the attached zip file. 

      77.bin contains the radio calibration. No error has occurred - yet. The Pixhawk will still output to the servo after the calibration.

      78.bin is the reboot. The Pixhawk starts in B/E error. 

      I calibrated the radio at 8:53. Sorry, I didn't get seconds.

      jpeg is photo of B/E error and Pixhawk setup. I get the same error with different power sources, different Pixhawk, different satellite.

      Thanks!

      Brian

      Logs.zip

      • Developer
        Grant Morphett > Brian Christal May 4, 2015 at 5:10am

        I wrote all the info below (which I left as an FYI) and then re-read your original post.  Can you confirm if you load the 3.0.x firmware you don't have the B/E problem?  If that's the case we broke something and we will need to fix it.

        Hi again.  On this page

        https://pixhawk.org/users/status_leds

        you can see for your LED it says

        ON: Initialization error, check your RC config options in your parameters

        This lines up with your observation that only once you calibrate the radio you have the problem.

        You second log file stops just after it has listed all the parameters due to the B/E occurring. 

        The fact that its occurring on two different autopilots tells me its not the autopilot itself but something to do with your RC.  I have never used Orange/Spectrum myself so I'm a bit in the dark.  On this page

        http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-pixhawk-and-px4-compatible-...

        it says the following

        Please note that you can use a Spektrum Satellite receiver with Pixhawk or PX4 if you bind it to the transmitter using a main Spektrum receiver module. It is not currently supported to bind the Satellite receiver directly to the transmitter while the receiver is connected to the Pixhawk or PX4.

        I'm not sure if this is still the case.

        Can you try a different receiver, preferably a different model?

        Thanks, Grant.

        • Brian Christal > Grant Morphett May 5, 2015 at 5:12pm

          I swapped the OrangeRX satellite with a Spektrum brand satellite. Same behavior. The Pixhawk and PX4 Compatible RC Transmitter and Receiver Systems Wiki article just discusses how you bind the satellite to the transmitter. All of that is working correctly.

          I've attached log files from three APM Plane firmwares. The problem seems to have started in APM Plane 3.2.x. It's not present in 3.1.1.

          APM Plane 3.2.3
          1.bin
          Starts with default settings
          Radio calibration is performed - no errors
          2.bin
          Reboot - B/E condition is present

          APM Plane 3.2.2 (Identical behavior to 3.2.3)
          1.bin
          Starts with default settings
          Radio calibration is performed - no errors
          2.bin
          Reboot - B/E condition is present

          APM Plane 3.1.1
          1.bin
          Starts with default settings
          Radio calibration is performed - no errors
          2.bin
          Reboot - B/E condition is NOT present

          Also, it is not the act of calibrating the transmitter, rather the stored settings. Each time I installed new (or previous version) the "calibrated" settings are still present from the previous test. The Pixhawk boots up in B/E condition. I had to "restore defaults" with new firmware install to remove the B/E condition.

          Hope this helps.

          Brian

          Logs_1.zip

          • Developer
            Grant Morphett > Brian Christal May 17, 2015 at 3:33am

            Hi Brian.  I haven't forgotten about this :-)  I've asked Tridge to have a look as he is the Yoda of ArduPilot :-)

            Thanks, Grant

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