Discussions

Retractable Legs APM 2.6 FW 3.2.x Assistance

Posted by TheMightyThor on March 9, 2015 at 3:51am

I am looking for some help to understand what i might be doing wrong. i purchased retractable skids for all my quads running APM 2.6 FW 3.2.x. My setup as follows:

APM 2.6. FrSky V8FRII, Turnigy 9XR running OPENTX.

Initially, i connected the skids to channel 8, programmed the Radio to respond to the gear switch.

this was the result, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_n_PACtO2w

It seems when the switch is flipped, the FC resets. i realize i may need a BEC, but i have a Controller, Tarot TLX8002. the Distributor contends i do not need it with the Skids Tarot TL65B44.

I have since moved the Skids to Channel 7, and i notice the FC lights flashing when i raise the skids as if it reset there as well . i dont dare fly it again since it appears the FC is resetting when ever the skids are rasied.

i would like to understand if i am doing something wrong or does an APM 2.6 not handle SKIDS? any advice as to how to use these skids with an APM 2.6

thanks in advance

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Replies

  • TheMightyThor March 21, 2015 at 5:58am

    in case any one is still following this thread, i did get some UBECs, i connected it to 12v power, then connected the Skids. i then checked the volt meter and was getting the proper volts to make the skids work....well one worked. three others did not respond. they had worked in the past. when i initially received them, i connected to the receiver, clicked my Gear switch, worked great. havent touched them while waiting for UBECs to arrive.

    As stated one skid is working with UBEC, three others are note. now i would love to show off and make a one Skid Landings all the time  to impress the ladies out there, but this is definitely the evil kanevil philosophy :P

    I took apart one of the non working skids thinking maybe a short or over charge stopped it from working. took out the trustly volt meter, the proper voltage goes into the board. letting loose my daredevil evil side, i started moving the volt meter prongs around the board to see what happens. there is a large black chip at the end of the board. touching a few of the soldered ends turned the motor on. a couple touches on other areas made the motor jump.

    3701962656?profile=original

    the board is obviously tiny. the only thing i know about electronics is that it goes on and off, i especially enjoy the clapper :P magical!

    are these little boards a common thing that can be ordered from some where? or are they most likely made by Tarot RC whose brand name is on these skids?

    and imagine, i thought this would have been the simplest thing i ever did with RC. i am gonna just go build an Ark now, the end if nigh and i need a few unicorns on my trip this time :P

    any help is greatly appreciated

    thanks in advance

  • TheMightyThor March 17, 2015 at 7:21pm

    3701959879?profile=originalThis is a look at the multimeter. this reading does not allows the retracts to work. this is connected to the JST connections that come off the battery

    3701960054?profile=originalon this Reading, the retracts work. this is connected to the receiver.

    I have ordered a 3A BEC 5V which i believe i need to by pass the receiver for power.

    hopefully i read this correctly

    thanls

  • Mike Kelly March 15, 2015 at 2:18pm

    I think there is some confusion here. The Tarot landing gear is designed to use the Tarot Controller. They do not work directly on PWM. You connect your pwm control source to the controller and it sends a simple on-off voltage to the landing gear motors. The landing gear motors need at least 10.5v to operate. I think you are confusing the 5v servo signal used only for sending the retract signal to the controller and the power leads designed to supply power to the landing gear motors. If you are splicing a cable from the receiver to the power leads on the retract controller or directly to the retracts that is not going to work. The surge from turning on the motors and the back emf would easily reset the APM.

    The way they are designed to work is 12v directly from your 3s battery to the red/black leads on the controller. The retracts plug into the controller on the sides. Then I use the RC8_pass thru on motor output 8 on the apm to provide the retract signal on the servo connector input to the retract controller. That signal is 5v.

    There is no place for a 5v bec here, other that what is dedicated to the APM.

    • TheMightyThor > Mike Kelly March 15, 2015 at 5:10pm

      You would be correct if the Skids were the Larger Skids. the TL65B44 come with a servo connector and not the JST 2.0 (White Tip) there is no way to connect these skids to the TLX8002 controller because of that mismatch of connection fittings.

      I have it from the manufacturer that these are not like their larger cousins which DO connect to the Controller via the JST 2.0 connection. look at the large pictures, you can see the servo connector on the end of this skid.

      http://www.cnchelicopter.com/tarot-multicopter-small-electric-retra...

      So i will need a 5-6v BEC to connect to these. but i thank you for your help, its been very much appreciated 

      • Mike Kelly > TheMightyThor March 16, 2015 at 6:56am

        I could not tell from your pictures, too much going on. I was under the impression that you had the TLX8002 controller because they came with the landing grear,

        If the skids work directly off a 5v pwm signal then you have found your problem, they draw too much power for your 5v bus and you need to add addition 5v resources like another 5v ubec to stop the skid motors from glitching the FC.

        Good Luck.

        • TheMightyThor > Mike Kelly March 16, 2015 at 10:12am

          i actually did buy the TLX8002 thinking the same as you but then later found out from the selller and manufacturer that only the LARGE of the Skids needs the TLX8002. The skids i have only need to connect to a 5 V source to make them work

          thanks for your time it was very much appreciated

          • Clarence Casper > TheMightyThor March 16, 2015 at 10:21am

            The unanswered question is what current is required from the 5V source?

            It is obviously more than can be sourced from the Receiver which is probably sourced from the APM which is sourced from the Power Module which is finally sourced from the Battery.

            I think you now know what is required.

            • TheMightyThor > Clarence Casper March 16, 2015 at 4:56pm

              yeah i ordered a few BEC to see if that does the trick. i know it works from the receiver, but i will separate the power source and just leave the signal connected to the receiver. i am also going to try the TLX8002 controllers by routing the signal source into the wires and power the legs from the sides of the controller, i think that will also work 

  • TheMightyThor March 14, 2015 at 6:57pm

    I got a lot of time today to play around with the retracts. I reset the failsafes on the V8FR-II HV receiver, thinking it maybe was the cause of the problems because the failsafes were never set, i was letting the APM take care of that. didnt change anything, so i got out my volt meter, measures the charge on the wires, 5-6 volts which is what the retracts need. there were no surges as i expected to see.

    I am using Channel 8 on the Gear switch on the on the turnigy 9XR running OpenTX. i have also tried POT2 on channel 7. there is no connection to the APM FC, the wires are directly connected to the V8FR receiver. still same thing, FC Resets. i tried a Second Craft running APM 2.6 FW 3.2, same thing. 

    So maybe its the FC, it doesnt understand the pulse? or the receiver? i am truly at a lose here.

    Any ideas, i am all ears and thanks in advance

    • Mike Kelly > TheMightyThor March 14, 2015 at 7:46pm

      That is your problem. The retracts will NOT work on 5v. They need a minimum of 10.5v. The servo signals must be normal 5v but the black and red wires that go to the retract module must be 12v. You are loading down your BEC or Power Module causing the FC to reset.

      From the Tarot site:

      Supply voltage:
      Operating voltage: 3S-6S (12.6V --- 25.2V)
      Minimum voltage: 10V
      Maximum voltage: 26V

      Cheers

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