Discussions

Hi Folks

My quad with latest V2 code is really flying well and I am very happy. However, I still have not discovered a clear answer as to the proper way to "power" the APM (and receiver) during USB communication. With the ESC's getting power from battery, whether I plug USB first or Battery first, I am still getting various combination of motor spin up, motor twiching or chirping. This happens with both CLI and regular flymode switch position. I use a BEC to power APM/Reciever, all the red power lines from ESC's to APM are cut (only ground and signal reaches APM). I am Afraid of "blowing the outputs on the APM) so have the battery power the BEC (APM/Receiver) and the ESCs during USB communication.

In CLI mode I now pulg usb first, then after boot up, plug battery in. In normal mode (to adjust PIDs with GCS I plug battery in first then USB - both on opinions expressed here and on RCgroups.

So Can I just power the board with USB and Never plug the battery in when using USB in either CLI or regular fly mode.

When receiver needs to be powered, can I power it alone without ESC's getting any power? in this way there is no danger of motors burning out (happened twice to me already) or spining up.

Is the concern with blowing the APM outputs only for APM with servos attached and not a concern if ESC's are attached with red wires cut??

Sorry to keep asking about this issue, but I need a definitive answer as I don;t want to loose any more motors or my APM board!!

Thanks

Al