Discussions

Hey everyone. In the past I've built a couple quads and hexes from 3DR using APM2.5. I recently bought the RTF X8. I didn't choose to include radio and receiver but instead to use the DX8 I already have. The X8 came in, I did the minimal assembly required and added a Spektrum satellite receiver (already bound to my DX8) that I took from my 3DR hex. Powered up, connected with APM Planner, did the radio calibration, and tried to arm. Got a message in APM Planner about some safety switch. Finally figured out what that was (my other multi rotors with didn't have this feature), pushed the switch and tried to arm again.

As soon as the X8 armed, the props started spinning. I was a bit surprised, and after about 6 seconds they stopped spinning and the X8 disarmed. Tried arming again, same thing happened. Armed a third time and throttled up just a bit. When I throttled all the way down, the props were still spinning like they did before, but the X8 did not disarm itself this time. Thinking maybe this was the way the Pixhawk system worked, I decided to try to fly. Did a successful test flight and landed. This time when I throttled down, the props stopped spinning. But after a few seconds, one motor started spinning on its own.

Recalibrated the radio again, but still doing the same thing. I did no other calibrations because the instructions for the X8 RTF say, "Do not complete the setup wizard or perform any of the calibrations on the initial setup screen. These have already been completed for you, and your X8 is ready to fly!" I know that the props are not supposed to spin at throttle down but don't know how to fix this. Any ideas? Thanks!