Suddenly unable to arm APM 2.6

Posted by Adam P. on May 29, 2014 at 9:40am

Hi everyone,

I'm completely stumped. I've flown a bunch of successful test flights, with no major issues. Yesterday I went out for another flight and all of a sudden my Y6 won't arm! I'm not getting any errors in Mission Planner, I have a good GPS lock, my radio, compass, accel., and ESCs are all calibrated.

After plugging in the battery and moving the throttle down and right to arm, literally nothing happens. The flashing lights don't change, and no motors spin up (I know the motors are fine after rechecking ESC calibration).

I let it sit overnight to let my frustration cool down, and tried again today with no luck.

Any ideas? I'm leaving for the field in about a week, so I need this thing to be working!

Thanks!

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Replies

  • Haygood May 29, 2014 at 4:02pm
    In the comets at of parameters in mission Planner, look for something about arming checks. If you search the list of parameters for "arm", I think it is the first one.

    Anyway, there is a parameter you can set to determine what it checks before allowing by you to arm. 0 is disable. -& turns off GPS (+1 for enable then -9 for disable GPS = -8). So, set it to zero and I bet it arms. The. Switch individual checks on and off to narrow down the problem.

    Of course the normal procedure applies. Make sure you have pushed the button on the APM to or earn it, and make sure you are in stabilize or a similar manual mode. It won't arm in auto or loiter, for example.
    • Adam P. > Haygood May 30, 2014 at 1:34am

      Thanks, I've made it a habit of troubleshooting each of the pre-arm checks, so all is well. Still not sure why my radio calibrations didn't stick until the latest time.

    • Haygood > Haygood May 29, 2014 at 4:05pm
      The above should read, "In the complete list of parameters.." Sorry for the typo.
  • Nigel Brown May 29, 2014 at 3:29pm

    Glad you got it fixed, but reading your message, shouldn't it be

    1)  throttle down,

    2)  other arm (depending on whether you are mode 1 or 2) down and to the right,

    not throttle down and right?

    • Pedals2Paddles > Nigel Brown May 29, 2014 at 6:00pm

      Arming is commanded by minimum throttle and full right yaw.  Both of which are on the same stick.  That one stick therefore is down and to the right.

    • Nigel Brown > Pedals2Paddles May 29, 2014 at 6:31pm

      Thanks P2P

      You are right for Mode 2... but not Mode 1.

      Mode 1 the throttle is on the right and yaw on the left. To arm in Mode 1, the right stick (throttle) goes down and the left stick goes down and to the right.

      Here is a diagram url

      Best regards

      Mode 1 VS Mode 2 Article: Spektrum - The Leader in Spread Spectrum Technology
    • Adam P. > Nigel Brown May 30, 2014 at 1:32am

      Right, I use Mode 2, so down and right is correct for me. I only recently found out there were Mode 1 radios, so now I debating the merits of both...

  • Ben Snyder May 29, 2014 at 10:02am

    You've probably tried this but check your radio settings and MP display to make sure you're in Stabilize mode. Don't forget to push the red safety button!

  • Pedals2Paddles May 29, 2014 at 9:43am

    Recalibrate the radio.  Chances are it is not seeing the minimum throttle it thinks it should see, or isn't seeing the far right rudder that it thinks it should see.  Don't forget about the throttle failsafe when you do the calibration.

    • Adam P. > Pedals2Paddles May 29, 2014 at 9:51am

      Wow thanks. That fixed it. Strange though, because I've recalibrated the radio 5 times in the last 2 days...don't know why it only stuck this last time. Whatever, just happy to be up and running again. Thanks!

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