I Found a solution to the problem; I changed ESCs to Tiger Motor ESCs and changed the signal to 200hz.
More tunning on PID required, will try Autotune, however quad flies great on stabilized mode.
It is now clear that the problem is not related to PIXHAWK but to the ESCs and signal processing by the motors . As previously mentioned by experts in this Forum, the signal for Pixhawk is always the same and the controller is not the problem.
7/27/2015
Ok I accidentally sent a message to all the group, but I meant to make a clear declaration about PIxhawk.
For some reason, no one has ever found a resolution with the motor sync issue with some ESCs,( in my case with hobbywing 40a and 60a and the sudden loss of control of the Pixhawk due to signal malfunction with low RPM high pole count motors ( t motor 4008 380kv).
I believe it is important to mention, that after tunning, changing ESCs checking motors, and a few minutes of Stabilize and Loiter flight mode flight, switching to Pixhawk has been truly disappointing, and everyone should no that it will take some time to reach the " industrial" reliability and end user friendliness of the DJI Wookong M in the Pixhawk.
I believe it will be possible, but when there are potential to date unsolved issues, the community needs to be aware of them, in order to create proper expectations of Drone Builders and developers.
Pixhawk is completely incompatible with hobbywing Pentium 60 a and Hobbywing 40a ESCs. It Flips on necessary roll adjustments, and the motors are completely out of synchronization, even after adjusting RC signal parameters, PID adjustments, ensuring good connections, and checking motors and ESCs.
I truly hope the solution will be using DJI or T motor ESCs; however, there is a lot of people that are likely to try Hobbywing, or other brand high Amp ESCs with large motors, and my message is:
DON'T try it!!
You will spend more money, parts and time and brain power than simply using another controller.
Replies
Any thread title that begins with "The truth...." is always going to be a great one! Sounds a bit like a click bait story..."This guy started using Simonk ESC's with a low KV motor and you'll never believe what happened next..."
On a more serious note I had issues with SimonK escs and 400kV motors - after doing some research (there are plenty of threads on various forums) I found BLheli and it's worked great ever since. Pixhawk is great - it just emit's a PWM signal right??
Homeschool Jay, maybe you can help me, I just built a hex with the 268KV multistar motors running Afro 20A HV ESC's and 8S power, with a pixhawk and I'm also having problems with all the motors twerking or they seem to be cutting on and off so I did not try to fly it, this is number 12 build with the pixhawk without any ESC problems but Hobby King told me to reflash with BLHeli and I did but need advice on the setup, the only ESC's that I have worked with used the turnigy program card and it was simple, this ain't, Thanks Jerry Hardin
Right.
@Pmarche: Hmm.. This is a very strong statement about Pixhawk.
Which software version are you running?
more details about your configuration could help understand what seems to be the problem.
(AUW, prop size, batteries, etc)
And for the dev team without log, it is just a guessing work.
Anyway, flying a number of heavy quads/hexa copters with large pancake motors AND Pixhawk I can say that once you get it right it is an exceptional flight controller.
separating power and sensitive electronics such as the pixhawk isa good idea I believe.
So using opto ESC or optocouplers in between the pixhawk and the ESCs improve a lot conducted noises.
This of course mean that a separate small 2S battery and a small 5 volts voltage regulator power the pixhawk. (clean power to the pixhawk).
I use opto Turnigy Dlux ESC and admit that they are doing a very good job.
Henri
Henri, I will provide Flying log files, of the failed-flipping flights.
Once again. my point was that the time, money, and experience required that one can spend when setting up Pixhawk with common ESCs ( assuming it will work smoothly after a careful initial setup and using autotune), could really be too much and frustrate a lot of people. That is why I believe by making a statement about it not being a RTF flight controller is important.
The problem with the wild flips, seems to be solved with T MOTOR ESCs, although I had to adjust the signal to 200hz
I have smiliar setup with pixhawk (multistar 268kv motors, afro 20a hv esc's and 6s battery, quad config). I dont have sync issues but every flight is nightmare for me. Some moments it flies well, some moments it gives only headache, and nobody wants to help. If you have unusual problem, you are at your own. I have pixhawk powered octo (foxtech kraken) and it flies well but on this quad, its only a nightmare, so i decided to throw my pixhawk to garbage and my copter starts collecting dust on shelf. Probably i will revert back to apm with 3.1.5
Pmarche, i'm facing a similar problem on different motor.
I try to dig down on the net and heard a lot of good things on hobbywing x rotor series.
Read the discussion here http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2254658 and see if that solve your problem.
Great, this proves that is not the Pixhawk, is the ESCs. Pixhawk is great I have to accept. Just wanted to let people know about the problem.
That's good news; what esc do you buy?
T Motor 40A.
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