Hi guys. For my college project I'm doing gesture control of a quadcopter.

I build a F450 quad using Exam 2213 motors, APM 2.6, 20A BLHeli ESCs and a 3000mAh LiPo.

These are my connections:

3 motor wires to 3 ESC wires (for each motor).
+ve and -ve ESC wires to power distribution adapter (for each ESC).
4 ESCs connected to 1,2,3,4 output slots on APM 2.6 (red power wire disconnected for 3 of them).
Single jumper wire going from 1,2,3,4,5,6 on Rx to respective signal pins on input of APM 2.6.

Finally I connected the LiPo and nothing happened. LiPo is fully charged, and every connection is tight.

What's the problem?

Your apm is not powered my dear


 
check these videos...totally there are 8.... it ll guide you...

The ESCs have a UBEC of 5V 2A. One of the them is fully connected to the APM (all 3 servo wires) and remaining 3 have the power wire disconnected. Won't this power the APM?

The escs are connected to the output section of the apm and not the input... so use a power module or an ubec to power the apm seperately...

or else use a female to female pin... connect the last input and outputs... it will power the apm

On which output channel is the ESC with BEC plugged in?

Quote from: kiran rc on January 18, 2016, 10:58:25 PM
On which output channel is the ESC with BEC plugged in?

Channel 1.

It should power up even at the output. By the way, is your rx powered?

My dear no way your apm is recieving power... use a power module or a ubec or connect last ports of input and output.... these are the three solutions... or else check those videos...

Do you have a Jumper port on your APM? named 'JP1'?

Good news, connected input and output rails using a servo connector and now the APM lights up and so does the Rx. Seems everything is getting power now.

However there is no musical sound of the ESCs getting calibratedand upping the throttle has no effect.

Again the calibrating process for the apm is different... please follow the instructions in the video...

Quote from: Cycloned on January 18, 2016, 11:25:38 PM
Good news, connected input and output rails using a servo connector and now the APM lights up and so does the Rx. Seems everything is getting power now.

dont let the signals of output and input connected it may cause problems...

http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/esc-calibration/



check this out...

@Kiran RC

Quote from: kiran rc on January 18, 2016, 11:20:35 PM
Do you have a Jumper port on your APM? named 'JP1'?

I think there must me some other to way power too... please explain that too... it ll be useful...

Have you connected your ESC properly I  mean the signal wire n all? You could send some pictures of your setup!

So I'm trying to calibrate my escs (EMAX BLHeli 20A).

I turn on Tx, move throttle up and then connect LiPo like the APM wiki says. However instead of hearing musical beeps follow by 2 beeps, I hear non stop beeping. The motor keeps twitching with every beep and this happens with every motor. I have tried changing the motor wires but they are all unlabeled so I dont know which one connects where.

Any advice?

@Mohammed No idea as the motor wires aren't labelled so I just tried plugging them in sequentially.

@kiran Yes I do, but no jumper to connect the 2 holes.

Well try this! While calibrating the ESC as soon as the times appear throttle complete to zero! For APM throttle calibration you need to first connect the lipo as soon as the LEDs start to blink disconnect the lipo and put throttle to 100% and connect the lipo! As soon as the tune appears throttle back to zero and then try throttling up and down to check its working properly!

NOTE- NEVER ATTACH PROPS ON THE MOTOR WHILE DOING ANY CALIBRATION WORK!

Here's a picture of the connections on my APM.

All 4 ESCs are connected to each motor and the APM output section (I looked at the layout diagram and connected them in the required order).

CH 1-6 on receiver (signal pin only) is connected to signal pin only of respective inputs 1-6.

I have used single jumper cables to connected + and - of output rails to input rails and to the receiver so everything is powered up.

http://imgur.com/PqprltM

I turn on Tx, turn throttle high, connect lipo to quad. APM lights up, get some flashing blue and red lights then steady flashing red. I remove the lipo and reconnect and the same thing happens. No musical notes from the ESCs, no noise coming from the APM, just silence.

Manual calibration and all at once calibration don't work. I just don't know what to do...

Have you done the radio calibration...

Y u have attached the binding cable to the rx???

That's not the binding cable, those are 2 jumper wires connected to + and - rails on APM for power to Rx.

Radio calibration was not done, but now I've done it and this same ESC problem persists.

However, I have found that the ESC calibrates after I turn off the Tx or disconnect it from the Rx. Basically

- I put throttle on low, turn on Tx.
- Connect ESC to lipo, I get continuous beeping
- I turn off transmitter, I get musical beeps indicating calibration done and motor starts spinning (even with Tx off)
-If I turn Tx back on motor still spins but if I increase throttle the speed increases further.

What's going on? Are my ESCs malfunctioning?

no not like that... there may be an isuue in setting up the apm... which one you are using mission planner or apm planner

I'm using mission planner.

I think I've found a clue to the calibration problem. On the ESC manual it says "If the throttle stick is neither at the bottom nor the top position after powered on, it will constantly make "beep" sounds."

However, my Tx and rx are both calibrated and binded. If I connect via USB to the computer, I can move the Tx sticks and see the change in values in mission planner. Why is the ESC not able to understand the throttle position?

it should be set in the apm... that if the throttle is high that the esc should go to programing mode...

check this