Doubt:HobbyKing Quad Power Distribution Board

Dinesh.fly · February 20, 2015, 03:17:09 PM

Hi

I have tried to calibrate ESCs separately,so connected one ESC to motor,PDB and connected it to receiver.When I connected the battery no beep sounds came from the PDB.whether all ESCs should be connected??

Dinesh.fly · February 20, 2015, 04:01:51 PM

I can not connect the ESC directly to battery because battery has XT60 n ESC has bullet connectors.Please clarify this.

SK1701 · February 20, 2015, 04:11:00 PM

XT60 is just a 3.5 mm bullet connector in a housing. You could plug it into the battery but you need to be VERY CAREFUL about the polarity and avoiding a short. Why are you trying to calibrate the ESCs individually? Which flight controller and ESCs are you using? The beeps will not come from the PDB. It will come from the ESC.

K K Iyer · February 20, 2015, 04:51:22 PM

Quote from: Dinesh.fly on February 20, 2015, 03:17:09 PM
Hi

I have tried to calibrate ESCs separately,so connected one ESC to motor,PDB and connected it to receiver.When I connected the battery no beep sounds came from the PDB.whether all ESCs should be connected??

Disconnect battery from power distribution board. Then:
1. Turn Tx on
2. Move throttle stick to max
3. Repeat exactly as quoted above.
4. Connect battery to PDB

You will hear a beep (from the motor, not esc or pdb) indicating ESC has understood full throttle position.

5. Reduce throttle to idle.

You will hear another beep. Then the tone indicating the cell count. Then long beep.

Motor should now respond to throttle. Ensure prop removal while doing all this

Had same problem with my new quad kit. Solved as above this Sunday.
Best of luck.

SK1701 · February 20, 2015, 05:19:11 PM

Iyer Sir, that was my mistake. The beep comes from the motor.
All the ESCs can be calibrated at once depending on the flight controller. Again, removing props is vital.

Dinesh.fly · February 20, 2015, 06:06:34 PM

thank u for the reply sirs

its multistar esc with KK 2.1 board..when I connected there was no beep at all.

Himadri Roy · February 20, 2015, 06:11:41 PM

Post some pics showing your setup may help others in assisting you!
The beeps will be heard when the kk2.1 is at its home screen(the first thing that shows up when you power up the board....showing voltage Yaw detail,etc...)

SK1701 · February 20, 2015, 06:49:02 PM

This video may be helpful in setting up your kk 2.1. The ESC calibration is at 4:10 but the rest of the video may be helpful too.

K K Iyer · February 20, 2015, 07:00:12 PM

@dinesh.fly,
Did you try the suggestions in reply #3?
Worked for me, so may work for you too.
Beeps on quad are very weak (as there is no fuselage to act as sound box!

)

Meanwhile going to see the video in sk1701's post...

SK1701 · February 20, 2015, 07:04:35 PM

Iyer Sir, when I started off building my quad, having never tackled such a project before, I found the "Quadcopter Build" and the "How To" playlists by this Youtube channel very helpful. It has a somewhat excessive focus on aesthetics IMO but I found it useful nevertheless.

K K Iyer · February 20, 2015, 09:16:40 PM

@sk1701,
Best video so far.
Wish i had seen this before last Sunday.
Would have saved me hours of experimentation.
Got my first quad, ST360 from Quadkopters last week.
I am now going to try the settings suggested in the video.
Thanks.

gunnu · February 20, 2015, 10:21:34 PM

make sure motor is connected to esc while calibration.. motors beeps not esc..

good luck

K K Iyer · February 20, 2015, 10:28:09 PM

We are all commenting, but op is not watching

Gunnu, your point has already been made in this thread

gunnu · February 20, 2015, 10:31:49 PM

oops

i didn't red all the comments.. red only first two ( may b ). hehehe

regards

SK1701 · February 21, 2015, 09:43:10 AM

Quote from: K K Iyer on February 20, 2015, 09:16:40 PM
@sk1701,
Best video so far.
Wish i had seen this before last Sunday.
Would have saved me hours of experimentation.
Got my first quad, ST360 from Quadkopters last week.
I am now going to try the settings suggested in the video.
Thanks.

Iyer Sir, you are most welcome. I am glad to hear that the video helped. How is your quad build going?

@Dinesh, any luck? Is it working out?

Dinesh.fly · February 26, 2015, 11:46:03 AM

Quote from: K K Iyer on February 20, 2015, 04:51:22 PM

Disconnect battery from power distribution board. Then:
1. Turn Tx on
2. Move throttle stick to max
3. Repeat exactly as quoted above.
4. Connect battery to PDB

You will hear a beep (from the motor, not esc or pdb) indicating ESC has understood full throttle position.

5. Reduce throttle to idle.

You will hear another beep. Then the tone indicating the cell count. Then long beep.

Motor should now respond to throttle.

done like above but no response from motor.

Quote from: SK1701 on February 20, 2015, 04:11:00 PM
XT60 is just a 3.5 mm bullet connector in a housing. You could plug it into the battery but you need to be VERY CAREFUL about the polarity and avoiding a short. Why are you trying to calibrate the ESCs individually? Which flight controller and ESCs are you using? The beeps will not come from the PDB. It will come from the ESC.

done like this also but no response again.my doubt is on the battery now..what should be the voltage (individual cell,total) of a fully charged 3s 2200mah lipo?

K K Iyer · February 26, 2015, 12:04:06 PM

@dinesh.fly,
Subsequent to my earler replies, found that throttle calibration for all motors/ESCs can be done at one go.

1. Turn Tx on and set throttle stick to full.
2. Press and keep holding down button 1 and 4 on KK
3. Connect Rx battery. KK will register full throttle position.
4. Move throttle stick to idle. KK will register idle position

Do not release buttons 1 and 4 till the process is completed.
(You'll need a helper as you'll not be able to connect the battery with one hand...

)
Hope this helps.

(Fully charged lipo will show around 4.20v per cell. Different checkers/monitors may show slightly different values in 4.17-4.22v range)

niranjanrao · February 26, 2015, 12:20:37 PM

First make sure that the polarity of your ESC's are right then whether you calibrate your esc or not as soon as you plug in the battery you should hear the beep sound from the motor's if not then check your ESC's maybe they have burned out due to wrong polarity.

Dinesh.fly · February 26, 2015, 01:36:25 PM

Iyer sir the PDB is not at all getting powered on to calibrate all the ESCs at once.

I've not connected the ESCs in wrong polarity..if the ESC got burnt means any smoke or smell would have come rite?

will the wrong polarity affects ESC??

K K Iyer · February 26, 2015, 02:48:36 PM

Quote from: Dinesh.fly on February 26, 2015, 01:36:25 PM
the PDB is not at all getting powered on

Not clear. There is nothing to get 'powered on' in the PDB. Its only a power distribution board.

Perhaps you meant that the FCB is not getting powered on. This is the KK2.1.

Check if
1. All the wires from the Rx are connected to the FCB with the negative towards the (left) edge so that from the left they are negative, positive, signal.
2. All wires from ESCs are connected to the FCB with the negative towards the (right) edge so that from the left they are signal, positive, negative.

If these are correct, on connecting the battery the FCB should light up with a loud beep and display the version, followed by the 'SAFE' screen.
You have to reach this stage before you can proceed further.

(BTW, the negative wire will be a dark colour like black/grey/brow, positive will be red, signal will be light coloured like white/yellow. Just mentioning this in case you are new to RC)

Dinesh.fly · February 26, 2015, 05:44:05 PM

sorry sir I meant the KK board was not powered on..I have plugged only one ESC wire to KK for testing.

niranjanrao · February 26, 2015, 05:59:06 PM

You have to connect the ESC to M1 on the KK2.1 only then it will power up.

Dinesh.fly · February 26, 2015, 06:35:15 PM

will check by tonight.

niranjanrao · February 26, 2015, 06:55:13 PM

This was quite helpful for me:
http://dl.btc.pl/kamami_wa/hk_54299_7.pdf

sooraj.palakkad · February 26, 2015, 09:06:42 PM

Quote from: niranjanrao on February 26, 2015, 05:59:06 PM
You have to connect the ESC to M1 on the KK2.1 only then it will power up.

Your right Mr. Niranjan, everybody don't gets this - one will be panic when they see the KK2 don't power on even if they connect a BEC or ESC to a motor channel - KK2 powers only from the bec connected to M1 pin .

@Dinesh, Try connecting ESC to M1 port, as Niranjan said, if it is still not working, you have to assume something is wrong with KK2.
You can check ESCs by connecting each ESC to throttle channel on receiver.