Hello everyone, I'm fairly new to the FPV scene. Been interested in drones for well over a year now and decided to pull the trigger and build my own racing drone (not to race with lol). I decided to go for the well built Blackout Mini H frame, hopefully it will stand up to the many crashes that lies ahead.
Parts List.
Frame - Blackout Mini H V4.0
Motors - SunnySky 2300kv
ESC - Kiss 18A
FC - Naze32 Rev6
Camera - Foxeer HS1177
Vtx - Eachine TS832
Vrx - Eachine DV800 FPV Goggles
Rtx - FlySky FS-i6
Rrx - FlySky FS-iA6
Props - Gemfan 5030
Battery - Turnigy 1300mAh 3S 45-90C
Please feel free to comment. Any advice is muchly appreciated.
Reserved.
The build.
So yesterday I assembled the frame, attached the motors, positioned the escs and flashed the flight controller with clean flight, easy. Then catastrophe struck.
After wiring up the SunnySky motors and Kiss 18A escs to the PDB, I decided to plug in the battery and check everything was connected up as it should. Only 2 of the 4 escs blue leds came on. I checked all my solder joints, I made sure there was some electrical tape under the escs so they didn't short on the carbon fiber frame.
After an hour of scratching my head I decided it would be a good idea to plug the Naze into the pc and try calibrating the motors using clean flight. Upon turning the master up to initiate the motors one started to spin and the other seemed to lock up, buzz momentarily then a magic poof of smoke appeared as I pulled out the battery and the esc slightly melted.
(https://s28.postimg.org/sx361r9zt/IMG_3344.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/sx361r9zt/)
Any ideas guys? I read a lot of info on my KISS 18A escs saying they are prone to overheating, catching on fire etc. maybe a bad choice on my behalf.
So not off to the greatest of starts, but it can only get better from here :)
I've only had one set of KISS escs which are great, but just a bit different from the normal BLHeli. So am I right in thinking you've got one ESC now powering up and moving the motor, the other one that came on blew and you've got 2 others that don't appear to power on at all ?
Would be great if you could take a few pics of your wiring - esc to pub and onto FC. It's always great to get a few other looking over it just in case.
(Just as an aside, go Betaflight over Cleanflight now - it's just better !)
Quote from: CurryKitten on February 07, 2017, 10:12:40 AM
So not off to the greatest of starts, but it can only get better from here :)
I've only had one set of KISS escs which are great, but just a bit different from the normal BLHeli. So am I right in thinking you've got one ESC now powering up and moving the motor, the other one that came on blew and you've got 2 others that don't appear to power on at all ?
Would be great if you could take a few pics of your wiring - esc to pub and onto FC. It's always great to get a few other looking over it just in case.
(Just as an aside, go Betaflight over Cleanflight now - it's just better !)
Thank you for the reply! Trying to upload a few pictures as we speak!
Correct, 2 not working, 1 fried, 1 lonely soldier left lol.
More than likely that motor is now dead, as I'm almost certain the smoke came from it as it attempted to move.
The Naze is currently connected directly to the PDB as I am waiting of a 5v step down. That was also not recieving power when I plugged the battery in, but worked fine then it was connected by USB to the PC.
Quote from: matty on February 07, 2017, 10:21:36 AM
The Naze is currently connected directly to the PDB as I am waiting of a 5v step down.
How do you mean - you've connected from the PDB to the vbat pads on the naze, or something else ?
Or we could just wait for the pics :)
As I'm replying on shout a bit intermittently, I'll stick my comments in here as well. What I would do is try an isolate what the issue might be - so a few things to check.
PDB - is it ok, get a multimeter on all the points where you connect your ECSs and check you are getting your lipo voltage through them.
Shorts - Hard to tell from the photo, but a few of the solder joints look like the solder has not flowed over in a nice blob, and there are a few sticky out bits. Double check these aren't hitting any other components on you ESCs and causing a short
The KISS esc's are supposed to flash blue for a second of something after they get power, but then go off again if they don't have a valid input signal. Just checking to see if you noticed if they might have flashed quickly and then went off again.
Is there a ground connection between the Naze and the PDB ? - there needs to be I reckon.
Not saying this is the problem but ensure the screws you have used to bolt the motors on are not too long. If they are they can touch the windings and cause a short. I'd also use the ground on the ESCs but if you don't have the flight controller connected to ground then I can't see this could help. Looks like it's multimeter time!
Quote from: Dillwhacker on February 07, 2017, 01:54:22 PM
Is there a ground connection between the Naze and the PDB ? - there needs to be I reckon.
Yes there is, it was wired in after this photo.
Aside from the issue with the ESC. Nice build so far, also nice choice of components used. I also think your soldering looks nice and clean :) Looking forward to watching this build develop :)
Quote from: DS123 on February 07, 2017, 03:56:50 PM
Not saying this is the problem but ensure the screws you have used to bolt the motors on are not too long. If they are they can touch the windings and cause a short. I'd also use the ground on the ESCs but if you don't have the flight controller connected to ground then I can't see this could help. Looks like it's multimeter time!
Have you checked this? Also check the spindles at the bottom of the motors is not binding on the frame sometimes the the collet or circle is too big for the hole in the frame. Try turning the motors gently with your fingers to make sure nothing is binding.
Firstly thank you for the responses! I have checked the PDB with a multimeter and I am getting the correct voltage at all points of the board. Just a quick question regarding continuity to find a short, I was touching positive to negative and getting a reading of 0, then negative and negative and getting a reading of 1. Is this correct? This was the same through every point on the board.
Anyhow, the assumption I've came to is they Escs I had bought were faulty and after reading a bit about them on the net a lot of people have been reporting them DOA. I have ordered a set of DYS BL20A, hopefully these will do the trick. A replacement motor has been purchased and I have shortened the screws holding the motor to as short as I dare, even though I though they were short enough. My Polou 5V Step down has arrived to power the Naze and receiver.
I will post another update tomorrow as I will be removing everything from the board to essentially start again.
If you look at the motor from the side you should be able to see if the mounting screws protrude through the base and contact the stator coils above. It sounds like the most likely reason, particularly if one is working and you have problems with the others. If it's an original blackout frame the arms will be 3mm carbon and that is fractionally too thin for standard m3 6mm screws. Search for some m3 5mm screws on eBay and see if that helps.
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My first build was a lumenier qav250 which had a similar problem and was supplied with 5mm screws as a result.
Notwithstanding that, it's definitely worth looking over the build for soldering issues and making sure it's wired correctly. Also check for solder bombs and check those motor screws before fitting and powering up the new esc's or you will fry them as well!!
You said that you have connected the board to the pdb; is that just the vbat? You can use the USB to give it 5v power until your regulator arrives but it won't work properly until that's fitted. Also make sure your esc connections are just signal and ground and not 5v and ground!
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Quote from: elmattbo on February 09, 2017, 04:27:05 AM
If you look at the motor from the side you should be able to see if the mounting screws protrude through the base and contact the stator coils above. It sounds like the most likely reason, particularly if one is working and you have problems with the others. If it's an original blackout frame the arms will be 3mm carbon and that is fractionally too thin for standard m3 6mm screws. Search for some m3 5mm screws on eBay and see if that helps.
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Hello, yes I did have 6mm length screws, so if what your saying is correct that may have been the issue behind it all. I have replaced all the screws with M3x5mm yesterday. As for my soldering, I will be removing everything later today and resoldering so I will take a bit more care checking the joints over. The escs are connected to the PDB, the 5V step down will also be connected to the PDB and then the Naze to that. I'll upload some pictures after work today.
Update.
Last night I removed everything from the PDB and soldered on my newly bought DYS BL20A escs. I checked over all joints and wires, checked with a multimeter before plugging the battery in to find everything was working great!
However, I went ahead and soldered my 5V step down to the board, then soldered it to my Naze. All connections looked fine so I went ahead and plugged he battery in to find no power to my FC. Leaving the battery plugged in I checked the VBAT positive and negative with the multimeter and it returned 0 voltage. Upon taking my multimeter needles away from the FC I accidentally clipped the Naze and poooooof! Blew the board. Spent hours resoldering it, plugging it in to the computer nothing. Turns out the 5V step down was defective that's why I was receiving now power. Next time I'll check it before plugging the FC in. Build comes to a halt as I'm awaiting replacement parts lol.