How do I connect to FC with broken USB?

[arturios]

Hi guys, got a little problem...

I have a spare SPRF3 FC with a broken USB port. It has CF1.10 firmware on it but is there a way I could use a FTDI to connect to the board? I know I can use Bluetooth to connect but that';s not a viable option at the moment as I believe it';s faulty - intermittent last time I used it.

Could I use one of the UART ports and if so how?

[DarkButterfly]

USBasp?

how broken is the usb? are the pads still intact?, I';m thinking chop up an old usb lead and solder to the pads.

[atomiclama]

just get a USB - > serial adaptor just make sure it';s 3v3 levels and not RS232 levels or more things will break.

I use the ones from

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cables/USBTTLSerial.htm

no problems so far on the CC3Ds I use.

Just wire it up TX-> RX   RX->TX and GND

[arturios]

USBasp?

how broken is the usb? are the pads still intact?, I';m thinking chop up an old usb lead and solder to the pads.

The pads have lifted so no repairs on that front

[arturios]

just get a USB - > serial adaptor just make sure it';s 3v3 levels and not RS232 levels or more things will break.

I use the ones from

http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cables/USBTTLSerial.htm

no problems so far on the CC3Ds I use.

Just wire it up TX-> RX   RX->TX and GND

That should do the trick. I only have the 5v verity.

[dirtyharry]

5v should be alright if you connect the 5v supply to the servo rail ( their will be a 3.3v reg on their somewhere)

[atomiclama]

5v should be alright if you connect the 5v supply to the servo rail ( their will be a 3.3v reg on their somewhere)

Not unless you have something else putting 5V onto the servo rail(BEC ESC), will end up with 2 things trying to regulate 5V, 1 will get a bit warm.

[arturios]

So that means I can use my 5v adaptor then. As the FC is not in a craft at the moment the power will come solely from the adaptor, then no clash of regulators. I hope!

[bazzerh]

let us know how you get on art. I';m wondering if you need to configure the port before you';re able to connect via it, in which case you might be a bit snookered?

[arturios]

let us know how you get on art.

Will do Bazz

I';m wondering if you need to configure the port before you';re able to connect via it, in which case you might be a bit snookered?

And therein lies the rub!

[bazzerh]

you might be ok if the port hasn';t been being used for anything else I guess.

[atomiclama]

from memory both the main port and the usb are both MSP enabled by default.

So you will be ok unless you have changed it without telling us.

[arturios]

Nope, nothing has changed


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[atomiclama]

Hang on the SPRF3 has USB chip on it so the UART behind it will be available direct on one of the headers. so no probs at all.

[quadfather]

You can power the board from your FTDI.  The VCC (5V) and GND lines are buses that all I/O ports connect to.

Hook up your FTDI to the headers or the JST-SH socket for UART1 and you should be good to go.  That is unless you have disabled MSP for UART1 previously.  Remember to connext RX to TX and vice versa.  Also enable Manual Baud Rate and set it to 115200 in Cleanflight.

If that doesn';t work you can force the bootloader by shorting the boot pins while you power up the board.  In the firmware flasher enable No Reboot Sequence and Flash on Connect.  Also enable Full Chip Erase so you get the default settings (MSP on UART1).

[arturios]

Awesome QF, will give it a go later as I';ve just got in from a night shift... Sleepy time


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[arturios]

Yay... I can confirm that connecting to the JST-SH UART1 port was a success following Quadfather';s instructions - cheers buddy

You can power the board from your FTDI.  The VCC (5V) and GND lines are buses that all I/O ports connect to.

Hook up your FTDI to the headers or the JST-SH socket for UART1 and you should be good to go.  That is unless you have disabled MSP for UART1 previously.  Remember to connext RX to TX and vice versa.  Also enable Manual Baud Rate and set it to 115200 in Cleanflight.

[attach=1]

I may use this FC in my 250X I recently built as my basher quad which is currently fitted with a CC3D with Librepilot. On the CC3D, I was able to flash it with CFlight 1.10 and Betafight through Openpilot/Librepilot but could not get it connected to Cleanflight - a whole other story. Don';t get me wrong, the CC3D is excellent and Easy Tune does work really well but I';ve got used to CF and its witching ways. Or I may leave the CC3D in the basher and that leaves me 2 working SPRF3s for other builds, decisions decisions!!!

Thanks for the help guys.

[bazzerh]

did you try powering the cc3d for 10 seconds or so before connecting to clean/betaflight?

[arturios]

did you try powering the cc3d for 10 seconds or so before connecting to clean/betaflight?

If you mean via a lipo, then no. Wasn';t aware you had to do that.

[bazzerh]

If you mean via a lipo, then no. Wasn';t aware you had to do that.

yes you need to. if you';ve flashed the .bin which keeps the OP bootloader intact you need to let the board boot (takes about 10 seconds until the leds stop flashing quickly). do it either with a battery or you can slide the usb in very slowly half way in until it makes the power connections, let it boot and then slide all the way in.

Or if you';ve got an FTDI adaptor you can flash the .hex version via the mainport, this deletes the OP bootloader and makes it work a lot more like a naze

[arturios]

Interesting... I was using the .hex file in OP & LP as the .bin file wasn';t even seen. Will give it a go in a bit. If i succeed, does that mean the CC3D motor wiring will be the same as the Naze?

[quadfather]

With PPM/Serial the first four are motor outputs, five is for LED control and six is unused.  With PWM five and six are unused.

[arturios]

With PPM/Serial the first four are motor outputs, five is for LED control and six is unused.  With PWM five and six are unused.

Sorry... should have been a bit clearer. With CC3D, motor1 is front left, 2 front right etc. With the Naze (flip etc) motor1 is bottom right, 2 front right... Was just wondering if the motor configuration changes when CC3D is flashed to CF/BF. I';ll be using PPM anyway. 

[bazzerh]

Sorry... should have been a bit clearer. With CC3D, motor1 is front left, 2 front right etc. With the Naze (flip etc) motor1 is bottom right, 2 front right... Was just wondering if the motor configuration changes when CC3D is flashed to CF/BF. I';ll be using PPM anyway. 

going from op to cf yes you';ll have to rearrange the motor outputs. well it lets you leave no2 alone but the other 3 need shifting

[arturios]

Spent the evening getting CF on the CC3D, configuring and bench tuning. First tried betaflight 2.*.* but the ESCs took their time to sync but as each esc finalised, the corresponding motor spun up, soon had all four motors spinning but not responding to any inputs. Had to disconnect battery.

I turned off Oneshot as the ESCs are only some cheapo Emax 12A variety, flashed with BLHeli 13.*. This didn';t cure the motors spooling up. Changed to CF1.10 and everything back to normal.

Now to wait for the weather to improve... 

[atomiclama]

 

Never had that with any of my CC3Ds running betaflight.

[bazzerh]

Spent the evening getting CF on the CC3D, configuring and bench tuning. First tried betaflight 2.*.* but the ESCs took their time to sync but as each esc finalised, the corresponding motor spun up, soon had all four motors spinning but not responding to any inputs. Had to disconnect battery.

I turned off Oneshot as the ESCs are only some cheapo Emax 12A variety, flashed with BLHeli 13.*. This didn';t cure the motors spooling up. Changed to CF1.10 and everything back to normal.

Now to wait for the weather to improve... 

its because of the looptime that betaflight runs at, if you have oneshot activated in your cc3d then your escs need blheli 14.2 or above so that you can switch off pwm input. its strange that turning oneshot off didn';t help though.

I set up a friends cc3d with betaflight at the weekend. hes using emax blheli escs. motors all span up with oneshot activated and board unarmed (definitely remove props when messing with betaflight!) but with oneshot disabled and board rebooted they were acting normally.

[arturios]

Never had that with any of my CC3Ds running betaflight.

Not really sure why it kept doing that. Although, I am hedging my bets on the fact that the ESCs firmware may have something to do with it. The interesting thing whilst I was trying to solve the issue was that I set air-mode on a switch as I first thought this might be the problem. The motors still spooled up (to about 40% throttle value) as usual without input and and when I flicked air-mode on, you can hear the change in motor speed. 

[arturios]

its because of the looptime that betaflight runs at, if you have oneshot activated in your cc3d then your escs need blheli 14.2 or above so that you can switch off pwm input. its strange that turning oneshot off didn';t help though.

I set up a friends cc3d with betaflight at the weekend. hes using emax blheli escs. motors all span up with oneshot activated and board unarmed (definitely remove props when messing with betaflight!) but with oneshot disabled and board rebooted they were acting normally.

Well, seems that its the ESCs then. They only have BLheli 13.2 on them. Not really going to change them as the craft is only a basher. good to know though

[atomiclama]

its strange that turning oneshot off didn';t help though.

Yeah don';t get that either. With oneshot off it should revert to updating the esc at the

Code Select Expand

set motor_pwm_rate =