Crius V2 arming and power issues - PLEASE READ

[Jumpy07]

PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS ARMING YOUR CRIUS V2

The V2 Crius board does not have 5v regulator.

To protect board,  it has Shottky diode installed,  like all diodes it has a voltage drop on it (0.5-1v).

So you must power board with more than 5v,  it is best to do this with an external UBEC with the power jumper removed, a 5.5v  UBEC would be good solution.

[dean19794]

I have kept one of the power lead off the back off one of the ESC';s to get power to the board.

Is that ok.. No issues to date.

But I did know there were issues with that diode.. What do you think?? 

[pheasant_plucker]

Shottky diode or Zener?

Gerry

[steve fh]

I have kept one of the power lead off the back off one of the ESC';s to get power to the board.

Is that ok.. No issues to date.

I was getting lots of random issues and uneven ESC performance with the AIOP V2 powered off an ESC so the board and ECS';s were booting at the same time

All issues went away once i started using external power to boot the board before connecting the lipo to the esc';s

[Jumpy07]

I have kept one of the power lead off the back off one of the ESC';s to get power to the board.

Is that ok.. No issues to date.

But I did know there were issues with that diode.. What do you think??

Will depend on quality of UBEC in ESC';s.. some aren';t the best.. would always recommend external UBEC

[teslahed]

PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS ARMING YOUR CRIUS V2

The V2 Crius board does not have 5v regulator.

To protect board,  it has Shottky diode installed,  like all diodes it has a voltage drop on it (0.5-1v).

Well spotted!

There';s a jumper on the UBEC i use that allows you to swap between 5 and 6 volt output. I';m going to check to make sure it';s set to 6V now.

[kym]

The notorious goodluckbye (or goodlocksell; think they';re the same people) that supplied the parts for my Seeker kit initially mumbled something about what they were about to send me "didn';t work".
The 4-in-1 esc they eventually posted has a 5.5v ubec. I';m still only playing with things on the bench, but powering everything from that (they accidentally sent  v1.1 and v2 Crius boards in different packages) is working for me so far.

[Warning: Irrelevant drive aheadl:]
Was getting around to bolting motors on couple days back. The Sunnysky 800 kv they sent were too noisy (and needed wires trimmed and bullets installed anyway -- and connectors not in ARF kit, although there were consolation prizes, as above) so sorted out 4 good ones from 6 ntm propdrive 1000 kvs. Put a little rubber mat under each one. Temp bolted them on with some long m3 screws I had somewhere. But when I opened the little packet of m3 socketheads they sent in the "kit" -- UH, OH! Only 8mm long. Barely made it through the plastic, let along the little rubber pads. A 2nd prob seemed to be a small manufacturing problem with the socket; supposedly 3mm but only 1 of my 3 mm allen keys seemed to get any traction. My nice screwdrive-mounted allen keys just turned and tended to smooth out the socket even more than they were to start with.

[barneyg]

Well spotted!

There';s a jumper on the UBEC i use that allows you to swap between 5 and 6 volt output. I';m going to check to make sure it';s set to 6V now.

Interesting ... my ubec is the same but is currently set to 5v ... so far I';ve not had a single problem.

Other than failure to arm is there any risks mid flight of only sending 5v to the board ?

Also without an onboard voltage regulator are there any risks to the board / rx / esc';s / gps / bluetoolth etc by changing the supply to 6v ?

[Jumpy07]

Interesting ... my ubec is the same but is currently set to 5v ... so far I';ve not had a single problem.

Other than failure to arm is there any risks mid flight of only sending 5v to the board ?

Also without an onboard voltage regulator are there any risks to the board / rx / esc';s / gps / bluetoolth etc by changing the supply to 6v ?

Try metering the UBEC output and check the voltage....   5.5v would be better .. but if it aint broke don';t fix it :-)

[jimbo385]

Hi guys,

I';m running a Crius v2 with a Turnigy 2-in-1 Heli 5 UBEC set to 5v, all runs fine except for GPS!

Running MultiWII firmware and the GPS & 3dr are getting power from the Serial port.

As I have said, no GPS! The green light on the GPS is on but nothing showing in MultiWinWiiGUI!

If I switch to 6v, will this solve the problem?

Cheers.

[Jumpy07]

Hi guys,

I';m running a Crius v2 with a Turnigy 2-in-1 Heli 5 UBEC set to 5v, all runs fine except for GPS!

Running MultiWII firmware and the GPS & 3dr are getting power from the Serial port.

As I have said, no GPS! The green light on the GPS is on but nothing showing in MultiWinWiiGUI!

If I switch to 6v, will this solve the problem?

Cheers.

Nope likely to be something else...  do you have tx - rx and rx to tx ?

[jimbo385]

Well, my brother did the wireing for me and he couldnt get GPS to work on his laptop.

I';m now home on my netbook and it';s all working fine!

I now wait to get SONAR working. I have the HC-SR04 and I';m running Multiwii.

Cheers.

[baracca1]

PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS ARMING YOUR CRIUS V2

The V2 Crius board does not have 5v regulator.

To protect board,  it has Shottky diode installed,  like all diodes it has a voltage drop on it (0.5-1v).

So you must power board with more than 5v,  it is best to do this with an external UBEC with the power jumper removed, a 5.5v  UBEC would be good solution.

Please I would like a confirmation.
I recently mounted a Crius V2 that I use with MultiWii.
I need to know if you have any problems with Bluetooth, My serial port 0 / FTDI does not have the 5 volt power supply, with / without jumper. If I take the power elsewhere and use only rx and tx on BT works.
On your serial you have 5 volts?
I would understand if it is a problem of soft or card.

Thanks

[dean19794]

Hey all

Well my ubec arrived and is now fitted to try and resolve the arming the board issues I have..

Bit of back ground

I had 3. 10min flights on Saturday everything fine come back to put the next lipo on and connecting the batt.. No lights on the board but the ESC';s would bleep the normal sequence but no red and green flashing lights.

http://youtu.be/8IRejxF__ag

Link to a short video to what';s happening or should I say not happening!!!

Any ideas guys?

[Gaza07]

Hi Dean sorry i was on the phone when you asked in chat and it was my dad 
what firmware are you running and are you sure all the esc';s are initialising ?

[dean19794]

Yes mate I';m sure the esc';s are firing up I';m getting the usual beeps as I connect the power.

Further update I';ve just connected to Mission planner and on the radio Cali screen it recognises the stick inputs on the sceen??

Now I';m even more confused?? So why doesn';t it recognise the down and right to arm the board?

I don';t know what firmware it is tbh?? It';s still the one we put on I think?

Mission planner is 1.2.36

[Gaza07]

With the beeping you mentioned that is the signal that a esc is out of range / calibration if one fails to fully initialise it could stop you arming, maybe it would be worth re calibrating your esc';s, if they are the type with the internal clock they can drift due to temperature change and now its warmed up it maybe that, let me know how you get on after calibration 

[dean19794]

Oh mate I';ve watch Peter king ESC calibration video over and over..

Controller to full throttle connect power, short beeps only 2. With red amber green sequence. Disconnect power. Connect power again.. Still with full throttle wait for beeps then move throttle stick to no throttle.. Then a load of beep and motors twitch..

Still wont let me arm!!! Arrrrrrr I';m going to call it a night..

Thank you for your help mate.. Back to the drawing board!!

[Gaza07]

Hi Dean what are your rudder end points set to ? if they are on 100% you could increase them to some thing like 115% - 125% this some times helps 

[dean19794]

Thanks Gary ill give it a go.. I';ve been ****** off with it since the other night..

Don';t understand why it';s just stopped!!

I';ll try and keep you posted thanks again

[ausi1972]

Make life easier and just remove the crappy diode and put a link in place, then use a nice switch mode BEC of 5v for a perfect supply.
It';s just poor design of the Crius board.

[Phil1970]

CRIUS AIOP v2 – MPNG 2.9R6 – FUTABA T8FG – Arming  / Radio / Power  issues

Hi, I would appreciate any help. I followed the JUMPY07/GAZA07 guide for the CRIUS AIOP v2 – MPNG setup, but my expensive toy hasn't flown yet. Arming has got me puzzled for over a week now. I definitely have an issue with the RX signal passthru but I might have power wiring issues too.

Problems:

•   AIOP is not arming on throttle zero and full right yaw
•   No RX signal detection for radio calibration in Mission Planner
•   Horizon not level in Mission Planner
•   Garbage code in Mission Planner terminal when trying « setup – level » command
•   3DR radio specs not showing in 3DR radio config tab in Mission Planner
•   Little tx / rx leds on AIOP only flash when connected to pc via USB port
•   Motor power pins have no power unless jumper is placed back, then I have 5,8V
•   Sonar module seems not to work, no clicking sounds

However, all seems to be working: radio and receiver are linked, AIOP boots normal and I get GPS lock, bluetooth module and 3DR telemetry radio are working. ESC's are singing and Mission Planner is reading AIOP data on connect and showing GPS lock and live copter movement. Just the red led on the AIOP keeps flashing.

What I did so far:

I installed Arduino and MPNG, copied the libraries into Arduino, modified arducopter and flashed the board. However, after the (succesful) upload the AIOP started rebooting and I got three lines  time-out messages. I don't know if this is common. In arducopter is followed the guide, just changed frame type in hexa_frame – plus_frame and SERIAL_PPM_DISABLED, as the 8FG 2,4 supposedly does not handle PPM signals, just PWM signals it seems. Remote video and leds are for later on, so I left the codes for leds, gimbal servos, OSD etc. alone for now.
3DR Radio and GPS are connected to TX2/TX3, bluetooth to TX0 as in the guide. My 40A OPTO Esc's are powered thru a distribution board and are individually calibrated, directly on the RX. Their 3 pins wires are connected on the AIOP motor pins. The AIOP is powered thru a separate lipo and SBEC (currently on 6V) on the external power pins (jumper is removed). RX is powered thru AIOP board (+- pins next to pin 8).

When I boot the board I have gps lock (CN06v2 green led solid) but the board isn't arming with throttle down- full right yaw (Red led keeps flashing). My radio is a FUTABA T8FG Super with the R6308SBT receiver.  I think I tried every possible posistion, even all radio layouts (TX_mwi). Radio is currently on TX_standard. Radio and receiver are bound (green led solid and tested with servos) but somehow the AIOP isn't picking up the RX signal. So I can't calibrate in missionplanner. As in the guide, I connected signal, power and ground between RX channel 3 and AIOP pins 8, plus and minus. The other pins are connected with female to female single wires.
So one lipo is powering the ESC's and motors, the other lipo is powering the AIOP via external power pins. The receiver, gps and 3DR radio and bluetooth module are getting power from the AIOP board.

Does anybody have a clue?

[Jumpy07]

Problems:

•   AIOP is not arming on throttle zero and full right yaw
•   No RX signal detection for radio calibration in Mission Planner
•   Horizon not level in Mission Planner
•   Garbage code in Mission Planner terminal when trying « setup – level » command
•   3DR radio specs not showing in 3DR radio config tab in Mission Planner
•   Little tx / rx leds on AIOP only flash when connected to pc via USB port
•   Motor power pins have no power unless jumper is placed back, then I have 5,8V
•   Sonar module seems not to work, no clicking sounds

Ok.. think you are trying to do too much at once..

If the radio calibration is not working in Mission Planner.. ie: the green bars aren';t moving then you have some basic issues..  can you post a picture of diagram of how you have connected your RX to the Crius ?

You definetly have some power issues.. if the jumper is connected then the UBEC in the ESC';s should power the board....  are you running OPTO ESC';s perhaps ?

If the LED';s on the board only come on when USB plugged in.. it means the board is not powering up..

What does terminal say in mission planner when you connect ?.. should say MegaPirateNG ver **** etc ?

[Phil1970]

Indeed, the green bars are not moving at all.

My Futaba 2,4Ghz fasst receiver is set to operate in standard 7 channel mode, I don';t use the Sbus mode.
Below is how I connected the receiver and the AIOPv2 (also see pictures in this and previous post):

Channel 1 / pin 9 / aileron / single black signal wire on photo
Channel 2 / pin 10 / elevator / single red signal wire on photo
Channel 3 / pin 8, +, - / throttle / white signal, red +, black -
Channel 4 / pin 11 / rudder / single white signal wire
Channel 5 / pin 12 / not yet assigned / single white signal wire
Channel 6 / pin 13 / not yet assigned / single black signal wire
Channel 7 / pin 14 / not yet assigned / single red signal wire

I am indeed using rctimers 40A OPTO esc';s. I wonder why they still have triple connectors, just the signal wire would be sufficient I think. The AIOPv2 is powered from a SBEC (set on 6V) which is connected to the extend power pins plus and minus on the board with the jumper in the motor pins row taken away. The plus and minus connectors on the motor pins row aren';t powered when measured, only when I put back the jumper cap. I don';t know if they need to be powered, as said a single signal wire to the OPTO';s should be enough I suppose. Board and motors/esc have separate lipo, one via sbec to extend power, the other via distribution board to OPTO esc';s.

When I connect the lipo for the distribution board, I hear the OPTO';s fire up, then beep slowly while waiting for signal (which is perfectly normal). Then I connect the lipo for the SBEC which powers up the AIOPv2, receiver, gps, 3DR and bluetooth radio. The board is powering, but is it passing power around? When I connect via usb, two little leds marked TX and RX start flashing (see picture below).



I am using Mission Planner version 1.2.70 mav 1.0. In the terminal window, all I see is:
* NOTE * Please click connect above
CLI works only on first connect of power, log download only over usb
Are there two versions of Mission Planner maybe, one for Arducopter and the other for the ported version?

[Jumpy07]

Ok Opto ESC';s do not provide power to the FC.. so you have to leave the jumper in and the UBEC will power the board, GPS and RX.

You should power up the UBEC that powers the Crius and RX at the same time as the ESC';s are powered up.

The led on the Crius should light up when powered....

When you connect via terminal on mission planner.. it should show Megapirate version... if not something wrong.. and would suggest re-flashing board.

If you get MegaPirateNG version.. then reboot and check TX in Mission Planner.. does Mission Planner connect to the Crius ? if it does and you still cant get green bars to move when calibrating TX.. check you have 5v at RX and it is powered up..

You only need Ground and Signal wire on ESC';s.. there will be no 5v on red wire..

You need to power UBEC / Board and ESC';s at same time..  think this might be one of your issues..

Rx and TX will flash when USB connected.. 

[Gaza07]

It has been quite some time since I used megapirateNG but Im pretty sure you need to use a much lower version of the mission planner, I';m sure one of the current MPNG users could tell you which version is compatible to the MPNG firmware, that might be the only problem you have once you have calibrate the tx every thing should start to work 

[orfordness]

Looking at the pics on your receiver you have signal on the outside on some pins and on the inside on others?

Not sure on the futaba receivers but on most others the signal is always on the outer edge of the unit, with he ground and live inboard?

[Phil1970]

Thanks y';all for the suggestions.

I';m some days off with wifey and kids but coming weekend I';ll work on it.

* JUMPER back on the pins because of the opto';s
* SOLDER back ubec leads to main power board to fire up crius aiop and esc at the same time
* MISSION PLANNER check for older version that works with mpng
* REFLASH mpng
* CHECK rx signal connection

I';ll get back after the weekend with my results.

For orfordness: don';t be fooled by the wire colours,  I used a normal three pin servo connector but I put it flat so they only serve as single pin to single pin connector. For orientation, only the three pin connector (upright) on channel three is correctly colour coded (signal outer edge, positive and ground). All other wires are on the signal pins.

[orfordness]

This is the wiring on my AIOP V2 using the supplied harness, it takes a while to work out what they had envisaged, but once you "get it" its like OH I see now...

Steve









Sorry about the focus on the last shot, but you can see the single wire plugs...

[Phil1970]

Stayed home today anyway...I checked and doublechecked and found that my arming problem is more complicated then I thought.

I think I cannot flash my AIOPv2 at all. I keep getting this message: Avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage() timeout after the message: upload succesfull . This might explain why I don';t get a MPNG version number in Mission Planner terminal and why I can';t calibrate my Futaba radio, the accellators, 3DR radio and sonar in Mission Planner.

I Found a dedicated version of arduino IDE for MPNG : Ardupilot-Arduino-1.0.3.zip. Unfortunately, the time-out problem still persists. I also found that the rctimer AIOPv2';s come preloaded with MPNG (don';t know which version). That';s why I thought my own flashing was ok. But hey, if I can';t finetune, of course it won';t work.

Guess I';ll spend quite some time to find a solution for this flashing problem. Maybe my AIOP problems are all linked to this flashing thing, so when I get it flashed right, everything will work. On the other side, if I can';t get it working, I';d better order APM2.5 board.