First Quad build - 220 Martian II 5" Racing Quad - Build Log

[HexDecimal]

Hello all, just signed up to the community and thanks in advance for any advice and troubleshooting assistance you can offer.
I was always interested in RC Cars as a kid but could never afford to get into the hobby and (40 odd years later) as I now have a stable job (and the stresses that go with having a 9 to 5 job) require a bit more of a hobby to get me out of the house.

I took a week off work and ordered the parts in advance hoping to get it semi-working during the week. Its been an interesting week for sure and my soldering skills definitely got a workout, but I have hit an invisible wall where I am now not sure how to proceed.
I will start by posting my components and what I did to get it all working.

I went for a semi cheap build because I did not want to spend too much on my first build.

My Build Components:

ESC: Racerstar RS20Ax4 V2 20A BB2 48MHz Blheli_S 2-4S ESC for Oneshot Multishot
MoTORS: 4 x EMAX RS2205 2300kv (red bottom).
FRAME: Reptile Martian II 220mm (came with PDB included).
PDB: MATEKSYS HUBOSD8SE PDB/OSD
FC: Cleanflight SP3FC V1 Deluxe clone (with barometer, magnetometer etc).
RADIO: FlySky FS-i6 (came with FS-iA6 PWM RX - later upgraded to FS-iA6B).
RX: FS-iA6B (iBUS version).
BATTERIES: Lipo 3s 35c x 1, 3s 25c x 2
CAMERA: Eachine 700TVL 3.6mm Lens 1/3 Cmos 90 Degree Wide Angle FPV Camera
FPV TX: Eachine VTX03 Super Mini 5.8G 72CH 0/25mW/50mw/200mW Switchable FPV Transmitte
GOGGLES: Eachine VRD2Pro
PROPS: 5045BN Dalprop 5" 2xcw, 2xccw (and spares :) :) )

First hurdle was understanding how everything was connected, I got through it thanks to a few guides on YT but there were inevitable gaps in the info available as everyone uses different components.

Here is the summary of my build experience with notes on how I know what appears to be working.

• Motors installed to frame with a bit of threadlock (prop nuts are reversed to direction of props anyhow). Had to solder each motor to ESC as cables were not ready soldered.
• ESC installed as bottom of stack and connected to motors, heatshrink applied over solder joins.

Note: Cleanflight test shows motors respond to manual throttle increase on master and individually via motor test.

• PDB installed as middle stack, followed guides on YT on wiring, mainly ensuring 5v power & ground feed to FC on top stack and 10v VTX & Ground feed to VTX & Camera. Much soldering joy was to be had.

Note: Video TX works to goggles (no overlay though). I assume power all hooked up correctly as motors also work and transmitter paired (some initial issues with this but we got there).

• Top stack is FC. Soldered pins (eventually) after realising direct board soldering could lead to issues on servo points (1-4 + 2 for +-). Wired this to included cable coming out of ESC. +- cable feeds into PDB below. Used IO_2 output with cable provided for RX. With IBUS only 1 Signal plus +- required, much less hassle than PWM. However it took me about 2 days to realise this. :/ Cropped rest of cables as not required at this point.

Note: Everything seems to power up & connected in cleanflight.

• Paired Transmitter via bind cable (eventually). 

Note: TX observed to be received by RX in CF in Receiver tab (eventually, once I got IBUS setup correctly).Ch5 and Ch6 seem to be paired by default to Aux 1 and Aux2 in CF. Cannot control motors directly from Radio until you sort out an ARM mode. See below.

• Cleanflight installed. Established that I need to be using IBUS and not PWM. Hence I ordered a FS-iA6B RX.

Note: All the tests involving CF USB Interface mentioned previously only happened after this point in the build.

• After setting up the basic stuff like name and ESC protocol (I used Multishot which afaik is the fastest response?), I proceeded to learn about modes and failsafe setup. Attempted to setup an ARM & Angle mode, a failsafe kill switch on radio. It was shortly after this that it stopped working. However having removed all of that, it still doesn';t work.

Note: Still no props on the setup, only for some pictures. At one point this was working (without props), then it just stopped responding and I feared I burnt something out but everything is behaving the same except for my AUX2 switch on radio.

Mateksys PDB Wiring Top to bottom:

Left YLW: Cam - OSD input Signal
Left BLK: Ground x2 - FC Ground & VTX Ground
Left YLW: VTX - Cam OSD output signal
Left BLK: Ground - Vtx
Left RED: 5V x2 - Vtx & FC Power
Left RED: 10V - Cam power
Right BLACK & RED: Main PDB Battery XT60 +- input








SP Racing F3 v1 FC Wiring:

Topside Pins 1-4 = servo pins (signal only) to ESC servo input (seen on ESC picture right side)
Topside Pins 6 = FC power (+ / -)
Left Side = IO_2 input = (Signal + -) to FS-IA6B RX (IBUS Servo pins)






BlHeli AIO 20A x4 ESC UGLY Wiring:

Top right to left:

Servo 1
ESC +- Power input from PDB
Servo 2

Bottom Right to Left:

Servo 3
Servo 4

Right side: Servo input from FC Pins 1-4.




TLDR:
After the above setup, I seem to have lost some AUX switches on my Radio. They are no longer showing a response in CF.
Also sometimes the Channels will stick in one direction for no particular reason. Battery is half on Radio. I was forced to create a new profile and rebind, that seemed to fix the sticking but Aux still not working.

Summary of issues I need help with:

1> Some Aux channels on Radio seem to have stopped working. AETR still received according to CF. FIXED
2> Still no manual control of props from Radio AETR, even with ARM mode setup and failsafes OFF. FIXED
3> Not sure which Gyro Update frequency & PID loop to use. ATM, both set to 4kHz with CPU @ %30';ish. FIXED
4> No camera overlay, even with OSD enabled in CF. FIXED

I am keen to get this in the air (and crash a few props even) but I will not risk it until I have it setup properly with failsafes working ofc.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
I live in North London and am also scouting for info on drone registry requirements (my quad is just over 500g) and clubs and places to practice.
Feel free to link me to existing info threads if they exist and thanks in advance.








EDITS: Moved wiring into the original post and changed title to current to reflect what it is I am building. Might help someone else do their first build. Original issues solved mostly.

[Cheredanine]

Hi mate,
So first thing thatnleaps out is the sprf3 needs 5v power, the origional can not tolerate 6.2v or higher (I had a discussion with Hydra about its exact specs)

You may have got lucky with the clone but the write up above suggests you are powering it with 10v, that is a bad idea

Secondly what pid and gyro loop time are you running (on the config tab)
And what is your cpu load like (at the bottom of the configurator or on the cli tab type status or tasks

Multishot is faster than most protocols, but it is also way faster than this setup needs, multishot is a form of pwm signal with the value being generated by the pulse length, I would strongly recomend switching to a digital protocol, not because it will improve performance but because it is more stable and resilient. I would suggest dshot600 since both your fc and escs can cope with it.

[HexDecimal]

Thanks, I must have edited the post as you was typing but I have PID and gyro at 4Khz right now with %30';ish load (just under) and only INFLIGHT_ACC_CAL enabled in config.

I will check that voltage and get back to you, it could also be 5v.

[HexDecimal]

Yeh I had it the wrong way around (from memory).

The 10v is feeding the camera and the 5v is feeding the FC.
I will edit the main post to correct this. Thanks for the catch though!

Summary of issues I need help with:

1> Some Aux channels on Radio seem to have stopped working. AETR still received according to CF. FIXED
2> Still no manual control of props from Radio AETR, even with ARM mode setup and failsafes OFF. FIXED
3> Not sure whaich Gyro Update frequency & PID loop to use. ATM, both set to 4kHz with CPU @ %30';ish. FIXED
4> No camera overlay, even with OSD enabled in CF. FIXED

[Cheredanine]

Ok mate, let';s deal with a few bits:

First point, there is currently no requirement for you to register the drone, there are laws on how and where you can fly it though

Osd- the pdb/osd board will have a video in and a video out pad, the video signal line from the cam will need to be connected to video in and the video signal line from the vtx will need to be connected to video out
Is that in place?

Re modes/ radio etc-
1. I use frsky, most pilots do, but some use flysky, I am sure they will help, or it will be on yt somewhere but you are gonna have to set the switch up on the aux channel for the new model
2. Motors will not spin up from the radio until the quad is armed  you can use old style stick arming but I don';t recomend it and it has its own problems (largely around strict travel)

I strongly recomend switching to dshot and ditching in flight acc cal

Edit: you posted when I was typing, most of it is answered
Re loop times:
Gyro loops should be as fast as possible, the faster the gyro sample, the more accurate it becomes (if you ar curious look up nyquist limit as well as gyro aliasing and artefacts)
PID loops - bone of contention, there are different opinions, mine is I have never been able to tell a difference over 2 or 2.6khz, and I have tested up to 32khz. Most of my quads routinely therefor run at 4khz because I know I am past the point where it makes a difference without putting undue load on the cpu (most of my stuff can run much higher

But that is a very old flight controller, it uses i2c not spi for the gyro connectivity, 4khz/4khz is its maximum speed,

[ched]

For the i6 I think you need to set up the aux channels in the tx. It might be in the rx menu on the tx. I havn';t got my i6 to hand to check but you need to assign switches to channels otherwise they wont be transmitted.

[HexDecimal]

Hmm, the video is not going through the board from my memory, that I will have to check again. I am getting a video feed though, so it is probably just wired directly to the VTX. That would explain that logically.

Do I wire video through to the PDB board or the FC as that has the built in OSD too?

In terms of protocols, I thought I could only use what was specified on the ESC specs which was Multishot and Oneshot42 I think. I will set it to that prot and see what happens.


In regards to the AUx channels, they have already been setup on the radio.
Channel 5 and channel 6. WHich is why its odd that it stopped working as they were working in CF at one point.

[ched]

The Racerstar RS20Ax4 V2 20A Bb2 48mhz blheli_s support dshot600. dshot is best for these esc.
As for tx I assume that when you set up a new model you set up aux channels again?

Does the FC have an OSD?
The MATEKSYS HUBOSD8SE PDB/OSD does the OSD but I don';t know how you set it up. You do need to connect the vtx and teh camera to the HubOSD to get an osd 
How did you wire the 4in1 esc to the HubOSD as that is designed for 4 separate escs? i.e. batt connector in and 4 sets of pads 1 on each corner for an esc.

[ched]

One other thing. You didn';t mention your battery capacity. I guess something like 1500mAh? If so your ';C'; rating may be a bit low.
ie. 4 motors that could pull 20A each = 80A.
So a 1500mAh (1.5A) x C rating (35) = 52A which might be a little low
but a 1500mAh (1.5A) X C rating (25) = 37.5A which is very low.

I assume you know not to fully discharge lipos and how to charge them including supervising them at all times when you charge them?

Keep posting as I am sure we will get to the bottom of the issue.

[Cheredanine]

Hmm, the video is not going through the board from my memory, that I will have to check again. I am getting a video feed though, so it is probably just wired directly to the VTX. That would explain that logically.

Do I wire video through to the PDB board or the FC as that has the built in OSD too?

Sprf3 does not have an osd, you got a link to what you bought?
The basic logic is as you expect, video wire comes out the cam, into whatever provides the osd then out to the vtx.
The osd on the pdb may need to be connected to the fc to show anything other than lipo voltage and possibly ampage

In terms of protocols, I thought I could only use what was specified on the ESC specs which was Multishot and Oneshot42 I think. I will set it to that prot and see what happens.

Blheli_s supports pwm, oneshot125, oneshot42, multishot, dshot150, dshot300 and dshot600
Very old blheli_s hardware may have a cap on the signal line that interferes with dshot, when it first came out some of us spent many a happy hour finding the caps and removing them,
Try the protocols and drive the motor from the motor tab, if they work from there then they are fine

In regards to the AUx channels, they have already been setup on the radio.
Channel 5 and channel 6. WHich is why its odd that it stopped working as they were working in CF at one point.

It is set up on each model on the radio so you can do different things on different models

Edit:
Not really looked at your osd, but may need flashing with latest software

[HexDecimal]

Some very good points to check out which I will do after work this week.
Thanks a lot gents for that, as I was hoping very helpful stuff!

The batteries, yeh I realised after I bought them that they were a bit weak then I thought lets get this thing moving first before I go crazy on batts. Also the C rating confused me when it says something like 25-50c but its only the first number that matters apparently (a shop owner told me).
I do realise you need the juice to flow faster to get the weight into the air and moving and already have my eye on some 50-75c lipo batteries. Suggestions welcome too for best bang for buck. The Martian II frame suggestion is to use 1800mAh batts, probably in terms of weight to time in air ratio or something.

I mentioned SP3fc OSD as the config settings in CF seem to suggest it has onboard video. Maybe it just means that it passes that info on to the VTX feed?, probably.
That makes sense now, but that also means more soldering :p

The ESC I soldered the 4 motors to the provided pads and reversed 3 and 4 as they are laid out incorrectly on the ESC. I also crossed 2 of the wires on the CCW motors so they would rotate CCW (opposite corners of the layout).


Gutted I could not get it working during the week or weekend but amazed at the amount of knowledge I have picked up just trawling YT, some very useful sites out there such as Oscar Liang';s.

For someone who has not built an RC device EVER, a week is not bad me thinks. :)

Thanks again and will update soon!

PS: I did flash the FC with the latest version in CF but did not flash the PDB.

[Cheredanine]

Dealing with a few of these bits:
1. Some fc boards have built in OSDs, that is why the config option is there, but this one doesn';t.
2. You have picked up old stuff, you can configure the direction of the motors in blheli suite (available either as a standalone software or a chrome app) via the fc USB port
3 lipos:
The Amos are effectively pulled by the motors, based on the motor, the prop, he voltage (hence cell count) and the throttle value.
You can find this info from places like miniquadtestbench, although bench figures will be 25-35% higher than in flight, but let';s assume, for example, your motors pull 20amps each at full throttle, than means you need to provide 80 amps, probably 81 given the rest of your electronics.(also governs which escs to use)

In theory lipos provide amps up to mah(/1000) x c rating.
C rating are given in constant and burst (for 10 seconds), so a lipo that is rated at 1300mah 50-100c can provide 65 amps constant, 130amps burst for up to 10 seconds. Since we don';t fly at full throttle for long (these are aircraft, not soaceships) having a max amp draw higher than the constant isn';t a problem, but having it over the burst is, that will damage the lipo
Now this is over simplified for two reasons:
Firstly as you draw higher levels of power, the voltage sags, this effects the amps the motor tries to draw

Secondly, and I can';t stress this enough, battery manufacturers lie. All of them. On every lipo.
You will never get the burst amps for 10 seconds, I would be shocked if you ever get it at all.

Now when choosing a lipo, you can see the math, you can make allowances for the fabrication of the lipo manufacturer, you next question is what is better, high c or high mah?

Well mah is basically the ammount of juice in the tank, higher mah will give you longer flight times BUT, they way more, that makes the quad slower and less agile.
Lipos with higher c will be more expensive but generally don';t weigh much more, they don';t give you longer flight time, and since they are used to draw more amps (or use more power for a given time frame) so the flight time will be less

1800mah is quite heavy for a 5 inch quad, Personnaly I don';t use anything over 1550mah on mine, and generally use 1300mah, and those are all 4s so I am draining them quicker

Particularly since you are using 3s I would look at 1500/1550mah, as a beginner that is gonna give you nice long flight times without it feeling like you are trying to fly a brick

One last thing, there is a broad range of quality in lipos, see that bit about manufacturers lieing, it applies even more so to the cheap ones

[HexDecimal]

Evening.

So I made a 6minute video illustrating the issue I am having because sometimes its just easier to show than explain.

Radio AUX is setup.
Radio PPM is ON. (yes it needs to be set to ON on this Radio when trying to output IBUS, yes logic).
Radio Display shows switches working as they should to confirm no issue in radio.
CF port has UART 3 set to RX ON (not shown in vid, sorry).
CF config is set to serial_RX with IBUS, save and reboot.
No activity from AETR controls in Radio tab.

Set RX to PPM mode (channel 1).
change CF config to PPM_RX mode, save reboot
Now we have activity in Radio tab from Radio channels but AUx switches still not working.

Is it possible I have damaged the FS-IA6B RX in a way that IBUS no longer works but PPM sort of works (AUX not working correctly) ??




EDIT: Heres the unlisted video (not after subscriptions or likes)...not sure how to embed correctly on here...

Apologies for shaky mobile phone cam...

PPS: Kept saying Receiver instead of TX or Radio DOH... I know the difference don';t worry :)

https://youtu.be/WO_1gClMaM0

[ched]

Not watched vid but
Radio PPM is ON.
CF port has UART 3 set to RX ON (not shown in vid, sorry).
CF config is set to serial_RX with IBUS, save and reboot.

So your radio is set to PPM and the flight controller is expecting iBus!!!!!
You need to set transmitter to iBus, have an iBus compatible receiver, and set Flight controller to Serial rx and then to iBus.

[HexDecimal]

Not watched vid but
Radio PPM is ON.
CF port has UART 3 set to RX ON (not shown in vid, sorry).
CF config is set to serial_RX with IBUS, save and reboot.

So your radio is set to PPM and the flight controller is expecting iBus!!!!!
You need to set transmitter to iBus, have an iBus compatible receiver, and set Flight controller to Serial rx and then to iBus.

Oh I wish things were that logical and I mean that in a non sarcastic way.

Unfortunately, previously when I had IBUS working on this very same receiver (which definitely is IBUS compatible, the standard FS-IA6 is PWM only, hence why I upgraded to this RX), PPM output was still set to on (for whatever reason) and just for the hell of it if I disable PPM output for IBUS mode now, it does not make a difference.
For the record, the Radio is always transmitting to IBUS channel 1, thats not a setting you can turn off on the Radio regardless of what Mode you want to RX on. You can change the channel but I don;t see any benefit in that as you don;t connect IBUS to a channel, its a servo connection that is not numbered (as stated on the FS-IA6B RX).


Back to square one.

PS: This video is what I originally watched to work out IBUS setup..notice PPM is set to ON.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIEAu8ig6V0

[Cheredanine]

The point ched was, tactfully :), trying to make is the flight controller is looking for a specific kind of signal. This is in the code, if it was wrong there would be thousands of people haveing problems.

So when the fc is set up for ppm and it is working, regardless of what you think you have set, or the radio tells you you have set, you are sending ppm.

I don';t mena any disrespect, and perhaps one of the flysky boys can check the radio/Rx configuration/setup but the short answer there is probably human error, unfortunately I can';t tell you where it is

[HexDecimal]

The point ched was, tactfully :), trying to make is the flight controller is looking for a specific kind of signal. This is in the code, if it was wrong there would be thousands of people haveing problems.

So when the fc is set up for ppm and it is working, regardless of what you think you have set, or the radio tells you you have set, you are sending ppm.

I don';t mena any disrespect, and perhaps one of the flysky boys can check the radio/Rx configuration/setup but the short answer there is probably human error, unfortunately I can';t tell you where it is

Oh I';m no stranger to being wrong, its human nature and I am learning. I have no problems with that. :)
However there are videos (as linked above) with other people having IBUS setup successfully (as I previously did) with PPM output on. Thats not something I invented, thats how I have seen others get it working and I simply followed suite. It did initially work exactly as explained in that above video. Then it stopped working.

My actual question, if we can refocus here for a second, was whether its possible for me to have somehow blown 1 part of the RX but have it still partially working for another mode. Is that even possible?
That was my question.

...
Now we have activity in Radio tab from Radio channels but AUx switches still not working.

Is it possible I have damaged the FS-IA6B RX in a way that IBUS no longer works but PPM sort of works (AUX not working correctly) ??




EDIT: Heres the unlisted video (not after subscriptions or likes)...

[Cheredanine]

Always need to be careful with forums, too easy to offend people,

It is possible I suppose, but very unlikely that the Rx has blown in some way that causes it to send com when it is set to ibus.

Most likely exolanations are either the vid you are using is wrong or you have made a mistake, you need a flysky guy and that ain';t me

[ched]

I think because this hobby is so individual and there are so many components it can be very frustrating. This is a great forum with helpful members. I have just spend about 5hrs tracing why I cant get video out of a brand new Omnibus F4 V3 Pro. I have discovered that it is a dead video chip but that took me lots of investigation as I always thing I did something wrong and I was trained as an electronics engineer!
Stick with it mate you will get there.

I have an i6 with 10ch Firmware but it is not in front of me at moment. I also have the ia6b, ia10 and the x6b rx.
I did just have a look at the video as I couldn';t yesterday. While it looks correct it is a year old and sometimes thing change quickly in this hobby. That said it does seem correct from my recollections.
The PPM setting may be a bit confusing. When you are using iBus and plug the 3 way cable into the iBus servo port the protocol that is used iBus not PPM but PPM still needs to be enabled in tx, weird but correct.
So while PPM has to be switched on you are not actually using PPM at all!!!!!

Sometimes if I get stuck I go back to the start. i.e. Go to a new unused model on the tx and setup from scratch following the video. I can';t remember if you have to bind the rx on a new model but always best to bind then you know it';s done. If you don';t have luck then maybe temporarily try pwm connections and setup on FC. 

I have a few very busy days but I will try and look at my tx/rx when I get chance.

[HexDecimal]

PPM is not working either (AUX is getting stuck) so I think the RX is broken.
I ordered a new RX. We can then tell if its effed up or not.

I got my OSD working, re-soldered the yellow signal onto the Cam point and then off from the TX on the MATEKSYS PDB.

Not long now.

[HexDecimal]

Okay new RX received...

RX working again now and AUX';s behaving as expected... 
So I had somehow damaged that RX...

Now I just need to work out the failsafes.

Also I cant seem to get the motors spinning up at all via transmitter with ARM mode enabled and failsafe mode off.
If I manually crank them up they spin.
I did accelerometer calibration, no difference.

Will take another look with a clearer head.

Update fix list

Summary of issues I need help with:

1> Some Aux channels on Radio seem to have stopped working. AETR still received according to CF. FIXED
2> Still no manual control of props from Radio AETR, even with ARM mode setup and failsafes OFF. FIXED
3> Not sure which Gyro Update frequency & PID loop to use. ATM, both set to 4kHz with CPU @ %30';ish. FIXED
4> No camera overlay, even with OSD enabled in CF. FIXED

[Reman]

Edit - Sh1t ! This was only going to be a short couple of sentences of questions type post...... But as always, I';ve gone a bit "Wordy"....... Sorry folks.

Just double checking a few things here.

You said you';ve used "IO_2" for the RX, Do you mean the 4 pin "UART2"? If so, later on in the thread you mention "CF port has UART 3 set to RX ON"...... Was that a typo? If the TX has power it';ll bind and send back telemetry, so having an "RX voltage" on the TX';s screen doesn';t mean the RX is talking to the FC, But it does mean that the transmitters protocols (PPM or iBus and AFHDS A2) should be set up roughly right, And for a signal to be occasionally getting from the RX to the FC via PPM, and you being able to spin up the motors via CF means the wiring can';t be far off.

When you plug in a battery without the FC being connected to cleanflight, are you still hearing the ESC';s making the 3 beeps that raise in tone, Then a low followed by a high beep? If not then they';re not arming, That would point me to check that the minimum throttle isn';t set too high in CF.

When you flick the "Arm" switch, Do you see a change in the LED';s on the FC (And/or the CF modes)? It might help if you posted a picture of the FC so we can see the model and what pads you';ve wired up. Also, Some F3';s have a couple of pairs of tiny pads labeled "PPM" and "sBus" near the RX pins (Only relevant if your FC has these and you';ve connected the RX to the "PPM/sBus" pins). Some of these FC';s need to have the pair of pads bridged with a "0 ohm resistor" (Or a blob of solder) that correspond to the RX signal standard that you';re using. This is another reason why it';d be useful for us to identify exactly which F3 clone you';ve got and what';s wired where.

In your original post you mentioned that you live in North London. Roughly what area do you live in? It';s a bit too far for me to pop over (I';m near Bristol), But if you put a slightly less vague geographical name to the area you live in (I';m not talking about street names here, Just something a little more like "East Barnet" or "Stratford") you could find that someone on the forum might live near by and be willing to come over to double check your handiwork and check the settings. I doubt anyone here would take the p1ss out of what you';ve done so far. We all started at the beginning, and if anyone here tries to say they';ve never made any silly mistakes in their early days of building multirotors I';d be at the front of the cue to call them a bloody liar !!! LOL !!! You might even find someone who';ll happily offer to help keep you out of trouble during your first few flights (And an extra pair of eye';s are always handy when trying to find a crashed quad in long grass........ Or up a tree. LOL ! ).

Good luck with the quad. I';ve built myself up a couple of the Martian II frames with a pretty similar set of components to yours (One';s a 220 and the others a 250 so I could use 6" props) and they fly really well. The 5" has cheapo "Racerstar BR2205" motors on it, And even on 3 cell packs it';s still ballistic !!! :) . You should enjoy this one....... Although, If you haven';t flown a quad before you might want to look into tweeking the throttle settings in CF to keep it off 100% till you get comfortable controlling it, Maybe play with the top end of the throttle curve to make it max out at 75%. (Apart from the low C batterys) the parts you';ve chose should make a reasonably quick toy there, And even now I sometimes manage to catch myself out on the 220 when FPVing because it can gain stupid amounts of height in the blink of an eye. While you';re learning to hover and doing circuits close to the ground you shouldn';t miss that extra punch..... It';s just a suggestion (Someones bound to b1tch slap me down for suggesting it though. :) ).

Reman.

(PS, If you got the FS-i6 TX that came with the firmware update cable in the box, It';s well worth updating it to the "10ch firmware" from the "Benb0jangles" Github page (https://github.com/benb0jangles/FlySky-i6-Mod-/tree/master/10ch%20qba667_hali9%20Updater/10ch_qba667_hali9_i6_Programmer_V1). As the name suggests, It unlocks 10 of the iBus';s potential 14 channels, And it also adds a few other little tweaks (Like increasing the "You left the TX on" bleeper';s timer so it';s not going off all the time you';re configuring stuff in cleanflight. :) ). It turns a pretty good budget TX into one I prefer to use over my TGY-i10 (A rebranded FS-i10 with REALLY sh1tty firmware !!!).)

[HexDecimal]

Thanks for the lengthy post and observations..going through it now and photos to follow of wiring config.

Seeming as we';re posting closeups, I will now have to upfront admit my soldering is horrendous, especially on the main +/- battery connect PDB pads...but I don';t think there are any shorts.. at least not anymore.


Mateksys PDB Wiring Top to bottom:

Left YLW: Cam - OSD input Signal
Left BLK: Ground x2 - FC Ground & VTX Ground
Left YLW: VTX - Cam OSD output signal
Left BLK: Ground - Vtx
Left RED: 5V x2 - Vtx & FC Power
Left RED: 10V - Cam power
Right BLACK & RED: Main PDB Battery XT60 +- input








SP Racing F3 v1 FC Wiring:

Topside Pins 1-4 = servo pins (signal only) to ESC servo input (seen on ESC picture right side)
Topside Pins 6 = FC power (+ / -)
Left Side = IO_2 input = (Signal + -) to FS-IA6B RX (IBUS Servo pins)






BlHeli AIO 20A x4 ESC UGLY Wiring:

Top right to left:

Servo 1
ESC +- Power input from PDB
Servo 2

Bottom Right to Left:

Servo 3
Servo 4

Right side: Servo input from FC Pins 1-4.




Cleanflight screens coming...

You said you';ve used "IO_2" for the RX, Do you mean the 4 pin "UART2"?

A: No. I thought the IO_2 were actually wired to the UARTS in some way. Originally I was soldered directly onto UART 3 I think. Now I am just using the IO_2 port to RX cable (S+-).

When you plug in a battery without the FC being connected to cleanflight, are you still hearing the ESC';s making the 3 beeps ...

A: Yes.

When you flick the "Arm" switch, Do you see a change in the LED';s on the FC (And/or the CF modes)?

A: Yes and no. The red light flickers once when I am going between modes. At the moment, the ARM mode is not going green when it should be. Also I noticed in cleanflight when armed the symbol at the top should go yellow (next to Failsafe and Serial symbol). Thats not happening either.

[Reman]

OK, I think I might be able to see the solution....... Forget that IO-2 port !!!!!

Wire the RX';s iBus cable directly into UART3 (+ is the power, - is the ground, And the signal wire goes to the "RX" pad). Then once you';ve enabled "Serial RX" on UART3 in Cleanflight, and told CF your using iBus I';m about 90% sure everything will be bunny rabbits and rainbows in your world. :)

You';re right about your soldering though, It';s hideous !!! LOL !!! But like most things of this type, It get';s easier with practice......... And good quality 60/40 lead/tin solder with a rosin flux core. Back when I got my first soldering iron my work looked pretty much like your attempt......... But then again, I was 10 at the time. :)

Looking at your soldering, I';m guessing you';ve got some of this new fangled lead free stuff (It';s total sh1te, As any commercial PCB fabricator that legally has to use the stuff will tell you). A decent 60/40 with rosin will flow into joints like it';s trying to hide from the soldering iron. The lead free junk tries to run away from everything, Including the bits you';re trying to join.

Easiest way I';ve found to directly solder small cables to an FC is to trim a tiny length of insulator off the wire (About 2mm), Push the wires through the relevant holes, Generously tin the tip of the wires, Then one by one pull them back through the hole in the soldering pad until the end of the wire';s just sticking up out of the hole. Then heat the wire and pad with the soldering iron for a couple of seconds before ramming the end of you PROPER solder against both of them. Keep the heat on it for a couple seconds more and you';re done. What you';re looking for is a nice miniature mountain of solder that';s radiused from the peak and running down to the edges of the solder pad. If it looks like you';ve got a ball of solder sitting on the pad you want to add the heat again for a few more seconds.

Hopefully this will get you sorted.

Reman.

[HexDecimal]

Reman, that sounds feasible as like I said in my first post. I had it working and then I changed something and it no longer worked after that.
I read somewhere that using the IO_2 was equivalent to hardwiring to UART3, thats why I did it - also just in case my soldering sucked too much for direct soldering.

As you can see in the screenshot, I';ve always had UART3 Serial RX enabled.

And heres what it says in the manual about IO_2 which is why I ended up doing it that way...

IO_2 connector - Serial RX / PWM RX / GPIO / UART3
When using a PWM receiver connect CH3/4/7/8 to PWM RX.
When using a 3.3v Serial RX receiver (S.Bus, SUMD/H, etc.) use GND/VCC/CH3 (UART3 RX). CH3/4/7/8 can be used as general purpose IO when not used for Serial/PWM RX.
CH7/8 can be used for a 3.3v Sonar sensor when not used for PWM RX.
ADC_1/2 can be used to connect Battery Current Monitoring and RSSI signals. (3.3v MAX).

[HexDecimal]

OKay, so I resoldered the IO_2 pins to the UART3 instead.

Still works the same.

Right now I can';t seem to get ARM mode turning green for some reason.

I';m so close...

[ched]

Just a quick check. Make sure your end points are correct on tx. Check all min (1000) centre (1500)and max (2000) are as close as possible.

[Reman]

Hang on?!?!? Where have we got to with this? Is CF actually registering your stick inputs now?

[HexDecimal]

Hang on?!?!? Where have we got to with this? Is CF actually registering your stick inputs now?

It was always registering my stick inputs (at least since getting the replacement RX)... just no motor control...

I can see Radio movement in CF, just no direct motor control and when I setup an ARM mode, I cant seem to get it to ARM.
Will check endpoints in a bit.

[Reman]

Oh, OK. Seems I was trying to solve an earlier problem.

When you toggle the arm switch can you see the slider (In modes) move in Cleanflight?