How to connect ESC?

[Ceros007]

Hi,

I'm really new to all this. I never had a brushless motor and ESC before.

I want to build a QuadX but I'm not sure how to connect the ESC and the RX.


Questions:
1. According to this image, does it means that all four motors are in series?
2. There's 3 wires from ESC to RX, but here, it seems that only one (green) is connected to the arduino. What about the red/black wires?
3. We use the red/black wires from the last ESC to power up the RX on the batt pins and the arduino board?
4. There's 3pins for each channels on the RX, but here, it seems that only one (blue) is connected to the arduino. What about the red/black wires?

Build questions:
On the electronic side, I need breakout pins, servo lead, anything else?

RC Questions:
I know that I need CW and CCW props. But do we need to reverse polarity for the motor to rotate CCW?

Thank you so much everyone
Seb

[bradleyk]

the esc's have 3 wires, +5,Grnd And signal. we just use the signal wire, same with the receiver.

for the motors you ne to swap to of the 3 wires between the esc and the motor

[Ceros007]

Ok thank you!

So you swap the + and - from the motors. Do you still use CCW props?

[bradleyk]

NO

keep the red from the esc to the plus, and the black to the negitive, have you got the motors yet?

[Ceros007]

No yet. I'm planning everything.

So basically you have this:



Do you plug all 4 ESC in series or in parallel?

[bradleyk]

parallel,

[Ceros007]

What do you guys think of these:

Motor: FC28-22 12kv
ESC: Turnigy Plush 25A
Props: GWS-DD-8040 203x102
Batt: Turnigy 3000mAh 20C

[Antro]

Hi!

I'm new to this forum. As I'd like to connect the different elements of my quadcopter these days, I was looking for further information (to be really sure about what I do) and came accross this thread. My question now is: Can I really connect the Arduino Board directly to one of the brushless controllers (via BEC) without anything in between? I discussed that with a friend and he said that, although the controller provides 5V, the current at the Arduino pins may be to high for the board to handle and kill it. In my understanding this is complete nonsense. 5V is 5V and current (determined by voltage and resistance and therefore also constant) is not relevant. Am I right?
One more thing: Is the voltage output of normal controllers really stable enough when I don't put anything in between of controller and board?

Thanks,
Antro

[Centurian]

Hi!

I'm new to this forum. As I'd like to connect the different elements of my quadcopter these days, I was looking for further information (to be really sure about what I do) and came accross this thread. My question now is: Can I really connect the Arduino Board directly to one of the brushless controllers (via BEC) without anything in between? I discussed that with a friend and he said that, although the controller provides 5V, the current at the Arduino pins may be to high for the board to handle and kill it. In my understanding this is complete nonsense. 5V is 5V and current (determined by voltage and resistance and therefore also constant) is not relevant. Am I right?
One more thing: Is the voltage output of normal controllers really stable enough when I don't put anything in between of controller and board?

Thanks,
Antro

I, and I think most people, use one of the ESC BEC's to power the arduino without issue. Current needs to be considered as a BEC can only supply a certian amout without problems. If you use any servos, I would suggest powering them from another of your ESC BEC's as they do seem to create some noise that the sensors do not like. Hope this is helps!

[Antro]

Yes it did help a lot, thanks. So, I'll connect the signal cable of all four controllers to the arduino board. Then I take the red and black wires (plus and minus) of one controller to feed the arduino and the red and black wires of another controller to feed the RX. What should I do with the wires of the two remaining controllers? I cannot use them for LED-strips or something, for these need 12V. It's also not possible to connect them to the arduino aswell. That would fry the controllers. Maybe I just connect the negative wire to GND, would that be possible?

Thanks a lot,
Antro

EDIT: I'm of course always talking about the BEC cables, not the ones for the LiPo.

[Ceros007]

I heard that it's better to power the Arduino board from the receiver. You take a red wire from a use channel. This way, you will have a fail-safe function.

If the RX gets in Fail-Safe mode, it will shut down the arduino board and your motors.

If you power the Arduino directly from the ESC-BEC, even if the RX gets in fail-safe mode, the motors will continue to work and your quad will fly away...

[iacopo]

I heard that it's better to power the Arduino board from the receiver. You take a red wire from a use channel. This way, you will have a fail-safe function.

If the RX gets in Fail-Safe mode, it will shut down the arduino board and your motors.

If you power the Arduino directly from the ESC-BEC, even if the RX gets in fail-safe mode, the motors will continue to work and your quad will fly away...

Isn't it better to use the Multiwii failsafe/failsave function?

Code: Select all

#define FAILSAFE                                  // Alex: comment this line if you want to deactivate the failsafe function
#define FAILSAVE_DELAY     10                     // Guard time for failsafe activation after signal lost. 1 step = 0.1sec - 1sec in example
#define FAILSAVE_OFF_DELAY 200                    // Time for Landing before motors stop in 0.1sec. 1 step = 0.1sec - 20sec in example
#define FAILSAVE_THR0TTLE  (MINTHROTTLE + 200)    // Throttle level used for landing - may be relative to MINTHROTTLE - as in this case

At least this will try to stabilize the copter and make it land autonomously

[Ceros007]

Didn't know that! Actually my QuadX is not ready yet, still at the "Ordering" step.

Good to know!

[Poofjunior]

Hello, all,

I must ask: is the the receiver also receiving the same 5v from the BEC built into the ESC that is powering the Arduino? Or is the Receiver using a separate BEC altogether?


Thanks in advance for the hand!


(Also, what is the difference between running the arduino through a BEC and running it through a 5v regulator that we could connect directly to the battery?)

[gompf-2]

Hi,

I heard that it's better to power the Arduino board from the receiver. You take a red wire from a use channel. This way, you will have a fail-safe function.

If the RX gets in Fail-Safe mode, it will shut down the arduino board and your motors.

If you power the Arduino directly from the ESC-BEC, even if the RX gets in fail-safe mode, the motors will continue to work and your quad will fly away...

I never heard about a setup like this. On every RX I know the 5V/GND of the output channels is just connected parallel. AFAIN the difference between some rx regarding to failsafe is that some keep sending failsafe position or garbage to the ouputs and others shut down the signal completly in case of tx signal loss. The case of total signal shutdown in the signal line (orange/white) is easier to detect by software.

Furthermore the goal of the MWC failsafe routine is not to just shut down the motors, but to keep the stabilisation loop working without tx input and let the copter land with a defined sink rate. In best case leveled and soft

I must ask: is the the receiver also receiving the same 5v from the BEC built into the ESC that is powering the Arduino?

Yes.

Also, what is the difference between running the arduino through a BEC and running it through a 5v regulator that we could connect directly to the battery?

I use an external BEC connected like this. I just thought that this would provide a cleaner ground line to the arduino/sensors/rx as there is no high power load in the path to the gnd starpoint (otherwise you go over the ESCs gnd). Furthermore i have the Vbat divider and a transistor driver for 12v switched output (LED) on this PCB so no need for another PCB, everything connected to the arduino directly.
I don´t have a normal setup, so can´t say if it´s really better. I´ll try to make noise spectra when there is more spare time...

Regards,
gompf