Dualcopter build...

[Graham Lawrie]

Derek, i am not familiar with the plush or what they run on, but if it is not oneshot then that could be one of your issues. Are the motors coming on in Cleanflight now that you can arm them?

The drop off in voltage i have had this before and it was a bad connection and a bad esc.

I think your issue is the esc,s and cleanflight

[Stambo]

You may need custom firmware for that thing, maybe contact the guy that built the one you have seen on Youtube.

[Derek]

Well since this is my Dad's project, and I'm sure he wants to have an update, I decided to spend some time working on it tonight. Still unable to get the roll and pitch servos to work and still unable to get the servos to work in the Servos Tab in Cleanflight. Then I had a thought (insurances rates go up when I have thoughts)....I have the cargo dropper servo still connected to the GEAR port on the rx, despite this is a PPM rx setup. My thought was to see if the roll and pitch servos would work if I put them into the AILE and ELEV ports on the rx. Despite the fact that this is a PPM setup, yes, the roll and pitch servos come to life. Then I get to thinking about it more, the Dualcopter doesn't need any stability from the servos because the stability will come from the dual rotors, like a coaxial helicopter. But what about the Altitude Hold and Heading Hold modes? Actually, those modes don't need the servos either because the Altitude Hold will be dictated by the barometer, meaning the barometer will tell the motors to spin faster or slower. Ok...what about the Heading Hold Mode? Again, the same situation....the Heading Hold Mode will still work just fine because the magnetometer will tell one rotor, or the other, to spin faster or slower....torqueing the model around to keep it's nose pointed in one direction....again, like a coaxial helicopter. So, the pitch and roll servos can simply be plugged into the rx for their own simple functions......and it's working. Fantastic!!!

Now, although I have that good news to report, I do have one last hurdle to deal with....and this one is just odd. When I use my DX8 to throttle up, both motors "do" spin up but only about 15-20%. I can move the throttle stick all the way up and I only get about 15-20% throttle spin on the motors. "Calibrate the esc's, Derek!" I can already hear you guys saying that. In fact, I have done the calibration process numerous times. This is where it gets real odd. With my DX8 off and set aside.....in the motors tab, I check that box so that I can run the motors through Cleanflight. I can get 5% throttle, 15% throttle, 50% throttle....all the way to 100% throttle....and then back to 0. All the way up to 100% and back down to 0%....it's nice and smooth and gradual....just as it should be. But....when I disconnect everything and try to use my DX8....I only get that 15-20% throttle.

Would you guys have any suggestions on what to try? My "Dualcopter" profile, on my DX8, is a brand new default profile with a linear throttle curve and default dual rates.

I'll do up a video to demonstrate whats going on.

[Derek]

Here is a bit of video that shows what's going on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdSwaOHMtZ4

[Derek]

In the Configuration Tab, in the ESC/Motor Features, it talks about "PWM Motor Speed". What is that?

[Stambo]

What firmware are you running Derek?
I believe the guy that built the first one ran a custom firmware.

[Derek]

I'm using Cleanflight. I have been in contact with the guy that built the Dualcopter that inspired our build. He is trying to help, too.

I'm getting close to exhausting potential possibilities

I've tried a different rx, different fc, different esc's, new profile in DX8......

I'm really blown away that Cleanflight has Dualcopter as an option but there is all this trouble. Perhaps there is a custom mix, I just don't know. I just find it odd that I can go from zero throttle to 100% throttle in the Motors Tab of Cleanflight but when I use my tx, I only get about 15% throttle.

[Derek]

Well, I think I'm gonna have to put this copter on the shelf for a bit. I'm out of possible thoughts.

As I mentioned, above, when I try to run the motors in the Motors Tab of Cleanflight, I can run from 0-100% throttle. When I try to use my tx, I get very little throttle. It's odd, too, that when I try with my Dad's tx, I get the same throttle results. I've tried different flight controllers, different motors, different esc's, different rx's, different rx protocols and still get the same results.

[Graham Lawrie]

If the motor's work in Cleanflight motors tab and go to full power it surely must be either a calibration issue with the escs and TX endpoints. The signal on both TX yours and dads can only be both going to what the maximum position the esc is being told to go to .

[Graham Lawrie]

Try this Derek:)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Multicopter/co ... _behavior/

[Derek]

I set the minimum throttle to 1100 and set the min_check to 1150 and no difference. Still only have very little throttle.

I've not heard of changing the min_check before.

[Derek]

If the motor's work in Cleanflight motors tab and go to full power it surely must be either a calibration issue with the escs and TX endpoints. The signal on both TX yours and dads can only be both going to what the maximum position the esc is being told to go to .

Agreed. This is why im completely lost now. I have no idea what to change now. Ive calibrated the ecs's numerous times in Cleanflight.

[Derek]

Here's another "shot in the dark"

I'm trying Dad's dualcopter with a pair of esc's that I had in my parts bin. These esc's were flashed with blheli. I loaded up the BLHeli Suite and checked out the settings. Nothing looks "out of the ordinary" to me. When I hover the cursor over esc #2, it says that esc is "in sync" with esc #1. That being said...is there anything that looks odd in this screen shot???

Screenshot 2017-05-24 20.31.31.png (46.16 KiB) Viewed 4247 times

[Graham Lawrie]

Have you got one ESC "Master and the other Slave?

Take a look at this:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak3ePtDEme4

[Derek]

Yes....the first esc is the master, second is slave. I've got to leave for work soon but ill try what that guy did this afternoon

Thanks Graham!

[Derek]

Well Graham....no luck there. I do have 1 Master esc and 1 Slave esc...both are identical and "in sync" with each other. But, still have the same results.....arm the board, raise throttle, the motors do spin but only for the first 15%, or so, and no throttle increase as I raise the throttle to max position.

This is very disappointing!

[Graham Lawrie]

We will get there Derek:) all part of the fun:) I am home from work this weekend and will plug mine in to see what my settings are:)

[Derek]

That's cool, Graham! I appreciate your time and effort!!!

[Derek]

Dad and I took his dual copter to the LHS today to see if we could get any help from my "go-to" guy, Shane. I explained what the copter is doing (or better yet, what it's not doing, lol). I explained what I've tried and what I've swapped out. We spent about an hour and a half talking with Shane and trying different things. We even tried Shane's DX18. Even Shane was perplexed.

One thing that Shane did suggest was to try Betaflight, instead of Cleanflight. That's the one thing that I've not tried. Shane is thinking that "maybe" Betaflight has something in the firmware that Cleanflight doesn't. I do have the Betaflight GUI on my laptop. I'll do some searching to see how to flash Betaflight onto Dad's full Naze32.

If this doesn't work, I really have no idea what to do.

[pvolcko]

This can't be an ESC calibration issue. As you said you're able to run full range from inside the configurator and the ESC calibration is done between the FC and the ESCs. What it can be is the TX/RX channel setup in cleanflight and/or the transmitter. There should be a screen in cleanflight configurator where you see the transmitter inputs live, if I remember correctly. This seems like a problem with the throttle max being set too low (should be at something like 1900). Or maybe there is a switch controlling a safety feature that limits motor to an idle spin? You said you're using PPM Rx protocol, is cleanflight setup properly for that input mode?