Cheerson CX-20 Engine Problems

[Tom Fuller]

After much research I finally figured out why my Cheerson CX-20 was tilting to the side. One of the rotors was on upside down. One problem solved, another takes its place. The copter took off and went into some trees. It came down on its landers but one of the motors would no longer spin up.

I purchased a replacement motor and wired it in but it still won't run. I noticed something odd. The other three motors have a little diode or capacitor attached to the motor controller board. The motor that isn't working does not have that. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

It's possible I suppose that this little thing got knocked off and came out of the open battery compartment. Does Cheerson sell these controller boards? Or the diode/capacitor? It's a little cylinder about 3/4" long at the end of the motor board towards the center.

I've uploaded two images - one shows a controller with the little cylinder, the other without.

 

[John Doecliff]

It looks like a capacitor and every ESC should have one. Not sure how it got knocked off though. The prudent thing would be to replace the entire ESC if that possible.

 

[Tom Fuller]

That's what I thought. Thanks - now to look for replacements! - ESC - what does that stand for?

 

[Tom Fuller]

So one more question - which ESC to buy: red light or green light? The cap on the rotor is black if that helps.

For example: https://www.amazon.com/YIPBOWPT-Ele...1467668144&sr=1-1&keywords=esc+cheerson+cx-20

 

[John Doecliff]

hmm....I'm not sure, if the red/green is just a light that is used to tell the orientation of the craft then it probably doesn't matter. For instance the front two arms might have red lights on them and the rear arms have green lights on them.

 

[John Smith]

Would it be an option just to buy a new capacitor? theyre dead cheap, just test the value of those.

 

[John Doecliff]

If you could pick up one easy then sure why not. My understanding is the capacitor smooth's out voltage ripples from the battery to protect the FET's in the ESC. So if the capacitor is gone the ESC should still work but it would have a limited life span without the capacitor. So if your ESC is bad it will probably still be bad after you install a new capacitor. But you are right, at this point it wont hurt to try.

 

[Tom Fuller]

Thanks all for the input. I think just to be safe I'll buy an entire ESC. They aren't expensive ($14 or so). The other interesting thing is that this particular ESC is slightly different than the other three in that it has some sort of serial number near the open space where the screw post goes. I am assuming it is supposed to have a capacitor like the others - even if it's slightly different.

 

[John Doecliff]

Yes they should all have a capacitor on the battery side. Let us know if a new ESC solves the problem.

 

[Tom Fuller]

So finally got my ESC installed. Now when I turn on the copter it beeps constantly for about 2 minutes, stops for a few seconds, then starts up again. The normal startup song plays and ends as usual, so does the song on the remote.

I've attached a photo of how I wired it. The one odd thing is that there was a red wire that went to something on the main board labeled PPM. It's different than any of the others and shared a connection with the small white wire that went into the controller.

Needless to say, the motor still doesn't turn, though the others do.

 

[moonpie57108]

I am not sure if it would be possible to do a ESC calibration but that could generate a problem similar to that. I don't have any experience with that system, but if the ESC was out of calibration it may not be getting the proper throttle signal to allow arming. So start there.


Otherwise, I would think it is not getting a signal from the Flight Controller. I would double check all wires coming and going from esc that they have good connections, especially the small white wire, this is your ESC signal wire. From what I could read, the red wire PPM is almost monitoring the esc signal to control the LED lighting, if you have lights showing disarm/armed, this may be linked.

If you have calibrated or make it through the calibration, let me know. I would also run through any additional calibration sequences just for good measure.

 

[Dronelander]

Hi Tom,

you just have to recalibrate the ESC's (Electronic Speed Control). Regarding the green and red led, they are not just a light but are quite important to see the drone heading and they also alert you on battery drain.

I don't know if you have already done the calibration but it depend on the version of your Cheerson: if open source, you should be fine in 5 minutes.
Let me know.

 

[Tom Fuller]

As it turns out the answer was very simple. I had the connection between the ESC and the main controller upside down. Once I turned the connector over and reconnected it, all four engines run so am good to go. Now just need to figure out how to calibrate without the copter flying away and out of control!

 

[Dronelander]

Hi Tom,

Calibrate what? ESC or the full CX20.

About the esc, calibration mist be done without propellers so no risk that it flyes away.

Anyway, I,ve got the same problem and on monday I'm going to publish on my YOUTUBE channel the replacement process and the full esc calibration

 

[Tom Fuller]

Calibrate the full CX20. I don't have a PC so can't so it via software as I've seen mentioned. I'm very interested in your method of calibrating without the propellers. Can you post a link here when you're done?

 

[Tom Fuller]

BTW - just saw the BEST video on calibrating and flying the Cheerson.

 

[Dronelander]

Tom, about full calibration a pc is mandatory if you want your Cheerson flyes great. Manual calibrations are not recomended. The video I'm hopefully going to post on monday (new esc doean't work) is about esc calibration.