Help calibrating ESCs

chrismog

Silly old fart
Hi,
This may be a dumb question but I will ask anyway.
A friend of mine brought his hex for a rebuild after a minor crash.
He has a Futaba T10J and R3008SB. The first problem I encountered was that it is configured MODE 1. Next it has a spring loaded (centre neutral) throttle.
Now to my problem I cannot, for the life of me, get the ESCs to calibrate.
So I am asking this question:-
Can I calibrate the ESCs using my Taranis (for example) and then mount them to the hex and use the Futaba radio for flying?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Chris
 

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
No you would need to calibrate them to that radio. That's the point of the calibration, you are calibrating them to the end points of the radio you are using. The T10J even with a spring throttle should operate just like a normal throttle, hold it at the top and boot up the esc, after two beeps, push the throttle to the bottom, should beep again, you are done. Do them 1 at a time plugged into channel 3 or what ever channel you have set as the throttle. Also, make sure there are no throttle curves, or mixes to throttle cuts programmed.

Hope that helps!
 

chrismog

Silly old fart
View attachment 25774

Thanks for that. I will give it a shot this evening.
One more thing.......
I have a calibration hub from HobbyKing. Is it feasible to use that?
 

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Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
I've used something much more basic than that to calibrate multiple ESCs at once. Just a 1-8 homemade harness, but I've never had any issues.

I would think you'd be fine.
 



cootertwo

Member
Be aware that not all ESC's are the same. I have 4 on a quad, (can't read the name, I think they came from HK) that when you do the usual throttle full, and then down, they go into a programing mode. All kinds of different beeps, each having it's own group of beeps when you enter into any of the programming modes. I had to do research to find which set of beeps returned the ESC's to "default".
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
The firmware will dictate the beep sequence. If they are SimonK - that will be the most familiar sequence these days. And once the throttle is down and you get the beeps back. You're done.

@cootertwo is right. Research the ESCs you have and the firmware being used. Various firmware means various reactions to your stick movements.
 

Hexacrafter

Manufacturer
I will add on to stress that you need to read the ESC manual and understand the EXACT Beep/ song sequence for your ESC.
I have had more than a few clients struggle as they moved the stick from high to low after a first series of beeps (too early as they were to wait for a pause and a long beep), only to put the ESC into program mode by accident and made changes to other setting like breaking, timing.. etc..
so, make sure you understand the correct series/ sequence of beeps.
Secondly, I used to use & recommend a Multi-ESC calibration hub/ medusa snake cable, but again had cases where all ESC did not perform the calibration. I have fallen back to recommending on ESC at a time so you can hear each ESC and confirm that the calibration beeps occurred on each ESC. When you have 6 or 8 ESC trying to calibrate at the same time, it is nearly impossible to confirm they all did the correct beep sequence.
Just my 2 cents!!!
 

TomWolves

Tom Wolves
Excuse me guys for butting in, but I am having problems with my ESCs. I am just trying to check the rotation of my four motors. When I plug the signal cord to the receiver and hook up the three wires from the ESC to the motor, turn on the transmitter, and lastly plug in the battery all that happens is a fast beeping from the motor. The motor will not turn. This happens to all but one ESC. Any of you have a clue what I am doing wrong? This is my first build but I am going by the instructions from Parallax ELEV8. If you can help I would greatly appreciate it. I have been beating my brain trying to figure out what is up. Thank you for your time.
T.W.
 


TomWolves

Tom Wolves
Yes that is what I was saying John. I finally got that figured out. Now I can't get my flight controller or transmitter to communicate.
 

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