KK Hexacopter Setup Help

[J3Cub]

Hey,
I spent the whole day working on converting my quad into a hex. I made a new frame and used the 4 esc's from the quad and 2 new ones from hobbyking (same exact esc) along with 6 new dt750's. I flashed the hexacopter firmware onto the kkboard using the kkmulticopterflashtool and the programmer from hobbyking. It confirmed that the new firmware was installed. I set all 6 esc's back to default to start out. I set up the esc's on my own power distribution board, wired the rx to the board, and plugged in all the esc's to the board. When i turn the tx on, then the rx, all 6 motors beep the same tone, the kk board lights up solid, and so does the rx. But nothing else after that. I cant arm, disarm or make the motors run together. I tested all 6 of the motors and esc's seperate from the kk board and they all work fine. Any ideas on why this isnt working? I almost feel like my mind is so shot from working on it all day that i might be missing something simple.
Thanks for any help,
Tucker

 

[Bartman]

Tuck,
congrats on getting the Hex built. did you calibrate the ESC's separately before wiring them to the Hex? I'd guess you did if you were able to get them to spin up the motors off of the kopter.
To calibrate I believe you plug one into a receiver then start by turning on the radio and putting the stick to full throttle. power up the receiver so the ESC also gets power, wait for a beep (I think) then put the stick to min power (wait for another beep). the ESC should be calibrated and do the same for the other five.
I haven't done this in a while so sorry if I'm off a bit on it,.
Bart

 

[J3Cub]

Thanks for the reply, Bart.
I just tried calibrating all 6 ecs's, one at a time. Still getting the same result when I connect them to the kk board. Im kind of thinking it might have to do with the firmware. When I used to plug in the quad, the rx light would go on, but the kk board's light wouldnt go on until I armed it. I dont know if its a different sequence for arming but I used the firmware right off of kk's site so I would think it would be the same.
Tucker

 

[J3Cub]

I am pretty sure my problem has something to do with the firmware. I flashed the minsoo kim hexacopter firmware on it just now, and the esc's didnt beep when i plugged the battery in. I put the kk hexacopter firmware back on and all six esc's beeped, but i wasnt able to arm the motors or get anything else to happen. Ideas?
Tucker

 

[Bartman]

Tuck,
Is there a feature in the software that allows you to choose how you want the motors to arm? XAircraft allows you to choose if you want the motors to arm with a control input (a' la Mikrokopter). Maybe there's a box somewhere that hasn't been checked to allow you to turn them on? Sorry but I know nothing about the KK boards.
Bart

 

[J3Cub]

Thanks Bart! I actually figured it out late last night! I was using firmware from the long list provided with the flashing tool and I realized that the newest version was only v1.3 and now they are on v2.6. I had tried flashing it with the firmware direct off of the website, but I mixed up the files somewhere along the line. Last night I reflashed the actual v2.6 firmware and it worked! Just a note to anyone who may be doing this in the future, you have to power the kk board with an external source, which i didnt see this mentioned in any of the tutorial type pages (i used a 4.8v nimh battery) Also, make sure you have the right version of the firmware.
Thanks,
Tucker

 

[J3Cub]

Thanks for the help! Got her in the air tonight again. Onboard video looked good for the sun being down
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