let the questions begin...

[Aeronot]

Hello,
I am putting together my first R/C toy ever. APM2 on a 450 cat frame.
In testing I see what I think are strange behaviors, so I have a couple very basic questions to get started:

- Some ESCs don't make the first noise when powered. Dead, I assume?
- A motor, with good ESC and throttle on, shakes without rotating and needs to be started by hand before it goes. what causes that?
- Another one shakes only, no turn with or without help.

I am using Emax simonk 20A ESCs and Emax xa2212 980kv motors.
Any opinions appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Bartman]

hi aeronot

why did you pick the simonk esc's?

were the esc's all calibrated and was your throttle trim all the way down when you calibrated them?

the motor timing of the esc's may need to be changed up or down, hard to say. was everything new when you got it?

 

[econfly]

The startup chimes (and all other ESC noises) come from the motors, not the ESCs. I would double check the connections from the motors to the ESCs and from the ESCs to power.

 

[Aeronot]

Thank you for the quick responses.

• bought everything new, but I think they might be knock-offs (dealextreme)
• simonk because I liked the idea of upgrading firmwares. And they happened to come in a kit with the motor

Voltage out of harness is good. I did my own soldering of connectors on both ends of ESC (first time experience as well), so I could have screwed up some.

Major improvement on the shaky motor. Thanks to you I realize that I must have gone into programming mode and made a mess of the settings, including the timing.

So will check the others as well, together with connections.

Thanks A Lot!

 

[econfly]

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Aeronot]

Good and bad news.
My soldering skills are ok. Multimeter says connections are not the problem. Plus I just shorted the power module accidentally and was able to fix it.
And the four motors work when tested with a known good ESC.
Bad news is two ESCs seem dead. No beeps, no nothing...
Ordering right away.
Thanks for everything. We shall meet again... :
Aeronot