Castle Creations 35amp esc no power on

[mzrhayes]

Hi Guys, have a quick question. Recently i installed 4 Castle Creations 35amp esc on my quad. The problem i'm having is getting 3 of them to power on. 3 are non bec and 1 is. The one that has a bec powers on fine and spins the motor no problem, i also use this one in the number 1 position on my kk2.1 to power the board. The other 3 do nothing, no lights, no tones, nothing. I tested all ports on my power distribution board and they all show voltage. I don't think all three could be bad, that'd be crazy, its probably procedural but i'm at a dead end. I can get those 3 to power on and program via usb interface so i know their boards are working (i did flash and program all 4 with the identical parameters).

Thanks for your help............again....

Mike

 

[DDSFlyer]

I think you need power on M2 to power slots M2-M8. That may be yor problem although they still should be powering up though...

 

[xuzme720]

On a quad, the M2-M8 ports are not needed to be powered. They are only used for powering a servo on a tri or gimbal if you have one.

 

[mzrhayes]

Hmmm, what you say maybe true DD, I have bec power on #1 and motor works as well for #1, and it supplies volts to the FC which works too, but 2,3 & 4 don't work. I thought that the bec volts coming from 1 would be distributed for all my motors, is that not the case? The last escs i ran i unhooked the red wire from 2,3 & 4 because they were all bec and they powered up, but i couldn't get them programmed (whole nother Opra). I even tried hooking up rx pack to the batt port on the receiver to see if that would get them powered and nothing. Also, wouldn't I atleast get the led to come on when I hook it up directly to batt? #1 does this, but it also is a bec esc so its making its own 5v. This really sucks man!

ps, not running any servos either (for gimbal or rudder), this is a v tail quad

Thanks again....Mike....

 

[xuzme720]

The BEC is for supplying power, and as such, it does not need to be supplied with power. I can't imagine this being the issue. Which ESC's are you using on M2-M4? You said CC, but I am wondering which line.

I found the Quadpack 35's which has this in the fine print...*This package contains one Multi-Rotor 35 with a BEC and three with no BEC. The single BEC supplies power for all 4 controllers.

This makes no sense but if for some reason they DO need to be powered, run a jumper from a free port on your Rx to M8. That will power the M2-M8 rail and will supply power to the ESC's to test this.

 

[mzrhayes]

Thanks xuzme. Yep I'm running the Quad Pack of 35's. And your correct, there's one bec and 3 no bec. The 3 no bec are the ones not turning on. They are plugged into m2,3 & 4. Ill try supplying power to m8 from an unused channel off the rx and see if i get any love that way. Its gotta be a installation thing, can't imagine all three esc being bad outta the box

 

[mzrhayes]

Hi again xuzme, i ran the jumper from my rx to m8 on FC and everything works! That's good right? So do I have to power the motor rail on the kk with and external unit? I guess I could run the jumper for know. Any thoughts, and, why the hell would this be engineered this way, "this" being the KK board. Shouldn't power be distributed to m2 trough m8 from m1? Anyways, thanks again man, this was stressing me out!

 

[xuzme720]

Hi again xuzme, i ran the jumper from my rx to m8 on FC and everything works! That's good right? So do I have to power the motor rail on the kk with and external unit? I guess I could run the jumper for know. Any thoughts, and, why the hell would this be engineered this way, "this" being the KK board. Shouldn't power be distributed to m2 trough m8 from m1? Anyways, thanks again man, this was stressing me out!

That is just strange. I'm just not sure why Castle made their ESC like this, but as long as it works...
You should be fine just running the jumper as you don't have any higher current draw on the 5v buss the way you are set up and those CC have a 5A BEC in them.
As far as the KK2, it's been made like that to isolate servos or gimbals on the M2-M8 rail. Supplying power to the KK2 and your Rx through M1-input rail is just how they have always done it and keeps the sensitive stuff isolated from possible interference from other power drains or spikes. Since you have none of those on the second rail/buss, just run it with the jumper. It will be lighter than a separate BEC for the M2-M8 buss.
Still shaking my head over this one....Castle has to know how the KK2 is setup. I wonder why they have their ESC's setup needing a power supply? Most opto's don't need it...

 

[mzrhayes]

Thanks again xuzme, you saved me and my wifes sanity, she hates it when I get stuck, she says i'm grumpy. Shes correct.

 

[mzrhayes]

Hey Xuzme, what would cause m4 to to stop and start while the other are humming along normally? I did a test with and without props and m4 seems to want to stop whenever it feels like it! Thanks for all your help! As soon as I get some knowledge I can start answering question instead of asking all the time, sheesh!

 

[xuzme720]

Not sure unless you have either a bad motor or a bad connection to the power harness. Can you make a video detailing what is happening?

 

[mpbiv]

This sounds all too familiar. I just built a Tricopter using Castle Creation 35A quad pack.

These speed controls didn't include documentation in the package, but I found the instructions on the website and they stated the BEC from the one ESC was intended to power up the other ESC's. I am also using he KK2.1.5 flight controller so I ran into the same problem initially. I had an extra quad pack of ESC's I was going to use on my F550 flame wheel, so ended up swapping in another BEC ESC so that my Tri had two BEC ESC's on it (one powers the KK2.1 and receiver, and the other powers the remaining ESC and yaw servo).

In regards to the one motor stopping, did you calibrate your speed controls? Has the KK2.1 been flown previously and the gains tuned at all? Is auto-level on?

Mine did the same thing initially before I did my maiden flight. I decided to take it outside and see if it would hover anyways and all worked out. I think it has something to do with the KK2.1 trying to auto level the copter when it is on the ground and the I-gain slowly speeds up or slows down one motor to try and get it level, however since nothing is moving it keeps trying to correct until it hits its throttle limit.

 

[William A]

using Castle Creation 35A quad pack.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showatt.php?attachmentid=6674228&d=1397254268

Check out pg 26.

Special note for Castle Creation ESC’s created specifically for multicopters
Castle Creations have created a pack of four ESCs. You get three ESCs without a BEC and one with a
BEC so you don’t need to remove the 5V wire from the ESCs connected to M2 to M8.
The ESC with a BEC will be connected to M1 so that it powers the KK2.1.X and receiver. The problem
is that the other ESCs need a 5V signal “up the servo connector” in order for them to work. If they
are plugged into M2 to M8, they don’t get 5V and therefore, won’t work! Strictly, you should use a
UBEC on a spare M2 to M8 output to power the other ESCs. However, providing you don’t have any
servos, you may want to consider bridging the M1 and M2 to M8 5V power busses.

 

[mpbiv]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showatt.php?attachmentid=6674228&d=1397254268

Check out pg 26.

Thanks!

That manual is way better than the one on the HobbyKing site. I couldn't find that little tidbit in the HK manual for the KK2.1.5