First Quad Build - What am I Doing Wrong?

[Yusernaym]

I picked up a kit for an Iflight Flycat 270 from my local hobby shop yesterday, along with everything needed to complete it. The main kit was heavily discounted due to it being very old, so I got out with a frame, motors, speed controllers, flight controller, receiver, props, solder, and heat shrink for less than $150. I got started on the build yesterday, taking my time and following guides. Today I got it to the point where I should have been getting ready to set it up, flash firmware, bind the receiver, and maybe even test, but I hit some snags. First was that I got the wrong receiver the first time around. It used Spektrum's new weird sort of serial protocol, which is not supported by the Naze 32 rev5 that came with the kit. I exchanged that for the right kind of receiver, and had the shop's quad specialist look at my wiring. I had all three leads from every opto ESC connected to the pins of the flight controller. According to what I had seen from a cursory search last night, that was fine, but it seems like a case-by-case kind of thing, as there's a chance my ESC's throw unregulated battery voltage down that lead, which very well could have fried my flight controller. None of the lights on the FC board react in any way to a battery or usb cable being plugged in, and the Betaflight configurator doesn't connect to it, even with the boot pins shorted.

Now I'm left with a quad that looks great, in my opinion, but definitely needs some work. I didn't expect this to only take a couple of days, so I'm not surprised that it's not done, but I was hoping not to spend more than necessary, and I might have killed my flight controller. I'll add an image of the current wiring so some of you who know what you're doing can give me tips. I should preface it by saying the reason the connections look so bad is that the insulation on the esc wires is very heat sensitive, and it got ugly while I was soldering. Also, the tape on the red wires is to keep them from shorting on anything, and I know it's not pretty.

 

[The Hangar]

@"Corpse" told me that if you stick it in the hot oven for a while it helps...

 

[Yusernaym]

@"Corpse" told me that if you stick it in the hot oven for a while it helps...

Do you think I might have heated up the solder under the chips enough to stop it from working? That's something I hadn't thought of yet.

 

[The Hangar]

Do you think I might have heated up the solder under the chips enough to stop it from working? That's something I hadn't thought of yet.

I honestly have no clue. The extent of my soldering is servos, bullet connectors, esc leads, batteries, and adapters. I haven't done anything like that.

 

["Corpse"]

I think you might have a fried FC. As I'm writing this I see @The Hangar 's post. Yes, sometimes a VTX will come back to life after a nice bake in an oven. I wouldn't try it on something as intricate as an FC. There are lots of FC's to get as a replacement though. They only cost about 25-30 bucks.

Do you think I might have heated up the solder under the chips enough to stop it from working? That's something I hadn't thought of yet.

That is a possibility, but I think you routed some ground wires into places where they don't belong. That'll kill it dead.

 

[Yusernaym]

I think you might have a fried FC. As I'm writing this I see @The Hangar 's post. Yes, sometimes a VTX will come back to life after a nice bake in an oven. I wouldn't try it on something as intricate as an FC. There are lots of FC's to get as a replacement though. They only cost about 25-30 bucks.


That is a possibility, but I think you routed some ground wires into places where they don't belong. That'll kill it dead.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's dead. Do you have any recommendations for a 30.5x30.5 FC?

 

["Corpse"]

Here's an FC that I found. It has bigger pads, for easier soldering. It also is compatible with your individual esc's. Good luck and Get flyin' soon!https://www.racedayquads.com/produc...SPkfyLyB-obDId2HGEcGaBktDYSfY6-BoCMaIQAvD_BwE

 

[Yusernaym]

Here's an FC that I found. It has bigger pads, for easier soldering. It also is compatible with your individual esc's. Good luck and Get flyin' soon!https://www.racedayquads.com/produc...SPkfyLyB-obDId2HGEcGaBktDYSfY6-BoCMaIQAvD_BwE

That looks great, thanks! It looks like it also replaces the PDB, right? So I wouldn't need any kind of stack.

 

["Corpse"]

That looks great, thanks! It looks like it also replaces the PDB, right? So I wouldn't need any kind of stack.

Yes! You have room for whatever ya' want on top as well. Building stacks is probably my favorite part of any build.

 

[Yusernaym]

Yes! You have room for whatever ya' want on top as well. Building stacks is probably my favorite part of any build.

This frame has maybe 15mm of vertical space for a stack, so I might be able to sqeeze one board on top if I'm lucky, but I'll be glad to just have some clearance.

 

[PsyBorg]

These may help you to as it looks like you are totally new to soldering. Judging by the extra lengths of exposed wire near pad and other wires I would guess you may have shorted something out from that picture earlier in the thread.

 

[Yusernaym]

These may help you to as it looks like you are totally new to soldering. Judging by the extra lengths of exposed wire near pad and other wires I would guess you may have shorted something out from that picture earlier in the thread.

Thanks, that's actually pretty helpful. I'm not new to soldering, just to this kind of soldering, and I was applying what I knew from my previous experience. I've joined a lot of wires, and done a few battery connections, but hadn't soldered anything to a board before this project. My iron doesn't have an adjustable temperature, but it's also not a very hot one, so it should just come down to technique. I had been heating up the pads more than necessary, and may have broken the board well before any power got to it.

 

[Yusernaym]

I may not have thought this through, which isn't surprising for something that started as a stress buy. We're solidly into winter here in Alaska, and quads don't exactly get along with snow, so I think I'll just put this project on hold for now.

 

[PsyBorg]

Gives you a nice chunk o time to practice soldering on old junk things around the house or that people throw out. Just dont mess with anything that has huge fat capacitors like tv's or power supplies.