Frsky Receiver and BlHeli esc compatibility issue

[Beldraak]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, as I don't know if this is a radio question or an esc question or both.
I just bought a flitetest flight pack b and c and I can't get the escs to arm. I have tried connecting the battery when the transmitter is at throttle off and also with it at full to try to calibrate it. Both just give a 231 musical tone regardless of the throttle setting and then there is nothing. I have a 72 MHz Futaba transmitter with a 2.4 ghz frsky module installed and set so both bands can be used. When using the frsky receiver i can't get the esc to arm. But if I switch over to a 72 MHz receiver it fires right up.
Is there a known issue with compatibility between Frsky receivers and BlHeli escs?

I tried extending the end points on the throttle to see if maybe the esc wasn't picking up full throttle and no throttle, but then when the other receiver worked without any adjustment that kind of threw that out.

My only clue is that in the blheli manual under "programming via program card" it says that when the esc is connected to a program card and then connected to power there will be a 2 second pause followed by the 231 tune. Which is what it's doing for me when plugged into the receiver. It seems like the esc thinks that the receiver is a program card. I'm at a loss for what to try next.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

I had no problems with the Taranis-Plus with FrSky D4R-II and the two 12 amp EMAX BLHeli ESCs I got from FlightTest. They armed with my FlySky i6 with iA6 too. Not quite your scenario but it shows its not a universal problem.

I seem to remember someone else having a similar problem to you a month or so back.

 

[Beldraak]

Yeah whatever is going on is relatively rare. I haven't been able to find very many hits at all in several hours of googling and so far no solutions.

 

[Grauwulf]

What version of Blheli is on the esc's? This sounds very similar to the problems I was having when I upgraded my Turnigy Plush esc's to version 13.1 or 13.2. Would arm fine with my lemon rx, but would not arm plugged in to my Naze32. Either upgrade them to Rev14 or higher, or downgrade to Rev12 and see if that solves your problem. I believe it's an issue with the code that determines if you're trying to trigger the bootloader to upgrade the firmware.

 

[Beldraak]

The esc's are loaded with whatever the factory loaded them with in other words I have no idea, but at least I now have a direction to research
Thanks for the help!

 

[Grauwulf]

No problem! Hopefully it helps!

 

[Beldraak]

So after doing a little more digging and gaining slightly more understanding, the esc's I have are the Emax Blheli series. I just ordered a USBASP which may or may not work for reflashing them, and with a couple more nights of research before it gets here maybe I won't fry my computer in the attempt.... maybe

 

[ZoomNBoom]

A few idea's; perhaps your transmitter is too close to the receiver, causing it to go in to failsafe. Make sure they are >1M apart.
Check if the frsky receiver is actually working, by connecting a servo to the throttle channel. Possibly you just misread the port numbering, especially on a D4R/X4R the labeling can be quite confusing.

 

[Beldraak]

The receiver is working, I tried moving the esc to some other channels just to see and I tried plugging a servo into the throttle port still with the same results, servos work esc gives tones and doesn't arm. I will try moving the transmitter farther away before attaching the receiver battery and see if that has an effect.

 

[Beldraak]

No effect.

 

[Beldraak]

I ended up contacting tech support for both frsky and emax since the esc works with other receivers and other escs work with the frsky receiver, I figured maybe they could figure it out. I don't have high hopes though based on the first response I got from emax. That and I've got no response from Frsky.

 

[hsdtech]

I just replied to another thread concerning this same issue with the 30A BLHeli ESC not working with the TACTIC TTX650 (6ch) TX. The ESC will power on with the same (error?) tone.
I can get it to work fine with the Tactic 402 (4ch) TX. I'm using the same Tactic 624 RX on both TX's.

 

[jhitesma]

I can't help with the original problem much other than to say that it does sound like a signal range issue.

The version of blheli that emax uses isn't the normal blheli. It's a version they've modified. As a result it doesn't work with blheli suite and the stick commands are totally different. I'm not a huge fan of their modifications.

And unfortunately the USBASP won't work for reflashing them. They use a SiLabs chip not an AVR so you need either a SiLabs toolstick or an Arduino to reflash them.

Nice thing is if you have an arduino you could also use it to check the values from your RX. https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/348

 

[ZoomNBoom]

You never mentioned which receiver you used. The D8R had a setting for servo frame rate, selectable between 18 and 9ms. The latter being 'high speed' intended for digital servo's. Maybe the ESC doesnt like that? From the D8R manual:

How to switch between two PPM modes
Turn the transmitter off, connect the battery to the receiver, press the F/S button of the receiver for 6 seconds and
then release. The red LED will flash fast in HS mode and slowly in FS mode.
The mode alternates each time this procedure is done.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

I saw yesterday that there are apparently problems with the EMAX ESCs not working with PIXHAWK Flight controllers. Something to do with the way they start up. Might provide a clue as to what is not working here.

 

[Crazyjoker77]

I don't think I can provide much help but thought I would add that I have 3 ZMR's that are running naze32's (one is a DF32) on unflashed emax 12A esc's with no problems.

As for recievers I only use D4R-II but I use a X8R on PWM to test rotation on the bench before installing them and again never had a issue.

 

[Beldraak]

Thanks for all the replies! So far no luck yet. Emax did respond by saying that I need to reflash the ESC with a different version of BLHeli. I guess I'll buy an arduino and try that....

The receiver that they are not working with is a FrSky V8FR-II. It doesn't seem to have an adjustable servo frame rate, but I tried the process just for fun. No luck, but at one point after holding the failsafe and turning things on and off and whatnot the esc did arm and worked! After disconnecting the power and reconnecting though I haven't been able to repeat it, so I think it was a fluke.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to which Arduio I should get? I see that there are quite a few different ones to choose from.

 

[Grauwulf]

I have an Arduino UNO, it seems to be the best bang for the buck and very common and easy to lay your hands on. You will need some 0.100" header and a servo extension to make up the cable to plug in to your esc's.

 

[Beldraak]

Well... I got a hold of an arduino uno and managed to successfully reflash the emax 20A esc. With my confidence boosted and spirits high, I then moved on to the 30A esc and almost started a fire.... BLheli suite has no hex file for the 30A, so in my infinite wisdom I selected the 40A file instead of trying the 20A file. Flashing went fine, then I hooked everything up to a receiver, added power, and watched things start to smoke. Fortunately I managed to unplug my battery before it totally puffed so I'm only out one esc. The bummer is that the 30A esc was the one I really wanted to work so I could get a Bloody Wonder in the air Time to place an order I guess

 

[jhitesma]

Doh, letting out the magic smoke is never good

Tip for next time, pickup a 12v automotive taillight bulb and wire it in series with power to the ESC before you test it after flashing. I'll just quote CraftyDan from a previous thread instead of explain it myself:

One word of warning: TEST YOUR ESCs FIRST WITH A CURRENT LIMITER IN LINE -- go and pick up a 12v automotive light bulb (cheapest you can find) and jumper it inline with your battery/ESC's + wire. If the flash went wrong, the ESC could burn out your motor instantly as you plug in your battery.

With the bulb inline, If all goes well, when you plug-in the ESC will boot normally and a slow throttle up and the bulb lights as the motor begins to spin, and the ESC will reboot. If the flash is bad, the bulb lights immediately, and saves your motor -- put that ESC back on the programmer!

Extra important to test like that when you're not 100% sure you're flashing the right hex for a given esc. I admit I usually play dangerously and don't use a current limiter like that after flashing...but only when flashing things I've flashed before and expect to have work