Gremlin FC Probz

[tenpenny_05]

Hey All,
Got my gremlin in yesterday. Man this thing is tiny!!

Before soldering I plugged the flight controller into betaflight and it was recognized, so I didn't worry about jumping the bootloader and reflashing software.

After i got it all together, it was still recognized by betaflight. I went straight to the motors tab and was able to control all the motors to check rotation.

This is where my problems begin... When I went to the blheli configurator, it wouldn't recognize my board. Darn, looks like i may have to flash it afterall. So I jump the bootpads, plug it into betaflight and NOTHING. Not only does the computer not recognize it, but with the boot pins jumped, I get NO LIGHTS on the flight controller.

Now if I desolder the boot pins, I get lights back but both blue and red stay solid for a few seconds then begin to dim and flicker. All this while no longer being recognized by the computer.

I get the same behavior when I plug a battery in. I checked all my voltages and it looks like my 3.3v pad is kaput. I'm pretty confident in my soldering,but i guess its possible that I somehow fried a 3v regulator somewhere.

Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[ElectriSean]

Post some pictures, we'll have a look.

 

[LitterBug]

You could try a DFU or BL command from CLI to get it into bootloader mode too

 

[tenpenny_05]

There arent really any pictures to show. The more i play with it the more it seems like a bad capacitor. If i let it sit for an hour or so, i can plug it in and the lights will come on (solid blue and red) and my escs will chime. But the computer still doesn't recognize it, even though it was before.

How do you do a CLI command if it wont connect?

 

[ElectriSean]

Pictures of the connections on the FC is what I was looking for, but if the 3.3V regulator is not putting out 3.3V you probably need a new board.

 

[tenpenny_05]

Its not letting me upload a picture for some reason. But I have thoroughly rang it out with my meter (am a real life avionics tech). I'm getting 4ish volts from my 3.3v pad consistently now. Still no luck getting the computer to recognize it whether or not the boot pads are jumped.

I have missed some pretty stupid things as far as drivers go in the past. I have uninstalled and reinstalled, done all the tricks, watched all the videos, and nothing.

What does a solid red and solid blue light at the same time indicate??

 

[PsyBorg]

Sounds like you dont have proper drivers for the DFU boot loader... Just for giggles and hahas though plug it in in normal mode and watch for blink codes.

Why does my Flight Controller blink/beep lots of times when powering up ?

During Firmware Boot-up the Gyro is Calibrated and should give three Beeps/Blinks. This indicates the Firmware is ready. Upon Arming there is one Beep which is from Syncing Video to a BB log.

If gives repeated 2 Beeps this means NO Valid RX - This could be a bad wire to RX, or RX not binding to TX, or TX not yet sending data.

5 short blink/beeps followed by any number of long blinks/beeps indicates an error code. Number of long blinks indicates the following error:
1. FAILURE_DEVELOPER: External interrupt of sensor failed to initialize.
2. FAILURE_MISSING_ACC: Accelerometer/gyro sensor is missing
3. FAILURE_ACC_INIT: Accelerometer/gyro sensor failed to initialize
4. FAILURE_ACC_INCOMPATIBLE: The found accelerometer/gyro sensor is not compatible/not the expected one
5. FAILURE_INVALID_EEPROM_CONTENTS: EEPROM/FLASH configuration content is invalid
6. FAILURE_FLASH_WRITE_FAILED: Write of configuration to EEPROM/FLASH failed
7. FAILURE_GYRO_INIT_FAILED: Gyro initialization of SPI MPU6000 accelerometer/gyro failed

The most common one seem to be error 2 where the accelerometer/gyro sensor can't be found, this is caused by a bad sensor or bad connections to the sensor, could happen because of a bad crash. On most boards gyro and accelerometer is the same chip so acro flying isn't possible when the accelerometer isn't found, it's not just the accelerometer that's bad but the whole chip.

Error 3, 4 and 7 could also be caused by a bad accelerometer/gyro sensor. Error 5 and 6 indicates memory read/write problem of the MCU (main processor). In most cases a new flight controller board will be needed if the user isn't for example able to re-solder the sensor.

Above are Hard Faults the Processor detects upon boot-up and initialization. Additional reasons for flashing LED and/or beeping are:
No signal from RX. This could be simply the TX is off or the wrong Model/binding selected or a hard fault of the RX like no power or bad cable.
Accelerometer Not calibrated if the ACC is enabled (check the CLI). If acc is enabled then it must be cal'ed once and typically done in the config GUI.
Copter titled too far if the Acc is enabled.

 

[tenpenny_05]

Thanks for the info PSY, but unfortunately none of that helps here. I get a SOLID blue and a SOLID red as soon as i plug in a battery or a USB.

No matter what I do the computer wont see it. No new hardware message, no noise when I plug it in... just stupid solid lights on the controller....

 

[PsyBorg]

See if this helps you at all.

BTW. I just powered mine up and a solid red and blue light means the board is fine and is armed.
Check your radio settings to make sure arming is not backwards and it is booting into an armed state.

 

[tenpenny_05]

I've that first method several times, as far as the second method a new board is cheaper than that bridge tool.

I can't try to arm or disarm because I haven't even set my radio up yet (spektrum). I've taken the board completely out of the quad, desoldered everything and still no luck. This one might be a lost cause.