HELP!! ESC/Transmitter problems.

[clubhousepizza]

Hello!

I just built the FT Tiny Trainer from the starter pack a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I built the second wing with ailerons. Once I got everything back together I started having electrical problems. When I power everything on, 0% throttle with the motor is actually when the stick on the transmitter is about in 50%. Then when you move the stick up the throttle increases and when you move the stick down the motor begins to spin the other way. I have tried calibrating the ESC but Because of the weird stick positions I'm unable to get it to work. I also talked with the guys at Graupner and they said that the transmitter might have been set into "car mode" but wouldn't be able to get back to me until after the weekend. So now I'm coming here for any help!

Graupner mz-10
Graupner 2.4GHz 6 channel receiver
Emax 12amp ESC

 

[CrashRecovery]

Sound like your esc might be in 3d mode. In other words you control what direction the motor spins by the direction of the throttle stick. Do you have another esc to try out?

 

[clubhousepizza]

Unfortunately I don't have another ESC to try.

 

[Montiey]

Have you tried just normally calibrating the throttle range? Power up the ESC with the throttle stick on its highest, then lower it once you hear the beeps.

 

[clubhousepizza]

When I power everything on with the throttle stick on its highest setting, the ESC won't beep/turn on until I return it to the center position.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

I have heard of a similar problem with EMAX blheli escs. The problem was that once in bidirectional mode it did not seem possible to get it to then enter programming mode. The solution was to get a emax programming card that has the

8. Rotation Direction: (1)Normal (2)Reverse (3)Bidirectional

like this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Emax-Progra...Series-12A-20A-30A-4in1-25A-ESC-/231648507686

Earlier models do not have the rotation direction option and won't work.

You should confirm with the seller before ordering that you will get a card with the "8. Rotation Direction: (1)Normal (2)Reverse (3)Bidirectional" option.

I don't guarantee it will work because I have no direct experience. Just something I remember reading.

Of course its only worth having the programming card if you have a number of EMAX escs and for the same cost you could just buy a new ESC.

The EMAX ESC have strange firmware on them. You can re-flash them but it's not simple because, I think, first you have flash a bootloader...or at least there is some complication there just shouldn't be.

 

[Montiey]

That makes sense, but I wonder why the calibration point wouldn't have been changed for bidirectional mode...

 

[CrashRecovery]

In order to get out of Bi-directional mode you need a computer. To activate it you need to do it like you are calibrating the esc but there is a modified step in order to turn it on. I found this out while helping a noob with the flitetest starter pack. I contacted FlyingMonkey as he is part of the customer service chat, and that is what he told me.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

That makes sense, but I wonder why the calibration point wouldn't have been changed for bidirectional mode...

I suspect it's a bug. However the programming card just communicates via the Servo signal line so it is possible that there is a different way to trigger programming mode when you are in bi-directional mode. It may something like...you have to move the stick to the top then to the bottom then tot he top again within a certain amount of time. Since it's already in "useless" mode there's no harm in trying a few things... The documented TX programming for EMAX blheli is here...

http://img.banggood.com/images/upload/2014/12/Emax BLHeli ESC Manual.pdf

in case you didn't get a copy.

Not sure what "needing a computer" means. If it's the EMAX blheli then they do have a version of blheli so possibly you can program them using the blheli suite...but you need an arduino nano or similar...to do that to connect it to your PC. I was under the impression that didn't work due to the modifications EMAX made but I've never tried. Anyway, probably not something you are going to do.