HELP PLEASE

[CrusherColin1]

I have just got into multi rotors and just built my first kit, the Electrohub. Everything went together fine, but my controller (dx6i and dx5e I tried both) would not do anything (yes i did bind, I'm using a Lemon 6 channel RX). The next thing I noticed was all 4 of my ECS were getting burning hot within seconds so I took the Electrohub apart to look for shorts but nothing on the power distribution board is touching. Does anyone know why this is happening?? Also now when I plug in my 3s 2200Mah battery the Flip 1.5 board doesn't flash blue anymore and the red light doesn't come on. My receiver also doesn't power on when the battery is plugged in now. The only thing I can thing of is that there could be a short in one of my ESC's where I soldered the motor wires to the ESC but would that make all of my ESC's overheat? Please Help, I am 14 years old and very new to multi rotors and building. I have invested pretty much all of my christmas money into this quad so please help. Thank you!

All electronics are from Readytoflyquads with all of the recommended parts

 

[makattack]

Hey CrusherColin1! Welcome to FliteTest, and sorry to hear you're having these problems with your first build. I'm afraid we may need some more information from you to help you sort this out. Are you able to take some high resolution pictures of your wiring and post them to this thread? Make sure to photo the electrohub, where you've soldered all the ESC's, the ESC's, and the motor wires? If you can focus on the solder points, that would be helpful.

It would also be useful to see how your ESC signal/servo wires are plugged into the flightboard and the flip + receiver.

 

[CrusherColin1]

Photos

 

[CrusherColin1]

More Photos soon

I will post a more photos in just a second

 

[CrusherColin1]

Pictures

 

[CrusherColin1]

Photos



This should be everything, if you need anything else please tell me! I am open to suggestions and criticism I just want to get it flying!
Booms are wood spray painted silver, and two of my ESC's are partially wrapped in electrical tape because I didn't have enough shrink tube.
Thank you!

 

[makattack]

One thing I see right away, but won't explain the hot ESC's is that your signal wires appear to be connected to the ground pins on the Flip1.5. They should be connected to the "top" row. Definitely not the middle (hot/5V) power pins, either, so you're good there.

On the electrohub, I can see you might want to clean up the soldering. Try using isopropyl alcohol (as close to 100% as you can get). I'm not sure if I'm seeing "solder whiskers" or possibly strands of thin solder across the hot (+) and ground (-) pads. You may have some cold joints as well, but it's hard to tell. I don't think that would result in the hot ESC's.

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guide-excellent-soldering/common-problems

How about photos of the ESC servo wires going into the Flip?

 

[makattack]

Ok, just saw your updated photos. Looks like your ESC wires are also upside down. The white wires should be facing the top of the flip case. Looks like your receiver is also setup with the signal wires connected to the ground. Ground is generally labeled on boards with GND or a -

Signal may be marked with "S" or a square wave looking symbol.

This would explain why your flight board isn't getting any signal. Not sure about the hot ESC's though.

Also, on your receiver antennas, don't fold them over so they are pointing in the same direction. They should be opposite each other or at right angles.

That silver paint.... not sure about it... just make sure it's not conductive. If you have a multimeter, try running a continuity test on it. If you don't have one, they're inexpensive and you should have one!

 

[Balu]

Do you perhaps have a multimeter to check if you have any shorts in the wiring?

At first I thought you were using metal arms, but these are painted wooden arms, right? Is it possible that the paint is conductive?

Did you check the polarity of the battery connector? On my last build I wired everything and checked it twice. Just when I was about to connect the battery I noticed that I soldered the XT60 connector the wrong way...

It must have something to do with either the polarity or a short somewhere. Both are very dangerous, because your LiPo might catch fire.

 

[CrusherColin1]

Success! Maybe.

Okay so I went in and resoldered a few connections and found a few loose strands that I removed. This seems to have stopped the ESC's from over heating. Also switched around connections on control board and it powered on. So now my Receiver went through the bind process and seems to be bound but my controller will not do anything. Do you see anything in the pictures on my receiver that will have caused this?
Thank you so much!

Also what do you mean by cleaning it up with alcohol, do you mean dabbing it on there with say a cotton ball and wiping away dirt? or using it in the soldering process. Sorry I am very new to this.

 

[CrusherColin1]

Ill try and get a multimeter soon!

I will try and get a multimeter soon but in the mean time do you think putting a strip of electrical tape down the sides of my boom would be okay?

 

[makattack]

Yes, use cotton balls or swaps to clean up the Flux, especially if you use lead free stuff. You should check the documentation on rtfquads wiki page or watch the videos, but you need to make sure you extend the channel ranges on your dx6i so that the board sees full range. Also need to calibrate the escs to your throttle range on the dx6i. Finally, to arm, you need full right yaw with zero throttle.

Please check the docs and video tutorials before you mount propellers and fly. Try to make sure you balance the props too! I know it sounds like a lot, but will save you time in the future.

 

[CrusherColin1]

Dx6i

I have no idea how to do any of the calibrating, does RTF quads have videos on setting up everything on the controller? Sorry for all the questions but I can't thank you more for all of your help!

 

[makattack]

Sorry, was typing on my phone earlier, so couldn't get you links easily.

http://witespyquad.gostorego.com/videos.html

Look for the "Flip 1.5 for Dummies" link -- good information in there; although, some of it is overly simplified and kind of wrong (the throttle adjustments, for one).

It's a good overview, but the text instructions at the bottom part of the page linked above are decent.

You can calibrate your ESC's one of two ways:

Using a special build of MultiWii where you compile it from your computer using the Arduino SDK/IDE in calibration mode. This is the "best" way, but does require you to setup the Arduino IDE and be able to edit a file, compile/upload it multiple times.

You can also calibrate them manually by connecting each ESC directly to the receiver (your lemonRX) and doing the TX stick calibration method, which is for those ESC's you have from RTFQuads (simonk flashed):

0) Ensure all props are off!
1) turn on TX
2) move throttle to full
3) power up ESC with battery
4) listen for a series of beeps/tones, at the end of which you:
5) drop the throttle down to zero
6) unplug ESC from battery and RX, and move onto the next one.

Obviously, this is a tedious process, and more prone to error.

I believe that video I talked about demonstrates the process.

Building a quad is not a trivial thing, especially if it's your first one. Congratulations on getting that part done! The next challenge is configuring, tuning, and learning to fly it! Take your time with it. Don't try to do too much too quickly.

Learn to hover it. FliteTest has a great beginners guide:

http://flitetest.com/articles/how-to-fly-a-multirotor

Have fun and good luck!

Dave