Motors are not spinning on arming

[Ski_Me]

Using a
SPracing F3 standard FC
emax bullet series 35A ESC's
Min throttle 1080
Max throttle 1920
Transmitter settings are normal parameters with the throttle at 1080 min and 1920 max
I cant figure out why but the motors wont spin up when I arm them and they wont throttle up until my stick is at or above 50%. I'm wondering if I have a bad FC because when I first tried to flash it I had to use the bootloader. I have been trying to figure this out for the last week and half. This drone has not yet left the ground and I am at my wits end. Really need help with this.

 

[ElectriSean]

You always need to be in bootloader mode to flash the FC, this is normal. You want your channel endpoints to be 1000-2000. If you can't get there with the travel adjustment in your transmitter, you can use the rxrange CLI command in betaflight. If they don't spin when you arm and you don't have MOTOR_STOP enabled, your ESC's probably need to be calibrated since your min_throttle is already pretty high.

 

[Ski_Me]

I thought I had this figured out so I mounted the props and went out for a hover test. The motors armed and when I started to throttle up the motors went to almost full and the drone flipped. When I disarmed the motors started to spin like crazy. Luckily the battery cable came undo and I was able to pick the drone back up. As far as being in bootloader mode what I mean is that I have to manually put it into that mode by shorting the bootloader pads which the manual says I shouldn't have to do. I'm pretty much done with this FC and Seriously Pro in general. Not giving up on getting this thing in the air just not going to use anything from Seriously Pro again.

 

[ElectriSean]

There are 2 ways to get into bootloader mode - the method you described with the pins and/or button, and using the dfu or bl CLI command (depending on version). Not all boards support the software approach. I'm not saying your board is good, but I hate to just throw money at problems like this, it usually doesn't work Flipping out on takeoff is usually a motor spinning the wrong direction, or the wrong prop. Spinning after disarming I would think is a hardware or connection problem. Can you post some pictures of your connections to the FC and ESC's?

 

[Ski_Me]

I thought the same thing as you at first that I had the wrong prop on or my motor was spinning the wrong way but I checked these and then rechecked my configuration in cleanflight and Blheli. The only thing I haven't done is flashed the firmware with an older version. But when I put the board in bootloader mode the documentation for the board it said I should only have to do that if the board doesn't respond which it doesn't. But the behavior of the board itself compared to the configuration doesn't make any sense. I don't understand why my motors would spin up after I disarmed it and how come I have to push my throttle up to 50% just to get the motors to spin and then they go almost full throttle. I've got my min throttle set up in my transmitter. I think there are some issues with the PID loop but I don't know what they are or how to fix them. Maybe I need to spend some time in the cleanflight webpage and see if any of these issues are there. My ESC'sare linear and I have my power from the PDB going into one of the unused outputs of the FC. I'm not sure if it matters but the ground of all the ESC's are attached. I know that ESC's with BEC only one ground need to be attached but what about the signal is it the same way do I just need one ground for the signal loop going to all the ESC's?

 

[Ski_Me]

Ok I have officially scratched the FC on this build. I thought this was a board from SPracing but I bought it from Crazypony and I think it might be a clone board. Any case I'm returning the board and going with something different. Thinking about a exmax skyline. Anybody else using one of these?

 

[Ski_Me]

I just ordered a Skyline32 from Hobby King for $29 and a Flip32 all in one for $9. The flip will be for a later build. I hope I get this thing going. Been working on this to long to give up now.

 

[PsyBorg]

I used a skyline 32 advanced early in my building / learning process because it had all the fancy bells and whistles I thought I might want to learn about. figured quickly I wanted to go the race / freestyle path and cared nothing for AP so all that stuff would be baggage. Its a decent controller BUT its an old F1 controller that is / will no longer be supported here in a very short time. Most developers have stopped working on it completely and nearly all have stopped adding any features long ago. I only paid like 23 dollars for mine new over two years ago that should be in the bargain bin by now to get them off the shelf not as a full priced unit.

You would be better served to cancel that order and get a real SPF3 from the proper place as that is a really good flight controller. Or maybe grab one of the newer race flight branded boards that are specifically designed for race flight / beta flight and will be in good support for a long period of time.