Solved Quadcopter motors acting up- Tmotor pnp & spektrum

zahn_1

New member
So i just bought a PNP race quad not too long ago and a Spektrum SPM4650 receiver to pair it with and I'm having issues getting it up and running. When i plug the drone in to a battery, i get the first 3 beeps, but i do not get the following low and high beeps. I got an arm switch set up through betaflight however when i flip it, i do not get the low high beeps, instead it stays quiet until i move my throttle up and down. When i do that, only one or two of the motors are doing the low high beep and they rev up and down on their own. Then the thing just sits there with some motors beeping and some revving up and down with no input from me whatsoever. I did some more digging and tried to calibrate the ESC's through betaflight, however when i plug the battery in, they do not do the "program" tone, instead they do the same thing. I have looked all over and have no clue what to do. I am familiar with flying quads, however this is the first one that ive gotten which requires me to do soldering, betaflight programming, etc. I thought a PNP would be a good start since it requires some soldering and tweaking but this has been a nightmare. Also apologies if the explanation is terrible, i just do not know any other way to describe it and i cant post a video. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.


Here are the specs of the setup
Quad: https://www.getfpv.com/t-motor-ft5-5-4s-fpv-freestyle-rtf-w-caddx-ratel-fpv-camera-pnp.html
Receiver: https://www.getfpv.com/spektrum-spm4650-dsmx-serial-micro-racing-receiver-v2.html
Radio: Spektrum DX6E
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
most drone flight controllers are using dshot to communicate with the ESCs, which [to my knowledge] shouldn't require calibrating like PWM signal would.
 

zahn_1

New member
most drone flight controllers are using dshot to communicate with the ESCs, which [to my knowledge] shouldn't require calibrating like PWM signal would.
Well i guess i can throw that theory out. Do you think theres a possibility that my receiver may have something to do with the issue? Or would i just have to do more tweaking with the minimum stick settings in beataflight?
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
Well i guess i can throw that theory out. Do you think theres a possibility that my receiver may have something to do with the issue? Or would i just have to do more tweaking with the minimum stick settings in beataflight?

Do you see the stick movements on the receiver tab?
Did you check the modes tab and make sure you have 'arm' setup?
Do you have any errors showing in the OSD?
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
on the motor config tab, you can enable the motors (do this with props of) and you should be able to spin up each motor, that would verify the FC -> ESC -> Motor connections.
 

zahn_1

New member
Do you see the stick movements on the receiver tab?
Did you check the modes tab and make sure you have 'arm' setup?
Do you have any errors showing in the OSD?
That's the part that's kind of the most confusing for me, when I hook it up and check my receiver, throttle, pitch, roll, yaw, and all other controls like Arm and auxiliary switches all report as normal under the receiver tab. I do have a switch assigned to arm the quad and when i flick it on my receiver, it does come up and report on the modes tab, except it shows a red tab and says "ARM (DISABLED)". That may be part of my issue but im also unsure if that just has to do with the fact that it is connected to my PC and Betaflight is preventing it from actually arming itself. However, then i take it away from the computer and fire it up with my display, the OSD reports that it is arming itself and that there are no issues. However i still do not get the low hi beeps. When i give it throttle, one or two of them will give the tones then others will at random times and it takes a mind of its own with motors revving up and beeping at random.

I will attatch pics of what my Betaflight looks like from the modes, receiver, and config tabs too, maybe you or someone can catch something i might be missing. If any other pages might help let me know and i can give other screenshots.
 

Attachments

  • Betaflight ARM.png
    Betaflight ARM.png
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  • Betaflight config 1.png
    Betaflight config 1.png
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zahn_1

New member
Do you see the stick movements on the receiver tab?
Did you check the modes tab and make sure you have 'arm' setup?
Do you have any errors showing in the OSD?
 

Attachments

  • Betaflight config 2.png
    Betaflight config 2.png
    160.3 KB · Views: 0
  • Betaflight rx.png
    Betaflight rx.png
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JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
you have brushed motors? that seems unlikely for a race quad... the only quads that have brushed motors tend to some of the whoop class stuff. What quad exactly did you get?


1617014019763.png



The 'beeps' normally happen when you plug in the battery, nothing to do with the receiver connecting.
 

Bricks

Master member
Not a quad guy but seem to remember with Spektrum you have to change throttle end points to 2000 in the transmitter.....I think that was the number. Some one will correct if I am wrong.
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
Not a quad guy but seem to remember with Spektrum you have to change throttle end points to 2000 in the transmitter.....I think that was the number. Some one will correct if I am wrong.

change the endpoints to 125%, which gets you closer to the 1000-2000 range being transmitted, but I don't think that is the problem here.
 

Bifi.baarlo

Well-known member
Not a quad guy but seem to remember with Spektrum you have to change throttle end points to 2000 in the transmitter.....I think that was the number. Some one will correct if I am wrong.
That is correct and throttle low has to be 1000 or less, otherwise the quad won't arm.
 

zahn_1

New member
you have brushed motors? that seems unlikely for a race quad... the only quads that have brushed motors tend to some of the whoop class stuff. What quad exactly did you get?


View attachment 196490


The 'beeps' normally happen when you plug in the battery, nothing to do with the receiver connecting.
I went and changed it over to the brushless setting that suits my board and IT WORKS!! Got my angle/acro modes bound too and did one last fine tune and took it out. She flies amazing. I learned a lot so will definitely be a lot more prepared and knowledgeable with my next build and adjustments going forward. Thanks for all the help!