Racerstar 4 in 1 esc Calibration help/ possible trim problem

trailogy

New member
Warning: I am probably going to sound awfully clueless in this thread.


Hi all! I am almost finished with my quad build but I am having trouble with my racerstar 4 in 1 esc (20 a). Here is my build:
SPf3
Racerstar 4 in 1 esc
Matek PDB (w/BEC)
orx receiver
Cleanflight for the GUI
calibrated accelerometer

I want to put multishot on the ESC because I read that it is better performing than DSHOT 150 and DSHOT 300 and it says it supports it. When I go in to the motor section everything is spinning the right way and is connected the right way. I read that I have to turn the master all the way up to start the esc calibration (of course with no props). Then I plug my battery in. I get a start beep like: doo bee doo. Then I put the master back down to minimum but then I just get one beep.
I heard that it is supposed to make a little jingle which I found on multiple videos. I haven't installed BLHeli_Suite, just doing this through cleanflight for now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

When I select multishot in the configuration part of cleanflight and do a save and reboot do I need to plug my main battery in? I have not been doing this but I think it would make sense because it doesn't seem like the esc is on when its just the micro usb to SPF3.

Also a note. When I start my quad using my Tx (Dx6i) some motors rev up more than others and they get increasingly faster. None of my trim values are exactly 1500 and my max and min can't reach 1000 and 2000 (~1020 - 1991) so in the little animation it shifts (any idea how to fix) I read that this might be because it is not in the air and that the quad is trying to adjust but can't. I think the esc calibration would fix this.

Sorry for the big paragraphs. I haven't been able to put together all the videos I have watched to fix this and this is my last option. Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Hiya Trailogy.

Several things are going on creating several separate problems. You can not calibrate the esc's because your end points are not going low enough to get past the minimum check values. What you first must do is go into your radio set up and set the travel adjustments to 147% I believe or close that will allow you to extend the range to be able to go from 1000- 2000. Once you do that you will be able to to do the power on with full throttle calibration and the esc will reboot thus saving the calibration.

As far as motors spinning up unevenly that is partially do to not being calibrated but there is also another normal action happening. The flight controller thinks it is not level (you will more then likely never be able to get it perfectly level by hand sitting on a table) so it makes a correction by spinning one or more motors faster. When there is no change it tries again and may lower the speed of other motors or raise the same ones again. It will continue to do this until it finds level (which will never happen sitting there) or you disarm the flight controller.

You can test this by arming the quad and waiting till the motors start hunting to find level. Then just pick the quad up and notice the change. If you hold it still it will go back into that hunting mode but since you will not be able to do that it thinks it is in flight and will continue to adjust speeds to match the non stillness in your muscles.

After the calibration is done and it arms and disarms successfully you can then go and flash the esc's to multi-shot and redo the calibration and should be good for a maiden as long as motor direction is correct and you put the props on in the proper direction.

DON'T forget to set and test fail safe before any real attempts to fly. Good luck I hope you have a successful flight. Pics and video are always welcome as that is what powers our forums.
 

trailogy

New member
Hiya Trailogy.

Several things are going on creating several separate problems. You can not calibrate the esc's because your end points are not going low enough to get past the minimum check values. What you first must do is go into your radio set up and set the travel adjustments to 147% I believe or close that will allow you to extend the range to be able to go from 1000- 2000. Once you do that you will be able to to do the power on with full throttle calibration and the esc will reboot thus saving the calibration.

As far as motors spinning up unevenly that is partially do to not being calibrated but there is also another normal action happening. The flight controller thinks it is not level (you will more then likely never be able to get it perfectly level by hand sitting on a table) so it makes a correction by spinning one or more motors faster. When there is no change it tries again and may lower the speed of other motors or raise the same ones again. It will continue to do this until it finds level (which will never happen sitting there) or you disarm the flight controller.

You can test this by arming the quad and waiting till the motors start hunting to find level. Then just pick the quad up and notice the change. If you hold it still it will go back into that hunting mode but since you will not be able to do that it thinks it is in flight and will continue to adjust speeds to match the non stillness in your muscles.

After the calibration is done and it arms and disarms successfully you can then go and flash the esc's to multi-shot and redo the calibration and should be good for a maiden as long as motor direction is correct and you put the props on in the proper direction.

DON'T forget to set and test fail safe before any real attempts to fly. Good luck I hope you have a successful flight. Pics and video are always welcome as that is what powers our forums.


Thanks for the response!


In this video I am calibrating it



As you can see it doesn't make the little jingles from the videos that I watched. It does seem to work though as now all the motors start at close to the same time. I feel like all I am getting is the throttle warning for when you first plug in your battery with throttle at HIGH. You will see in another vid that the resolution is a bit off too.

In this video:



The motors start at around 1150. This makes it so when i throttle up a tad it doesn't turn on but when put in more input it turns on. Is it possible to make it more linear (or have more resolution. Honestly dont know the terminology :D) so when I move the throttle up a small amount the motors start that amount? I don't think that is PIDS.

In this video



the trims are not exactly at 1500. Throttle goes above/below 1000/2000. Is it ok the throttle does this? I heard that you want it as close to 1000/2000 but not above (why would that make a difference?). You can also see the roll isn't close to 1000/2000 does this just make it less responsive? Here is a picture of the travel adj:

IMG_0044.JPG

as you can see they are all at max (125%) throw.

Thank you for your help! I will send a vid of my maiden :):D

PS: Sorry for the vertical videos