ESCs Beeping and Motors Twitching Issue

#1

The drone is fully assembled, but when I connect the drone to power, the ESCs begin beeping constantly every second or so. The motors also begin to twitch in time with the ESCs. I have confirmed that the RC controller is binded to the receiver, reconfigured the ESCs, and unplugged and replugged nearly every wire on the drone. I have rewatched the videos several times to make sure I have done everything correctly. Does anyone here have a solution to this issue?

Additional observations:

  • There is a rapidly blinking red light on the PPM encoder. I am not sure what this means.
  • Telemetry is not set up yet, but I believe it does not affect my issue.
  • I am building this drone with a group of similarly inexperienced people. I was not the one who configured the Navio2 and ardupilot, so I have no idea if this is the root cause of my issue.
#3

What happens when you push the safety switch? Assuming the correct firmware was loaded, and wiring is correct, it sounds like an ESC calibration issue.

#4

Hello @jax200, I am stuck on the “calibrating ESC” phase and from this post I take it that the Pixhawk must be flashed before I can calibrate, is that correct? If so, would you happen to have any experience with APM planner for mac? I tried flashing the pixhawk with no luck.

#5

I’m not familiar with APM planner and Mac. You might visit the ardupilot forum to ask.

#6

Thanks. Would you happen to know if it is required to have the pixhawk flashed before ESC calibration?

#7

I do not. What is your objective by not flashing it?

#8

Well, since I am on a Mac, I have to use the APM Planner and it is acting up when I try to flash. I am not trying to avoid flashing, i’m just confused on how to flash. APM planner doesnt do any thing when I am at the “initial setup” tab (I will attach a screenshot). Originally, I was stuck on the calibrating ESC step, which made me think that it had something to do with flashing but now idk because today I tried again and was successful in calibrating the ESC and getting the spin direction correct. However, I am still stuck on the flashing step. QGroundControl is working i.e. it is prompting a flash but I am not sure what selections to make. Would you mind taking a look?

This is what APM planner looks like:
Screen Shot 2022-08-09 at 7.23.25 PM.pdf (370.6 KB)

This is QGroundControl drop down:
Screen Shot 2022-08-09 at 8.18.51 PM.pdf (644.7 KB)

I am not sure what flight stack to choose. I want my setup to align with Calebs setup because I want to perform the precision landing. Its asking me to choose between PX4 Pro Stable and Ardupilot. If I choose ArduPilot, then it asks me choose a board.

#9

You are on the right track. For this course, just choose ardupilot, Pixhawk 1 4.2.2.

#10

okay, cool… also, is there a difference between “ChibiOS” and “NuttX”?

#11

You would have to web search on that but there was a transition to Chibios a few years back.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19645540

#12

Thank you very much @jax200!