Dug out an old project

[BlueBuzzard]

Hi all,

Many (and I do mean many) years ago I got talking to a couple of friends who had Quadcopters and thought I'd like to have a go at putting one together. I'd flown a fair bit with a mini drone and felt quite comfortable with the co-ordination. I slowly got all the parts for a small drone, made a start and then life got in the way and I never truly finished it. I've pretty much assembled all the parts and it's just the wiring left to do. However this is not an area I'm comfortable with and I can't recall what I'd looked up to get me as far as I had got.

Parts

FlySky FS-R6B
CC3D Atom FC
3A-6S UBEC
4 x Spider 12A OPTO - ESC
4 x 1306 motors
Battery
Base plate with PDB and top plate.

Again this was so long ago and took advice from the guys about the parts so I believe they'll all work as long as I get the wiring right.

If I can remember correctly the battery +/- should be connected to the PDB and the +/- from the ESC's are also connected to the PDB. The +/- from the UBEC is also hooked up to the PDB and then the other side is connected to the CC3D. If that's correct I'm most of the way there but there's one thing I can see that I'm not sure of. All four ESCs are connected to the FC using a Black and White cable but one of them has had the black cable removed and taped over then replaced with the +/- cable from the UBEC. I assume this is to power the Flight Controller?

When it comes to the motors and the ESCs both have three wires but I don't have a way of identifying which connects to which. So I should remove the props and do a temp connection then, when I know which ones are correct, permanently connect them?

Thanks for reading and any help would be appreciated.

[ched]

Wow that is some vintage stuff you have there 
First thing to consider is that CC3D is about 6 or 7 years old now and things have moved on massively. I remember trying to 'tune' the PIDs on a CC3D and the problem is you need to be able to fly Acro to be able to adjust the PIDs but when learning you can't fly well enough to tune, so the quad is more difficult to fly.
It might be worth investing in some newer kit?

Before you tackle the connections I would see if you can get hold of a copy of OpenPilot or LibrePilot as that is the software you need to set it up.

If I remember correctly some esc's used to have BEC built in and have extra cables, I think OPTO ESC don't have BEC built in. Normally an ESC will have +ve and 0V power wires (thicker) and then 2 or 3 thin wires, 0v, signal and  some +5V output. I would guess as you have a BEC then that was to power the CC3D Flight Controller. The other end of the esc with 3 terminals connect to the 3 wires on the motor, you then test which direction the motors rotate (Props off) and if it's wrong way swap 2 wires over - Modern FC allow you to swap via software so no soldering to change.
Your receiver will probably be PPM so find those connections on the FC.

This site might help: https://opwiki.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user_manual/cc3d/cc3d.html

Post some picys if you want as that always helps.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

[Bad Raven]

Hiya Barney, hows Fred Flintstone?  Used to fly with him.............. 

There has been a period of such rapid change since these items were current standard that its likely you might be disappointed with the results of using this FC and poss the ESCs.  Two/three years back the changes were so sudden and frequent that two MONTHS old gear was being considered "ancient".

Does not mean you won't get it to go, and it'll work, but control has improved out of all recognition.  Older FC boards usually simply cannot handle new firmware, so be aware that "updating" is likely a no no.

Firstly, lets start with the motors. 1306 size is for around 3" props/frame type. That is the size frame you will be using? What voltage range will they handle?  2S, 3S?  make and model would help.


The ESCs are still around for sale:-

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1052/4162/files/spider.pdf

The three black at one end are the motor feeds. Yes, PROPS OFF, and yes, swap any two to get correct rotation direction.  They are OPTO so generate no BEC to power other items. They require 2-4S fed from the PDB, on the red and black large wires at the other end. The orange is the signal wire, the brown the ground. These go to the FC board for each ESC connection. The red is unused, but make sure it cannot connect anywhere! I used to tuck mine back and heat shrink them.

Whatever the FC board needs as supply will either come from the PDB if that has 12v/5v regulated outputs or whaver your FC board needs, or more likely as you had got one your BEC. No signal connection, only plus and ground.

Battery feed to the PDB.

The receiver is PWM only, so you will need to wire each channel to the FC, and I don't know if the FC will feed the receiver. If not one of the reds o the receiver channels must go to the BEC.

Probably took longer to write this than to do!!      

Hope this helps.

Always remember, Google is your friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BlueBuzzard]

Cheers for the replies, as I said it's an old project that got shelved. I'll take a look at the links and give it a go.