arduflyer dji f550 help

[iseo]

Hello everyone, I am new here. I have a DJI F550 with naza, after suffering 4 flyaways, with the last one resulting in breaking everything, including my gimbal smashing in to a million pieces, in this video, at 11secs the naza takes control of itself, where i attempt to switch modes to try gain control, naza wasn';t having it. ( http://youtu.be/PrgCB-n1ORw ). DJI support has been anything but supportive. So the naza is going in the rubbish before this comes down on someone.

I have ordered a adruflyer to replace it, which will hopefully arrive soon, I just want to be clear on how to power it safely. I have attached an image of what i think I need to do, but am unsure, people have been saying alot of different things, I am thinking I do it like the image attached.

By removing the naza, soldering the uBEC to the main battery on the power board, and then plugging that into the board. the original ESC';s stay soldered into the power board and just plug into the controller, is that all ok? I am worried there is too much power coming into it with the ESC';s plugged in like that?

Any help would be awesome, i want to at least get this part right so I can then figure out how to set it up.

[Tony Campbell]

See jumpys guide to the apm mate....... cant go wrong with installation if you have a read of that. By the way, if you are throwing the naza in the bin, please throw it my way. I';d love a naza, just cant afford one!!!!

[iseo]

Cheers Tony, I have downloaded it, it is awesome, but I can';t seem to find if my putting all of my ESC';s into the arduflyer is the right way to go or if I will be feeding it unnecessary power, i see some people using jumper plug, some using just one ESC with power, someone told me to just plug them all in the same as naza. I just want to be clear.

I did find this on the PDF "On the MultiRotor you will need to power the board with your LiPo battery going through one of your ESC's with JP1 present. If JP1 is removed then you can power the board with a suitable UBEC connected to one of the input 5v pins." but i am still confused, I am a noob with this.

I really wouldn';t trust the naza! saying that, I just downgraded it to firmware 2, haven';t test it yet, because that crash above broke the thing up pretty bad and waiting on parts, it completely ripped a motor apart on landing.

[Tony Campbell]

If at all possible, dont use the esc';s to power the board, use your ubec. Remove the red wire from all of the esc servo type connectors and tape it back out of the way. That way, the esc';s still get their signal from the board but they dont provide power to it. Apart from that, its just as same as the naza connections.

[iseo]

so then i need to use the JP1, solder the uBEC to the main power and into the board, then remove ALL red servo cables from ESCs, there is no power from the esc';s at all if using the JP1? thanks for your help.

[Tony Campbell]

If you remove the red wire from all the esc';s, they cant put power into the board at all. I use the 3dr power module, but I think some people like it and some dont. A ubec will do the job just as well if thats what you have.  Hopefully some other will join in with advice, because I';m no expert, I';m just relaying what I';ve done and whats worked for me.

[iseo]

cheers. ive been told to just power the thing with the uBEC, and plug the ESC';s as normal, this is where I needed help, as you suggest I remove power from the servo cables and use the JP1 so the uBEC will power everything. previously, told to not use JP1, and just plug the uBEC into the board, and just plug in the servo cables as normal even though they are getting power from the power board of the f550.

[rickp]

I';d power the APM from a separate regulator than any servos. Its just not worth the risk of a stalled servo being able to drag the voltage down to your flightboard - seen too many crashes from that in various logs. For the cost of a low current uBEC and a few grammes, definitely not worth it.

[iseo]

thanks rickp, i have a uBEC coming with it, so you think i should just power the board with that, remove the JP1 so the power is seperate? and plug the ESC';s into their part as is? or cut the power from 5 of the ESC leads and have only 1 ESC power going into the board? ive been told just to plug them all in as is? does that sound right?

[rickp]

Again, my experience of the BEC in ESCs is that they';re usually linear devices - so highly inefficient. I personally don';t use them. 1 uBEC for the APM, 1 iBEC to provide power to servos and only connect the ground and signal wires from the ESCs to the APM.
The question is - what are you powering from the APM? If you';re powering a camera gimbal, you need to be careful about the A10/A11 output as that takes power from the APM side - which is where problems start to arise.

[iseo]

i am using the apm to fly a DJI F550 hexacopter, which as you can see from the jpg attached above, has its own powerboard, where my deans plug is soldered to the powerboard of the hex, and provides power to all the ESCs. which was my concern about plugging them in with the servo cables having power.

so, thinking about it, would it be best to then:

1) solder the uBEC to my deans on the power board of the DJI and plug into the apm
2) use the JP1 plug, so the 5v power, provides power to the entire ardu controller board
3) the ESCs are now powered from the hex power board ( where the deans is soldered above jpg )
4) plug the ESCs servo cables into the apm with NO power from the cables, because the apm now gets its entire power from the uBEC by using the JP1 cable, and the ESCs get their power from the hex power board direct from the deans plug

does that sound about right?

thanks alot

[iseo]

mind you, I just read on quadcopters.co.uk

"DJI ESC has no BEC function,so there is no need to cut the red wires."

so, i can just plug everything in to the apm as is? so i guess i need the JP1 in the unit so it powers the entire board now? because nothing should come from the ESC cables?

[robshaw]

I use an APM and have only recently installed it.
All escs have the red wire disconnected.
I have no jumper connected.
I have a ubec taking power from the main power distribution on the 450 (or 550) frame. This then feeds into input 8 on the APM. This can be any of the inputs but 8 is free on my setup. Could use 1, 2 or any of the others but my ubec has a 3 pin servo plug on it so 8 was the obvious one to avoid having to make it into a 2 pin plug.
Simples. ;-)

[iseo]

thanks robshaw,

so all i have to do, is uBEC from my main power to the apm, remove red wires from the ESCs, no JP1 needed? is that because the ESCs are still getting power from the hex powerboard, no need for any power into this ';section'; of the board. awesome

do you like the setup by the way?

[guest325]

One of the things I would not do is mount your FC on the power distribution board, looking at your image that looks like what you are doing - it';s likely that if you do this it will play havoc with your FC. I recently moved my FC from the power distribution board to the top plate because I was getting strange things happening, since I';ve done it all is good.

[robshaw]

Yes that';s right.

I have my APM mounted on the bottom plate (power dist board) of my TBS discovery and I get 21% when I do a compassmot. So what Darrel says although advisable isn';t a must. I guess tho, if like all of us, your after that rock solid loiter, mounting on the top plate will almost certainly help. I';ve opted for the external compass mod (which I';m still waiting for delivery of) so the APM can stay where it is on the bottom plate.

[iseo]

Ok robshaw, I shall power it as you have with no JP1 and no red wires. Thanks DarrellW, I will mount it up there while trying to set it up. I have to print out the guide from jumpy to do the setup stuff, hopefully it isn';t too tricky.