Basic ESC Calibration fails

Hi Folks,
I have a Pixhawk 2.4.8 from Amazon that I got for Christmas, and I’m really at a loss. I can’t tell if this is the same ‘ESC calibration failed’ or a bad Pixhawk. I’ve ordered another one from China - by mistake - and I’ll have it in two weeks.

Here’s what I have:

  • Ardupiolot
  • X7 Taranis
  • FrSky X8R with DJT module
  • Compass
  • 3DR type battery monitor

X8R seems to calibrate ESCs
I can get Ardupilot to connect and I can calibrate the radio and compass, but I can’t get the motors to spin. If I connect the motors to the X8R and I up-throttle beeps, down throttle beeps, up beeps and down beps - each motor spins on servo/out 1 with power from the PDB with battery.

I’ve snipped the red wires from my ESCs and use the PDB for power.

No life in ESC from Pixhawk
When I connect the ESCs to pins 7, 8, 9 and 10 from the right with the signal wire on the bottom - nothing. It seems like there is no power to the ESCs. I don’t see any motor twitch or anything when connected to the Pixhawk with battery and USB. Ardupilot once actually spun the motors - only once.

Either I am missing a step after calibrating the radio to connect each channel to a motor, or I have a bad Pixhawk - or other?

Thank you!

ArduPilot support is best sought at discuss.ardupilot.org

May be a stupid comment. Do you provide external power to the connector? (Take a voltmeter and check the output.

Hi,
Ardupilot is not involved. Here is my process that fails.

  1. ESCs connected to Pixhawk
  2. Turn on Tx Mode 2, left stick full high
  3. Connect battery to Pixhawk and watch flashing and beeps for 5+ seconds
  4. Disconnect Pixhawk
  5. Connect Pixhawk
  6. Wait for beeps, and more beeps
  7. Press Arm button
  8. Throttle down and wait >5 seconds - no beeps
  9. Throttle up and wait, no beeps

Hi Jacob,
I am using a battery 3C 2200ma. I have not used a voltmeter. I’ll try that this week.
Thanks,
TF Pj

see my video does this describe the issue you are having? im at witzz end with this bloody thing. i know the esc and motors work due to manual calibration via the receiver throttle channel. motor fire up and calibrate but once i plug it into the pix hawk all the do is beep and twitch…

Did you find the solution? I’m having almost the same issue :sob: