/dist/images/branding/favicon

New MK BL 3.0 Firmware v 1.08 (18 July 2014)

Discussion in 'Electronics' started by Steve Maller, Jul 18, 2014.

  1. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2012
    Messages:
    3,981
    Likes Received:
    807
    Thanks to the patience and hard work of Dave King (and Holger, of course), there's another new version of the BL 3.0 firmware that addresses some issues with higher-power motors than MK have generally tested with.
    • Redundance: Timout for reporting "No Redundance" reduced from 100 sek to 5 sek
    • Default-Timing is 24° again
    • There were still some commutation problems with some motors at high currents -> for example U5 (T-Motors) or KDE 4012/4014
    http://www.mikrokopter.de/ucwiki/en/BL_V3Update#en.2BAC8-BL_V3_Version.Version_V1.08
     
  2. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2012
    Messages:
    2,712
    Likes Received:
    311
    For those interested, I sent Holger a Tiger U5 motor and a KDE 4014 motor to test and I"m glad I did as he found some things that can help these type of combos. There wasn't anything really wrong with my copters performance from other than seeing a motor restart error or a I2C buss error that were not effecting flight performance but nevertheless it was good for him to make some tweaks that will make the MK stuff work better with our combo's.
     
  3. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2012
    Messages:
    678
    Likes Received:
    131
    Thanks for the effort Dave!
     
  4. Matt Kearney

    Matt Kearney Member

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2012
    Messages:
    41
    Likes Received:
    9
    I sent Holger a KDE4012 and a 17" carbon prop.
    He found some issues in the bl software and changed it accordingly.

    I had a motor shut down in flight on a new redundancy cool octo board.

    And yes it flies ok on 7 motors in x config with mk mixer.
    I lost motor 8 -back bottom left.

    Had time to put retracts down and land very safely.

    Machine is cinestar x8 with kde4012's-17" tiger props. AUW was about 11.5kg's.

    Thanks Holger
     
  5. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2012
    Messages:
    2,712
    Likes Received:
    311
    Guys

    I downloaded the new 1.08 firmware and installed it on my flat 8 with the Tiger U5 motors. Here's my feedback I sent Holger. The transitions in throttle, yaw, and nick are smoother. Don't get me wrong, it was smooth before but I can notice a slightly smoother transition. Active breaking also seems a lot smoother (very noticeably) for me. The motors still seem like they are running faster and harder during hover situations. Again I noticed this change when I installed 1.06 and its still the same at 1.08. Maybe the motors are more in sync which means everything is working like it should. It's very smooth but if I was to give you a best guess estimate I would say the motors are working about 15% harder. I say harder just because the motors sound like they are spinning faster and they are louder. Flight time is about a 1-2 minutes lower than it was before 1.06. Not saying that's a real big issue but I just wanted to try to correlate that to the faster spinning motors.
     
  6. Jason Smoker

    Jason Smoker Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2012
    Messages:
    881
    Likes Received:
    70
    Dave where your overall temps higher due to the faster spinning motors?
     
  7. Jason Smoker

    Jason Smoker Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2012
    Messages:
    881
    Likes Received:
    70
  8. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2012
    Messages:
    2,712
    Likes Received:
    311
  9. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2012
    Messages:
    2,712
    Likes Received:
    311
    No they are not any higher.
     
  10. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2012
    Messages:
    678
    Likes Received:
    131
    Interesting find Dave.

    I'll install the new firmware and give a try.

    I had a recent BL Ctrl 3.0 failure also, one motor went down when the copter was on air and I could land it safely with 7 motors. After landing, it was smelling burned electronics. Anyways, it's on the way to Germany for inspection; I was using it with KDE 4014XF motors and 1.04c firmware.

    I don't know if you guys tried Dynamic Speed Control as OFF with BL Ctrl 3.0? The motors seem running smoother this way but I haven't flown it with this settings on; just testing on the bench. I also want to fly the kopter with this setting off.

    I don't have any technical data to prove this but the problems we are facing with different motors might be related with Dynamic Speed Control which is introduced with BL Ctrl 3.0. My BL Ctrl 3.0 failed when I was doing a hard turn.
     
  11. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2012
    Messages:
    678
    Likes Received:
    131
    Okay, another report on 1.08:

    I had a board waiting for RMA service and MK replaced it with a new DoubleQuadroXLCool with the latest firmware installed.

    I flew it today with KDE 4014XF motors with Movi M5+GH4. On the second flight, it Bl Ctrl #2 and #8 burned after I gave an instant gas to copter and the copter crashed.

    The roll motor of Movi M5 got some damage on the case but it's working flawlessly. 2 props and one motor damaged. ND filter and Zuiko 12mm lens is also garbage.

    The video:

    http://we.tl/nbD8WHeq5G

    We were chasing the motor with a pick-up with 30m distance. Since the drive was not that comfortable, I accidentaly put the gas up with the bump over the pick-up.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Steve Maller

    Steve Maller UAV Grief Counselor

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2012
    Messages:
    3,981
    Likes Received:
    807
    Ouch! In conversations with Holger, it appears that the BL 3.0's suitability for Very Heavy Lifters is seriously limited. My guess is that these BLs are really only good to 40-50A, which may not be enough to satisfy large, hungry motors. I'm satisfied that for my purposes they're fine, but at the next level, something like the new KDE 75A ESCs are probably a better bet.
     
  13. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2012
    Messages:
    678
    Likes Received:
    131

    Hello Steve,


    I don't want to go to those old times when we were using PWM to I2C converters since I had zero success with them. (And also no telemetry on battery when used converters)

    Steve, I don't have the e-mail of Holger. I'd be glad if you can ask this:

    Will we still have high current spikes if we turn off "dynamic speed control" function of BL Ctrl 3.0? If this makes the BL Ctrl 3.0 more robust in terms of reliability for big motors, this might be worth to try. We didn't have this function on Bl Ctrl 2.0 and the copters were working beautifully.
     
  14. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Ozkan: Check your inbox please.
    Thanks
    Andy.
     
  15. Jose Luis Ocejo

    Jose Luis Ocejo Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2012
    Messages:
    581
    Likes Received:
    44
    Oskan sorry about your incident what was your AUW
     
  16. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2012
    Messages:
    2,712
    Likes Received:
    311
    According to the specs the KDE motors should be fine as they only generate a maximum of 26 amps (at least going by the specs).
    Holger said anything up to 40 amps for each motor should be fine.
     
  17. Ozkan Erden

    Ozkan Erden Distributor

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2012
    Messages:
    678
    Likes Received:
    131
    AUW was around 10kg, payload was Movi M5 + GH4. My average power consumption for each motor is between - 10A to 21A.

    I got back my Herkules III ESC from the shelves, while I have left with no BL Ctrl 3.0 boards, they are all back to RMA. (I also got BL Missing error on one of the backup DoubleQuadro2XL boards when on the ground, that's also back to RMA).

    For those who doesn't know Hercules III, check out here:
    http://www.andreasbaier.de/

    That's only known ESC which works with Tiger U7 motors (Kopterworx uses this ESC for their big birds). It also offers I2C interface which is important for MK systems.

    When I used Herkules III months ago when the FC 2.5ME was launched, there were some functions missing:

    * BL Ctrl temp data didn't exist on telemetry
    * Amps consumption didn't exist on telemetry

    Andreas Baier, who created this board updates the firmware frequently and they are now on 1.06 firmware and all of the missing functions are here now.

    I have installed the new firmware with 24' phase timing for KDE 4014XF motors. With the new firmware, Herkules III is identified as BL Ctrl 2.0 by the flight controller.

    It's flying beautifully. It also has a feature called "Active Freewheeling" which is same with dynamic speed control of MK.

    There are no reports like burned MOSFET on heavy lift motors with Herkules III so far. I'll report more once I finish 10 hours of flying with this setup.
     

    Attached Files:

  18. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2012
    Messages:
    2,712
    Likes Received:
    311
    Ozkan

    Interesting. I emailed Holger for you. Let us know how that works for you. One thing you might want to address is relocating your batteries lower toward the hub for a better vertical center of gravity. When I switched over I noticed a significant improvement in overall flight control and flying. When you have active braking on the copter has to stop on a dime putting the copters CG really top heavy. With active braking I have seen the copter tilt as much as 45 degrees and at that kind of angle with the battery on top it just seems a little too much. Not that this is causing the BL issues but just something to think about.
     
  19. Dave King

    Dave King Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2012
    Messages:
    2,712
    Likes Received:
    311
    Ozkan

    I emailed the question about the active braking and Holger said that it doesn't change anything.
     
  20. Chris Fox

    Chris Fox Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2013
    Messages:
    463
    Likes Received:
    86

Share This Page