Im at the point in Andy's build DVD where I completed wiring the PDB with the battery cable and the pig tails for the motors. Is there a way I can test the PDB with a battery attached? I just want to make sure the leads for the motors are functioning properly. I don't have the Flight Control board built nor connected. I've already done the resistance testing and it starts at about 70 ohms and climbs rapidly beyond the meter's scale. Thank you! Jon
Jon the only way I know to test is using a battery or a bench power supply. If you don't have a bench supply think about buying one. THey are pretty handy to have since you have variable power for all sorts of testing. Long before Andy's DVD's i used the instructions from Ziggy's website. http://www.mikrokopter.us/index.php?page=7 But in his guide he has the FC connected. Maybe Andy can tell you how to check without the FC. And other than connecting the motors without props I'm not sure how you would test the motor leads by themselves.
Jonathan: I never found a good way of testing the PDB and Brushless-Controllers beyond the ohm-meter test I describe on the DVD. You would need something to talk to the PDB via the I2C bus that the FC uses to control it. What "building" are you having to do on the FC board? It should have come preassembled. If you short out the two pins on the MK USB adapter with the supplied shorting plug (which makes the MK USB adapter provide +5v down the ribbon cable) you can connect up MK Tool directly to the FC with nothing else connected to the FC. It will, of course, give you errors for the modules that are "missing," but you can then do basic testing of the FC. For example, using the Scope, you can make sure that the accelerometers are working, etc. Then, remove the shorting pin from the MK USB adapter (so that the MK USB adapter is not supplying +5v), connect up the FC to the PDB via the Molex connectors/wires and then connect up one or more motors to the PDB/BL Controllers. Then if you provide power to the PDB (from a LiPo or a Bench Supply at 15v), you can use MK Tool, and the Motor Test to spin up individual motors. You can do this all with the boards and motors sitting on your bench -- you should use some pieces of cardboard to ensure that the FC board doesn't short out against the PDB, of course (and make sure the spinning motors don't cause "collateral damage." ) Hope that helps. Andy.
Gary: I've long been without a bench power supply. I've scoured the local electronics shops and they've all stared at me is amazement at the seemingly nostalgic request. I've been looking at a bunch on Amazon, but I don't know which brands I can trust. I guess I'll have to trust the consumer reviews. Thank you for the link. At first glance, it looks VERY informative. Andy: I imagined the PDB would be tough to test alone. I didn't think the board had any smarts to it without the FC. Sorry, I didn't mean I had to build the FC, but I don't have it wired up to the PDB. I was amazed, however, that I had to solder all the components onto the Extension PCB! That was painstakingly fun! Thank you very much for the tips. I'm about to install MK Tool, and give your instructions a try. BTW, your MK Tool DVD is on the way from Quadrocopter. Aloha to both of you, Jon
Jonathan there is a forum post on useful tools. There are a couple of power supplies listed there. I use a Mastech HY1803D. Not the most powerful out there but does the job for copter builds.
Jon: I use the BK Precision 1621A. http://www.amazon.com/BK-Precision-1621A-Supplies-Digital/dp/B000ROMA7U That's the one I use for a 5v supply now -- but I used to use it for both 5v and 15v when I did my original build. I now also have a BK Precision 1900 http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Pow...=1364708108&sr=1-1&keywords=bk+precision+1900 The 1900 packs enough punch to be able to spin up the motors (without props of course) to 100% -- the 1621A's voltage sagged when I tried a full power run-up. One sneeze and the components are on the far wall! There's only one thing worse -- and that's dealing with gold leaf! Yeah, that extension PCB is a bitch to make. I confess that I asked QC to assemble mine -- just didn't have the correct soldering iron at the time to deal with surface mounted stuff. Hope you find the MK Tool DVD helpful. The next one on GPX files, MK_GPXTOOL and Google Earth is pending QC approval before we go to replication. Andy.
Thanks for the tips, guys. I recently bought the EFuel 15-24v 60A supply from Quadrocopter to charge my 8000mAh batteries. I suppose I can fashion the right cables and use this for more than charging the batteries. Just need to get a step down regulator for the little jobs. Andy: Using MK Tool, I successfully ran the motor test for all 8 motors. I didn't do any settings changes in the software, but the main screen only shows details for Motors 1-4. I hope this isn't an indication of a problem. Oh, I did update the firmware for the FC as it gave me an error until I did so. Aloha, Jon
Jonathon, not sure I understand your first paragraph. What other uses are you thinking of for the eFuel?
Jon: The default is to show only four motors on the scope for MK Tool. You can add motors 5-8 to the scope. I'm not in front a machine with MK Tool and the exact procedure to add the motors I think is just to scroll down and select them. You do need to click on the Flight Ctrl button before you do that though as the data presented varies depending on whether you select FC or NC boards. Hope that helps. Andy.
Gary: I was going to use it as a standard 15v power supply for all projects, including the MK electronics on my CS8. I haven't done it yet, but is that a mistake? If so, how is the eFuel different from any other high-powered variable voltage DC power supply. Andy: I can't find the option to add more motors... even when I click the Flight Ctrl button. I'll keep searching.
Jon, don't think of the eFuel as a 'bench power supply' the way that terminology is used. A bench supply should go from 0 to 18v a a minimum. That way you can test those items that need 5v, which is probably the most common low end. It should be variable so that you can apply, say 14.7 volts, to your system then dial the power down to simulate a battery dropping in voltage to trigger a low battery alarm. While the eFuel has an adjustable output it probably should not be considered a replacement for a bench supply. The Mastech I use, while not the most powerful will start the motors, albeit without props but probably wouldn't power to full throttle. If I need to do that I just use a battery. The one's Andy mentioned while much larger probably would not be the best supply to drive a LiPo charger like the Hyperion 720iDuo3. (Andy what do you think?)
Gary: My brain believes you, but my McGyver heart says the eFuel can power anything that needs DC! Trust me, I do want a real bench power supply, but ordering and shipping stuff here is always a pain. Here's an example... I ordered a $1.49 little aluminum heat sink the other day on Amazon, and then found out shipping was going to be $20!! That is NO B.S. Needless to say, I cancelled it. As far as powered the 5v circuits, I was going to build an adjustable voltage regulator to power the smaller 5v stuff, and run that off of the 10A circuit on the eFuel. Andy: I had it set to Octo. I'll try Octo2. It seems I can do a motor test on all 8 using the motor test function, I just can't see any metrics on motors 5-8 in the MK Tools window panes. I hope it's just an MK Tools software config issue and not the board nor firmware upgrade I applied for my FC 2.1 (Flight-Ctrl_MEGA1284p_V0_90d.hex - NOTE: not the S3D version of the firmware.)