ESC status error

[droneforumaccount]

Info on the .csv columns can be found here. Commanded and speed are pretty obvious. Load is a little different in that I don't actually know what exactly it is. But, it does increase if the motor is restricted and it does decrease if the prop is lost.

Looking at the .csv you supplied the commanded and actual speeds don't seem to be unusual.
View attachment 78331
View attachment 78332

Motor load is a bit odd though. Don't know that I've ever seen something like this, but I don't usually have a reason for looking at motorLoads at motorStart.
View attachment 78334

I think we want to look at data where the ESC is failing. Can you provide the .DAT that produced the screenshot in post #53? The .csv is OK but the .DAT would be better.

Would have to reconnect the bird to my pc to get the .dat for that test (can do later this evening). I have the CSV saved locally for the test that threw ESC errors (attached). Right front motor speed registers a -1 at one point. Motor loads are mostly zero too except bounce around between -1 and 5 for a few data points.

what does the bird consider it's right and left to be? Looking straight on at the bird? or center of bird looking out?

 

[BudWalker]

Would have to reconnect the bird to my pc to get the .dat for that test (can do later this evening). I have the CSV saved locally for the test that threw ESC errors (attached). Right front motor speed registers a -1 at one point. Motor loads are mostly zero too except bounce around between -1 and 5 for a few data points.

what does the bird consider it's right and left to be? Looking straight on at the bird? or center of bird looking out?

Looking at the AC from behind. The order is rightFront, leftFront, leftBack, and rightBack.

 

[droneforumaccount]

Looking at the AC from behind. The order is rightFront, leftFront, leftBack, and rightBack.

I'll be replacing (looking at AC from behind) Left-front motor today. will report back.

 

[BudWalker]

Would have to reconnect the bird to my pc to get the .dat for that test (can do later this evening). I have the CSV saved locally for the test that threw ESC errors (attached). Right front motor speed registers a -1 at one point. Motor loads are mostly zero too except bounce around between -1 and 5 for a few data points.

what does the bird consider it's right and left to be? Looking straight on at the bird? or center of bird looking out?

I just now had a chance to look at this .csv. It's odd but probably that's related to the fact the ESC error is encountered before the motors can spin. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be anything that is particular to one motor.

You had asked about the load field. Here is some data that I looked at about a year ago. The pilot said he would sometimes get an ESC error on start up and then the motors would quit. And, that it was happening more often. For a flight that did work there is this

At around 16 secs the motorLoad started dropping to 0 and the response was a higher commanded speed. This is what you'd expect if there was an intermittent connection (e.g. bad solder joint, flaky power transistor, etc). Since power is being interrupted the load drops, then speed drops, and then the response is to increase the commanded speed. His P3 ultimately got to the point where it wouldn't do a motorStart at all. Oddly enough, the eventLog would show entries like this
294.900 : 3243 : 4 [esc_is_stall] status changed: last(0xffffffff) != current(0x00000000)
-294.900 : 3243 : 4 [esc_is_empty] status changed: last(0xffffffff) != current(0x00000000)

BTW, the P3 repair was covered under warranty.

 

[DanMan32]

The 4 ESCs are not separate boards on a P3. Also there are 3 wires on the motors. Red, black and yellow.

 

[droneforumaccount]

I just now had a chance to look at this .csv. It's odd but probably that's related to the fact the ESC error is encountered before the motors can spin. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be anything that is particular to one motor.

You had asked about the load field. Here is some data that I looked at about a year ago. The pilot said he would sometimes get an ESC error on start up and then the motors would quit. And, that it was happening more often. For a flight that did work there is this
View attachment 78375
At around 16 secs the motorLoad started dropping to 0 and the response was a higher commanded speed. This is what you'd expect if there was an intermittent connection (e.g. bad solder joint, flaky power transistor, etc). Since power is being interrupted the load drops, then speed drops, and then the response is to increase the commanded speed. His P3 ultimately got to the point where it wouldn't do a motorStart at all. Oddly enough, the eventLog would show entries like this
294.900 : 3243 : 4 [esc_is_stall] status changed: last(0xffffffff) != current(0x00000000)
-294.900 : 3243 : 4 [esc_is_empty] status changed: last(0xffffffff) != current(0x00000000)

BTW, the P3 repair was covered under warranty.

replaced the left front motor tonight and everything seemed good. tested a few times with the lid off, rebooting a few times in between motorStarts. Screwed the lid back together and still everything seemed good. ESC error cropped back up on my 4 reboot.

I rebooted several more times and esc error occurred, also calibrated IMU.

I've noticed that removing the lid seems to resolve the esc error almost immediately. I'm wondering if pressure of the top lid is pushing down on the motor wires and perhaps crossing the red and blacks. It's a relatively thin passageway for the wires near where the inner-arm screws go. shot in the dark but I've coated all 12 motor wires separately in electrical tape. Going to put the lid back on for the 14th time this week, give it a test, and probably cry myself to sleep.

 

[quaddamage]

I'm wondering if pressure of the top lid is pushing down on the motor wires and perhaps crossing the red and blacks

No, no.

Pressure of the top lid applies some bending force to the main board. If applying pressure to the board makes it behave differently, then there's a faulty connection on the board. Not a faulty component, just a connection. It is most likely soldering issue, but it could also be broken copper wire on the board itself.

 

[droneforumaccount]

No, no.

Pressure of the top lid applies some bending force to the main board. If applying pressure to the board makes it behave differently, then there's a faulty connection on the board. Not a faulty component, just a connection. It is most likely soldering issue, but it could also be broken copper wire on the board itself.

yeah, you're right. no luck with the electrical tape. My back left motor seems sticky though. got a motor obstructed error. game plan is to blast the back left motor with some air, then retouch all the connections with some extra solder. getting close. thanks guys.

 

[BudWalker]

replaced the left front motor tonight and everything seemed good. tested a few times with the lid off, rebooting a few times in between motorStarts. Screwed the lid back together and still everything seemed good. ESC error cropped back up on my 4 reboot.

I rebooted several more times and esc error occurred, also calibrated IMU.

I've noticed that removing the lid seems to resolve the esc error almost immediately. I'm wondering if pressure of the top lid is pushing down on the motor wires and perhaps crossing the red and blacks. It's a relatively thin passageway for the wires near where the inner-arm screws go. shot in the dark but I've coated all 12 motor wires separately in electrical tape. Going to put the lid back on for the 14th time this week, give it a test, and probably cry myself to sleep.

I've read that sometimes a wrong length screw can be a problem. Forgot the exact details how this can happen. Anyway, is it possible that one of the screws is too long and causing and touching some component or wire?

 

[droneforumaccount]

I've read that sometimes a wrong length screw can be a problem. Forgot the exact details how this can happen. Anyway, is it possible that one of the screws is too long and causing and touching some component or wire?

Definitely possible. I'll try to isolate "lid attached" vs. "lid attached with screws in" and see if I can narrow down that way. From what I've seen in my forum lurking; people have screwed into their motors with aftermarket prop guards that included the wrong size screws. I've been pretty careful to put all the screws back correctly, but it's a good point.

 

[droneforumaccount]

Definitely possible. I'll try to isolate "lid attached" vs. "lid attached with screws in" and see if I can narrow down that way. From what I've seen in my forum lurking; people have screwed into their motors with aftermarket prop guards that included the wrong size screws. I've been pretty careful to put all the screws back correctly, but it's a good point.

alright, think i finally narrowed it down. It's not the lid per-se. It's taught-ness of the lid on the rear-left arm. I removed the small t6 screw (the one furthest from center of AC) on the rear-left arm and the slight amount of separation between the bottom and top lids seems to fix the issue everytime.

i don't think the issue is the screw making contact with the motor or anything, as I can duplicate the issue without the screw, by firmly holding the lids together on that arm. Any thoughts as to what the root cause may be? loose connection on that back-left motor that only happens when the lid is sealed tightly? I'll probably open the thing up later and go over all of the joints.

 

[droneforumaccount]

alright, think i finally narrowed it down. It's not the lid per-se. It's taught-ness of the lid on the rear-left arm. I removed the small t6 screw (the one furthest from center of AC) on the rear-left arm and the slight amount of separation between the bottom and top lids seems to fix the issue everytime.

i don't think the issue is the screw making contact with the motor or anything, as I can duplicate the issue without the screw, by firmly holding the lids together on that arm. Any thoughts as to what the root cause may be? loose connection on that back-left motor that only happens when the lid is sealed tightly? I'll probably open the thing up later and go over all of the joints.

resoldered all of the main motor joints and the symptoms are the same. back left motor seems to still be sticky and will occasionally throw a motor obstructed error. prop sometimes doesn't spin up as quickly as the others. Going to blast it with compressed air later. probably need to replace that motor. Can anyone think of a pressure point on the board that would be caused by the rear left t6 screw being inserted?

also, general question, if DJI wanted to, could they produce firmware that would tell me which esc is failing or get any more specific than the current general error message. Their support has been of no help. they refuse to troubleshoot and are begging me to send them my AC and $$.

 

[BudWalker]

resoldered all of the main motor joints and the symptoms are the same. back left motor seems to still be sticky and will occasionally throw a motor obstructed error. prop sometimes doesn't spin up as quickly as the others. Going to blast it with compressed air later. probably need to replace that motor. Can anyone think of a pressure point on the board that would be caused by the rear left t6 screw being inserted?

also, general question, if DJI wanted to, could they produce firmware that would tell me which esc is failing or get any more specific than the current general error message. Their support has been of no help. they refuse to troubleshoot and are begging me to send them my AC and $$.

Maybe I missed it but have you tried replacing the left back motor?

 

[droneforumaccount]

Maybe I missed it but have you tried replacing the left back motor?

I haven't. Will do that in the coming days. It just seems to work perfectly when it does work.

 

[BudWalker]

I haven't. Will do that in the coming days. It just seems to work perfectly when it does work.

If you have time can you do this experiment. Remove the props and start the motors. Then make it fail by squeezing as you described. Then provide the .DAT, not the .csv, but the .DAT.

 

[droneforumaccount]

If you have time can you do this experiment. Remove the props and start the motors. Then make it fail by squeezing as you described. Then provide the .DAT, not the .csv, but the .DAT.

Will do this evening. Appreciate your ongoing interest in my struggles!

 

[droneforumaccount]

If you have time can you do this experiment. Remove the props and start the motors. Then make it fail by squeezing as you described. Then provide the .DAT, not the .csv, but the .DAT.

Hey Bud, FLY154 has the props attached (will post another without) First two CSCs in this log have the back left lid ajar a few mm w/ the t6 screw out. I then pressed on the lid firmly and recorded perhaps 4 more stop/starts. There was a definite lag in how fast that prop started with the lid firmly around it. I've noticed that I never seem to get an esc error until I reboot the AC. In this case I didn't receive the esc error as expected in FLY155, however i'm sure if I were to screw the lid down and reboot; i would see the error.

i have another rear-left (cw i believe) motor on hand and should probably replace it. But I wanted to get your take. thanks.

 

[BudWalker]

Hey Bud, FLY154 has the props attached (will post another without) First two CSCs in this log have the back left lid ajar a few mm w/ the t6 screw out. I then pressed on the lid firmly and recorded perhaps 4 more stop/starts. There was a definite lag in how fast that prop started with the lid firmly around it. I've noticed that I never seem to get an esc error until I reboot the AC. In this case I didn't receive the esc error as expected in FLY155, however i'm sure if I were to screw the lid down and reboot; i would see the error.

i have another rear-left (cw i believe) motor on hand and should probably replace it. But I wanted to get your take. thanks.

Please provide the .DAT file. It's large and can't be posted here. You'll need to Dropbox it and provide the link.

 

[droneforumaccount]

Please provide the .DAT file. It's large and can't be posted here. You'll need to Dropbox it and provide the link.

sorry about that - thought i grabbed the dat. Here is a better test anyway:

here is the test with no props. first two with motor ajar. I screwed the t6 in for the remaining stop/starts. rebooting after yielded me an esc error

FLY243.DAT

let me know if that link doesn't work.

 

[BudWalker]

sorry about that - thought i grabbed the dat. Here is a better test anyway:

here is the test with no props. first two with motor ajar. I screwed the t6 in for the remaining stop/starts. rebooting after yielded me an esc error

FLY243.DAT

let me know if that link doesn't work.

The test I was hoping for was to make it fail while the motors are running. I.e. props off, start motors then squeeze the left back arm. I was assuming that this would cause the ESC fail and then motor stop. But, after re-reading the posts I see you didn't actually say that this would cause an ESC error while the motors are running. Anyway, nothing stands out in the .DAT.

Another thing you could try is leaving the top off. Start the motors, no props, and then poke various places and components with a plastic tool and see if you can get it to fail.