V 3.1
MHV Quadcopter Workshop
Page 32 of 36
Motor and ESC tests and calibration
Ensure the propellers are not fitted to the quadcopter for this section
First the ESC’s need to be calibrated to match the signal levels given out by the RC transmitter. It is
done by:
1.
Disconnect USB and battery. The entire system must not have power
2.
Turn your RC transmitter on and put the radio throttle stick at maximum.
3.
Connect the battery to power the quadcopter.
4.
Leaving the throttle stick at full, disconnect the battery and reconnect it again to reboot the
APM and power the quadcopter. The APM will now pass the radio signal directly to the ESCs,
triggering calibration. The LED will cycle between red, green and blue.
5.
Press the safety switch for 5 seconds to arm the quadcopter.
6.
Wait for the ESC’s to beep three times.
7.
Put the throttle to 0 and wait for a single beep
8.
Move the throttle up a little to confirm all ESCs are armed and the motors are working in
sync. It is important that all motors start/stop at the same time.
9.
Your ESC's are now calibrated.
Next, the motor spin direction needs to be checked.
Hook up the battery to the APM and power up the quadcopter.
Push rudder (left stick) right for 4 seconds to ARM the quadcopter. Increase the throttle to 1/5 and
confirm that all the motors spin.
Carefully put your finger on the motor (or use your eye) to determine which way the motors are
spinning. It should match this:
If they do not, reduce throttle to 0 and DISARM push rudder to the left for 4 seconds. Confirm the
DISARM by pushing the throttle up – the motors should not engage. Swap (any) two power leads
(ESC<->motor) of the affected motors to reverse spin direction.
17 - Motor and propeller directions (from
http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki)
