(Platform 1.0.0) Bug in the most recent VOXL2 ESC Firmware (Random motors reverse directions each arm)
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Also, I am now running into a problem where the drone does not lift off and tilts everytime I arm and try to lift off. I never ran voxl-esc-calibrate though, so I will try that. I never knew that existed until I read it on another forum post.
As a note I'm using 1804-2400kv motors
@John-Nomikos-0 , thank you for the details!
I see that the following setting is not listed, please make sure that
<param name="spinup_bemf_comp" value="1"/>is set to 1. If you have it as zero, that would explain the higher than usual power required to keep the motor spinning during the spin-up. Basically, with back-emf compensation enabled, the spin-up procedure automatically adds more power as the motor spins up, as the back-emf voltage generated by the motor at higher rpms will counter the voltage that is applied to the motor. Once you set that parameter to 1, I believe you should be able to drop the spinup power back to 80 or so. please try!Regarding the drone tilting, this could happen due to incorrect actuator (motor) mapping in PX4. If this is not done correctly, the thrust will be applied in wrong location and the vehicle will not fly.
Alex
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@John-Nomikos-0 , thank you for the details!
I see that the following setting is not listed, please make sure that
<param name="spinup_bemf_comp" value="1"/>is set to 1. If you have it as zero, that would explain the higher than usual power required to keep the motor spinning during the spin-up. Basically, with back-emf compensation enabled, the spin-up procedure automatically adds more power as the motor spins up, as the back-emf voltage generated by the motor at higher rpms will counter the voltage that is applied to the motor. Once you set that parameter to 1, I believe you should be able to drop the spinup power back to 80 or so. please try!Regarding the drone tilting, this could happen due to incorrect actuator (motor) mapping in PX4. If this is not done correctly, the thrust will be applied in wrong location and the vehicle will not fly.
Alex
@Alex-Kushleyev Thank you for the advice. Changing that parameter allowed me to set power back down to 80 with no issues.
Hmm also QGC does show that the actuators are mapped correctly. I also double checked that props are on right and are spinning the right direction. I will investigate further. I'm trying to fly it in VIO currently.
Is it necessary to calibrate the escs with voxl-esc-calibrate.py? I have not done that.
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@Alex-Kushleyev Thank you for the advice. Changing that parameter allowed me to set power back down to 80 with no issues.
Hmm also QGC does show that the actuators are mapped correctly. I also double checked that props are on right and are spinning the right direction. I will investigate further. I'm trying to fly it in VIO currently.
Is it necessary to calibrate the escs with voxl-esc-calibrate.py? I have not done that.
Yes, you should perform the ESC calibration - it should be done for best results whenever you have a new motor or propeller type. There is more information about it in the other thread you found. Then you would need to update your PX4 parameters for min and max rpm so the commanded thrust is properly mapped to what motors can achieve.
Also, if you are experimenting with new motors and props, it is always better to fly in manual mode to make sure the basic flight is working properly and then test higher level modes like VIO.
@modaltb , are there any other params that need updating if John is using a custom drone for his custom motor/prop combo?
Alex
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Yes, you should perform the ESC calibration - it should be done for best results whenever you have a new motor or propeller type. There is more information about it in the other thread you found. Then you would need to update your PX4 parameters for min and max rpm so the commanded thrust is properly mapped to what motors can achieve.
Also, if you are experimenting with new motors and props, it is always better to fly in manual mode to make sure the basic flight is working properly and then test higher level modes like VIO.
@modaltb , are there any other params that need updating if John is using a custom drone for his custom motor/prop combo?
Alex
The interesting thing is that these aren't new motors and props. We got them working previously on the older esc firmware and even did PID tuning. Drone was flying smoothly. But of course, changing the ESC firmware parameters could have completely invalidated that.
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The interesting thing is that these aren't new motors and props. We got them working previously on the older esc firmware and even did PID tuning. Drone was flying smoothly. But of course, changing the ESC firmware parameters could have completely invalidated that.
@John-Nomikos-0 , i see. In that case, if you kept the old control parameters the same (such as the calibration curve and gainst, etc), the new firmware should work the same. The new firmware only had changes that relate to the spin-up procedure. Therefore, if you have migrated your old params to the new params correctly (you could double check that all the control params should be the same between your old param file and new param file), then the issue may be somewhere else. You should try to fly in non VIO mode, just manual mode to check if the drone flies well manually.
Alex
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@John-Nomikos-0 , i see. In that case, if you kept the old control parameters the same (such as the calibration curve and gainst, etc), the new firmware should work the same. The new firmware only had changes that relate to the spin-up procedure. Therefore, if you have migrated your old params to the new params correctly (you could double check that all the control params should be the same between your old param file and new param file), then the issue may be somewhere else. You should try to fly in non VIO mode, just manual mode to check if the drone flies well manually.
Alex
@Alex-Kushleyev And just to confirm, the actuators tab should be where I am testing that the motors are mapped correctly, right?
We were seeing this problem when flying in stabilized flight mode as well. I can try manual next
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@Alex-Kushleyev And just to confirm, the actuators tab should be where I am testing that the motors are mapped correctly, right?
We were seeing this problem when flying in stabilized flight mode as well. I can try manual next
Even in manual mode it tries to eat dirt as soon as it tries to lift off. I triple checked, motors are mapped correctly and spinning in the right direction
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@Alex-Kushleyev And just to confirm, the actuators tab should be where I am testing that the motors are mapped correctly, right?
We were seeing this problem when flying in stabilized flight mode as well. I can try manual next
Hey @John-Nomikos-0 , you'll need to know how things are wired up to "quickly" be able to use this guide: https://docs.modalai.com/modal-esc-px4-user-guide/#actuator-setup-using-qgc
If you don't know the wiring, it becomes a fun guess and check game....
To reverse, you could try these I believe:
MODAL_IO_SDIR1 MODAL_IO_SDIR2 MODAL_IO_SDIR3 MODAL_IO_SDIR4 -
Hey @John-Nomikos-0 , you'll need to know how things are wired up to "quickly" be able to use this guide: https://docs.modalai.com/modal-esc-px4-user-guide/#actuator-setup-using-qgc
If you don't know the wiring, it becomes a fun guess and check game....
To reverse, you could try these I believe:
MODAL_IO_SDIR1 MODAL_IO_SDIR2 MODAL_IO_SDIR3 MODAL_IO_SDIR4@modaltb I have actually successfully been able to use the "Identify and assign motors" functionality, so I was using that to identify the motors.
I'm going to try via command line just to make sure that the actuator test matches with what is expected
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@modaltb I have actually successfully been able to use the "Identify and assign motors" functionality, so I was using that to identify the motors.
I'm going to try via command line just to make sure that the actuator test matches with what is expected
Double checked using command line
actuator_test setIt matches what I see on the actuators tab.
Moving back to previous ESC firmware to see if problem persists.
Nevermind, I think I would need to plug into ESCs to do that -
Double checked using command line
actuator_test setIt matches what I see on the actuators tab.
Moving back to previous ESC firmware to see if problem persists.
Nevermind, I think I would need to plug into ESCs to do thatJust to clarify, I am still unable to fly with the most recent ESC firmware. All of the motors are mapped correctly and the props are on right, but the drone still seems to eat dirt whenever I throttle it up. It even completely flipped over once. I tried in manual mode and same story.
Any other suggestions? I'm starting to run out of ideas
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Just to clarify, I am still unable to fly with the most recent ESC firmware. All of the motors are mapped correctly and the props are on right, but the drone still seems to eat dirt whenever I throttle it up. It even completely flipped over once. I tried in manual mode and same story.
Any other suggestions? I'm starting to run out of ideas
@John-Nomikos-0 i have asked for help from our other devs, we will follow up with further suggestions.
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Just to clarify, I am still unable to fly with the most recent ESC firmware. All of the motors are mapped correctly and the props are on right, but the drone still seems to eat dirt whenever I throttle it up. It even completely flipped over once. I tried in manual mode and same story.
Any other suggestions? I'm starting to run out of ideas
@John-Nomikos-0 Is this on a custom drone? Seems like perhaps a bad PX4 parameter somewhere. Maybe you can wipe everything and start from scratch?
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@John-Nomikos-0 Is this on a custom drone? Seems like perhaps a bad PX4 parameter somewhere. Maybe you can wipe everything and start from scratch?
@Eric-Katzfey Maybe there's something with my ESC firmware parameters that's causing issues?
I'm going to try to flash an esc config that is used on a modalai drone to see if it's any different
Also, is there an easy way to go to the previous ESC firmware version without manually plugging in? I want to go back to see if this is due to the firmware flash in a time-efficient manner. I'm pretty sure there isn't but I wanted to make absolute sure
Also it is on a custom drone, but we got our drone flying with the exact same parameters on the previous ESC version on 1.0.0. Really is seeming like an ESC firmware issue to me.
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@Eric-Katzfey Maybe there's something with my ESC firmware parameters that's causing issues?
I'm going to try to flash an esc config that is used on a modalai drone to see if it's any different
Also, is there an easy way to go to the previous ESC firmware version without manually plugging in? I want to go back to see if this is due to the firmware flash in a time-efficient manner. I'm pretty sure there isn't but I wanted to make absolute sure
Also it is on a custom drone, but we got our drone flying with the exact same parameters on the previous ESC version on 1.0.0. Really is seeming like an ESC firmware issue to me.
Yes i can provide you with old firmware for m0117 (the original firmware you had before). You will need your old ESC params. All this can be done right from voxl2 without unplugging. I will follow up tomorrow morning.
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Yes i can provide you with old firmware for m0117 (the original firmware you had before). You will need your old ESC params. All this can be done right from voxl2 without unplugging. I will follow up tomorrow morning.
@Alex-Kushleyev said in (Platform 1.0.0) Bug in the most recent VOXL2 ESC Firmware (Random motors reverse directions each arm):
Yes i can provide you with old firmware for m0117 (the original firmware you had before). You will need your old ESC params. All this can be done right from voxl2 without unplugging. I will follow up tomorrow morning.
Sounds good. I don't think we ever changed the ESC params on the old firmware version. So they would be whatever the ESC came out of the factory with. I'm assuming there are default parameters available for the old firmware, right?
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@Alex-Kushleyev said in (Platform 1.0.0) Bug in the most recent VOXL2 ESC Firmware (Random motors reverse directions each arm):
Yes i can provide you with old firmware for m0117 (the original firmware you had before). You will need your old ESC params. All this can be done right from voxl2 without unplugging. I will follow up tomorrow morning.
Sounds good. I don't think we ever changed the ESC params on the old firmware version. So they would be whatever the ESC came out of the factory with. I'm assuming there are default parameters available for the old firmware, right?
@John-Nomikos-0 , yes i will provide the default params that are loaded during production.
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@John-Nomikos-0 , yes i will provide the default params that are loaded during production.
I have uploaded the older firmware that was used during production of M0117-1 ESC : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-esc/-/blob/dev/voxl-esc-tools/firmware/old/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin
The default params that are loaded with that are here : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-esc/-/blob/params-v1/voxl-esc-params/old/esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml (please note that this is not the same as the latest
esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xmlin dev or master branch.(you can put the old firmware file into the following location:
/usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools/firmware/Note that if you want to perform the ESC downgrade right on VOXL 2, you need to get both of these files on your VOXL2 and run the following commands:
cd /usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools/ #disable PX4 voxl-esc enable-bridge #upload firmware to each ESC ID (you will hear a sad beep after each update, which means the params are invalid - this is ok python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 0 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 1 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 2 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 3 #upload old params (one command to update params on all 4 ESCs) python3 voxl-esc-upload-params.py --params-file <path_to_your_params_file>/esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml #detect the ESCs python3 voxl-esc-scan.py #re-enable PX4 voxl-esc disable-bridgeYour firmware has should now be updated to have the hash
f75f1fdb, which is the original firmware that you had on the ESC and the old firmwareesc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xmlshould have been the firmware that you received installed during production.Depending on the baud rate that you use in your latest ESC params, you may have to update it (the old baud rate was 250K but it could have been changed to 2Mbit, please double check).
Let me know if you have any issues in this process
Alex
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I have uploaded the older firmware that was used during production of M0117-1 ESC : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-esc/-/blob/dev/voxl-esc-tools/firmware/old/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin
The default params that are loaded with that are here : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-esc/-/blob/params-v1/voxl-esc-params/old/esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml (please note that this is not the same as the latest
esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xmlin dev or master branch.(you can put the old firmware file into the following location:
/usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools/firmware/Note that if you want to perform the ESC downgrade right on VOXL 2, you need to get both of these files on your VOXL2 and run the following commands:
cd /usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools/ #disable PX4 voxl-esc enable-bridge #upload firmware to each ESC ID (you will hear a sad beep after each update, which means the params are invalid - this is ok python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 0 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 1 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 2 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 3 #upload old params (one command to update params on all 4 ESCs) python3 voxl-esc-upload-params.py --params-file <path_to_your_params_file>/esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml #detect the ESCs python3 voxl-esc-scan.py #re-enable PX4 voxl-esc disable-bridgeYour firmware has should now be updated to have the hash
f75f1fdb, which is the original firmware that you had on the ESC and the old firmwareesc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xmlshould have been the firmware that you received installed during production.Depending on the baud rate that you use in your latest ESC params, you may have to update it (the old baud rate was 250K but it could have been changed to 2Mbit, please double check).
Let me know if you have any issues in this process
Alex
@Alex-Kushleyev Thank you so much for the help. I will try this next week. Have a great weekend!
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I have uploaded the older firmware that was used during production of M0117-1 ESC : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-esc/-/blob/dev/voxl-esc-tools/firmware/old/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin
The default params that are loaded with that are here : https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-esc/-/blob/params-v1/voxl-esc-params/old/esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml (please note that this is not the same as the latest
esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xmlin dev or master branch.(you can put the old firmware file into the following location:
/usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools/firmware/Note that if you want to perform the ESC downgrade right on VOXL 2, you need to get both of these files on your VOXL2 and run the following commands:
cd /usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools/ #disable PX4 voxl-esc enable-bridge #upload firmware to each ESC ID (you will hear a sad beep after each update, which means the params are invalid - this is ok python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 0 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 1 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 2 python3 voxl-esc-upload-firmware.py --firmware-file firmware/modalai_esc_firmware_m0117_1_v0_36_f75f1fdb.bin --id 3 #upload old params (one command to update params on all 4 ESCs) python3 voxl-esc-upload-params.py --params-file <path_to_your_params_file>/esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml #detect the ESCs python3 voxl-esc-scan.py #re-enable PX4 voxl-esc disable-bridgeYour firmware has should now be updated to have the hash
f75f1fdb, which is the original firmware that you had on the ESC and the old firmwareesc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xmlshould have been the firmware that you received installed during production.Depending on the baud rate that you use in your latest ESC params, you may have to update it (the old baud rate was 250K but it could have been changed to 2Mbit, please double check).
Let me know if you have any issues in this process
Alex
@Alex-Kushleyev said in (Platform 1.0.0) Bug in the most recent VOXL2 ESC Firmware (Random motors reverse directions each arm):
python3 voxl-esc-upload-params.py --params-file
So I successfully flashed the firmware on all 4 ESCs. But uploading params gave me this error
voxl2:/usr/share/modalai/voxl-esc-tools$ python3 voxl-esc-upload-params.py --params-file /esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml Detected Python version : 3.6.9 (default, Mar 10 2023, 16:46:00) [GCC 8.4.0] Found voxl-esc tools bin version: 1.2 INFO: Params file name : /esc_params_modalai_4_in_1_revb.xml INFO: Params file size : 6971 bytes VOXL Platform: M0054 Detected VOXL2 M0054 or M0104! Found previous connection information in .voxl_esc_cache .. Prioritizing /dev/slpi-uart-2 @ 2000000 INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/slpi-uart-2, baud: 2000000 Sending library name request: libslpi_uart_bridge_slpi.so Received standard error event 2 Sending initialization request INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/slpi-uart-2, baud: 250000 INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/slpi-uart-2, baud: 921600 INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/slpi-uart-2, baud: 230400 INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/slpi-uart-2, baud: 57600 INFO: ESC(s) detected on port: /dev/slpi-uart-2, baud rate: 57600 INFO: ESCs detected: INFO: --------------------- ID: 0, SW: 36, HW: 34: ModalAi 4-in-1 ESC (M0117-1) ID: 1, SW: 36, HW: 34: ModalAi 4-in-1 ESC (M0117-1) ID: 2, SW: 36, HW: 34: ModalAi 4-in-1 ESC (M0117-1) ID: 3, SW: 36, HW: 34: ModalAi 4-in-1 ESC (M0117-1) --------------------- ERROR: ESC firmware version 36 is incompatible with params supported by this utility Acceptable ESC firmware versions are: [38]I think voxl-esc-upload-params is checking for the version. I could modify it and try again, unless there is an earlier tool meant for this firmware
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