VOXL-ESC V2 : One of the ESC is not detected

Aaky

Hello,
I am using VOXL-ESC V2 along with VOXL2 on custom drone with Sentinel configuration with platform image 0.9.5 and PX4 version 1.12.31. I was able to operate ESC successfully but all of a sudden after updating of one of my parameter file on VOXL ESC, it stopped detecting ESC ID 2 out of 4 ESC's. Parameters were flashed properly for all four ESC initially and after reflashing of parameters again it stopped detecting one of the ESC. I am using voxl-esc tool from gitlab.Also I am using USB to TTL connector for connecting ESC with Host PC. Please see attached logs of voxl-esc-spin command.

./voxl-esc-spin.py --device /dev/ttyUSB0 --baud-rate 250000 --id 2 --power 15 --timeout 3
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
Found previous connection information in .voxl_esc_cache ..
Prioritizing /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 250000
INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 250000
INFO: ESC(s) detected on port: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud rate: 250000
	ID         : 0
	Board      : version 34: ModalAi 4-in-1 ESC (M0117-1)
	UID        : 0x203034305743570C00270034
	Firmware   : version   38, hash 83faccfa
	Bootloader : version  183, hash 25317f42

	ID         : 1
	Board      : version 34: ModalAi 4-in-1 ESC (M0117-1)
	UID        : 0x203034305743570C003A0054
	Firmware   : version   38, hash 83faccfa
	Bootloader : version  183, hash 25317f42

	ID         : 3
	Board      : version 34: ModalAi 4-in-1 ESC (M0117-1)
	UID        : 0x203034305743570C00280028
	Firmware   : version   38, hash 83faccfa
	Bootloader : version  183, hash 25317f42

---------------------

ERROR: Specified ESC ID not found--exiting.

Also check output of voxl-verify-param.py command as well

./voxl-esc-verify-params.py 
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: All COM ports:
	/dev/ttyUSB0 : USB-Serial Controller
INFO: UART Port Candidates:
	/dev/ttyUSB0
Found previous connection information in .voxl_esc_cache ..
Prioritizing /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 250000
INFO: Scanning for ESC firmware: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud: 250000
INFO: ESC(s) detected on port: /dev/ttyUSB0, baud rate: 250000
ERROR: ESC ID 2 not found
ERROR: Some params are invalid or not the same!
       Number of ESCs expected     : 4
       Number of ESCs found        : 3
       Number of invalid params    : 0
       Number of matched params    : 3

Also during startup ESC ID 0, 1 and 3 LED blinks and only ESC ID 2 LED dosent blink with rest of the LED's. ESC ID 2 LED blinks after rest of the three LED have completed their blinking.

How to debug further what's wrong with ESC ID 2?

Aaky

@Eric-Katzfey Any help on this problem?

Alex Kushleyev

@Aaky

It seems one of the ESCs failed to update the params correctly. The delayed blink (and sad beep) is an indication of this.

Not a big deal, we basically need to re-upload the param to the one ESC that had the issue.

If an ESC has corrupted params for some reason, it will go into a fault state and will default to UART baud rate of 57600. So we just need to force voxl-esc tools to communicate at that rate.

./voxl-esc-upload-params.py --params-file <path-to-your-params-file> --device /dev/ttyUSB0 --baud-rate 57600

If this does not work, maybe try --baud-rate 2000000 -- did you use a different baud rate before?

Can you please try that? After updating params, you can detect the ESCs using ./voxl-esc-scan.py

Alex

swickliff

@Alex-Kushleyev This was very helpful thank you. I was able to reset a "sad beep" ESC with no problems

Alex Kushleyev

@swickliff , great! hopefully this is not an issue moving forward.

wilkinsaf

I would like to note the updated path for the ESC is /dev/slpi-uart-2

That is how I got this to work for me

wilkinsaf

I found this by running

./voxl-esc-scan.py

or

voxl-esc and selecting detect...or scan I can not remember