VOXL Mini 4in1 ESC conflicts with Power Module v3

[hmlow]

Hi devs

Im using the VOXL Mini 4in1 ESC and the Power Module with the VOXL2. The latter is used because the ESC does not output 5V.
The current sensor reading on VOXL2 and QGC is alternating between near 0 and some valid value.

Im guessing this is because the same batt voltage/current message is sent to the VOXL2 by both the power module and the 4in1 ESC, causing the alternating readings.

Are there any solutions/workarounds to this? Can i stop the VOXL Mini 4in1 ESC from sending the overall voltage/current measurements?

Thanks

[Eric Katzfey]

@hmlow Okay, yes, that's exactly what must be happening. We'll have to add a parameter to the mini ESC driver to configure whether or not to publish the battery status.

[hmlow]

@Eric-Katzfey is there such a version of the driver available?

[Eric Katzfey]

@hmlow No, we will need to create that. If you are comfortable with px4 software you can make the change yourself to try it out.

[hmlow]

@Eric-Katzfey The driver resides on PX4 and not the ESC itself (firmware)?

[Eric Katzfey]

@hmlow Yes. The ESC firmware will send a message with battery information to the modal_io esc driver in PX4. The modal_io driver decodes that message and creates the PX4 battery_status uorb topic from it.

[hmlow]

@Eric-Katzfey said in VOXL Mini 4in1 ESC conflicts with Power Module v3:

@hmlow No, we will need to create that. If you are comfortable with px4 software you can make the change yourself to try it out.

@Eric-Katzfey looks like i'll have to wait for that new feature instead

[Alex Kushleyev]

@hmlow , sorry for the inconvenience. I will add a parameter to disable the publishing of battery status by the ESC driver. Can you please confirm which version of PX4 you are currently using?

[hmlow]

@Alex-Kushleyev

im running the version of the px4 that came with SDK 1.0.
On QGC, it says 1.14.0dev, custom fw ver 2.0.34

[Alex Kushleyev]

@hmlow , thanks. we should have an update very soon, hopefully by tomorrow.

[hmlow]

@Alex-Kushleyev thanks for the assistance as always

[Eric Katzfey]

@hmlow The new version is available here: http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/dists/qrb5165/staging/binary-arm64/voxl-px4_1.14.0-2.0.43_arm64.deb. This version has a new parameter MODAL_IO_PUB_BST that defaults to the value of 1 meaning it will send out battery_status messages. If you change that parameter to 0 it will stop sending out the battery_status messages.

[hmlow]

@Eric-Katzfey thanks for the 2 fixes in a single package! Will try it out and report back tmr

[hmlow]

@Eric-Katzfey It work! Thank you!