ESC ESC beeps every second after calibration. Motor won't spin.

[dankas22]

Hi guys!

I got the brand new FMS Viper and trying to convert it into Digital FPV plane. I soldered the ESC's power and signal wires to the flight controller. And flashed the flight controller with INAV 6. I calibrated the ESC but the problem is that the motor isn't spinning and keeps beeping every second. On the radio transmitter, throttle min is trimmed at 1000 and max is trimmed at 2000.Here is the video demonstration of the problem:


ESC: FMS PREDATOR 120A BRUSHLESS ESC WITH 8A UBEC & REVERSE BRAKE FUNCTION
Motor: FMS 3670, 1950 KV inrunner
Flight Controller: MATEK F405 WMN, firmware: INAV 6.1
Radio Link: TBS Crossfire
Radio device: TBS Tango 2

ESC is equipped with 3 cables: Tri-color Throttle Signal Cable, Reverse Brake Signal wire, Tri-color Programming Cable.

However, I soldered only signal (white) and ground (black) wires to my flight controller's S1 and G pads as shown below. I don't need thrust reverse though.



Anyone can advise why the ESC keeps beeping every second and motor won't spin even after calibration?

 

[RandyDSok]

First let me point out few if any of the airplane users here will be using a flight controller on their planes other that possibly the SAFE systems some Horizon Hobby planes come with... which aren't full FC's. I know I haven't and won't be using one... but I suspect I know what is going on.

Flight controllers for heli's and muli-copters use the software to calibrate the motor/ESC ... they do not calibrate like you would for a simple ESC/motor combo. They may share some of the steps but most of it is performed on a separate PC computer to do most of the setup including the esc/motor calibration steps.

I'm going to link to a video showing a guy explaining his setup... I'm uncertain if it is the same as yours but it is a great example. If your setup differs, this will at least give you an overview of the steps needed and at that point, you'd just need to find a video that matches what your setup is. In this video, the guy first calibrates the software and later does the throttle calibration steps similar to what you showed in your vid... but the difference is all of the software setup steps he preformed that you didn't show or mention at least.

See
.

I'll also briefly mention to look at your ESC manual, it lists some troubleshooting and there are 4 beep codes that give the similar error you are getting indicating you are NOT calibrated. I suspect it's one of the last 2 error beep codes but they do not describe the differences in the beeps... one states the end point ( probably lower throttle ) wasn't seen... the other that the range is too narrow. Basically, it's sort of pointing back to the software setup not being completed but since the ESC can't tell you are using a FC, it gives those codes.

 

[dankas22]

Solved!

I have soldered thrust-reverser wire to one of the spare PWM outputs of my FC and it worked! The motor spins now.

 

[RandyDSok]

Solved!

I have soldered thrust-reverser wire to one of the spare PWM outputs of my FC and it worked! The motor spins now.

And here I was starting to think Futaba was about the only radio using a reversed throttle in relation to most other brands... lol. Glad you found the cause of that issue at the least.

That, of course doesn't mean you don't need to program the FC using the recommended software for it... there will be settings that you can not get to without it.