Tri Hobby King Y-3 Tricopter

[Jerryz]

What's up pilots. this is my second attempt at a tricopter. First one failed miserably. I have a question about esc's and a power distribution board. I have heard that you cannot power 3 Turnigy 40a Plush esc's into one power source. You have to disable some of the esc's. With three, how many do I disable?

 

[Jerryz]

Has anyone built this Y-3 tricopter? I would like some ideas. The two front arms are completely enclosed, and there is no way for the ESC to reach the motor. I guess I have to extend the wires.

 

[Stambo]

Depends what flight control board you are using but most say only one bec.
This means only one servo wire has the power (normally red) wire connected to the flight controller.
Also depends whether you have linear or switching becs, if you are not sure, leave only one connected for safety.
I normally pull the terminal out of the plug and heat shrink it, then it can easily be repurposed at a later date.
Yes it looks like you may have to extend wires with that frame.
What went wrong with the last one?

 

[Jerryz]

I will be using a KK2 board on this one. So of the three ESC's, I only need one with he red wire connected right? No one knows what went wrong. As a matter of fact you gave me some valuable information on my first tricopter. I corresponded with at least 5 people from 4 different countries, including Hobby King. I received all kinds of great tips and PID settings. The darn thing just would not fly. I think in hind sight, I had all three ESC's powering the board. Now that I hear from you, I'm sure that was it. I think this one will turn out better. thanks for your advice.

 

[wolfman76]

Depends what flight control board you are using but most say only one bec.
This means only one servo wire has the power (normally red) wire connected to the flight controller.
Also depends whether you have linear or switching becs, if you are not sure, leave only one connected for safety.
I normally pull the terminal out of the plug and heat shrink it, then it can easily be repurposed at a later date.
Yes it looks like you may have to extend wires with that frame.
What went wrong with the last one?

i did this on my spider x quad pulled all red wires but 1 esc and the problem with that is it puts more strain on that esc i would purchase a seperate ubec and run that into your rx and in turn the rx is connected to the control board which will power the rx and the kk2 board together my motor cut cutting off causing 2 crashes on my x quad that one motor ran warmer along with the esc so i highly recomend especially on a tri copter running a seperate bec or ubec

 

[Jerryz]

Thanks wolfman. As far as electronics go I am very much a begginer. OK so if I purchase a separate bec, should I use ESC's that have bec built in? I have already ordered 3 30a turnigy esc from HK.

 

[wolfman76]

most esc usually have a built in bec but i would pull all the red wires and run the seperate bec it will power off the power wires coming from the the pack the it has it's own servo wore lead coming from it plug it directly into the rx the rx then connects to the kk2 board supplying the power for it through those connections you should be good to go then just make sure you pull all the red esc wires

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i have a turnigy ubec on my x quad

 

[Jerryz]

most esc usually have a built in bec but i would pull all the red wires and run the seperate bec it will power off the power wires coming from the the pack the it has it's own servo wore lead coming from it plug it directly into the rx the rx then connects to the kk2 board supplying the power for it through those connections you should be good to go then just make sure you pull all the red esc wires

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i have a turnigy ubec on my x quad

Thanks wolfman. I am convinced that is what caused my first tricopter failure.

 

[wolfman76]

if you still have it with the new knowledge you could get it flying also

 

[Jerryz]

Well after 5 days of troubleshooting, I got frustrated and sold the frame on Ebay. I saved all the electronics for my quad I'm going to put together. I'm going to get new electronics for the tricopter. I gotta tell ya, it is now 35 days and no quad from China. He has given me all kinds of apologies and excuses. He said it was a holiday in China, he asked for little more time to deliver it.

 

[Jerryz]

OK..I'm getting back on the horse. I am on my second tricopter. I don't know what it is about these things. I just finished a 650 size quadcopter, cranked right up, flew as nice as you please. I'm working on setting up the KK2 on my tricopter. I have two of the Esc's disabled, The third ESC is going into motor #1. The rudder servo is in the M4 port. Acc calibration OK, sensor calibration ok. Armed fine, no throttle??? SOS Need help. I don't want to put this one on Ebay.

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Cancel my lst port. Suddenly they came on.

 

[Tasajara]

Are you saying the esc armed fine or the KK board?

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ok cancel my question LOL

 

[Jerryz]

Everything is fine now. The KK2 is arming and the motors are spinning in the right directions. I know I'm missing a setting, because now I went to check on the direction of the rudder motor, and I am getting no rudder servo activity. The rudder servo is hooked up to the M4 port.

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I saw the following discussion in another thread. I am not sure I know what he means.

M1 is separate from M2-M8 to keep a powerful or digital servo from introducing power ripples into the power supply for the KK2, or a voltage drop causing a reboot on the KK2.

Get a cheap BEC and plug it into M5 or M6 to power your servo if your ESCs can't supply power.

 

[Jerryz]

Ok. I discovered from another thread that ESC M1 and M2 have to have the red wire connected for the rudder servo to work. I checked and the rudder servo moves in the correct direction. Now, how do I get the servo to return to upright and level after centering the rudder stick.

 

[Stambo]

Ok. I discovered from another thread that ESC M1 and M2 have to have the red wire connected for the rudder servo to work. I checked and the rudder servo moves in the correct direction. Now, how do I get the servo to return to upright and level after centering the rudder stick.

I have not done a tri so I cannot be sure, perhaps carefully hold the copter and run the motors up till it gets light then try rotating on the yaw axis to see if it tries to correct.
You may need self level on to get it to correct.
As I said I have not set up a tri so this is just guesswork.

 

[Jerryz]

Thanks Stambo. Here is what I found out. In a quadcopter or tricopter, you are not supposed to power all ESC's from the same power source, or so I have been told. I guess in a quad you are supposed to disable the red wire on three of the four ESC's, and leave ESC for M1 enabled. I learned something interesting. M1 powers only M1. M2 through M8 rely on M2 for power. WELL! In a tricopter the rudder servo is plugged into M4 port. If you disable ESC for M2, no power to the rudder servo. I could not get my rudder servo to operate. As soon as I re-connected the red wire on ESC M2, BINGO I had a rudder servo. As for the servo not centering, that seems to be a "offset" adjustment in the KK2. Little tid bit of information.

 

[Stambo]

Always good when we learn something.
Looking forward to MAIDEN VIDS....

 

[Jerryz]

Well, I would really love to show you a majestic video of my tricopter rising into the air. unfortunately thats not going to happen, at least not yet. The only reason I have not taken an ax to this thing is because I'm a fairly civilized person, and it would be too expensive. If you recall my last attempt at this, my tricopter ended up on Ebay. Well this one is doing EXACTLY!! the same thing. The rudder servo flops over to the right. I compensate by centering it with my rudder stick, and it flops right back over again. And the rudder servo only goes that way. It will not go the opposite way. I am missing something. I have pirated settings from a half dozen people, and they were pretty much in the same ball park. There is something about that &%$#@# servo that I am missing. Can anyone throw me a line, i'm running a drift.

I am going to include a video as soon as Vimeo processes it.

 

[Jerryz]

[video=vimeo;110250475]https://vimeo.com/110250475[/video]

Pay close attention to the rudder motor. It leans left. When I center with my rudder stick, it goes right back.

 

[Jerryz]

I said it leans left. I meant It leans right when looking from the rear.