Common PixHawk Setup Problems and How to Avoid Them!

[@etegration]

happy to see pixhawk series continued after some time here. do keep this up please!

[@Painless360]

Thank you for the encouragement. I'll get cracking! :D

[@aeroakram]

Big thumbs up for Ben from 3DXR (and for Lee of course). I can tell you from my past and present interactions with Ben and Ian that they are nicest UAV supplier out there. Guys, I highly recommend 3DXR, and I promise you that they won't make you feel dumb when you ask something silly (yep, I'm speaking from experience). Anyway, I wish you all the best!

[@George25]

Thank you both for these amazing pieces of advice , now just one question please - plugging in the motors the right way on the cube ,is there any video on your platforms ( of course for a Quadcopter ) I can watch and learn ? I have been reading on ardupilot and watch those photos but it gets a bit confusing for me ,so I would like to get it right in my mind forever by visualising the process . Amazing both of you ,cheers 👏👏👏👍👍

[@Painless360]

Yep, Arducopter/Pixhawk for beginners Series (2023): kzbin.info/aero/PLYsWjANuAm4rXSCRfiZkpuBmUP0u-lLby 😁

[@vyoufinder]

at 7:17, it could be clarified that on Hex Board with Cube series, you cannot power the board from the servo rail. Only from Power1, Power2, or usb, according to the manual. Ben's probably referring to older Pixhawks but Cube users should know using the servo rail as a power source won't work.

[@Painless360]

The 5v common rail on the outputs is a good place to use to power aux sensors and external devices that need a 5v supply. The on-board 5v BEC is good but once you are past the GPS and an airspeed sensor I'd power them from a separate BEC. Some telemetry radios can pull up to 800mA. More on power in the 'telemetry' video coming soon.

[@avpr1c]

Rover 2.5 on APM 2.6 was a bust for me today, couldn’t get the throttle/motor to work... hope the prices aren’t too crazy on the new boards

[@JR-kk6ce]

Great video. Pixhawk in my view is the best flight controller for planes and underwater ROVs.

[@Painless360]

Check out my Omnibus and Matek builds from Summer last year where I installed Arduplane onto them. The results were surprising!

[@JR-kk6ce]

@@Painless360 Yes, those are great videos too. But, in my view, Pix beats them all especially when one can buy a good PX4 clone board for under $35.

[@chrisburton663]

Thanks for the tip on powering my Benewake from the powered pwm pins.

[@Klazudid1]

Great stuff!! Think I will follow your tips here for my upcoming build!! Is there a product name and / or availability of the hexacopter shown in this awesome video? Thanks in advance!!

[@Painless360]

At which point in the video is that shown?

[@Klazudid1]

@@Painless360 A close-up was shown at timestamp 16:59. I believe it is a DJI S600 or similar frame?

[@mtcdrones]

TFmini Lidar not working on Hex Cube Orange. Done all the same configurations and even rewired connections are per your video but won't connect on GPS2 or TELEM 2. What is the appropriate wiring diagram?

[@Painless360]

I'd contact the place you bought it from for supporting as what worked here at the time is in the video. Best of luck

[@fredericosimoes8123]

Thank for share your knowledge.. I would like to know if there is any training course, where we can learn how to build one uav from scratch. Also some DIY kit with all mandatory items to fly. Thank you

[@Painless360]

Check out the build 'for beginners' on the channel. I'm not aware of any 'build kits' that I'd recommend at the moment.. Best of luck!

[@mohsenfazareh3384]

welldone and thank you for sharing one of the issues I have is with pixhawk installation on multirotor I am surprised if it is better to place it in a damper or to just directly stick it to the body using two sided sticky tapes would you please help me on this thank you

[@Painless360]

I use double sided foam tape. Happy flying

[@Catiadr]

Ben, why can't i get my Pixhawk cube Black to calibrate my quadplane 4 in 1 Emax ESC or pusher motor ESC? Im running Arduplane 4.0.7 with q_enable and i get a warning to run 3.3+.

[@johnerichenry]

Hey Lee - can you point me to where to find how to set rotor order in Mission Planner. I have an A,B,E,F ugh! Great video and proud to be a supporter. Cheer j-e/h

[@Painless360]

It's all in the documentation - ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-rcoutput-mapping.html best of luck!

[@johnerichenry]

Thank you sir

[@johnerichenry]

@@Painless360 wrong copter type - changed from an octo to a quad - thanks again

[@busekoyunoglu6050]

I have pixhawk cube orange telemetry connection problem My telemetry cable and cubes telemetry pin they are not compatible each other so we cant attach the cable. Doyu have any suggestions?

[@Painless360]

You need to get the right cable for the Pixhawk you have. The connections changed from the older PixHawks to the Cube/Durandal/5X etc.. Best of luck!

[@trajanonerd]

When the compass calibration is being done out in the field, do you use telemetry to communicate with mission planner? Thanks for your help and great video 👍🏻

[@Painless360]

You can start it with a stick commend from the radio. See the wiki...

[@jamesinin1]

I'm experiencing a problem with my Pixhawk 4. On powering on, the main LED is a solid white. It's not producing any sounds. Might you have any suggestions?

[@Painless360]

I've not seen that. I'd contact the place you bought it from for some help in case it is a hardware issue. Best of luck!

[@luiselu6208]

I wish this video came out when my drone flew away after trying to power a servo directly from my apm 2. Great video nonetheless!

[@ali_mammadov]

Awesome channel with very very interesting videos. When I try to find something about Pixhawk flight controllers, I always list KZbin search results to find your videos :-). One question. Pixhawk 4/cube has 8 main and 6 aux connectors. Ok, you can use them for your drone configurations and lets imagine that we have choose coaxial hexacopter. 12 motors. But what about other things, for example I want to add 10 different servos for other actions: open/close something, turn camera, turn on/off lights and many many other. What can I do in that situation? Maybe add companion computer (raspberry pi) with arduino to control all other servos and mechanisms? What is a best practice for that? Can you advice something?

[@Painless360]

Not sure. I'd look in the Wiki for advice on that. Best of luck

[@ali_mammadov]

@@Painless360 Thank you for that. I have tried to google 'additional servos for pixhawk' and so on, but nothing useful found. And I have only one variant: pixhawk arduino --> servo1 ... servo N

[@makerhobbyist5407]

I'm using pixhawk cube orange which have adsb on it, so i found a problem that my receivers are getting burnt not exactly burnt no sign of burn or no smell of burning . it just simply not working after every first flight, can i know how to solve this issue i lost 2 of my x8r receivers, since my pdb is 12s powred sourse i using my 4s 5200 mah battery to power FC and my esc,motor type if FOC type not a programable esc which have black & white wire no power source. please help me in this. thank you

[@Painless360]

Please see my build series for how I connect everything. I've never had one burn up a receiver. I'd check the voltage it is supplying to the receiver.. Best of luck...

[@SaintOlav]

Do you need a Zener diode if you use one BEC to power those rails?

[@Painless360]

The place I'd look that up would be the wiki. That is the prime source of up to date, accurate information about wiring and setup.. Best of luck!

[@kenmcnaughton5882]

Hi Lee, When using a Pixhawk in a helicopter, does it work with a flybarless system, or do you need a separate flybarless controller for that?

[@Painless360]

Yep - check out the documentation. It's all in there. Best of luck!

[@kenmcnaughton5882]

@@Painless360 Sorry Lee, do i or do i not need more than a Cube v2 to control a flybarless helicopter?

[@majorkusanagi3299]

Stupid question maybe, but: For fixed wing, do PixHawk have a "maximum" wingspan?

[@Painless360]

I'm not aware of one. I've seen it used on everything from 600mm to 4m wingspan models... Happy flying

[@Deveshkumar-df8sj]

My Pixhawk 2.4.8 is showing the problem of the device malfunction, So I will be thankful if you can please suggest to me a possible solution.

[@Painless360]

What troubleshooting have you already done?

[@Deveshkumar-df8sj]

​ @Painless360 My pixhawk is showing that -"One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it." please tell me something.

[@talonproductions]

Thanks for the video...Can you share the Ardupilot Pixhawk 4 wiki link? Building a quad tailsitter with Pixhawk 4. More videos on setting up quad motors combined with control surface servos would be a great topic to cover.

[@Painless360]

All in the wiki and a simple Google search should find what you need... ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-autopilots.html best of luck!

[@ez-ee]

Hey Ben I have seen how to calibrate the compass but it asks me to reboot and when I do I lose all of the data saved. It just asks me to calibrate again. What should I do

[@Painless360]

All of the steps I follow to set up a modern PixHawk is in this PixHawk 2020 series and documented in the Ardupilot wiki. I've not seen what you describe here.. Best of luck!

[@daniel3-d98]

Will the newer mission planner still work with apm mega 2.6? I know they stopped updating at 3.2.1v.

[@daniel3-d98]

I got a deal on the 2.6 and it sounds like everything I need at this point

[@Painless360]

It's probably worth checking out my APM videos. I.e kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJPdZKmEaK97bLs best of luck!

[@bhaikahe8975]

Hey , I am facing problem while connecting pixhawk 2.4.8 with my pc as it does not recognize and assign the com port to pixhawk( there is nothing in ports section of device manager of windows After connecting pixhawk to pc) . Pixhawk boot easily and beep after boot but my pc does not recognize it. I have already installed usb drivers available on ardupilot website and also installed sis lab uart drivers but nothing works , Kindly help me out.

[@Painless360]

Try another USB cable... Best of luck

[@bhaikahe8975]

@@Painless360 I also used different cabels but nothing works.

[@Painless360]

So, rather than than me offering things that you've already tried, what troubleshooting have you already done?

[@aniketakabir1572]

3dxr is like your second home eh? Helpful video as usual.

[@ricksquebecrc4627]

Hi lee ! I’m planning to strip down my tarot 960 a hexacopter which has a naza m v2 on it because I’m not satisfy with its performance , so I just bought the pix hawk 2.1 orange cube with the herelink system but as of gps I would like to put 2 gps on it , but which one , here 2 gps or here 3 gps ? , could you help me on this question , thanks for the answer

[@Painless360]

Check out the video from the weekend where Ben shows that.. I'd use the same one you already have myself..

[@ricksquebecrc4627]

@@Painless360 big thank you lee for your answer ! 🤩

[@Eat_More_Possum]

Excellent and very helpful video. Thank you!

[@peregrinussolutionsllc6010]

Outstanding Video! Thank you guys!

[@LydellAaron]

Are the ground and power rails isolated? And what is the maximum amperage we can pass through those common rails at 5VDC?

[@MCsCreations]

Fantastic video, Lee! Thanks a lot! 😃

[@abdullahafzal9]

sir do Ben have any website or youtube channel.

[@Painless360]

Sadly not really. He's too busy! :)

[@JeffTanner]

Agreed, i had kinda bad luck last year with mine but I've slowly started pulling the pieces back out to try again.

[@muhammadalfarizi6069]

EKF mag anomaly, any solusion?

[@Painless360]

Loads of common issues, interference, alignment etc. What troubleshooting have you already done?

[@muhammadalfarizi6069]

@@Painless360 no sir, my drone always crash when EKF mag anomaly showing on messanges. Btw I'm building indoor drone without gps sir, so I'm only using internal compass.

[@muhammadalfarizi6069]

@@Painless360 I'm using tarot 650 frame, wich is PDB on merges with frame, and my pixhawk on the top of frame.

[@sharathkumarsampangi5332]

Thank you so much its very helpful.

[@mikebarkasi6467]

Great video.. love the cube.. However, could you ask, we are seeing issues from some cubes where the third accelerometer deviates greatly from the first 2.. Im worried this will cause issues as the clip2 shows large clipping when all vibe access x.y.z are < 22.. is this a QC issue?

[@Painless360]

I'd contact the vendor as the first port of call. I don't use enough of them to make an informed comment..

[@mbuilds]

@@Painless360 Thank you, problem is we purchase a year ago and only build a couple copters per year.. Im anxious to start on my first plane- (skywalker 1720) so will be watching your cube plane series shortly :-) Thanks again!

[@fpvflights3269]

Hello. Can I connect directly one 3s lipo 12.6v to aux channal of pixhawk cube board to power for servos. Thanks!

[@Painless360]

Please see my Pixhawk series for more on power. There is a little more to it than that.. Happy flying!

[@ventureoutdoors648]

This was useful.. uncovered the brand

[@dgb5820]

This is another high level fantastic video especially the power distribution, port configuration and calibration

[@Painless360]

Thank you. Check out the latest Pixhawk 2020 build :)

[@juanjimenez9705]

Great video. Thanks

[@NATGEOANDSTUFFPaulbrannan]

very nice lee.

[@MABFR01]

I'm thinking about buying a pixhawk system. I really want the telemetry and in general the automatic flying

[@MABFR01]

The ability to change the way points during the flight also is great

[@aniketakabir1572]

Do it mate. It is just amazing!

[@MABFR01]

@@aniketakabir1572 what's the price range for it? It's all over the place on Banggood, I don't mind the price but I don't want to buy something useless.

[@aniketakabir1572]

@@MABFR01 Well, The cheap 2.4.8 on banggood (I mean the cheapest ones) are clones. I have one one those and it works just fine for me. No problems yet. If you do not mind the price tag on the pixcube ones (as shown in the video) then maybe you could get them. They are more reliable.Then again I am also just a beginner so search around the web before investing(especially more painless 360 videos). It is very exhilarating when one does their first auto mission. Happy Flying...

[@skyquads1930]

Great informative video.

[@shamskhan2256]

I love multicopters

[@rajvanshsinghbhuee]

This was great

[@banda8098]

bit late for the first comment :D

[@checkm8606]

Didnt even know pixhawk xD

[@Painless360]

Sounds like you're not a regular viewer. Check out my channel, loads on Pixhawk, Ardupilot and 3rd party support for Arduplane... some cool stuff... happy flying!