Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Discussions and questions about the Crazyflie Nano Quadcopter
Allen
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Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by Allen »

Sorry to trouble you,but I have some questions about BigQuad.

Firstly,I have read the WIKI about BigQuad,and I know 5V is needed from one ESC,is this voltage used to supply power to the control board?Does it mean only a battery is enough and I don't need another battery to power the control board?

Secondly,When the BQ-Deck is detected it will automatically switch to brushless motor drivers,so, if I want to control the brushless forward and reverse,should I write codes separately?
tobias
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by tobias »

Yes one battery is enough but it is actually possible to use the Crazyflie battery too if there is a use case for this.
Secondly,When the BQ-Deck is detected it will automatically switch to brushless motor drivers,so, if I want to control the brushless forward and reverse,should I write codes separately?
I'm not sure what you mean by this?
Allen
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by Allen »

tobias wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:35 am Yes one battery is enough but it is actually possible to use the Crazyflie battery too if there is a use case for this.
Secondly,When the BQ-Deck is detected it will automatically switch to brushless motor drivers,so, if I want to control the brushless forward and reverse,should I write codes separately?
I'm not sure what you mean by this?
I mean I want the drone to flip in the air,So the propeller needs to generate forces in two directions,But the drone can only generate force in one direction so far.Now, I understand that I need to write a response to my needs, not just change some parameters in the original program.
Thank you very much!
tobias
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by tobias »

No currently there is no support for inverted flight. It might even require an implementation of the DSHOT protocol to work with e.g. BLHeli_S and that might not be possible for the BigQuad. Not sure if there are DMA channels available for the motor timer outputs. Sorry, many uncertainties here that needs investigation.

To do a 360 flip though, reversed flight is not needed, but that was maybe not your intention?
Allen
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by Allen »

tobias wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:35 am Yes one battery is enough but it is actually possible to use the Crazyflie battery too if there is a use case for this.
Secondly,When the BQ-Deck is detected it will automatically switch to brushless motor drivers,so, if I want to control the brushless forward and reverse,should I write codes separately?
I'm not sure what you mean by this?
Last edited by Allen on Tue Dec 08, 2020 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Allen
Beginner
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2020 2:05 am

Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by Allen »

tobias wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:49 am No currently there is no support for inverted flight. It might even require an implementation of the DSHOT protocol to work with e.g. BLHeli_S and that might not be possible for the BigQuad. Not sure if there are DMA channels available for the motor timer outputs. Sorry, many uncertainties here that needs investigation.

To do a 360 flip though, reversed flight is not needed, but that was maybe not your intention?
I use the drone to build a ball-like structure,so I need to control the brushless motors to have two rotational directions and when it is on the ground,the ball-like structure can roll by changing the rotation direction of the brushless motor, but when it flies in the air, the motor just needs one rotational direction.
tobias
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by tobias »

What type of ESC do you use and what ESC signal protocol do you use (PWM, OneShot125)? I think it is definitely possible to do but it will require changing the code so the zero throttle is at 50% ESC output signal. The ESCs must be configured for the same.
Allen
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by Allen »

tobias wrote: Wed Dec 09, 2020 9:29 am What type of ESC do you use and what ESC signal protocol do you use (PWM, OneShot125)? I think it is definitely possible to do but it will require changing the code so the zero throttle is at 50% ESC output signal. The ESCs must be configured for the same.
Thank you!
I will use ESCs with BLHeLi-ish firmware that can control the brushless motor to rotate in both directions,and I might use PWM.

And I have another question:
Do I have to use ESCs that built-in BEC? Can I use the CrazyFlie 's battery(according to the way of power supply connection when not using BigQuad) to power the control board ? and use a bigger battery with higher voltage to power the brushless motors through ESCs respectively?
tobias
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by tobias »

You don't have to use ESCs with a built in BEC but I suggest you to do so since it will lead to some complications.
1. If the CF battery runs out
2. You have to handle and charge two batteries
3. The BigQuad deck requires power (from a 5V pin) to the pull-up resistors on the motor signal lines to function correctly. This could be changed by switching all of the CF motor outputs to push-pull instead of open-drain though. This should be done for all BigQuad outputs:

Code: Select all

const MotorPerifDef* motorMapBigQuadDeck[NBR_OF_MOTORS] =
{
  &DECK_TX2_TIM2,
  &DECK_IO3,
  &DECK_IO2,
  &DECK_RX2_TIM2
};
Allen
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Posts: 20
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Re: Is one battery enough for BigQuad?

Post by Allen »

I used Crazyflie to design a large drone using brushless motors,now I need to change some of the settings for the ESCs,but I have to go through the flight control panel to set the settings again,I know Crazyflie has a USB port,I tried to use the USB and BLHeliSuite,but I can't find ESCs in my computer.So can I change the settings via this USB?
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