Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Discussions and questions about the Crazyflie Nano Quadcopter
olif
Beginner
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2020 5:21 am

Re: Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Post by olif »

This can also happen if the esc is not initialised. On normal quads if you have a new esc you can initialise it with the joystick of your transmitter so it knows what is 0 and 100%. So the question is how can you initialise the esc via bitcraze software.
r0b0tn1k
Member
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 9:53 pm

Re: Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Post by r0b0tn1k »

Hi all, a bit of an update.

I redid the soldering and now there's no more issues when testing the motors.
Also fixed orientation of one of the motors, so now I believe they are all pointing in the right direction.

So I ran the first test... aaaand nothing. Motors go what sounds to me like full throttle, and it fails to lift off.

Here's how the motors are turning (the diagram shows the basic crazyflie, but it's the bolt).

Image

Here's a video of the failed takeoff:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctzw6pso905hg ... 8.MOV?dl=0

In the end I cancel the script so it doesnt burn the motors.

Another thing I noticed is that due to the huge vibrations, the multiranger deck slides off the pins.
tobias
Bitcraze
Posts: 2339
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:17 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Post by tobias »

Looks like the propellers are pushing instead of pulling. Front and back propellers should be switched.

I would not test with a script first, high risk of crash, but instead with joystick and holding the drone firmly in my hand to feel that is is behaving correctly.
r0b0tn1k
Member
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 9:53 pm

Re: Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Post by r0b0tn1k »

Wait, switching front and back does not make sense, as they move in exactly the same direction?
Can you draw on top of the image where the motors should be turning?
tobias
Bitcraze
Posts: 2339
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:17 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Post by tobias »

The propellers turn the right way it is just the the CW propellers are mounted on the CCW motors so they need to be swapped. This causes the propellers to push air instead of pulling it, thus pushing the quad to the ground.
r0b0tn1k
Member
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2019 9:53 pm

Re: Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Post by r0b0tn1k »

Hi all, wanted to share an update.

Today we have first sucessful flight. Sort of. As soon as I hit the thruster, it hit the ceiling, it's super fast.

For anyone else wanting to make a bolt, look at this page as your starting page: https://wiki.bitcraze.io/projects:bolt:index
The motor order is not standard and it's listed there, so it's what finally helped me get it off the ground.

And now a question:
How do I make it less jumpy? If I press the up button I'd like it not to go so fast. Any PID tuning or anything I can do?
tobias
Bitcraze
Posts: 2339
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:17 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: Crazyflie Bolt issue with motors

Post by tobias »

For manual flight you can limit the max thrust in the cfclient flight tab, I think that is the easiest solution. For more autonomous flight with e.g. a flow deck, controllers needs to be tuned. We don't have a guide for this yet but you can follow this forum thread to get an understanding of what has to be done.
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