#Foxeer FC dead?

36 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

shadow robin
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In short: when I plug the battery in - there no leds lit on the board. There are proper beeps from the motors, 5 volts are there, RX is up (but doesn't connect to TX), camera and VTX are working properly, but no Betaflight OSD.

Longer story.
I took this drone apart yesterday to replace TBS GPS unit with Beitian BN-880. I soldered everything right (TX to RX, RX to TX, SDA to SDA, SCL to SCL, power to separate 5v regulator connected to the battery via balance plug). I checked the pads with multimeter - there were no shorts.
After that I noticed that one of the motor wires broke off (more on that in the first comment - I kind of hate Foxeer quality already). I resoldered it and two other motor wires that were on the verge of breaking off.
I checked everything one more time - everything seemed fine.
I plugged the battery, then I plugged the balance plug into the 5v regulator. Everything worked as expected: all the beeps, leds on the board and GPS unit. Betaflight OSD showed that it established connection with the GPS (but there were no fix yet).
I unplugged everything that then plugged again. Board was dead and so was the GPS. 😦

One theory is that one of the motors (or VTX, it was out of the shrink) might have touched something on the board, shorting something...
Other theory is that Foxeer components are just mierdo.

What's your thoughts on that?

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Even longerer story.
I bought this BNF Foxeer Foxwhoop 25 this summer.

I received it, minimally checked that it flies and proceeded to solder TBS GPS to it (I need it to play with GPS in Betaflight).

For some reason the board stopped being responsive, it turned out that VTX 5v started shorting to ground. I changed VTX to BetaFPV one, was able to get GPS working.

With one caveat: power to GPS was provided from a separate 5v regulator. This was done to be able to power GPS before the quad itself: to shorten time quad is powered while GPS is acquiring fix. In theory everything was great, but in practice... if plugged the GPS first and then the quad - the board was dead exactly the same it is right now. If power the quad first and then the GPS - everything was fine most of the time, except for the fact that the whole idea of separate power was defeated.

And note: MOST OF THE TIME. Sometimes even if quad was plugged first - the board was dead exactly the same it is right now: VTX and camera are working, no Betaflight OSD, beeps from the motors, RX is up but not connecting. Unplug and plug again - welcome to Betaflight.

Now the motor wires are breaking off... not the solder joints - the wires themselves.

I am kind of fed up with Foxeer.

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dawn hornet
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Sounds dead to me, sorry. I don't know enough to know what component is causing the failure, but I've had enough FC's die on me to feel confident saying that. It could be or have been a short.

tight ocean
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Motor wires breaking off is far from foxeers fault

dawn hornet
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It doesn't respond in beta flight if you hook it up, does it?

shadow robin
tight ocean
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Could be a lot of things, but I don't think foxeer had direct influence in making the wires bad

shadow robin
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Those are Foxeer's motors too, if I am not mistaken.

tight ocean
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I've only ever seen positive things about them, I'm not sure what could've happened here

shadow robin
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I dunno. I am sorry to say, I am very dissapointed with this drone.
And I haven't mentioned everything.

dawn hornet
shadow robin
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No beeper (come on, even Mobula 7 has one), motor beeper not setup, OSD on the camera (who uses it?), etc

dawn hornet
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We have a word for people that use OSDs on their cameras

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Psychopaths

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You definitely know what you're doing it sounds like, so it's probably nothing you did wrong

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I've had FC's just...die on me for no reason*. We just hope it's on the maiden and not in the middle of a building dive or over an ocean

tight ocean
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I'd contact them if you haven't already

shadow robin
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I'll think about it. I kind of annoyed them in the summer with my complaints and the replacement VTX.

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What could've happen to GPS? It seems dead too when I supply 5v to it 😦

broken lichen
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I would check the BEC you were using on the Balance leads. 5 volts from it might be referenced to positive, not ground, so using it with something connected to the flight controller would fry the flight controller.
If you were using a 4s battery and used the balance leads with a BEC that gave 5 volts but didn't use a common ground, then the ground state might actually be 11.8v, and the +5v might be 16.8 when viewed by the flight controller. that would fry anything connected to the TX and RX line.

shadow robin
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the BEC gives 5v, I checked
I use balance leads on the same battery that were connected to the FC, this gives common ground, right?

broken lichen
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No, you can't assume it has a common ground point. A lot of DC/DC converters use common positive instead of common ground to base the voltage off of. it may be 5 volts from + to - on the BEC, but you may have a different ground point, so it would look like anything from 5v to 16.8 volts (assuming 4s battery) to the flight controller. All it takes is about 0.2volts difference between the Flight controlelr's idea of +5v, and the BECs for it to fry when connecting to the TX and RX.

shadow robin
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Looking for an alternative FC... are HAKRC FCs any good?..

tight ocean
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meh

shadow robin
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cannot find any other alternatives... iflight beast f7 is out of stock, and I want to stay away from Foxeer for now...

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what are the other alternative for 25.5 mounting AIO, around 40 amps, and SDA/SCL

tight ocean
broken lichen
shadow robin
shadow robin
broken lichen
shadow robin
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mmmm, interesting

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I am not very knowledgeable in electronics

shadow robin