Almost finished with my build, Joop! Thank-you for creating this project! I'm looking forward to digging into the code as a first SERIOUS programming project.
@kc koellein, could you please help me out with the connections of the Ardunio UNO and the other circuits? For one, I just can't understand how to take a common ground for the ECS terminals(the three-pin section)
@@crazycampers5466 I am in the process of building the drone and I am now facing the same problem. I designed my own frame and I am using solderable PCB for the power distribution board. One solution is to use header pins and connect all of them together and one of these pins goes to the ground pin in arduino
you all prolly dont care but does any of you know a tool to get back into an instagram account? I somehow lost my account password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me.
@Jayce Jaime thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and im in the hacking process now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
This project is really great Joop! I've just finished my Quad, and when it turned on it really felt special! Thanks for your really thorough and clear explanantion! I learned a ton on the process And yes, this is indeed 6 years later, but I personally think it is just as relevant as ever
I just built the quadcopter myself and implemented your code. Thank you very much for your work. I went through the code and I am amazed by the simplicity of it and how well it works.
Hi i have a question about power Vin and A0 , if the batery is 3s = 11.1 Volts ..... The resistances is a divisor voltaje right? Vin= (11.1*1.5)/1.5+1 = 6.66volts and Volt Ao =4.44Volts..... but the power in arduino must be 7Volts---12 volts and Vin is 6.66Volts
+Carlos tercero no look well at the schematic vin receive 11.1 v not 6.66 loOk the wires. A0 receive 6.66 but i think it not safe for the board, because a0 must not recevie voltage higher than 5 v
+jones rayan Its posible change de resistance R3.... if R3 is 820ohm ----> Vin=11.1(820)/1820 =5.00109Volts... The analog inputs have a diode but this diode can destroy if the voltaje is higher for a long period of time...
Joop - thank you so much for this series of videos. A few years ago I started experimenting with my first Arduino and then at the start of 2015 I got involved with quads so these videos are perfect for me
Hey sir i finished my Quad copter which works as a rate mode quad.I followed your these 6 videos and built my own code getting the knowledge from you.I used mpu6050 and also i had to use a kalman fliter as i was getting much noise from vibrations. And with my pid settings i got 100% stability.Here are my settings. For pitch and roll p =1 i=0.001 d=15 and for yaw p=2 i=0.001 d=0 . U are doing a great job with this series.keep up the gud work
I love all of your YMFC vids, they have inspired me to start a multicopter project myself! I would love to see a tutorial on using an accelerometer to autolevel.
Hardware wise, this setup is frightfully mature. It has Vbat which isn't even universally featured on specialised FCs, and using a diode to prevent USB powering the whole system is a painful reminder of the missing-diode on Naze32 rev6 prototypes. Many ppl are commenting about WIFI control link. My inner FPV pilot says it's not feasible, but my coder personality tells me to look into ESP8266 or XBee lol
Mr. Joop, I am an Elect. Engineer and a keen learner of something new, even at the age of 68 yrs. I also launched a plateform for free education preferably for poor students. I started learning this drone projects just 2 months before. But got made succefully with help of your videos (the best I came accrross). Very easy to follow up. The best , smooth & easy way as you explained . My motto is to make drone videos in Hindi language using your principles after getting full confidence and doing some experiments following you. Can I ? Sir, I tried with the way of Mr. Andrei(Electronoobs) videos based on MultiwiiConf, but could not get success to operate drone as no PID signals from hand made remote controller 6ch. to FC. I do not know what mistake I am doing. Kpt working 2 months without success. and with your videos got success in 2 days only. He is also not able to understand. Seems code and Confih.h settings. Can you guide related to Multiwii drones. ? Pl sir I want to to know the very cause of failure. I could find your videos/website related to this. Thanks to you and your Plateform.
Wish I 've found this video series back in the day. And everyone, be gratefull. It its really a hard workcome up with this kind of prjects, we have the opportunity to learn some from his experience and do our own research for improve our own projects
if you use the 5V output from the Battery Citcuit Eliminator (BEC) in any one of the ESC you should be able to power up the Arduino NANO/ProMINI without issues (just make sure that you choose a 5v ProMINI version) ... it will be much smaller and lighter then an UNO but still retain the same I/O capabilities of the UNO.
I actually had shortage of time. This was for a college project. So I just went with the kk 2.1.5 and it worked surprisingly. I learned a lot from ymfc. Overall it was good lessons but I just didn't have enough time
Awesome dude! I will use this to make my own quad-copter. Instead of buying a dji phantom, i will use my spare Arduino Due and L3GD20H Gyro and this series of vids to make my own epic quad-copter. I also have lots of metal and metal working tools so making a frame would be cake. Subscribed!
Would like to have your validation of the power supply redundancy. Instead of just connecting two lipo in parallel, a circuit is built to control the power supply of two 6S lipo A and B. By default the copter will get power from the power reserve (capacitor) that initially draw current from lipo A. As lip A's voltage drops to say 21 volt, the system will automatically switch to draw power from lipo B.
Hi , I am from Iraq , thanks for the great information and experience . you offers a great help to us and I think you did your best to do this job , thanks more.
Hey Joop... Kom net terug van vakantie en heb deze eerste video zitten bekijken. Puik werk man! Ga de rest straks ook even op het gemakkie bekijken. Ook mijn eigen project ligt nog niet in de hoek dus daar kom ik ook zeker nog op terug. Top (y)
Hi, first congratulate you for the quality of your videos, the explanation and the information is very good. I wanted to comment if you could add the writing, I mean for example in your MPU-6050 videos, but for these parts of the YMFC-3D hardware and software to translate it, I do not speak English very well. Thanks for the hassle, and again, congratulations on your work.
Hi there, I'd like to start by saying thank you. I have watched this entire video series and its been amazing! I do have one question though. In your schematic it shows you wiring your gyro to Analogue pins 4 & 5 yet in the video you instead connect them to the pins above Digital pin 13. What pins do you use and why these pins instead of Analogue 4 & 5? Thanks
hi you showed awesome tutorials to us as i am a beginner you gave me a very nice explanaition i am working on this project only in the schematics are the reciever output the channel signal pin which i have to connect to arduino
Sanglak Jeon Hello, in the example that I made I did not connected the grounds of the esc because the are connected to ground in the esc. Despite that, you will see in the schematic that the ground of the esc is connected to the ground of the Arduino.
Hi, i was wondering if the XD-YK04 receiver works. I get that this receiver is "linked" somehow to a basic controller with 4 buttons, is it possible to connect the receiver and use some old controller of mine?
Hola, buenas tardes, muchas gracias por los videos, son muy bien esplicados. una consulta. Se puede trabajar con este proyecto Arduino Nano V3? Una vez más, algunos excelentes videos
Hola, buenas tardes, muchas gracias por los videos, estan muy bien esplicados. una consulta. Se puede trabajar este proyecto con Arduino Nano V3? Nuevamente, unos videos excelentes
Thank you for this series! Very helpful! I am having a hard time with the ESC's though. I understand that three of the wires go to the motors, but on the schematic it seems as though the positive lead to power is not connected. I was also unsure of why there is only one wire for Sig on the ESC going to the arduino. Is this one of the wires that would be usually go to the flight controller?
On the schematic only the control wires are shown (small connector that goes to the flight controller). The manual of the ESC should give you enough information on how to connect the main power.
In the pictures on your website, the small ground wire in the 3-wire cluster of the ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) does not appear to be connected to any ground. But in your schematic, it shows that the ESC small ground wire is grounded. To be safe, should we connect the small ground wires directly to the PDB (Power Distribution Board) where the large black ground wire is? Thank you in advance for the help :)
Great project! Looking forward to see where this goes. At the start of the video you mention that the pro mini has a max output of 150mA. Is that a problem for this flight controller? Or does it only become a problem when you start adding more breakout boards like a GPS, altimeter etc?
buncho888 My receiver uses 85mA, the led 15mA. 20mA for the rest (processor, gyro, esc signals, etc). In total 120mA. So it should work with enough cooling. You can also power the Pro Mini with 5V if u use a esc with a internal 5V bec.
The schematics show the gyro connects SDA to A4 and SLC to A5, but you never connect anything to A4 or A5. Even in the other videos where the gyro is being programmed. Am I missing something here? What do you connect the gyro to?
Mr Joop, congrats for this project. I have any questions about yours code. Is it possible include plus four motor/propellers on code (I am building a octarotor)? If the aswer is yes, how do I do this? Thanks a lot.
I did not forget it. The schematic is just for the flight controller signals. In the manual of the ESC you can find the information about the motor / battery connections. And on this page I made a detailed build article: www.brokking.net/ymfc-al_main.html
This is very good! Could you reference any books or websites where I could learn the knowledge you have on the electronics, circuitry, and power that you used for this build? where did you learn how to know what power level, electronics are needed?
Awesome Series. The best I found online. How are you powering the ESCs? The schematic only has the signal and the ground connected to the Microcontroller. Shouldn't you have to connect all 4 ESCs to the LiPo battery to supply it with power? Thanks for your effort in making this.
+Shamsah Thanks for the compliments. The esc's are connected like normal to the lipo battery. A I mentioned in the video I only focus on the controller, not the frame.
Hi Joop, thanks for the videos. I just wanted to know, how are the ESCs and the receiver powered? I can see some red wires going into pin 8 of the receiver but can't see where the other end is, also for ESCs what are their positive terminals connected to? Thanks again
I am currently constructing a quad copter based on your design. I just need to clear something up regarding the ESC signal wires. The ESCs I have came with a three prong signal wire and I am wondering how exactly you condensed yours down to one wire. Did you strip those wires back and solder all of them together to a single lead wire or did you just use one of the wires out of the three for the connection to the arduino? I guess I am just confused to what each of these wires represents for the ESC. Any explanation would be much appreciated.
I am new to arduino and hardware generally. Question 1) How was the ESC connected to the arduino? At 6:31 in the video, it appears that the ESC's 3 small wires (brown, red, and yellow) branch into 1 yellow wire. How is this junction created? Question 2) In addition, how is the motor connected to the ESC? The motor has 3 wires and the ESC has 3 inputs (U, V, and W). Which wires go into which inputs? Thank you so much for your time, I really look forward to experimenting with this build myself!
All ESC'S are connected to the PDB (power distribution board). The F450 frame has an integrated PDB. If you have got a frame without PDB, you'll have to buy a seperate one. Three wires of each Bec are connected to the motors (one site has three lines, connect those to the motor, which has also three lines). The other two lines are connected to the plus and minus of the PDB. The BEC to Arduino with Arduino shield. Don't use the middle line of the BEC (5V), only the signal line and the ground line. From the PDB two extra wires to the VIN (+1.5K) and to the GND (+1k) of the Arduino Uno. Both resistors (1,5k and 1k) are connected to A0 (analog zero line of the Arduino Uno). For most motors, you can switch the outer lines for make them CW (clockwise rotation) or CCW (contra clockwise rotation). The middle line is the signal line, don't switch this one. Whatever you do, please hold on to the scematic of Joop Brokking. Use for the gyro a clear 5V-line and GND-line (with a Arduino shield you'll have planty of 5V and GND lines). Keep the lines of the gyro short, as well as the receiver lines. Have fun, it's a great learning experience, which took me three quarter of a year to understand and built it. Joop Brokking did a very good job.
Thanks for you videos en website! I'm currently building one of my own. The ATmega on the Arduino is getting really hot within seconds. After some testing it doesn't get hot anymore and I probably broke it. On google I read that some pins might be drawing too much current, but I've followed you schematic. Any pointers on where things might have gone wrong? Bedankt voor je hulp!
seen a lot of basic guides for quadcopters. found this is the best one! just one small doubt. doesn't this need a power distribution board or something? and what about the infrared sensor. where did that go? didnt clearly get that in the video
Thanks for your quick response. i downloaded the ESC calibration with no errors. Then i noticed that when i plug in my battery I'm not getting power to the Arduino nor the receiver. im going to check my connection.
Sir, first of all I want to say how much I greatly appreciate your video. They are truly amazing. I just got one question which is: what's the purpose of A0 port?
To keep a constant speed when the battery voltage is decreasing as shown here: th-cam.com/video/JBvnB0279-Q/w-d-xo.html Also it gives the possibility to have a battery warning.
You have a very good 'voice actor" voice! My question: I would like to use an Arduino Nano/Mini 328P, and wish to use the ESC's BEC (Linear 5V regulator with about 2Amps peak) to power Arduino from the 5Volt side. That way I don't need to connect anything to the Vin and no need for a diode to avoid powering the ESCs when I am from USB? Is it right?
I never tried your suggested setup. But in my opinion it should be possible without any problems. The 5V from the USB port cannot get trough the voltage regulator of the ESC.
+Joop Brokking Thanks! I hope so as they are liner regulators and can be connected in parallel also. The think I don't understand is when I connect for example an APM through USB and the USB has enough power than the ESC's can get power just from the Signal and GND wires and start the beeping. Also gimbals get power from Signal and GND an gimbal controller LED's are blinking. Interesting effect. Of course 5V is not enough power to turn the motors but enough to flash the leds or make some very silent ESC/motor beeping.
Hi Joop, fantastic video, I am really looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks to "iforce2d" for recommending your videos... his own videos are great watching as well.
Would you code as written work with a mega or would I have to find the addresses. This build has given me many new ideas to add on and I think a mega for its extra pins and size would be a better fit for my application
Can you mention where you got the base, motors, I'm really starting from scratch here, I've got NONE of the equipment your using. What is that in the second video also, a digital oscilloscope? I have the transmitters from drones I've broken, but how do you make the adruino actually receive the signals? Please provide the links to these in your description.
Hi Joop, how do you connect your ground wires to a single arduino ground pin? Do you solder the ground wires (E.g. all the ESC ground wires) to a single wire and connect it to the ground pin on the arduino?
Can you give me some guidance if I want to build a coaxial drone with just two brushless motor and servo? Will your code still be applicable? Another question is, in your video, you didn't use any distance sensor. It seems like the gyro sensor can handle everything so do you think distance sensors aren't necessary?(like moves away from walls if the drone is 1m close)
Hello, when of my ESC's i bought on aliexpress continuously beeps when I plug in my signal wire. Can't figure out how to fix it or recalibrate it with arduino.
Awesome series man. I do have a rookie question though. My background is NONE. I'm building a helicopter/quadcopter hybrid. And I was thinking of using Arduino to control the servos, which controls the pitch of my craft. Now, what is the benifit of using Arduino, opposed to not using Arduino. And, from what I've gathered (and please correct me if im wrong), do Arduinos pull more amps? Would it be benificial to route the arduino to servo motors instead of ESC's? Would the configuration be: Arduino
Arduino is the name of the complete platform. It includes an IDE and several microcontroller 'breakout' boards. Just to simplify the usage of a microcontroller. Check part 4 of the YMFC-3D series to get detailed information about controlling ESC's and servo's with an Arduino.
I have a question about the power supply in your YMFC drone. If you are using lipo 3s 30c, its max output voltage is 12.6V which is more than the max input voltage rating for Arduino UNO. So, how did you manage it? What can I do to prevent it from damaging my Arduino UNO.
Since the lipo battery is powering the Arduino, is it possible to cut a 2.1mm barrel jack to USB cable and solder the wire end to the positive end (positive end on the frame at 6:33) of the battery?
I'm going to be using the BEC from all 4 of my ESCs to supply 5VDC to the Arduino. For the A0 input, can't I just mount the 5VDC rail to it, without a voltage divider?
Hi Joop Brokking. Watched your video. Quick question. It seems like you are powering your Arduino and the motors from the same LiPo battery pack. What happens in the case when the LiPo is discharging. Are you still receiving a constant voltage output from the LiPo? Also, if you can share your flight time that you've been able to achieve from the config, that'd be great. I am debating as to whether I should use LiPo to power up my Arduino, or use a separate 9V power source. Thanks!!
+Chirag Sharma The Arduino works on a voltage of 7V - 20V. A completely drained lipo gives 9V. So there is enough left for the Arduino to work. I had 18 minutes of flying time with a 3800mAh 3S lipo on a DJI F450 frame.
+Joop Brokking Thanks Joop. When you said that the problem with Arduino Pro Mini is that it has a max current output of 150mA from its LDO regulator, I also checked Arduino Uno for same. The LDO regulator for Arduino Uno is the LP2985-33DBVR, and its maximum current output is also 150mA (from the datasheet). Hence, I am still trying to understand why you chose one over the another. What about Arduino Nano? The max current output can go up to 500mA. I am not from Elec background, so I am trying to learn the ropes a little here. Thanks!!
Chirag Sharma You are referring to the 3.3V regulator of the Arduino Uno. In the schematic of the YMFC-3D you will see that the 3.3V connection is unused. The 5V regulator on a Uno is the NCP1117ST50T3G and is rated for 1A with proper cooling. The Arduino Nano might be fine to power the receiver and sensors with proper cooling. The regulator is on the bottom and the pcb is very small. With a high input voltage the regulator heats up pretty fast and will not be able to deliver the rated current.
+Joop Brokking Hi Joop, sorry to bother you again, but I don't understand couple of things on your wiring diagram. You have 2 ESCs going to PWM pins into the arduino and 2 ESCs going to straight digital pins. Similarly, your receiver has three pins going into PWMs while 1 pin is going to a digital pin. To control the motors, you need analog IO, which you can get from PWM pins but not from simple digital pins. Same thing goes for receiver pins. You can use them with PWM but not with digital IO. Can you please explain how you are using D4 (which is just a digital pin, not a PWM) to control ESC1? Don't you either need a PWM or an analog pin for that. I haven't watched the rest of your videos yet, hence not sure if answer to this question is in those other videos. Thanks, CS
I am building and expect diode and resistor done same things but after some time my one motor stoped working also they are not rotating properly after just starting and not giving any throttle they start wildly ang go unstable braking my 2-3 propellers please tell me what's the issue and how can it be fixed Thank you😢
I am interested in your idea about my plans to make an autopilot system based on accelometer and gyro. What do you think can it work? Here is my plan: - having an arduino nano/mini and a gyro and accelometer sensor wired together - connecting that module between the receiver module and the flight controller - that module would store the path of the flight in 3D and could take the control of the copter in specific situation to return to home without using any magnetic or radio related module so no compass no GPS. Just store the path by the accelometers and gyros. (It could have to do some interpolation of the measured points not to store too much coordinates, so some kind of fixed resolution 3D curve.) There could be different ways to go home on loosing signal of the transmitter: - simple play back the curve backward - finding the easiest path (could fly into objects), like fly in a straight line on horizontal directions to the distance calculated until estimated takoff coordinate at current altitude then land The two above could be used in a mixed way or based on flight time or battery voltage. AutoPiloting the copter would be the tricky part. It should give pwm values for movement in a hardcoded range with a specified default and measure its accelometers/gyro and correct the speed in each directions and store the estimated path on the way home. I know based on compass and GPS it would be easier but there are situations when radio signals are yammed etc. So this is my idea, to store an interpolated path based on accel/gyro. Triggered by an event get the control over the copter in manual/stabilize mode and fly back home based on its accel/gyro. This way it would be compatible with any standard copter. Also with a 4 side sonar module and low speed it could have made more clever to avoid collision.
First you should get some live data from a accelerometer and gyro on a quadcopter. Try to figure out on how to use this data. You will see that this will be your greatest challenge. Try one thing at a time and slowly work your way to your goal.
What I'm trying to say: the accelerometer does not register turbulence, wind, drift etc. You will notice this when you play around with one. In my opinion it is not possible to do any return to home without a repeatable data source (GPS, distance + mapping, etc)
Thanks Joop for this tutorial. Just one question. If I use 4S Lipo then the voltage on Vin would be 16.2, right? Is it actually safe to power arduino with this voltage? On arduino website it says that recommended input voltage is 7-12V and limits are 6-20V. Do you think it might damage the arduino after some time?
I wanted to build flight controller from arduino. I almost gave up when I found these videos. It helps me a lot. Thank you
Almost finished with my build, Joop! Thank-you for creating this project! I'm looking forward to digging into the code as a first SERIOUS programming project.
@kc koellein, could you please help me out with the connections of the Ardunio UNO and the other circuits? For one, I just can't understand how to take a common ground for the ECS terminals(the three-pin section)
@@crazycampers5466 I am in the process of building the drone and I am now facing the same problem. I designed my own frame and I am using solderable PCB for the power distribution board. One solution is to use header pins and connect all of them together and one of these pins goes to the ground pin in arduino
you all prolly dont care but does any of you know a tool to get back into an instagram account?
I somehow lost my account password. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer me.
@Chris Miles instablaster :)
@Jayce Jaime thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and im in the hacking process now.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
please give detail step by step procedure of hardware setup
Even I want the same bro.
This project is really great Joop! I've just finished my Quad, and when it turned on it really felt special! Thanks for your really thorough and clear explanantion! I learned a ton on the process
And yes, this is indeed 6 years later, but I personally think it is just as relevant as ever
STOP SKIPPING STEPS. ARGH!!!! I NEED TO KNOW HOW, WHERE, AND WHAT TO PUT ON!!!!
I just built the quadcopter myself and implemented your code. Thank you very much for your work. I went through the code and I am amazed by the simplicity of it and how well it works.
Where is the tutorial for connections and materials?
where is your name?
@@okusitinotahitua1020 good one lol
He literally showed the circuit diagram
I am building an autonomous quadcopter for school and this guide seems to be a perfect starting point. Thank you so much for posting this!
+Kyle A Your welcome ;-)
Hi i have a question about power Vin and A0 , if the batery is 3s = 11.1 Volts ..... The resistances is a divisor voltaje right? Vin= (11.1*1.5)/1.5+1 = 6.66volts and Volt Ao =4.44Volts..... but the power in arduino must be 7Volts---12 volts and Vin is 6.66Volts
+Carlos tercero no look well at the schematic vin receive 11.1 v not 6.66 loOk the wires. A0 receive 6.66 but i think it not safe for the board, because a0 must not recevie voltage higher than 5 v
+jones rayan OOoo its true... thnaks you very much for correct me , I suppose that A0 must have a regulator or something...
+jones rayan Its posible change de resistance R3.... if R3 is 820ohm ----> Vin=11.1(820)/1820 =5.00109Volts...
The analog inputs have a diode but this diode can destroy if the voltaje is higher for a long period of time...
+Carlos tercero A full lipo has a voltage of 12.6V, not 11.1V.
+Joop Brokking Thanks joop : )
Joop - thank you so much for this series of videos. A few years ago I started experimenting with my first Arduino and then at the start of 2015 I got involved with quads so these videos are perfect for me
sir: can u please upload a video of soldering the connections of the arduino uno
Hey sir i finished my Quad copter which works as a rate mode quad.I followed your these 6 videos and built my own code getting the knowledge from you.I used mpu6050 and also i had to use a kalman fliter as i was getting much noise from vibrations. And with my pid settings i got 100% stability.Here are my settings. For pitch and roll p =1 i=0.001 d=15 and for yaw p=2 i=0.001 d=0 . U are doing a great job with this series.keep up the gud work
I love all of your YMFC vids, they have inspired me to start a multicopter project myself!
I would love to see a tutorial on using an accelerometer to autolevel.
Hardware wise, this setup is frightfully mature. It has Vbat which isn't even universally featured on specialised FCs, and using a diode to prevent USB powering the whole system is a painful reminder of the missing-diode on Naze32 rev6 prototypes.
Many ppl are commenting about WIFI control link. My inner FPV pilot says it's not feasible, but my coder personality tells me to look into ESP8266 or XBee lol
Mr. Joop, I am an Elect. Engineer and a keen learner of something new, even at the age of 68 yrs. I also launched a plateform for free education preferably for poor students.
I started learning this drone projects just 2 months before. But got made succefully with help of your videos (the best I came accrross).
Very easy to follow up. The best , smooth & easy way as you explained . My motto is to make drone videos in Hindi language using your principles after getting full confidence and doing some experiments following you. Can I ?
Sir, I tried with the way of Mr. Andrei(Electronoobs) videos based on MultiwiiConf, but could not get success to operate drone as no PID signals from hand made remote controller 6ch. to FC. I do not know what mistake I am doing. Kpt working 2 months without success.
and with your videos got success in 2 days only. He is also not able to understand. Seems code and Confih.h settings.
Can you guide related to Multiwii drones. ? Pl sir I want to to know the very cause of failure. I could find your videos/website related to this.
Thanks to you and your Plateform.
Wish I 've found this video series back in the day. And everyone, be gratefull. It its really a hard workcome up with this kind of prjects, we have the opportunity to learn some from his experience and do our own research for improve our own projects
You don't know how good your videos are
if you use the 5V output from the Battery Citcuit Eliminator (BEC) in any one of the ESC you should be able to power up the Arduino NANO/ProMINI without issues (just make sure that you choose a 5v ProMINI version) ... it will be much smaller and lighter then an UNO but still retain the same I/O capabilities of the UNO.
I wish you would do more videos with more wiring details, but thank you so much for all the help you provide for all of us.
If you want detailed information:
Check this video: th-cam.com/video/DYpHB-LfloI/w-d-xo.html
And my website: www.brokking.net/ymfc-al_main.html
I actually had shortage of time. This was for a college project. So I just went with the kk 2.1.5 and it worked surprisingly. I learned a lot from ymfc. Overall it was good lessons but I just didn't have enough time
Hi Joop, thanks for the videos, which are of a good quality and are easy to follow. I look forward to the rest of the series. Best regards
Where is the tutorial for connections and materials?
this is the best video for the begginer's who dream of flying a quadcopter
+sanjay sanju Thanks for the compliment!
Awesome dude! I will use this to make my own quad-copter. Instead of buying a dji phantom, i will use my spare Arduino Due and L3GD20H Gyro and this series of vids to make my own epic quad-copter. I also have lots of metal and metal working tools so making a frame would be cake. Subscribed!
Would like to have your validation of the power supply redundancy. Instead of just connecting two lipo in parallel, a circuit is built to control the power supply of two 6S lipo A and B. By default the copter will get power from the power reserve (capacitor) that initially draw current from lipo A. As lip A's voltage drops to say 21 volt, the system will automatically switch to draw power from lipo B.
Thaaaaank you for this incredible Videos!!! Without you, i cant do anything!! This are the best videos about to build a quadcopter on TH-cam, really!
+Himbeer Torte Thank you for the compliments!
Thank you for your immidiate responce sir , me and my group is following all your tutorials here and we use a gyro mpu6050
+Zan Kane Your welcome ;-) Success with your project and don't hesitate to post your questions if you have any.
Hi , I am from Iraq , thanks for the great information and experience . you offers a great help to us and I think you did your best to do this job , thanks more.
Hey Joop... Kom net terug van vakantie en heb deze eerste video zitten bekijken. Puik werk man! Ga de rest straks ook even op het gemakkie bekijken. Ook mijn eigen project ligt nog niet in de hoek dus daar kom ik ook zeker nog op terug. Top (y)
man u are superb...I corrected my code when i read ur pid code... I am building a raspberry pi quadcopter
great work buddy, loved it !
keep posting more for young enthusiasts !
really awesome. great job @Joop Brokking
Hi, first congratulate you for the quality of your videos, the explanation and the information is very good.
I wanted to comment if you could add the writing, I mean for example in your MPU-6050 videos, but for these parts of the YMFC-3D hardware and software to translate it, I do not speak English very well.
Thanks for the hassle, and again, congratulations on your work.
Hi there, I'd like to start by saying thank you. I have watched this entire video series and its been amazing! I do have one question though. In your schematic it shows you wiring your gyro to Analogue pins 4 & 5 yet in the video you instead connect them to the pins above Digital pin 13. What pins do you use and why these pins instead of Analogue 4 & 5? Thanks
There the same pins, only on different locations ;-)
hi you showed awesome tutorials to us as i am a beginner you gave me a very nice explanaition
i am working on this project only in the schematics are the reciever output the channel signal pin which i have to connect to arduino
Can this drone you made carry 1 Kg?
is there a guide for the wiring and soldering for each ECS to arduino?
schematic.pdf
Hello Joop, Thank you very much for your videos.
It seems that these ESC ground lines are not connected to GND of Arduino. Is that a right wiring?
Sanglak Jeon Hello, in the example that I made I did not connected the grounds of the esc because the are connected to ground in the esc.
Despite that, you will see in the schematic that the ground of the esc is connected to the ground of the Arduino.
Hi Joop, Thanks a lot for the nice Video!!. I have question did you solder or use hot glue the pin header (5;07)with the Arduino ?
Hi, i was wondering if the XD-YK04 receiver works. I get that this receiver is "linked" somehow to a basic controller with 4 buttons, is it possible to connect the receiver and use some old controller of mine?
Hola, buenas tardes, muchas gracias por los videos, son muy bien esplicados. una consulta. Se puede trabajar con este proyecto Arduino Nano V3? Una vez más, algunos excelentes videos
Hola, buenas tardes, muchas gracias por los videos, estan muy bien esplicados. una consulta. Se puede trabajar este proyecto con Arduino Nano V3?
Nuevamente, unos videos excelentes
Thank you for this series! Very helpful! I am having a hard time with the ESC's though. I understand that three of the wires go to the motors, but on the schematic it seems as though the positive lead to power is not connected. I was also unsure of why there is only one wire for Sig on the ESC going to the arduino. Is this one of the wires that would be usually go to the flight controller?
On the schematic only the control wires are shown (small connector that goes to the flight controller). The manual of the ESC should give you enough information on how to connect the main power.
In the pictures on your website, the small ground wire in the 3-wire cluster of the ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) does not appear to be connected to any ground. But in your schematic, it shows that the ESC small ground wire is grounded. To be safe, should we connect the small ground wires directly to the PDB (Power Distribution Board) where the large black ground wire is? Thank you in advance for the help :)
Great project! Looking forward to see where this goes.
At the start of the video you mention that the pro mini has a max output of 150mA. Is that a problem for this flight controller? Or does it only become a problem when you start adding more breakout boards like a GPS, altimeter etc?
buncho888 My receiver uses 85mA, the led 15mA. 20mA for the rest (processor, gyro, esc signals, etc). In total 120mA. So it should work with enough cooling.
You can also power the Pro Mini with 5V if u use a esc with a internal 5V bec.
very useful... thank you for creating these videos
The schematics show the gyro connects SDA to A4 and SLC to A5, but you never connect anything to A4 or A5. Even in the other videos where the gyro is being programmed. Am I missing something here? What do you connect the gyro to?
That intro of the drone reminded me of star wars :D
Mr Joop, congrats for this project.
I have any questions about yours code.
Is it possible include plus four motor/propellers on code (I am building a octarotor)?
If the aswer is yes, how do I do this?
Thanks a lot.
on your schematic did you forgot to complete the power from the motors? you have only shown the ground been connected
I did not forget it. The schematic is just for the flight controller signals. In the manual of the ESC you can find the information about the motor / battery connections.
And on this page I made a detailed build article: www.brokking.net/ymfc-al_main.html
Thank you so much. Your contribution to the tech world is hugely appreciated
This is very good! Could you reference any books or websites where I could learn the knowledge you have on the electronics, circuitry, and power that you used for this build? where did you learn how to know what power level, electronics are needed?
Thank you!! Im sure this will become huge!
Awesome Series. The best I found online. How are you powering the ESCs? The schematic only has the signal and the ground connected to the Microcontroller. Shouldn't you have to connect all 4 ESCs to the LiPo battery to supply it with power?
Thanks for your effort in making this.
+Shamsah Thanks for the compliments. The esc's are connected like normal to the lipo battery. A I mentioned in the video I only focus on the controller, not the frame.
How would you calculate the value of the resistors?
Thanks for your Tutorials. Why dont you connect the third wire of ESC to Arduino 5V? You left one pin of ESC not connected.
can this be adapted for brushed motors ? I'm looking to build something way smaller
Hi Joop, thanks for the videos. I just wanted to know, how are the ESCs and the receiver powered? I can see some red wires going into pin 8 of the receiver but can't see where the other end is, also for ESCs what are their positive terminals connected to? Thanks again
I am currently constructing a quad copter based on your design. I just need to clear something up regarding the ESC signal wires. The ESCs I have came with a three prong signal wire and I am wondering how exactly you condensed yours down to one wire. Did you strip those wires back and solder all of them together to a single lead wire or did you just use one of the wires out of the three for the connection to the arduino? I guess I am just confused to what each of these wires represents for the ESC. Any explanation would be much appreciated.
Thank you wonderful ,
The same code can it be ported to ESP32 or ESP8266 ?
Awesome! I hope i can build my own soon!
sir how to attach a infrared camera for night vision how can it be possible? can u make a hole video with camara....thanks a lot sir u r great
I am new to arduino and hardware generally. Question 1) How was the ESC connected to the arduino? At 6:31 in the video, it appears that the ESC's 3 small wires (brown, red, and yellow) branch into 1 yellow wire. How is this junction created? Question 2) In addition, how is the motor connected to the ESC? The motor has 3 wires and the ESC has 3 inputs (U, V, and W). Which wires go into which inputs? Thank you so much for your time, I really look forward to experimenting with this build myself!
All ESC'S are connected to the PDB (power distribution board). The F450 frame has an integrated PDB. If you have got a frame without PDB, you'll have to buy a seperate one. Three wires of each Bec are connected to the motors (one site has three lines, connect those to the motor, which has also three lines). The other two lines are connected to the plus and minus of the PDB. The BEC to Arduino with Arduino shield. Don't use the middle line of the BEC (5V), only the signal line and the ground line. From the PDB two extra wires to the VIN (+1.5K) and to the GND (+1k) of the Arduino Uno. Both resistors (1,5k and 1k) are connected to A0 (analog zero line of the Arduino Uno). For most motors, you can switch the outer lines for make them CW (clockwise rotation) or CCW (contra clockwise rotation). The middle line is the signal line, don't switch this one. Whatever you do, please hold on to the scematic of Joop Brokking. Use for the gyro a clear 5V-line and GND-line (with a Arduino shield you'll have planty of 5V and GND lines). Keep the lines of the gyro short, as well as the receiver lines. Have fun, it's a great learning experience, which took me three quarter of a year to understand and built it. Joop Brokking did a very good job.
Thanks for you videos en website! I'm currently building one of my own. The ATmega on the Arduino is getting really hot within seconds. After some testing it doesn't get hot anymore and I probably broke it.
On google I read that some pins might be drawing too much current, but I've followed you schematic. Any pointers on where things might have gone wrong?
Bedankt voor je hulp!
Thanks for honestly sharing everything.....
Thanks Joop, but I have seen this already, is there a relation with the schematic and the shield?
Nice vid! Thank you for shooting in HD lol
seen a lot of basic guides for quadcopters. found this is the best one! just one small doubt. doesn't this need a power distribution board or something? and what about the infrared sensor. where did that go? didnt clearly get that in the video
You can check the hardware on my website: www.brokking.net/ymfc-3d_v2_main.html
And it does not use a infrared sensor.
Thanks for your quick response. i downloaded the ESC calibration with no errors. Then i noticed that when i plug in my battery I'm not getting power to the Arduino nor the receiver. im going to check my connection.
Sir, first of all I want to say how much I greatly appreciate your video. They are truly amazing. I just got one question which is: what's the purpose of A0 port?
To keep a constant speed when the battery voltage is decreasing as shown here: th-cam.com/video/JBvnB0279-Q/w-d-xo.html
Also it gives the possibility to have a battery warning.
You have a very good 'voice actor" voice!
My question:
I would like to use an Arduino Nano/Mini 328P, and wish to use the ESC's BEC (Linear 5V regulator with about 2Amps peak) to power Arduino from the 5Volt side.
That way I don't need to connect anything to the Vin and no need for a diode to avoid powering the ESCs when I am from USB? Is it right?
I never tried your suggested setup. But in my opinion it should be possible without any problems. The 5V from the USB port cannot get trough the voltage regulator of the ESC.
+Joop Brokking Thanks! I hope so as they are liner regulators and can be connected in parallel also. The think I don't understand is when I connect for example an APM through USB and the USB has enough power than the ESC's can get power just from the Signal and GND wires and start the beeping. Also gimbals get power from Signal and GND an gimbal controller LED's are blinking. Interesting effect. Of course 5V is not enough power to turn the motors but enough to flash the leds or make some very silent ESC/motor beeping.
Not all ESC's are designed correct ;-)
Hi Joop, fantastic video, I am really looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks to "iforce2d" for recommending your videos... his own videos are great watching as well.
Would you code as written work with a mega or would I have to find the addresses. This build has given me many new ideas to add on and I think a mega for its extra pins and size would be a better fit for my application
JD D You absolutely need to check (modify) the I/O and the registers. After that it will work.
Can you mention where you got the base, motors, I'm really starting from scratch here, I've got NONE of the equipment your using. What is that in the second video also, a digital oscilloscope? I have the transmitters from drones I've broken, but how do you make the adruino actually receive the signals? Please provide the links to these in your description.
Hi in the schematic you connect the gyroscope on SDA/A4 and SCL/A5, but in the video you conect in other side. What's the correct conection?
+Ninoshka Rodriguez Both connections are correct. The A4 and A5 are routed to the other side of the Arduino Uno.
"the diode D1 protects the USB-port when the Arduino is connected to the computer" can you explain this in detail?
I used the esc code and all motors work. The two rear power first after half throttle the two front power up
You need to calibrate the ESC according to the manual.
Thank you, Source. Very Good Program
Nice module for beginners
Hi Joop, how do you connect your ground wires to a single arduino ground pin? Do you solder the ground wires (E.g. all the ESC ground wires) to a single wire and connect it to the ground pin on the arduino?
Can you give me some guidance if I want to build a coaxial drone with just two brushless motor and servo? Will your code still be applicable?
Another question is, in your video, you didn't use any distance sensor. It seems like the gyro sensor can handle everything so do you think distance sensors aren't necessary?(like moves away from walls if the drone is 1m close)
Is it just me or does he connect the battery directly to ground in his schematic.
Hello, when of my ESC's i bought on aliexpress continuously beeps when I plug in my signal wire. Can't figure out how to fix it or recalibrate it with arduino.
Awesome series man. I do have a rookie question though.
My background is NONE.
I'm building a helicopter/quadcopter hybrid. And I was thinking of using Arduino to control the servos, which controls the pitch of my craft. Now, what is the benifit of using Arduino, opposed to not using Arduino. And, from what I've gathered (and please correct me if im wrong), do Arduinos pull more amps? Would it be benificial to route the arduino to servo motors instead of ESC's? Would the configuration be: Arduino
Arduino is the name of the complete platform. It includes an IDE and several microcontroller 'breakout' boards. Just to simplify the usage of a microcontroller.
Check part 4 of the YMFC-3D series to get detailed information about controlling ESC's and servo's with an Arduino.
Hey, thank you for the video. Do you use 1/4 or 1/2 watt resistors?
Thanks for the compliment. 1/4 watt will do fine.
+Joop Brokking Thank you!
Why does this project need only gyro and not whole IMU module in this quadcopter? Don't we need Accelerometer ?
I have a question about the power supply in your YMFC drone. If you are using lipo 3s 30c, its max output voltage is 12.6V which is more than the max input voltage rating for Arduino UNO. So, how did you manage it? What can I do to prevent it from damaging my Arduino UNO.
Since the lipo battery is powering the Arduino, is it possible to cut a 2.1mm barrel jack to USB cable and solder the wire end to the positive end (positive end on the frame at 6:33) of the battery?
USB = 5V, the battery is 12V so it will not work.
Hello Brokking,
Will an arduino power supply with a maximum current of 200mA be ok ??
How does one incorporate a camera? I believe that's the main point of the drone to capture images
I'm going to be using the BEC from all 4 of my ESCs to supply 5VDC to the Arduino. For the A0 input, can't I just mount the 5VDC rail to it, without a voltage divider?
Hi Joop Brokking. Watched your video. Quick question. It seems like you are powering your Arduino and the motors from the same LiPo battery pack. What happens in the case when the LiPo is discharging. Are you still receiving a constant voltage output from the LiPo? Also, if you can share your flight time that you've been able to achieve from the config, that'd be great. I am debating as to whether I should use LiPo to power up my Arduino, or use a separate 9V power source. Thanks!!
+Chirag Sharma The Arduino works on a voltage of 7V - 20V. A completely drained lipo gives 9V. So there is enough left for the Arduino to work.
I had 18 minutes of flying time with a 3800mAh 3S lipo on a DJI F450 frame.
+Joop Brokking Thanks Joop. When you said that the problem with Arduino Pro Mini is that it has a max current output of 150mA from its LDO regulator, I also checked Arduino Uno for same. The LDO regulator for Arduino Uno is the LP2985-33DBVR, and its maximum current output is also 150mA (from the datasheet). Hence, I am still trying to understand why you chose one over the another.
What about Arduino Nano? The max current output can go up to 500mA. I am not from Elec background, so I am trying to learn the ropes a little here. Thanks!!
Chirag Sharma
You are referring to the 3.3V regulator of the Arduino Uno. In the schematic of the YMFC-3D you will see that the 3.3V connection is unused.
The 5V regulator on a Uno is the NCP1117ST50T3G and is rated for 1A with proper cooling.
The Arduino Nano might be fine to power the receiver and sensors with proper cooling. The regulator is on the bottom and the pcb is very small. With a high input voltage the regulator heats up pretty fast and will not be able to deliver the rated current.
+Joop Brokking Awesome. Thanks for your input Joop.
+Joop Brokking Hi Joop, sorry to bother you again, but I don't understand couple of things on your wiring diagram. You have 2 ESCs going to PWM pins into the arduino and 2 ESCs going to straight digital pins. Similarly, your receiver has three pins going into PWMs while 1 pin is going to a digital pin.
To control the motors, you need analog IO, which you can get from PWM pins but not from simple digital pins. Same thing goes for receiver pins. You can use them with PWM but not with digital IO. Can you please explain how you are using D4 (which is just a digital pin, not a PWM) to control ESC1? Don't you either need a PWM or an analog pin for that.
I haven't watched the rest of your videos yet, hence not sure if answer to this question is in those other videos.
Thanks,
CS
I am building and expect diode and resistor done same things but after some time my one motor stoped working also they are not rotating properly after just starting and not giving any throttle they start wildly ang go unstable braking my 2-3 propellers please tell me what's the issue and how can it be fixed
Thank you😢
helllo thanks for the video, what motor used? 1200kv? And propellers used? and battery used? which battery I can Use? thanks very much!
+川崎春と Check the specs of the DJI Flamewheel 450 rtf kit.
When the quad flies in the house is it using any system (eg Radar or similar) to detect hazards?
I am interested in your idea about my plans to make an autopilot system based on accelometer and gyro.
What do you think can it work?
Here is my plan:
- having an arduino nano/mini and a gyro and accelometer sensor wired together
- connecting that module between the receiver module and the flight controller
- that module would store the path of the flight in 3D and could take the control of the copter in specific situation to return to home without using any magnetic or radio related module so no compass no GPS.
Just store the path by the accelometers and gyros. (It could have to do some interpolation of the measured points not to store too much coordinates, so some kind of fixed resolution 3D curve.)
There could be different ways to go home on loosing signal of the transmitter:
- simple play back the curve backward
- finding the easiest path (could fly into objects), like fly in a straight line on horizontal directions to the distance calculated until estimated takoff coordinate at current altitude then land
The two above could be used in a mixed way or based on flight time or battery voltage.
AutoPiloting the copter would be the tricky part. It should give pwm values for movement in a hardcoded range with a specified default and measure its accelometers/gyro and correct the speed in each directions and store the estimated path on the way home.
I know based on compass and GPS it would be easier but there are situations when radio signals are yammed etc.
So this is my idea, to store an interpolated path based on accel/gyro. Triggered by an event get the control over the copter in manual/stabilize mode and fly back home based on its accel/gyro.
This way it would be compatible with any standard copter.
Also with a 4 side sonar module and low speed it could have made more clever to avoid collision.
First you should get some live data from a accelerometer and gyro on a quadcopter. Try to figure out on how to use this data. You will see that this will be your greatest challenge.
Try one thing at a time and slowly work your way to your goal.
+Joop Brokking I don't say that I can do the code, I am just interested in your opinion can it be possible?
What I'm trying to say: the accelerometer does not register turbulence, wind, drift etc. You will notice this when you play around with one. In my opinion it is not possible to do any return to home without a repeatable data source (GPS, distance + mapping, etc)
+Joop Brokking Thanks for the answer!
Amazing presentation! Thank you!
+Joop Brokking Hi! Do you have any schematics available for the rest of the quadcopter, like for the receiver pins and ESC 3-wire signal cable?
+Jukka Makkonen Check the description of part one.
what battery are you using? Looks like Eco-X? how do you connect this to the arduino? What remote controller do you suggest?
Bro i need to build a project that a drone must lift some weight like 4 kg excluding the weight of the drone help me with that please
Thanks Joop for this tutorial. Just one question. If I use 4S Lipo then the voltage on Vin would be 16.2, right? Is it actually safe to power arduino with this voltage? On arduino website it says that recommended input voltage is 7-12V and limits are 6-20V. Do you think it might damage the arduino after some time?
That is why I recommend a 3S lipo.
Hello +Joop Brokking
why did you add diode in 6:39, and how you calculate and choose the two resisters in 5:26 ?
Thanks
Check this page: www.brokking.net/ymfc-al_main.html