Stumped Setting Throttle End Points!

[Gyropilot]

Hi everyone,

Over the past few months I've successfully calibrated throttle end points many times in my DX9 for the Castle Edge Lite 50 I'm using. I've done it with both a Spektrum AR7200BX (BeastX) and more recently a Microbeast Plus FBL unit. I've successfully done it with the Edge Lite set to both fixed endpoint airplane mode and fixed endpoint helicopter mode.

So yesterday I decided to double check throttle end points once again after setting up the Edge Lite 50 for fixed endpoint helicopter mode, but the life of me I just can't get it to work this time! I suspect I'm overlooking something really simple.

Here's what I've been trying...

1. With the Tx on, throttle end points set to +/-100, throttle stick set full down, and the ESC powered off, I connect an external power source to the Microbeast Plus. For clarity, I'm NOT using the Edge Lite 50's BEC.
2. After the Microbeast Plus initializes, I reduce throttle end points in the Tx to a low value such as +/-25.
3. I then move the Tx throttle stick to full high and plug in the Edge Lite 50 into a separate flight battery.
4. The Edge Lite 50 boots up and I get the "Castle Power" tune with no arming tone (as expected) and a red LED rapidly flashing continuously.
5. I then increase the upper throttle end point in the Tx but nothing happens no matter how high I go. The rapidly flashing red LED never changes.

I believe the Microbeast Plus needs to see a valid zero throttle signal to "arm" and pass throttle signals to the Edge Lite 50, this is why I let it initialize with the Tx throttle end points at +/-100 and the throttle stick full down.

Also worth noting, with the Edge Lite 50 still powered on and its red LED still flashing, if I move the throttle end points in the Tx back out closer to +/-100 and drop the throttle stick full down, the Edge Lite 50 will arm and work normally.

I understand a continuously rapidly flashing red LED on the Edge Lite 50 means it's not seeing a valid throttle end point. But how then am I supposed to get it into programming mode to set the throttle end points?

I haven't tried rebinding the Tx to the Microbeast Plus because I'm not sure that would make any difference.

I appreciate any suggestions.

John

[gmiller0]

You got a linear throttle curve and TH is off???

[Gyropilot]

Originally Posted by gmiller0

You got a linear throttle curve and TH is off???

Absolutely.

[FlyBri3]

I was going to suggest TH off also! I had a similar issue setting up my 700 recently.

Don't know if it will help but what I had to do was set linear throttle, end points 100 & 100 as you are doing.

Initialize BX so it sees 0 throttle, then before plugging in your ESC, rebind the receiver. Then set end points back to 25%, throttle stick high, plug in esc and then go up with the end points!

That worked for me, not sure why but it may or may not work for your situation as well!

[btheli]

Did you unplug the CastleLink? The calibration won't work with it plugged in.

[Gyropilot]

Originally Posted by FlyBri3

...before plugging in your ESC, rebind the receiver.

Rebinding is about the only thing I haven't tried yet, so it's on my list to do tomorrow.

Thanks for the suggestion.

John

[btheli]

Another thing while I'm thinking about it. Not familiar with your FBL, but with mine (Spirit) when the throttle came out of the FBL I had problems calibrating the ESC. I finally took the throttle cable out of the FBL and plugged it back into the Rx and everything started working.

[Gyropilot]

Originally Posted by btheli

Did you unplug the CastleLink?

Definitely.

One thing I DO have connected between the Edge Lite 50 and the Microbeast Plus is a Castle Quick Connect. But I'm 99% sure I've successfully calibrated end points with that in place before.

John

[Gyropilot]

Originally Posted by btheli

I finally took the throttle cable out of the FBL and plugged it back into the Rx and everything started working.

Unfortunately, I'm using a Spektrum satellite receiver so there's no way to bypass the Microbeast Plus and use the receiver directly with the Edge Lite 50.

Thanks for the idea though.

John

[btheli]

I know for a fact that the Quick Connect is okay to have in the loop...I have them on all my heli's.

This is really strange. I think you've got it all correct. Would you happen to have another ESC laying around you could double check your procedure with? It's starting to sound like the ESC may be the issue.

But as soon as I typed that it occurred to me that it could be your Tx and/or your sats. Like I said, I'm no expert, but I've heard guys having issues with sat wires not making good connection. Might be something else to check. Are you getting good reception on all of the other channels?

[Gyropilot]

Originally Posted by btheli

Would you happen to have another ESC laying around you could double check your procedure with?

Not yet. Getting a spare Castle ESC is on my wi$h li$t.

Are you getting good reception on all of the other channels?

Yes, and the weird thing is, everything is working perfectly.

Back when I first calibrated throttle end points in my DX9 to this Edge Lite 50 using helicopter fixed end point mode, I recorded +98 as high throttle and -86 as low throttle. I can set my DX9 to this now and the Edge Lite 50 works perfectly. I just can't get the Edge Lite 50 back into programming mode (I guess that's what it's called) to reverify these same throttle end points. Of course I could just use those previously recorded throttle end points, but it's really bugging me that I can't readjust them.

Since that first calibration above, I've readjusted the throttle end points using airplane fixed end point mode in the Edge Lite 50 so I could use the Microbeast Plus' built-in governor. For that, I recorded +73 as high throttle and -61 as low throttle. I'm done playing around with the Microbeast Plus governor for now so I've switched the Edge Lite 50 back to helicopter fixed end point mode.

Tomorrow I'll try to go back through everything yet again and see if I can find something out of place. If rebinding the Tx doesn't help, I guess I'll call Castle Creations for help.

I have a bad feeling I'm overlooking something really simple and am going to feel like a complete idiot when I finally figure it out.

[btheli]

Haha, I hear you...I have those "idiot" moments a lot with these damn helis!

You get the unit into programming mode by setting hi stick on the Tx and plugging in the battery. Move your endpoints way in on the Tx before you do this. When you plug in the battery you should hear the cell count beeps, but not the final initialization song. Move the upper endpoint outward until it beeps. If you just wait a second it will continue chiming every few seconds...this is the "I'm clearing the log file" song. Then move the lower endpoint outward until it arms. Of course, go 2 more clicks on both ends.

Maybe you're not putting the stick on high before plugging in the battery?

[Gyropilot]

OK... FINALLY got this darn thing figured out!!!

Even though in an earlier post I'd said everything was working perfectly despite not being able to recalibrate the throttle end points, this turned out not to be true. I'd indeed verified the low throttle end point was working properly, but I hadn't attempted to spool the motor all the way up to full throttle on the bench to verify the high throttle end point was being reached correctly.

So I did that just moments ago. I watched the Edge Lite 50's status LED and discovered it never turned solid red, meaning it wasn't getting a full throttle signal from the Tx. This immediately explained why I couldn't calibrate the throttle end points. In fact, it turns out the Edge Lite 50 wasn't receiving a full throttle signal even when I raised the upper throttle travel value in the DX9 to +150! Since I could see the DX9 was transmitting a full throttle signal via the monitor screen, I came to the inevitable conclusion the problem had to be with the Microbeast Plus.

Several times yesterday and today I'd used BeastX's "StudioX" software to verify the internal governor I'd been testing was turned off in the Microbeast Plus. I decided to check it again anyway. This time I performed the check directly on the Microbeast Plus via the status lights instead of using the StudioX software. You can probably guess where this is going...

To my horror, I found the Microbeast Plus' governor was still enabled even thought the StudioX software showed it was off!!!

Once I turned it off for real, throttle end point calibration worked exactly as it should.

I just knew it'd be something small I'd overlooked.

Thanks for the help everyone!

EDIT: It's worth noting that a rapidly flashing red LED on the Castle Edge Lite 50 ESC when calibrating the high throttle end point is perfectly normal. Once the high throttle end point is reached, the LED will change to a double red flash until the low throttle end point is reached and the ESC arms. When armed, the LED will change to slow flashing yellow.

[btheli]

Glad you got it figured out. Thanks for closing the loop with us too.