Greetings from Singapore. Totally new to this. Took over a friend's old build. Bought a new Taranis QX7. Cant seem to get it right. Here's what I know so far:
FC - Naze32 rev5 (what I see on the board)
PDB - Atas mini pro
ESC - Dys 20a (that's all my friend remembered)
Rx - Frsky D4R-ii
FW - Betaflight 3.1.7

I've managed to bind the tx/rx. Set the Qx7 for arm, failsafe and modes. But the motors wont run or even arm at all. I tried everything I could google for. But nothing works. Except. When I switch the ESC to PWM. They arm and spin. Does that mean the ESC are not Blheli and will not work with the other protocols? And when it does arm, the motors start to spin if the quad is not flat. As if trying to self-level, even in acro mode. Please help. Would really love to fly this thing.

What protocols have you tried? You can always just flash with newer firmware.

For DYS 20a, you have to give more specific model. Some of the older ESCs requires you to remove filter cap for Dshot. Otherwise, oneshot and multishot should work with the lastest firmware.

(18-Sep-2017, 05:57 AM)voodoo614 Wrote: What protocols have you tried? You can always just flash with newer firmware.

For DYS 20a, you have to give more specific model. Some of the older ESCs requires you to remove filter cap for Dshot. Otherwise, oneshot and multishot should work with the lastest firmware.

Did you notice that he said his flight controller was a Naze32?

No DSHOT on F1 flight controllers.

To the OP: Guessing at the age of your ESCs, they will work on either PWM or maybe on OneShot125 but even that is doubtful.

Unless you have enabled the MOTOR_STOP feature, the motors are supposed to spin at idle when you arm as a clear reminder that the quad is now armed.

Yea. My guess so far was, Dshot is definitely not gonna work. @unseen I'm aware of that. Initially the motors wouldn't start at arm and I realized I had to set min throttle at 1130. Thing is....when I had it below and armed the quad, the motors would spin if I held the quad at an angle as if trying to self level, even in acro mode. And if I had it set in any other protocols, be it oneshot or multishot, motors would not arm. They just keep beeping and twitch if I had the battery on. All 4 motors.

I'll post a pic of the esc soon.

(18-Sep-2017, 06:18 AM)unseen Wrote: Did you notice that he said his flight controller was a Naze32?

No DSHOT on F1 flight controllers.

To the OP: Guessing at the age of your ESCs, they will work on either PWM or maybe on OneShot125 but even that is doubtful.

Unless you have enabled the MOTOR_STOP feature, the motors are supposed to spin at idle when you arm as a clear reminder that the quad is now armed.

I did mention my friend does not remember which model of esc he had and apparently it has no label. So I can't even say if it is actually Dys 20A as he said. And it has a cylindrical capacitor by the side if you noticed. Would I in anyway be able to flash simonk or blheli onto these ESCs with passthrough? I could make out it has a F396 chip on the esc in case you can't see.

(18-Sep-2017, 06:18 AM)unseen Wrote: Did you notice that he said his flight controller was a Naze32?

No DSHOT on F1 flight controllers.

To the OP: Guessing at the age of your ESCs, they will work on either PWM or maybe on OneShot125 but even that is doubtful.

Unless you have enabled the MOTOR_STOP feature, the motors are supposed to spin at idle when you arm as a clear reminder that the quad is now armed.

OH... Too many pints, didn't read it carefully.

(18-Sep-2017, 06:37 AM)Fpv_nubee Wrote: Yea. My guess so far was, Dshot is definitely not gonna work. @unseen I'm aware of that. Initially the motors wouldn't start at arm and I realized I had to set min throttle at 1130. Thing is....when I had it below and armed the quad, the motors would spin if I held the quad at an angle as if trying to self level, even in acro mode. And if I had it set in any other protocols, be it oneshot or multishot, motors would not arm. They just keep beeping and twitch if I had the battery on. All 4 motors.

I'll post a pic of the esc soon.

After arming, in acro mode the PID are actively trying to hold attitude. So if you, let's say, tilt the quad to the right side, the right side motors will rev up trying to correct this "error". Sounds normal to me.

(18-Sep-2017, 01:26 PM)fftunes Wrote: After arming, in acro mode the PID are actively trying to hold attitude. So if you, let's say, tilt the quad to the right side, the right side motors will rev up trying to correct this "error". Sounds normal to me.

My bad. That makes sense. One more problem. If I throttle to a certain point and back down, the motors dont seem to slow down at all. Is that normal too? I'll have to try and fly this thing soon I guess. Only way to find out if its acting normal. Should I?

The slow increase of throttle with out props is normal, but a quick blip of throttle should slow a little I believe. I'd try it with a finger ready to disarm if it tries to fly away though.

Further googling brought me to propwashed website and I read somewhere that Betaflight does not update for Naze32 after 3.0.1? If so, I'll try switching to cleanflight. Bit confusing when downloads are available for Naze32 3.1.7 when it's no longer supported.

Edit: found another post that mentioned Naze32 won't be supported from 3.2 onwards. Can someone please tell me if I should go with 3.1.7 BF or 2.1.0 CF.

3.2 will be the last version that supports F1 boards in general. But i'd stay with 3.1.7 for now, 3.2 is still in alpha stage, not stable yet.

Cleanflight 2.0 was rebased off betaflight 3.0 but i don't see much work going into it now...

I tried flashing CF 2.1.0 but failed on every attempt. Could only flash 2.0.5 at best and it seems to not work well. It was still better at BF 3.1.7 IMO. Re-flashing 3.1.7 and time for a test flight.

Betaflight 3.1.7 should be OK on the Naze.

You might be able to flash BLHeli to those ESCs. If you install BLHeliSuite, there's a folder in the installation folder called 'Manuals' and in there is a document called 'BLHeli supported SiLabs ESCs.pdf'. If you can find an ESC that looks exactly like yours, then you can flash BLHeli and you'll be able to run faster ESC protocols.

On the first picture you posted of your ESCs, I see a red zip tie fastened pretty hard around the ESC. This is a really bad idea as it will crack the PCB or the components.

Yea. I'm back on BF 3.1.7 and trying to tweak the settings. Still. I'm trying to find one that match as close and I'll try to flash BLHeli. But is there possiblities of bricking and make the ESCs unusable. Noted. I'll probably switch to just electrical tape.

I don't know if I should be disappointed with this or my friend. I was told they're Dys 20A but they look exactly like the Xrotor 10A as attached. Should I flash BLHeli as Xrotor 10A? By the way, they were not recognized and turned up as unknown ESCs in BLHeliSuite. Another disappointment.

I can't wait to get my hands on my own build.