Need to match ESC firmware

[JayJayJay]

Hi Guys,
I've tried on other boards and hoping that someone will be able to help me here.

One of esc's catch fire mid-air and I've been lucky to land without much problems.Drone builder removed original esc sleeves but I found that mine esc's are maytech 85A opto HX.
Ordered replacement flashed with SimonK firmware and I found that during motor arming new esc make different sound so I am assuming that my old esc running different firmware.
If someone maybe can recognize motor arming sound that will be brilliant.
I'm not sure if it's possible to read one of old esc's to find which firmware and settings they are running.I guess Not.
I have two options:
-Find what firmware old one running and flash my new one with it.( simonK looks little bit more throttle responsive
-Flash All esc with SimonK or BLheli (I am bit worried that I may brick my old esc doing that)

What you guys thinking?
Here is video how both esc's sounds and perform:

 

[Martins]

To fix it, unplug the ESC from the NAZA. Have a receiver connect directly to the ESC one at a time and re-calibrate the ESC throttle range. But this time, make sure your receiver throttle low end is set to -116% (or -1160%) depends on your receiver. It's work for me!
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1903690

 

[jamesb72]

There may be two separate issues here.

1. Throttle calibration, you need to calibrate/recalibrate all ESC's together so they match each other for response ie 1000ms - 2000ms typically - if one ESC is calibrated 1100-2100 or 900-1900 it will not match throttle positions which gives the FC a really hard time. Most FCs can calibrate ESCs during setup, but for Naza you needed to do this seperately (hence info above to do with a receiver, however you have no easy way to know if -116% is correct 1000ms for your tx/rx combination, so I had best results doing this with servo testers which show pulse width on display - video here shows this

)

2. Firmware differences, different firmware may react slightly differently to the same throttle position changes ie jumping from 1000ms to 1500ms the different firmwares may accelerate motor slightly faster/slower or have a different throttle response curve (probably not a big difference between simonk versions, but there can be big differences with default firmware on ESC's intended for fixed wing which have all sorts of smoothing/delay on throttle response), which is why ideally you want the same firmware on all ESC's, it probably doesn't matter what firmware that is. Even if you can work out which firmware, you almost certainly cannot tell which version, so easiest way is to reflash all ESCs with the same (SimonK or BLHeli is down to preference), there shouldn't be a risk of bricking ESC's doing this, as long as you have good connections for flashing.

 

[Martins]

Hi there James,
Thanks for the explanation and for the great video!

 

[jamesb72]

I forgot to say, ALWAYS ALWAYS remove props before calibrating ESCs, also you only need to calibrate ESC's manually for Naza flight controller (as DJI expect you to buy their ESC's which come pre-calibrated 1000-2000), all the other flight controllers I've seen can do this as part of setup, if you do manually calibrate, then I use a servo splitter to do all 4 esc's at once, so you know they will be perfectly matched.

Normal procedure is to find 2000ms position on servo tester, then power off esc's, then power on wait for beeps, then turn servo tester down to 1000ms and wait for more beeps as ESC's initialise, then check they all start at same position when you turn the servo tester.

 

[Martins]

I forgot to say, ALWAYS ALWAYS remove props before calibrating ESCs, also you only need to calibrate ESC's manually for Naza flight controller (as DJI expect you to buy their ESC's which come pre-calibrated 1000-2000), all the other flight controllers I've seen can do this as part of setup, if you do manually calibrate, then I use a servo splitter to do all 4 esc's at once, so you know they will be perfectly matched.

Normal procedure is to find 2000ms position on servo tester, then power off esc's, then power on wait for beeps, then turn servo tester down to 1000ms and wait for more beeps as ESC's initialise, then check they all start at same position when you turn the servo tester.

Okay, all procedures explained, almost like I did the first time. The only part I need to purchase is the servo splitter!

Thanks again!