Drone wants to tip over on takeoff

[kayboku]

I bought the proper hovergames drone kit, so far i'm on my 3rd FMU, due to the 1st 2 being faulty. Now i'm at the point of being able to fly, but it just seems like it wants to tip over on take off, and it physically looks like one propeller isn't spinning as fast. Buy moving the right hand stick diagonal, (a little forward and a little left), It almost wants to take off but becomes unbalanced straight away. 

Things I have tried

Checked and double checked the order, direction and numbering of the propellers from the command line. 

Calibrated the ESCs from the ESC calibration tool in the qgroundcontrol software.

Gone through everything in the Gitbook multiple times. 

Read through all the questions being asked in this forum, it looks as if others may have faulty ESCs.

Do you know how to test the ESCs separately? Is there some kind of log or way to do it? 

Or do you have suggestions of other things I should try?

[rwp908]

I have the same issue you are having. And I had replaced all my motors because I used the long screws. I wonder if the ESC has been damaged?

I spent over $600 on this drone kit and I'm unable to fly it because when I give it throttle, it just tips over on the back propellers. The front propellers look like they are spinning faster than the back propellers. I ran ESC Cal and using 3S Battery.

I waiting for new ESCs to replace the ones that came with the kit.

Any ideas to try?  I might just put a Pixhawk 2.4.8 to see if it will fly and eliminate the NXP PX4

Bought this KIT on May 10th, 2021

-RobP

[Landon_Haugh]

Hi Rob,

I suggest recalibrating your sensors and your motors in QGroundControl. If this doesn’t fix the issue, let me know. It is possible that you have a defective ESC or motor. 

Landon

[rwp908]

The 4 motors have been replaced because I used the long screws and smelled smoke.

I will today recalibrate the sensors and motors as you instructed.

Will keep you posted on the results.

-RobP

[rwp908]

After recalibrating the sensor still the same issue with up the throttle and falls backward.

Today I will replace the ESC's and test the drone again for hover flight.

-RobP

[rwp908]

Problem solved!  When I used the long screws on the initial build and destroyed 2 motors it caused me to replace the motors and use different propellers. The new propellers were installed incorrectly with pitch up on one side. When the pitch is up on both sides and on correct motor CC and CCW the drone now flys up into the sky.

Awesome Drone and fun to code and experiment with. I have added a Battery eliminator circuit for my M5Stack and Raspberry Pi 4.

Castle Creations 10A BEC
Input voltage: 5V to 25V (2S LiPo to 6S LiPo)
Adjustable output voltage: 4.8V to 9V

[Shake21]

Hello, Could you please explain what you mean by pitch up on both sides?

[rwp908]

The back motors are spinning faster than the front.  It is best to calibrate your ESCs by disconnecting all motors except one motor from the flight controller. On your Transmitter put the throttle to max and plug your battery in and wait for the sound from the one motor. Disconnect the battery and move the throttle stick all the way down or the min setting. Plug the battery in and wait for the sounds from the one motor. You have now calibrated that one ESC. Do the same for all three motors. As always remove the propellers when doing this procedure. 

[Shake21]

Hello rwp908, thanks for the reply. I will try it out.

[iaingalloway]

Excellent to hear. Glad you solved the issue. Hope you enjoy drone development.

[kayboku]

I have half solved this, the helicopter does takeoff, it always seems to swing one way a little bit on takeoff, but once its off the ground it seems to be stable and fly ok, it just seems like one prop goes slowly when in idling. Which is strange. 

[Landon_Haugh]

If one prop is slow, that means that your drone may not be completely level before takeoff. This is normal. If there was anything wrong with one ESC or motor, the drone probably wouldn't be able to take off.