T200 Thruster not spinning and making sound

Blue Robotics Products
1

Hello,

We bought the T200 thruster and set it up with the ESC and the Pixhawk but for some reason the thruster is not spinning. It gives a very slight jerk, I also tried manually spinning it to see if there is blockage and there is none. It is continuously making a nonstop beeping noise.

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This is a picture of our settings.

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Hi @Steph, welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

From your picture and description it’s unclear what the characteristics are of the battery you’re using, and which ESC model and firmware you’re using. That’s relevant because

  1. If the battery is below 7V or cannot supply sufficient current for the thruster then it will not be able to turn
  2. If the ESC is not intended to drive a brushless DC motor, or is expecting a different input signal than it’s receiving from the autopilot (e.g. if it’s using a firmware configured for single-directional operation) then it may not be able to begin control of the motor
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The battery is 7.4V, and the ESC drives a brushless DC motor. We are using RC 2-4S 120A Brushless ESC Waterproof Sensorless Electronic Speed Controller. If I connect the receiver to the esc the thruster spins, but when connected to the Pixhawk it doesn’t. Is there a specific way to connect the thruster to the Pixhawk?

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Which firmware are you using?

As an example, ArduSub expects a bidirectional ESC, and provides a 1500µs pulse-duration PWM output as the neutral signal. Many ESCs intended for RC use are not configured as bi-directional by default, in which case they tend to use a 1000 or 1100µs pulse-duration as the neutral signal. As a safety precaution, ESCs often require a brief period of being fed a neutral signal before “arming” and allowing control over the motor.

Assuming that’s the cause of your issue, you may be able to re-configure your ESC to be bi-directional, or you may need to buy one that can be configured as bi-directional. Our BasicESC is bidirectional by default. Otherwise you won’t be able to use ArduSub firmware on your Pixhawk.

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We are using Mission Planner.

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Mission Planner is a control station software that runs on your main computer. I’m asking about the autopilot firmware you’re running on the Pixhawk (which I expect is most likely one of ArduSub, ArduRover, or PX4).

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ArduRover.

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Without knowing how you’ve configured the vehicle I can’t say what kind of signals it’s outputting, or why it’s doing so. You should be able to check the values in the SERVO_OUTPUT_RAW MAVLink messages, in Mission Planner’s MAVLink Inspector. You should also be able to check your ESC’s documentation (from where you bought it) to see what kind of signal it’s expecting.

I have very limited experience with ArduRover, so if you determine that the ESC is doing something reasonable while ArduRover is not then you may get better help in the ArduRover category of the general ArduPilot forum. If it’s a firmware issue then I suspect you’ll need to select a different vehicle frame, or modify the servo trim, but it could also be something I’m not aware of.