When I replaced the shell on my P4 I desoldered the motor wires from the ESC boards. When I got it back together it seemed fine, but the motors were spinning backward. The motors responded to throttle commands. On checking it turns out I got the white and black wires reversed for all four motors at the ESC connections. So I corrected that and got it back together. On powering up there were the normal startup sounds and then an error message that the ESCs for 1, 2 and 4 had an error. The LED under motor 1 (right front) did not light up, but the other three did, and after a couple of minutes the three turned red. I tried restarting the P4 and the remote controller and my Nexus 7 tablet, but none of that cured the problem. I removed the camera/gimbal assembly and checked cable connections, but saw nothing wrong. I powered up the P4 without the camera/gimbal on and still got the ESC errors. I put the camera/gimbal back on and tried again, and now there are ESC errors on all 4 motors. The left side LEDs both glow steady red, and right side LEDs don't light up at all. I don't think the brief run with motors wired reversed could have fried the ESC chips, because the motors responded to the throttle even though they were blowing air upward instead of down. What could be the cause and what is the cure?
ESC errors: help!
- Thread starter Nick Mendocino
- Start date
SOLVED!
The problem was due to a tiny ding in the y-shaped multiconductor ribbon cable that runs from the top board to one side ESC board, and the other branch of the Y wraps around to connect to the front power control board. I was using a dental pick to nudge the cable connector lock open and I slipped and poked the cable. Don't make the same mistake, folks. Use a plastic spudger instead.
From the symptoms I thought I had blown one or both ESC boards so ordered a pair. But I was suspicious of that little ding in the ribbon cable, so I also ordered a P4 wire set, which includes all of the internal cables, wires and ribbon connectors.
When the parts arrived today, I first tried just installing the new ribbon cable mentioned above, and that did the trick. I can now return the replacement ESC boards for a partial refund.
The multiconductor ribbon cable (really a thin, flexible printed circuit) has 20 or more tiny copper traces, hardly bigger than a hair, almost too small to see even with a headband binocular magnifier. I tried to test continuity with a multimeter, but it was too hard to position the test probes on the tiny end contacts of the cable, so I gave up testing and just ordered the $15 wire set. Sure glad I did, and that I tried replacing the ribbon cable and testing before trying to change out the ESC boards.
The problem was due to a tiny ding in the y-shaped multiconductor ribbon cable that runs from the top board to one side ESC board, and the other branch of the Y wraps around to connect to the front power control board. I was using a dental pick to nudge the cable connector lock open and I slipped and poked the cable. Don't make the same mistake, folks. Use a plastic spudger instead.
From the symptoms I thought I had blown one or both ESC boards so ordered a pair. But I was suspicious of that little ding in the ribbon cable, so I also ordered a P4 wire set, which includes all of the internal cables, wires and ribbon connectors.
When the parts arrived today, I first tried just installing the new ribbon cable mentioned above, and that did the trick. I can now return the replacement ESC boards for a partial refund.
The multiconductor ribbon cable (really a thin, flexible printed circuit) has 20 or more tiny copper traces, hardly bigger than a hair, almost too small to see even with a headband binocular magnifier. I tried to test continuity with a multimeter, but it was too hard to position the test probes on the tiny end contacts of the cable, so I gave up testing and just ordered the $15 wire set. Sure glad I did, and that I tried replacing the ribbon cable and testing before trying to change out the ESC boards.
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On eBay from hippo_hippo
DJI Phantom 4 Part # 45 - ESC Central Board (Right) New in Box - USA Shipping | eBay
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