A diagnostic tool for setting up flight controllers.
An Arduino Nano v3 with a Atmega328p chip on it and 16MHz clock. An IDE to program the chip with this code (Arduino, Visual Studio, etc).
Use the Arduino IDE to program this firmware onto the Arduino chip.
Connect up to 12 RC PWM input signals so that the wires go to:
red (red) =>> 5v (see TIPS below)
black (brown) =>> GND or 0V pin on Arduino
white (yellow) =>> PWM signal pins, these connect to D2..D7 and A0..A5
Connect the PPM output so that the wires go to:
red (red) =>> 5v
black (brown) =>> GND or 0V
white (yellow) =>> D10
Connect USB to PC and run the 12 Channel RC Monitor application (Windows tm)
Some flight controller's setup software, eg. CleanFlight for CCD3, does not display its output in real time. The output data is displayed at the same rate as if it were received over the telemetry link.
For setting up the controller and experimenting with mixer settings it is convenient to have a fast responding servo signal monitor rather than having to connect real servos.
Any channel that you don't connect a PWM input on, will emit a default value (which is 1500 for all channels except throttle, which is 1100). Disconnecting any channel after booting will cause the system to use the last-known-position of the input, until a good signal returns.
Generally the USB power is sufficient to power the R/C receiver. If powering the receiver separately and monitoring the output via USB it is recommended to disconnect all of the power wires from the servo inputs, ie. allow the Arduino to be powered only by USB power.
It is not a good idea to run the R/C receiver at more than 5V.
💀 *** WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - DO NOT use this circuit in a real model *** 💀
It is for bench testing only. Use in a model at your own risk and preferably not at all.
Be familiar with local regulations relating to air safety and safety of persons and property on the ground.
Neither the code nor the hardware has any redundancy nor is it error resistant. The only concession is the watchdog timer which is set to 250mS.
This is not a "fail-safe" unit. It has no fail-safe functionality and in the event of a failure it will be left in an indeterminate state.