PX4 User Guide
  • Introduction
  • Getting Started
    • Basic Concepts
    • Vehicles/Frames
    • Flight Controllers
    • Sensors
    • Radio Systems
    • Flight Modes
    • Vehicle Status Notifications
      • LED Meanings
      • Tune/Sound Meanings
      • Preflight Checks
    • Payloads & Cameras
    • Flight Reporting
  • Basic Assembly
    • Mounting the Flight Controller
    • Mounting the GPS/Compass
    • Vibration Isolation
    • Cable Wiring
    • CUAV Pixhawk V6X Wiring QuickStart
    • CUAV V5+ Wiring Quickstart
    • CUAV V5 nano Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 6C Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 6X Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 5X Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pixhawk 4 Wiring Quickstart - Discontinued
    • Holybro Pixhawk 4 Mini Wiring Quickstart - Discontinued
    • Holybro Durandal Wiring Quickstart
    • Holybro Pix32 v5 Wiring Quickstart
    • Cube Wiring Quickstart
    • Pixracer Wiring Quickstart
    • mRo (3DR) Pixhawk Wiring Quickstart
  • Standard Configuration
    • Firmware
    • Airframe
    • Sensor Orientation
    • Compass
    • Gyroscope
    • Accelerometer
    • Airspeed
    • Level Horizon Calibration
    • Radio Setup
    • Joystick Setup
    • Flight Modes
    • Battery
    • Safety
      • Failsafe Simulation
    • ESC Calibration
    • Actuators
    • Autotune
  • Vehicle Types & Setup
    • Multicopters
      • Multicopter Config/Tuning
        • MC Filter/Control Latency Tuning
        • MC PID Tuning (Manual/Basic)
        • MC PID Tuning Guide (Manual/Advanced)
        • MC Setpoint Tuning (Trajectory Generator)
          • MC Jerk-limited Type Trajectory
        • Multicopter Racer Setup
      • X500 v2 (Pixhawk 6C)
      • X500 v2 (Pixhawk 5X)
      • X500 (Pixhawk 4)
      • S500 V2 (Pixhawk 4)
      • DJI F450 (CUAV v5+)
      • DJI F450 (CUAV v5 nano)
      • QAV250 (Pixhawk4 Mini) - Discontinued
      • DJI F450 + RTK (Pixhawk 3 Pro)
      • QAV250 (Pixhawk Mini)
      • QAV-R 5" Racer (Pixracer)
      • Omnicopter
    • Planes
      • Fixed Wing Config/Tuning
        • Fixedwing PID Tuning Guide
        • Fixedwing Advanced Tuning Guide
        • Fixedwing Trimming Guide
      • Reptile Dragon 2 (ARK6X)
      • Turbo Timber Evolution (Pixhawk 4 Mini)
      • Wing Wing Z84 (Pixracer)
    • VTOL
      • VTOL Config/Tuning
        • QuadPlane Configuration
        • Back-transition Tuning
        • VTOL w/o Airspeed Sensor
        • VTOL Weather Vane
      • Standard VTOL
        • FunCub QuadPlane (Pixhawk)
        • Ranger QuadPlane (Pixhawk)
        • Falcon Vertigo QuadPlane (Dropix)
      • Tailsitter VTOL
        • Build: TBS Caipiroshka Tailsitter Build (Pixracer)
      • Tiltrotor VTOL
        • Build: Convergence Tiltrotor (Pixfalcon)
    • Airships (experimental)
    • Autogyros (experimental)
      • ThunderFly Auto-G2 (Holybro pix32)
    • Balloons (experimental)
    • Helicopter (experimental)
      • Helicopter Config/Tuning
    • Rovers (experimental)
      • Traxxas Stampede
    • Submarines (experimental)
      • BlueROV2
    • Airframes Reference
  • Flying
    • First Flight Guidelines
    • Flying 101
    • Missions
      • Package Delivery Mission
    • GeoFence
    • Safety Point Planning
    • Flight Modes
      • Position Mode (MC)
      • Altitude Mode (MC)
      • Manual/Stabilized Mode (MC)
      • Acro Mode (MC)
      • Orbit Mode (MC)
      • Position Mode (FW)
      • Altitude Mode (FW)
      • Stabilized Mode (FW)
      • Acro Mode (FW)
      • Manual Mode (FW)
      • Takeoff Mode
      • Land Mode
      • Return Mode
      • Hold Mode
      • Mission Mode
      • Follow Me Mode
      • Offboard Mode
    • Terrain Following/Holding
  • Flight Log Analysis
    • Log Analysis using Flight Review
    • Log Analysis using PlotJuggler
  • Advanced Configuration
    • Finding/Updating Parameters
    • Full Parameter Reference
    • ECL/EKF Overview & Tuning
    • Flight Termination Configuration
    • Bootloader Flashing onto Betaflight Systems
    • Land Detector Configuration
    • Prearm/Arm/Disarm Configuration
    • IMU Factory Calibration
    • Sensor Thermal Compensation
    • Compass Power Compensation
    • Advanced Controller Orientation
    • Static Pressure Buildup
    • Serial Port Configuration
    • MAVLink Telemetry (OSD/GCS)
    • PX4 Ethernet Setup
    • Bootloader Update
  • Hardware (Drones&Parts)
    • Complete Vehicles
      • ModalAI Starling
      • PX4 Vision Kit
      • MindRacer BNF & RTF
        • MindRacer 210
        • NanoMind 110
      • Holybro Kopis 2
      • Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.1
    • Flight Controllers (Autopilots)
      • Pixhawk Series
        • Silicon Errata
      • Pixhawk Standard Autopilots
        • CUAV Pixhawk V6X (FMUv6X)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 6X (FMUv6X)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 6C (FMUv6C)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 6C Mini(FMUv6C)
        • Holybro Pix32 v6 (FMUv6C)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 5X (FMUv5X)
        • Holybro Pixhawk 4 (FMUv5) - Discontinued
        • Holybro Pixhawk 4 Mini (FMUv5) - Discontinued
        • Drotek Pixhawk 3 Pro (FMUv4pro)
        • mRo Pixracer (FMUv4)
        • Hex Cube Black (FMUv3)
        • mRo Pixhawk (FMUv3)
        • Holybro Pixhawk Mini (FMUv3) - Discontinued
      • Manufacturer-Supported Autopilots
        • AirMind MindPX
        • AirMind MindRacer
        • ARK Electronics ARKV6X
        • CUAV X7
        • CUAV Nora
        • CUAV V5+ (FMUv5)
        • CUAV V5 nano (FMUv5)
        • CUAV Pixhack v3 (FMUv3)
        • CubePilot Cube Orange+ (CubePilot)
        • CubePilot Cube Orange (CubePilot)
        • CubePilot Cube Yellow (CubePilot)
        • Holybro Kakute H7v2
        • Holybro Kakute H7mini
        • Holybro Kakute H7
        • Holybro Durandal
        • Holybro Pix32 v5
        • ModalAI Flight Core v1
        • ModalAI VOXL Flight
        • ModalAI VOXL 2
        • mRobotics-X2.1 (FMUv2)
        • mRo Control Zero F7)
        • NXP RDDRONE-FMUK66 FMU
        • Sky-Drones AIRLink
        • SPRacing SPRacingH7EXTREME
        • ThePeach FCC-K1
        • ThePeach FCC-R1
      • Experimental Autopilots
        • BeagleBone Blue
        • Raspberry Pi 2/3 Navio2
        • Raspberry Pi 2/3/4 PilotPi
          • PilotPi with Raspberry Pi OS
          • PilotPi with Ubuntu Server
      • Discontinued Autopilots/Vehicles
        • Drotek Dropix (FMUv2)
        • Omnibus F4 SD
        • BetaFPV Beta75X 2S Brushless Whoop
        • Bitcraze Crazyflie 2.0
        • Aerotenna OcPoC-Zynq Mini
        • CUAV v5
        • Holybro Kakute F7 (Discontinued)
        • Holybro Pixfalcon
        • Holybro pix32 (FMUv2)
        • mRo AUAV-X2
        • 3DR Pixhawk 1
        • Snapdragon Flight
        • Intel® Aero RTF Drone (Discontinued)
      • Pixhawk Autopilot Bus (PAB) & Carriers
        • ARK Electronics Pixhawk Autopilot Bus Carrier
    • Flight Controller Peripherals
      • ADSB/FLARM (Traffic Avoidance)
      • Air Traffic Avoidance: ADSB/FLARM
      • Air Traffic Avoidance: UTM
      • Airspeed Sensors
        • TFSlot Airspeed Sensor
      • Barometers
      • Camera
      • Distance Sensors (Rangefinders)
        • Lightware SFxx Lidar
        • Ainstein US-D1 Standard Radar Altimeter
        • LeddarOne Lidar
        • Benewake TFmini Lidar
        • Lidar-Lite
        • TeraRanger
        • Lanbao PSK-CM8JL65-CC5
        • Avionics Anonymous Laser Altimeter UAVCAN Interface
      • ESCs & Motors
        • PWM ESCs and Servos
        • DShot ESCs
        • OneShot ESCs and Servos
        • DroneCAN ESCs
          • Zubax Telega
          • PX4 Sapog ESC Firmware
            • Holybro Kotleta
            • Zubax Orel
        • VESC
      • TBS Crossfire (CRSF) Telemetry
      • FrSky Telemetry
      • Gimbal (Mount) Configuration
      • GPS/Compass
        • ARK GPS
        • Holybro DroneCAN M8N GPS
        • LOCOSYS Hawk A1 GNSS
        • Hex Here2
        • Holybro M8N & M9N GPS
        • Sky-Drones SmartAP GPS
      • Grippers
        • Servo Gripper
      • Optical Flow
        • ARK Flow
        • PMW3901
        • PX4FLOW (Deprecated)
      • Precision Landing
      • Parachute
      • Power Modules/PDB
        • CUAV HV pm
        • CUAV CAN PMU
        • Holybro PM02
        • Holybro PM07
        • Holybro PM06 V2
        • Holybro PM02D (digital)
        • Holybro PM03D (digital)
        • Pomegranate Systems Power Module
        • Sky-Drones SmartAP PDB
      • Satellite Coms (Iridium/RockBlock)
      • Telemetry Radios
        • SiK Radio
          • RFD900 (SiK) Telemetry Radio
          • HolyBro (SIK) Telemetry Radio
        • Telemetry Wifi
          • ESP8266 WiFi Module
          • ESP32 WiFi Module
          • 3DR Telemetry Wifi (Discontinued)
        • Microhard Serial Telemetry Radio
          • ARK Electron Microhard Serial Telemetry Radio
          • Holybro Microhard P900 Telemetry Radio
        • CUAV P8 Telemetry Radio
        • HolyBro XBP9X - Discontinued
      • RTK GPS
        • ARK RTK GPS
        • RTK GPS Heading with Dual u-blox F9P
        • CUAV C-RTK
        • CUAV C-RTK2 PPK/RTK GNSS
        • CUAV C-RTK 9Ps
        • Femtones MINI2 Receiver
        • Freefly RTK GPS
        • Holybro H-RTK-F9P
        • Holybro H-RTK-M8P
        • Holybro H-RTK Unicore UM982 GPS
        • Locosys Hawk R1
        • Locosys Hawk R2
        • Septentrio AsteRx-RIB
        • Septentrio mosaic-go
        • Trimble MB-Two
        • CubePilot Here+ (Discontined)
      • Remote ID
      • Smart Batteries
        • Rotoye Batmon Battery Smartification Kit
      • Tachometers (Revolution Counters)
        • ThunderFly TFRPM01 Tachometer Sensor
      • I2C Peripherals
        • I2C bus accelerators
        • TFI2CADT01 I2C address translator
      • CAN Peripherals
      • DroneCAN Peripherals
        • PX4 DroneCAN Firmware
        • ARK CANnode
    • Companion Computers
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      • Companion Computer Peripherals
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    • Hardware
      • Flight Controller Reference Design
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        • Adding a New Airframe
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On this page
  • Preconditions
  • Steps
  • Troubleshooting
  1. Standard Configuration

ESC Calibration

PreviousFailsafe SimulationNextActuators

Last updated 1 year ago

:::note These instructions are only relevant to and . and ESCs (/Cyphal) do not require this kind of calibration. :::

Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs) regulate motor speed (and direction) based on their input command from the flight controller (FC). The range of input commands to which an ESC will respond is often configurable, and the default range can differ even between ESCs of the same model.

This calibration updates all the ESCs with a fixed maximum (2000us) and minimum (1000us) PWM input from the flight controller. Subsequently all the ESCs/motors on the vehicle will respond to flight controller input in the same way, across the whole input range.

Calibration using this tool is recommended for all PWM/OneShot ESCs that support it.

:::note Calibration is particularly important for low-cost ESC, as they commonly vary a lot in their response to input.

However it is also recommended for high-quality controllers. Even though these are factory calibrated and should all respond the same way, in practice the input range can differ. For example if a controller has been manually calibrated after leaving the factory it may no longer behave in the same way. :::

:::warning If you want to use an ESC that does not support this calibration, then it must be factory calibrated and respond consistently out of the box. This should be verified using . Jump to the (which is still important). :::

OneShot ESCs should be before calibration. You should calibrate the ESCs after switching, even if you have previously calibrated.

Preconditions

The calibration sequence requires that you are able keep the flight controller powered while manually power-cyling the ESCs.

If using a Pixhawk flight controller, the recommended way to do this is to separately power the flight controller via USB, and connect/disconnect the battery to power the ESCs when needed. Flight control systems that can't power the autopilot via USB will need a .

If the battery is connected via a power module the calibration procedure can detect the battery connection and use it to drive the calibration sequence. If battery power can't be detected the calibration sequence is performed based on timeouts.

Steps

To calibrate the ESCs:

  1. Remove the propellers.

    :::warning Never attempt ESC calibration with propellers on!

    The motors should not spin during ESC calibration. However if calibration starts when the ESC is already powered, or if the ESC doesn't properly support/detect the calibration sequence, then it will respond to the PWM input by running the motor at maximum speed. :::

  2. Map the ESCs you're calibrating as motors in the vehicle's . Only mapped actuators get an output and only ESCs mapped as motors will be calibrated.

  3. Unpower the ESCs by unplugging the battery. The flight controller must stay powered, for example, by keeping the USB connected to the ground station.

  4. Open the QGroundControl Settings > Power, then press the Calibrate button.

  5. After starting the calibration sequence without error, directly power the ESCs (you should be prompted):

    The calibration will begin automatically:

  6. During the calibration you should hear model-specific beeping from the ESC, which indicates the individual steps of the calibration.

    You will be prompted when the calibration completes.

  7. Go back to the section.

    Following ESC calibration all motors with the same (re)calibrated ESCs should behave in the same way for the same inputs. The default PWM settings for motor outputs in the actuator configuration should now work out of the box.

    You need to confirm that the motors do indeed work correctly. Since the default configuration values have been set conservatively, you may also wish to tune them for your particular ESCs.

    :::note The steps below are similar to those described in . :::

    Verify the following values:

    • The minimum value for a motor (default: 1100us) should make the motor spin slowly but reliably, and also spin up reliably after it was stopped.

      You can confirm that a motor spins at minimum (still without propellers) in , by enabling the sliders, and then moving the test output slider for the motor to the first snap position from the bottom. The correct value should make the motor spin immediately and reliably as you move the slider from disarmed to minimum.

      To find the "optimal" minimum value, move the slider to the bottom (disarmed). Then increase the PWM output's disarmed setting in small increments (e.g. 1025us, 1050us, etc), until the motor starts to spin reliably (it is better to be a little too high than a little too low). Enter this value into the minimum setting for all the motor PWM outputs, and restore the disarmed output to 1100us.

    • The maximum value for a motor (default: 1900us) should be chosen such that increasing the value doesn't make the motor spin any faster.

      You can confirm that the motor spins quickly at the maximum setting in , by moving the associated test output slider to the top position.

      To find the "optimal" maximum value, first move the slider to the bottom (disarmed). Then increase the PWM output's disarmed setting to near the default maximum (1900) - the motors should spin up. Listen to the tone of the motor as you increase the PWM maximum value for the output in increments (e.g. 1925us, 1950us, etc). The optimal value is found at the point when the sound of the motors does not change as you increase the value of the output. Enter this value into the maximum setting for all the motor PWM outputs, and restore the disarmed output to 1100us.

    • The disarmed value for a motor (default: 1000us) should make the motor stop and stay stopped.

      You can confirm this in by moving the test output slider to the snap position at the bottom of the slider and observing that the motor does not spin.

      If the ESC spins with the default value of 1000us then the ESC is not properly calibrated. If using an ESC that can't be calibrated, you should reduce the PWM output value for the output to below where the motor does not spin anymore (such as 950us or 900us).

    :::note VTOL and fixed-wing motors do not need any special PWM configuration. With the default PWM configuration they will automatically stop during flight when commanded by the autopilot. :::

Troubleshooting

  1. Calibration can state that it has succeeded even when it has failed.

    This happens if you do not power the ESC at the right time, or the ESCs don't support calibration. This occurs because PX4 has no feedback from the ESC to know whether or not calibration was successful. You have to rely on interpreting the beeps during the calibration and subsequent motor tests to know for sure that the calibration worked.

  2. Calibration cannot be started if you have a power module configured and connected (for safety reasons).

  3. PX4 will abort calibration (for safety reasons) if the system detects an increase in current consumption immediately after initiating calibration. This requires a power module.

Unplug power to the ESCs first. If you're blocked because a power module is necessary to keep your flight controller alive, but you can (un)power the ESCs separately, you can temporarily disable the detection of the power module just for the ESC calibration using the parameters . Once the power module that's powering the autopilot is not detected as battery anymore a timing based calibration is possible.

PWM ESCs
OneShot ESCs
DShot
CAN
DroneCAN
Actuator Configuration
Actuator Configuration
actuator configuration step (7)
different approach
configured to use OneShot
Actuator Testing
Actuator Configuration > Motor Configuration
Actuator Testing
Actuator Testing
Actuator Testing
ESC Calibration step 1
ESC Calibration step 2
ESC Calibration step 3
ESC Calibration step 4
BATn_SOURCE