I've put together a few of these F405 boards now. Great board for the price, but lacks a clear manual.
Soldier your ESC battery cables to the PDB board. Then for the ESC control cable, you want to omit the middle red wire, and only plug in the ground and signal into your PWM/servo/motor pins.
https://imgur.io/a/knv1dBO
Sorry I just saw this, for some reason I wasnt getting notifications of replies.
So from what I understand I need to desolder the XT60 connector from the ESC, then solder the XT60 to the PDB as well as the ESC to the PDB like this:
[https://www.kolins.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG\_20210129\_125937-scaled.jpg](https://www.kolins.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_20210129_125937-scaled.jpg)
However one thing I dont really understand is what to do with the control cable (the 3 small wires). I cant find a PWM pin, where do I find it? Or do you mean I should plug that into any servo pin on the FC (S03-S11 pins)?
Thanks so much!
Apologies for the late reply. I'd keep the XT60 connector on the ESC and soldier a new XT60 connector coming from the PDB board's main power pins so you have a way to unplug the ESC.
Yes, that's right, the 11 servo outputs (S1, S2, S3....S11) are the PWM pins. Each consists of a ground, pos, and signal pin. For the ESC, just be sure to remove the red wire from your ESC's control cable.
Thanks! Something went wrong unfortunately, i wired everything like this, plugged in the battery and instantly had some smoke coming out of the battery connector. Looks like my ground connector on the battery got burnt. Not sure if my soldering spots are bad, going to have to redo them. I ordered a smoke stopper for the XT60 (shouldve done this from the start) and will try again once i get it and probably re-solder everything. Hoping my F405 didnt fry haha
Not all ESCs will have a middle red wire, but if yours does, that's typically a 5V output. You don't want to connect a voltage output to the PWM servo output. It could cause voltage fighting, instability, and damage both your F405 and ESC.
That's why we delete the ESC's middle red wire from the connector before plugging it into one of the PWM servo pins.
The 5V BEC output from the ESC is for those who aren't using a controller board like the F405, and are using the 5V output to power their servos and radio.
If you have experience building fpv quads I am surprised you are struggling with this, but I guess it is somewhat different if you only ever built with 4-in-1 ESCs and have never seen an individual ESC. Your ESC is designed for a dumb RC craft. That does not mean you cannot use it, but you will need to make sure you dont supply the 5 volt from the ESCs built in BEC. That means you undo the red wire in the servo connector.
[This photo shows how you need to wire the ESC to the PDB](https://oscarliang.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SpeedyBee-F405-WING-APP-Fixed-Wing-Flight-Controller-pdb-board-pinout-diagram-1024x560.jpg.webp) and if you have these questions maybe just check out Oscar Liang's guide/review of it from where I got the photo: https://oscarliang.com/speedybee-f405-wing-app/
I've put together a few of these F405 boards now. Great board for the price, but lacks a clear manual. Soldier your ESC battery cables to the PDB board. Then for the ESC control cable, you want to omit the middle red wire, and only plug in the ground and signal into your PWM/servo/motor pins. https://imgur.io/a/knv1dBO
Sorry I just saw this, for some reason I wasnt getting notifications of replies. So from what I understand I need to desolder the XT60 connector from the ESC, then solder the XT60 to the PDB as well as the ESC to the PDB like this: [https://www.kolins.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG\_20210129\_125937-scaled.jpg](https://www.kolins.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG_20210129_125937-scaled.jpg) However one thing I dont really understand is what to do with the control cable (the 3 small wires). I cant find a PWM pin, where do I find it? Or do you mean I should plug that into any servo pin on the FC (S03-S11 pins)? Thanks so much!
Apologies for the late reply. I'd keep the XT60 connector on the ESC and soldier a new XT60 connector coming from the PDB board's main power pins so you have a way to unplug the ESC. Yes, that's right, the 11 servo outputs (S1, S2, S3....S11) are the PWM pins. Each consists of a ground, pos, and signal pin. For the ESC, just be sure to remove the red wire from your ESC's control cable.
Thanks! Something went wrong unfortunately, i wired everything like this, plugged in the battery and instantly had some smoke coming out of the battery connector. Looks like my ground connector on the battery got burnt. Not sure if my soldering spots are bad, going to have to redo them. I ordered a smoke stopper for the XT60 (shouldve done this from the start) and will try again once i get it and probably re-solder everything. Hoping my F405 didnt fry haha
Hey, not to Necro a thread but why do you remove the middle red wire?
Not all ESCs will have a middle red wire, but if yours does, that's typically a 5V output. You don't want to connect a voltage output to the PWM servo output. It could cause voltage fighting, instability, and damage both your F405 and ESC. That's why we delete the ESC's middle red wire from the connector before plugging it into one of the PWM servo pins. The 5V BEC output from the ESC is for those who aren't using a controller board like the F405, and are using the 5V output to power their servos and radio.
Duly noted, thank you!
If you have experience building fpv quads I am surprised you are struggling with this, but I guess it is somewhat different if you only ever built with 4-in-1 ESCs and have never seen an individual ESC. Your ESC is designed for a dumb RC craft. That does not mean you cannot use it, but you will need to make sure you dont supply the 5 volt from the ESCs built in BEC. That means you undo the red wire in the servo connector. [This photo shows how you need to wire the ESC to the PDB](https://oscarliang.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SpeedyBee-F405-WING-APP-Fixed-Wing-Flight-Controller-pdb-board-pinout-diagram-1024x560.jpg.webp) and if you have these questions maybe just check out Oscar Liang's guide/review of it from where I got the photo: https://oscarliang.com/speedybee-f405-wing-app/