Solo's 8 pin Motor Pod Connector pinout

[tngo]

Hello,

Does any one knows the pinout for the motor Pod's 8 pin Interface Connector?

Thank you in advance.

T

 

[pious_greek]

The PWM input pins have been identified but the remaining pins I have not seen identified. This might point you in the right direction:
Identifying ESC pin configuration · sim-/tgy Wiki · GitHub

 

[tngo]

Thank you pious. Much is appreciated.

btw, I have found a pic of the Solo pcb layout, so it's very informative. The PCB has the printed Simonk Rev FW verbiage on it as well as the SPI interface pads. So, updating the fw on the solo ESC is pretty straight forward since I have done many of these mods before on the ATMEL and SiLabs chipsets.

Thanks again for your help.

T

 

[pious_greek]

@tngo, Let us know if you're successful reflashing the firmware. Are you planning to use it on a different quad?

And two special requests, 1) can you share the PCB layout you came across and 2) if you make a backup of the existing firmware and fuse registers, please post those as well!

You'll have to double check the die size, but this might come in handy: Atmel Atmega Socket Firmware Flashing Tool

 

[tngo]

I found the pic here: Solo Development Area
and it turned out that the pic is from you didn't realized that till you mentioned it. Thanks again.

As for the flashing, I don't have the ESCs to flash for testing. If anyone here has an extra motor pod ESC, I'll gladly test flash/backup the fw and report my findings.

I bought on Ebay the Frame with the electronics still in tact, but without the motor pods. I also bought the controller as well from the same seller. I am planning to install it on one of the spare frames that I have whenever I have spare time.

The ebay link for the frame with all electronics but without the motor pods: 3DR Solo Companion Computer, Compass, Power Distribution Board, pixhawk & gps | eBay

The ebay link for the Controller is here: 3DR Solo controller and charger | eBay

I think the price for the above parts is reasonable since I have other electronics/motors/parts to complete a build using the solo guts & remote.

btw...I am using a different SPI programmer than the one you've listed (thanks). Essentially they both do the same job, but the one that I am using is more flexible for flashing different size chips.


T

 

[pious_greek]

I was really hoping for some kicad or eagle schematic smut!

There are some pics of older PCB's i posted here too...
EM Spectrum analysis of solo?

If i have some time in the future, I might try to trace the pinouts....

 

[tngo]

Sorry don't have the eagle schematic, but will post if I came across it.


Thanks for sharing the additional pics.

T

 

[tngo]

btw, I think 3 of the 8 pins are as follow:

1. 2x I2C signal wires (SCL & SDA @ 3.3v...should be easy to meter this out) controlling the LED lights
2. 1x PWM signal
3. 1x GND (?)

Anyway, I can pin out 1-3 on the 8 pin interface cable. But, will need the motor pod to pin out the rest.

Could the remaining 4 pin the SPI signals (MI, MO, SCK, RST) used to flash the ESC?

T

 

[pious_greek]

Let's move the conversation over here, same topic:

Bypassing Solo Motor Pods / ESC's