I am controlling an autonomus drone. For better power control the servo which drives the rudder is power is via a BEC and the Navio2 PINs. The RPi has a seperate power supply. There are some situations where we lose the BEC power, and the rudder control. The power to the RPi is still supplied and running. When power comes back to the BEC, the rudder is re-powered. During the time the BEC was without power the Autopilot continued to send signals to the Navio2 HAT PINs so the expected rudder angle would have changed. Is there a way to re-set the rudder to mid position and is there a way the Navio2 HAT can detect power drop and power up on the PINs? Can I get an interup when power is lost and restored from the BEC?
Hi Ian,
Sorry for the delay.
Let’s first go through your hardware setup as it’s better to check that everything is configured correctly. From your description, such BEC’s behavior is not okay. Could your BEC by any chance output voltage higher than 5.3 V or lower than 4.7 V?
Hello, the BEC is operating normally. The reason it loses power is because the Navio2 & RPi is running an autonomus drone out at sea and its only way to get power is by solar panel and some wave power generation. The RPi maintains power but if there is not enough solar during the day the battery powering the BEC will fail first. Once power is restored then the BEC start working again and the rudder. I am trying to find a way to detect when I lose power or gain power on the servo PINs where the BEC power is supplied. Is there a way to create an interupt for activity on the servo rail?
Hi Ian,
Navio2 has no means of detecting if the power is supplied to the servo rail. So the only way I can see right now is to use a third-party device. It should be capable of identifying the loss of signal and sending the feedback to the controlling code. I’m afraid I can’t be more specific about what you can use as this is not a recommended way of working with the board. Hopefully, some of our experienced users can help you with it.
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