No Feedback from ODrive Pro over CAN, TX works (Teensy 4.1 Setup)

LucasHorsman · July 8, 2025, 2:07am

I’m working with two ODrive Pro units connected to a Teensy 4.1 over CAN bus, trying to build a general-purpose motor control program. Communication is mostly working. I can send commands like position control and configuration updates without issue. However, I’m not receiving any feedback from either ODrive. This is a sudden issue, and this feature has worked in the past, so I’m hoping someone may have some insight on what would have caused this.

The CAN bus is running at 1 Mbps, and I’ve confirmed that the baud rate is correctly set on all devices. The problem is that the received_feedback flag for each ODrive never gets set. As a result, this section of my code never executes:

if (odrv19_user_data.received_feedback) {
    Get_Encoder_Estimates_msg_t feedback19 = odrv19_user_data.last_feedback;
    odrv19_user_data.received_feedback = false;
    rwpos = feedback19.Pos_Estimate;
    rwpos = rwpos * -1;
    rwpos = rwpos / GEARRATIO;
    rwpos = rwpos * 2 * PI;
    wheel_pos_msg.z = rwpos;
    rwpos = 0;
    counter++;
}

This function is called periodically, so timing isn’t the issue. I’ve linked the section of code that directly “sets up” the odrive here in case it’s helpful:

github.com

RIPLaboratoryUH/micro-ros-dual-ODrive/blob/main/odrive.ino


// Called every time a feedback message arrives from the ODrive
void onFeedback(Get_Encoder_Estimates_msg_t &msg, void *user_data)
{
    ODriveUserData *odrv_user_data = static_cast<ODriveUserData *>(user_data);
    odrv_user_data->last_feedback = msg;
    odrv_user_data->received_feedback = true;
}

// Called every time a Heartbeat message arrives from the ODrive
void onHeartbeat(Heartbeat_msg_t &msg, void *user_data)
{
    ODriveUserData *odrv_user_data = static_cast<ODriveUserData *>(user_data);
    odrv_user_data->last_heartbeat = msg;
    odrv_user_data->received_heartbeat = true;
}
//called once to set up the ODrive in setup()
void setupODrive()
{
//   while (!odrv19_user_data.received_heartbeat) {

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The full function that utilizes the feedback can be found here, but its worth noting that if I have a similar line in, say odrive.ino (the above file), the same issue occurs:

github.com

RIPLaboratoryUH/micro-ros-dual-ODrive/blob/main/micro_ros_callbacks.ino

// this file has the callback functions for micro ros

// gets called when a message is received on the /joint_states topic
void subscription_callback(const void *msgin)
{
  const sensor_msgs__msg__JointState *msg = (const sensor_msgs__msg__JointState *)msgin;
  float vel = msg->velocity.data[0];
  float vel2 = msg->velocity.data[1];
  odrv16.setVelocity(vel);
  odrv19.setVelocity(-vel2);
}
// gets called when a message is received on the /settings topic
void flag_callback(const void *msgin)
{
  const std_msgs__msg__Float64 *msg = (const std_msgs__msg__Float64 *)msgin;

  if (msg->data == 0) // if the message is 0, set odrives to idle state (sort of estop?)
  {
    odrv16.setState(ODriveAxisState::AXIS_STATE_IDLE);
    odrv19.setState(ODriveAxisState::AXIS_STATE_IDLE);

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This is also the configuration that our odrives are based on. Its pretty standard but there could be something in there.

github.com

RIPLaboratoryUH/ODriveConfig/blob/main/odriveToolCommands


#These commands are meant to be run once the ODriveTool is launched in your command prompt. 
odrv0.erase_configuration()

#Run these blocks one chuck at at time
odrv0.reboot()

#Wait for reboot
odrv0.axis0.config.can.node_id = 16 #Change this!!!!
odrv0.config.dc_bus_overvoltage_trip_level = 35
odrv0.config.dc_bus_undervoltage_trip_level = 10.5
odrv0.config.dc_max_positive_current = 100
odrv0.config.dc_max_negative_current = float('-inf')
odrv0.axis0.config.motor.motor_type = MotorType.HIGH_CURRENT
odrv0.axis0.config.motor.pole_pairs = 7
odrv0.axis0.config.motor.torque_constant = 0.017595744680851063
odrv0.axis0.config.motor.current_soft_max = 80
odrv0.axis0.config.motor.current_hard_max = 100
odrv0.axis0.config.motor.calibration_current = 10
odrv0.axis0.config.motor.resistance_calib_max_voltage = 2

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I’m trying to figure out whether the problem is with message reception, CAN filtering, or something in the ODrive configuration that I’ve missed. Any insight would be appreciated.