Open source ESC and firmware

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Alka

You convinced me to get up off the couch ( off work on medical right now) I went out and did a quick little video of the revolver. The kids are at school so I have no cameraman and the controller is a dual stick ( air craft) so it took me a few minutes to cobble together a little mount for the phone for a tripod. The controller is really hard to modulate on the low end with the sticks. A good radio with expo would be nice here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhMLIHtQlAo

I listened without sound so I can't hear the motor, but that creep speed is really impressive! Nice work.

[Alka]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I listened without sound so I can't hear the motor, but that creep speed is really impressive! Nice work.

I will keep going with it . Give it another shot when you have a chance and crank that volume way up. You can audibly hear when it goes from sinusoidal to 6 step but it's not a horrible sound.

[antikas]

Originally Posted by Alka

The controller is really hard to modulate on the low end with the sticks. A good radio with expo would be nice here.

Another option is to add expo/curve feature to firmware.

[Alka]

Originally Posted by antikas

Another option is to add expo/curve feature to firmware.

That's a good idea, I have kept it linear and have relied on the controller so far but on some of mine the expo almost makes it worse. I think doing it on the ESC side would be handy too.

[antikas]

I had the same experience with expo - didn't feel good at all.

For my setup I ended up using a linear curve where the first half of throttle goes from 0% to 15% and second half goes from 15% to 100%

[Voodoobrew]

Your work is more amazing then you know. Not only are you making out-runners quiet giving us silent folks a new better motor to play with, but your giving the big names ideas and competition if you make the DIY a feasible option! Obviously being able to usb program it with a little GUI on USB would be perfect but for now EVEN some tutorials or enough documentation to help others start on some tutorials is where it all starts.

I'm a 3d printer guy and just upgraded my motherboard to a BTT SKR1.4 turbo and had to configure the marlin software. There is no way I could have done it on my own with out youtube. 10 years ago this was all unheard of. It doesn't need to be fast progress, Just getting the ball rolling is a big deal in my eyes!

Is this all similar to Arduino? I been trying to learn that on the side for my kiddo's ride on. So far I have just told it mix some analog and PWM inputs then convert that to a pwm out to control an esc, but I been looking at getting some H-bridges to power some motors directly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6YyW9POq9M my videos are even worser then yours :P

[23drumerboy]

Originally Posted by Alka

Hi ,

In case there are some people who like diy electronics. Here is a cheap brushless speed controller I made that works decently well at low rpms for crawlers. There is also firmware that is open source, also has car modes and quad modes. Here is a little video of it with a 17 dollar brushless 3650 inrunner on a hgp402. Cost of the ESC in parts is about 10 dollars.
I started it because good speed controllers cost too much for me but I still wanted drag brake and good low control for sensorless motors. Plus I can't stand speed controllers that put out audible pwm frequency. I like to just hear the gears clacking!
https://youtu.be/grsFjtRrNT4

EDIT added brushed mode : Will be pushed to GITHUB here https://github.com/conuthead/f051bld...rsion2Sept2019

By "audible pwm freq." Do u mean, what i hear after i video crawling shots of my trx4, and i hear (especially in slow-mo) this whining sound that increases in speed with throttle input, and i can hear it before the motor actually turns??

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[ECT]

The fact you made an outrunner sound like that is amazing. Keep up the great work.. way above my head here!

[Alka]

Hey thanks, guys, I still work on this stuff all the time.
The firmware has some flaws still, its not going to work perfectly on all motors, there are limits of what can be done with this type of hardware but for some of the HH revolvers it works very well. I use a 1000kv and 1400kv in a couple of my rigs. I am not sure what type of performance you will get with the stubby revolver.
As far as i am concerned this is only the beginning ! Lots of new things on the horizon too.

23drummerboy, that's exactly what I mean by audible pwm frequency. It sure gets on my nerves. Some people it doesn't bother so much.

[23drumerboy]

Originally Posted by Alka

Hey thanks, guys, I still work on this stuff all the time.
The firmware has some flaws still, its not going to work perfectly on all motors, there are limits of what can be done with this type of hardware but for some of the HH revolvers it works very well. I use a 1000kv and 1400kv in a couple of my rigs. I am not sure what type of performance you will get with the stubby revolver.
As far as i am concerned this is only the beginning ! Lots of new things on the horizon too.

23drummerboy, that's exactly what I mean by audible pwm frequency. It sure gets on my nerves. Some people it doesn't bother so much.

Awesome! Glad i finally found the name for phenomena! Lol! I seem to only be able to hear it when recorded, not so much (still, sometimes i do, though) when just crawling about with a naked ear, so to speak. But i definitely agree its obnoxious in videos!

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[Voodoobrew]

Been testing this out and while its not yet in a phase where everyone can jump on board, it's working!
I mean anyone can jump onboard its open source on git-hub, but its still not end-user friendly.
I have to say I watched a video posted by Durok

Originally Posted by durok

From a completely uneducated standpoint, I can say my CC Mamba X ESC / Holmes Revolver 1800kv sensorless brushless motor combo will crawl at such a slow speed that I can watch the motor rotate incredibly slowly.

It's an outrunner, which means I can see the outside of the motor housing spin while driving my Bomber (which has no interior).

Here's someone's YouTube video where you can see what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNoPTKE6mCw

I have a Mamba X and a Micro Mamba X but I never hooked this revolver up to them to try and tune it for lower startup speeds. But judging from his video there isn't much point, this blows it out of the water.
Well as far as low end smoothness any ways, This ESC doesn't have a bec or some other fancy features like an aux wire, but because this firmware is open source it can go on an ESC with better hardware for pretty cheap I'm sure.

The ESC I am using was made for drones its a tiny little thing that had a junky voltage regulator and only handles 4s where people like their drones on 6s. I don't know the exact cost but pretty cheap, and I don't even know how to purchase one, I just got it as a test sample. But my guess is that the smooth start is not based off of hardware, just different firmware.


There are a few more videos of it on my Youtube channel Youtube channel

[soze]

That's freaking awesome. JRH just posted on Instagram as well. Really looking forward to the fruits of Alka's labor!

[stimpy]

That is incredible

Been following this thread with interest, well done Alka for getting tis truly rolling

Originally Posted by Voodoobrew

Been testing this out and while its not yet in a phase where everyone can jump on board, it's working!
I mean anyone can jump onboard its open source on git-hub, but its still not end-user friendly.
I have to say I watched a video posted by Durok


I have a Mamba X and a Micro Mamba X but I never hooked this revolver up to them to try and tune it for lower startup speeds. But judging from his video there isn't much point, this blows it out of the water.
Well as far as low end smoothness any ways, This ESC doesn't have a bec or some other fancy features like an aux wire, but because this firmware is open source it can go on an ESC with better hardware for pretty cheap I'm sure.

The ESC I am using was made for drones its a tiny little thing that had a junky voltage regulator and only handles 4s where people like their drones on 6s. I don't know the exact cost but pretty cheap, and I don't even know how to purchase one, I just got it as a test sample. But my guess is that the smooth start is not based off of hardware, just different firmware.


There are a few more videos of it on my Youtube channel Youtube channel

[Voodoobrew]

To be fair, this setup lacks some bells and whistles. I have only tested it with this motor. It's checking all of my boxes which I focus on 4s, slow, quiet, and downhill avtive brakes. As far as punh and speed go, these are not my concern. I usualy run a 2200kv motor an this 1400kv is obviously slower, so I can't make statements about that. And my rigs are usualy geard lower then most at around 100:1 so even a $10 sealed can motor has punch with that reduction. I have some parts on order that can be purchased from almost any Drone store. If I can get that up and running I will share the info on how it can be done. I expect it to take a month for everything to arrive and get sorted.

Because of the nature of diffrent esc pcb configurations my instructions will be specific to that esc, if you try it with different hardware your results may vary.


__________________________
Handy gearing spreadsheet

[Voodoobrew]

Still waiting on my Wraith ESC's to get here but some one made a tutorial that might help the more adventurous get started, its in Chinese but google translate worked great on it. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/5nuMj8e8pbXt10X-Rbva0A
As stated at the end of the file a big limitation at the moment is documentation and drivers for each of the individual ESC's. While most ESC work on the same basic hardware, there is variance in configurations.

[meatmonkey]

This is all way above my head. I can barely get desired results with Castelink. BUT, if you can get a revolver to startup without that awful spaceshippy sound your going to make a ton of people happy. I really like the idea of smooth startup without a sensor wire, and the incredible torque density offered, but I can't stand that sound!

So please keep plugging away to make silent revolvers a reality. Your work does not go unnoticed, it's just that most of use are clueless as far as board nomenclature and programming speak goes.

Thank you for sharing your developments with us mere unprogrammable mortals.

[Voodoobrew]

I'm not doing the coding I'm just a user same as you. I have a little experience with Arduino from making my PowerWheels remote control. Fortunately this is not much different.

[pcgab]

This is fantastic work, so stoked to see this progress!

[JohnRobHolmes]

The hardware is certainly the limiter on closed loop startup routines. The open loop stepping can run slower than what this esc will handle closed loop, but open loop will start skipping steps under load unless its perfectly tuned to the motor and has some amp feedback. I'm gonna cheat and add sensor input on my hardware

[cartronicshn]

i just stumbled onto this thread, but holy crap, this looks awesome