I've spent all morning reading posts about this. I have (at least:) one point of confusion:
Posts I've read instruct to power the Arduino from the BEC supply of the ESC.
Other posts say to make sure the Arduino is running and outputting a signal to the ESC before the ESC gets powered up.
Are those not contradictory ?
Really trying to decide if it's going to be worth it... Unfortunate the only affordable ESC's are R/C specific...
Thanks for any clarification.
-Mark M.
It certainly sounds contradictory.
I have found that a 4k7 resistor between gnd and the signal pin keeps a servo quiet until the Arduino has booted up and taken control. Maybe it would work with an ESC.
Perhaps you could power the Arduino directly from the motor batteries. Maybe you would need to use something like a 7805 voltage regulator (very cheap) if the battery voltage is too high for the Arduino input.
...R
The setup may not matter as the ESC should not output to the motor until it is properly "armed".
I haven't set this up yet but I've bought 5 motors and getting ready to buy 5 esc's. I'm going to be powering these systems off of some hefty wall-wart supplies, at 7.2V, I don't know what the BECs will do, will I have problems with low voltage detection etc.
It's so odd in a way that these little controllers have so many features not needed for robotics, and the only ones that are more straightforward cost hundreds of dollars. Seems like someone should be jumping in by now with a low cost no-frills basic brushless ESC board. Tempting...
You mean open-bldc.org?
Yep, thanks for the link. Wonder when that will be ready.