Bartman
Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
After reading countless threads and references to flashing firmware to ESC's I finally sat down and took the time to try it myself. What I have are HobbyKing Blue 12A ESC's
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...2A_BlueSeries_Brushless_Speed_Controller.html
and I used this tool
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=64417
and this USB adapter
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...Programming_Device_for_ATMEL_proccessors.html
along with the suite of software that is known as BLHeli
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/dx6kfaasyo24l/BLHeliSuite
If you're considering going down this path, be forewarned, it's another whole world of technical detail that you can explore until your heart's content. If you're happy with the routine of unwrap and solder when it comes to ESC's then maybe you should just stick with that.
But if terms like OneShot and Damped Light sound intriguing then maybe you should have a look.
There are a lot of variations like ATMEL vs. SILABS chipped ESC's and a whole slew of adapters to use to write the new firmware to the ESC's. The tools I used above are readily available and inexpensive. Before you start though you should know which ESC's you want to use along with which chips they have as that will determine which tools you need to do the flashing.
The big catch that slowed me down was the driver for the USB adapter, a USBASP tool. I unzipped the BLHeli suite to my harddrive but didn't bother trying to install the driver and overlooked the folder that unzipped with the BLHeli software that contained the USBASP driver.
Additionally, to install the driver you have to go through a series of steps that will allow Windows to install the driver because it doesn't have a valid certificate. So once you get the driver installed, the rest actually falls into place and is pretty straightforward.
Another catch is the placement of the tool over the ATMEL chip, the prongs on the chip and the contact points of the tool are very small so alignment is difficult to achieve until you get the hang of it. ONce you do though it's pretty easy to flash at will.
So, what is OneShot? OneShot is a communications protocol between the flight controller and the ESC's that synchronizes the commands from the flight controller with the operating frequency o the ESC's. With standard PWM ESC's, the flight control and ESC can be operating at different frequencies so their communications can be something more like a King Crimson track than a sophisticated electronic communication protocol. OneShot gets the flight control and the ESC's into the same frequency and phase so for every command sent to the ESC's, the ESC's are actually waiting for it and getting every command to turn into motor controls. The end result supposedly is that you can uptune your flight control to be a little more aggressive and the ESC's will take it in stride making your heli feel a little more dialed in.
Damped Light, on the other hand, is active braking of your motors throughout the throttle range. Usually as you reduce your throttle position the motors spool down based on the drag imparted on the props by airflow. ESC's with braking activated will stop the props but it won't usually activate until the throttle position is at idle. With Damped Light the ESC's apply braking as you reduce the throttle to the props will spool down as quickly as they spool up. Imagine you're a finely tuned multi-rotor FPV racer and you can't quite get your lap times down where you want them, with the Damped Light feature activated it's like getting a brake pedal installed in your FPV goggles that can be used to help decelerate going into a turn. It's another level of speed and agility control that unbraked props won't offer.
It's all very interesting and I'm anxious to complete my latest build so I can get this stuff out in the open air to see how it all works.
Feel free to discuss flashing ATMEL chipped ESC's in this thread and if necessary just start a new thread to discuss flashing firmware to the SILABS chipped ESC's.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...2A_BlueSeries_Brushless_Speed_Controller.html
and I used this tool
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=64417
and this USB adapter
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/...Programming_Device_for_ATMEL_proccessors.html
along with the suite of software that is known as BLHeli
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/dx6kfaasyo24l/BLHeliSuite
If you're considering going down this path, be forewarned, it's another whole world of technical detail that you can explore until your heart's content. If you're happy with the routine of unwrap and solder when it comes to ESC's then maybe you should just stick with that.
But if terms like OneShot and Damped Light sound intriguing then maybe you should have a look.
There are a lot of variations like ATMEL vs. SILABS chipped ESC's and a whole slew of adapters to use to write the new firmware to the ESC's. The tools I used above are readily available and inexpensive. Before you start though you should know which ESC's you want to use along with which chips they have as that will determine which tools you need to do the flashing.
The big catch that slowed me down was the driver for the USB adapter, a USBASP tool. I unzipped the BLHeli suite to my harddrive but didn't bother trying to install the driver and overlooked the folder that unzipped with the BLHeli software that contained the USBASP driver.
Additionally, to install the driver you have to go through a series of steps that will allow Windows to install the driver because it doesn't have a valid certificate. So once you get the driver installed, the rest actually falls into place and is pretty straightforward.
Another catch is the placement of the tool over the ATMEL chip, the prongs on the chip and the contact points of the tool are very small so alignment is difficult to achieve until you get the hang of it. ONce you do though it's pretty easy to flash at will.
So, what is OneShot? OneShot is a communications protocol between the flight controller and the ESC's that synchronizes the commands from the flight controller with the operating frequency o the ESC's. With standard PWM ESC's, the flight control and ESC can be operating at different frequencies so their communications can be something more like a King Crimson track than a sophisticated electronic communication protocol. OneShot gets the flight control and the ESC's into the same frequency and phase so for every command sent to the ESC's, the ESC's are actually waiting for it and getting every command to turn into motor controls. The end result supposedly is that you can uptune your flight control to be a little more aggressive and the ESC's will take it in stride making your heli feel a little more dialed in.
Damped Light, on the other hand, is active braking of your motors throughout the throttle range. Usually as you reduce your throttle position the motors spool down based on the drag imparted on the props by airflow. ESC's with braking activated will stop the props but it won't usually activate until the throttle position is at idle. With Damped Light the ESC's apply braking as you reduce the throttle to the props will spool down as quickly as they spool up. Imagine you're a finely tuned multi-rotor FPV racer and you can't quite get your lap times down where you want them, with the Damped Light feature activated it's like getting a brake pedal installed in your FPV goggles that can be used to help decelerate going into a turn. It's another level of speed and agility control that unbraked props won't offer.
It's all very interesting and I'm anxious to complete my latest build so I can get this stuff out in the open air to see how it all works.
Feel free to discuss flashing ATMEL chipped ESC's in this thread and if necessary just start a new thread to discuss flashing firmware to the SILABS chipped ESC's.