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Small Brushless Motor Controller — Parallax Forums

Small Brushless Motor Controller

macrobeakmacrobeak Posts: 354
edited 2015-05-13 22:30 in Accessories
I have been working with small brushless motors, but I have been frustrated by the RC type ESC's. Although these RC type ESC's are cheap, efficient and reliable I find the documentation dreadful and the programming a nightmare. Forward/reverse RC type ESC's are also relatively scarce.
I have found this low power 3 phase inverter controller quite stable, robust and easy to use;
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/331257392856?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=107&chn=ps
It has simple direction and speed control. Clearly it is more expensive than RC type ESC's and is rather too large and heavy for a flight ESC but I find it easier to use for stationery applications involving small brushed motors.

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2015-05-13 19:31
    I've been using Afro ESCs obtained from http://www.bluerobotics.com for use with their thrusters. They appear to be pretty much bomb-proof. HobbyKing sells them, too, but BlueRobotics may have reprogrammed them to make them reversible. It's not clear that the ones sold by HobbyKing are.

    -Phil
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    edited 2015-05-13 22:30
    macrobeak wrote: »
    Although these RC type ESC's are cheap, efficient and reliable I find the documentation dreadful and the programming a nightmare.

    In case you're not aware, the Propeller can be used to reprogram many ESCs (the same sort of programming done with a programming card). Just change the constants in the code posted in post #114 of this thread.

    http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/154854-Open-Propeller-Project-4-Program-our-ESCs-with-a-Propeller?p=1283727&viewfull=1#post1283727

    The Propeller will program the ESC with the values of the constants.

    For a serial interface with the ESC you could use the program attached to post #113.

    I've been tempted to connect a couple ESC lines to a DPDT relay to make it reversible. Swapping two of the three lines from the ESC should reverse a brushless motor.
  • macrobeakmacrobeak Posts: 354
    On my initial post above I noted that bi-direction brushless ESC's were relatively rare. They are also mostly heavy-duty and expensive because they are usually made for remote model cars, which are usually fast and quite heavy.
    Phil noted above that standard ESC's can be reprogrammed to be bidirectional. The hacks to achieve this are open source and quite common, but very technical.
    I have been experimenting with a common EMax BLHeli ESC and the EMax Program card. I have found that the ESC can be programmed quite easily to be bidirectional, and it works very smoothly and robustly.
    This is great news and it means that small bi-directional brushless motors can easily be used for land wheeled robots and water robot thrusters!
  • Duane DegnDuane Degn Posts: 10,588
    macrobeak wrote: »
    I have been experimenting with a common EMax BLHeli ESC and the EMax Program card. I have found that the ESC can be programmed quite easily to be bidirectional, and it works very smoothly and robustly.
    This is great news and it means that small bi-directional brushless motors can easily be used for land wheeled robots and water robot thrusters!

    Very cool!

    Thanks for the information.

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