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Hobbyking 261000002 ESC - flashing alternate firmware

Fig 1:
 

Fig 1 shows a Hobbyking 261000002 ESC (from Hobbyking).

Fig 2:
 

Fig 2 shows the Hobbyking 261000001 ESC with shrink removed and a temporary ISP connection made. There is a handy ISP adapter for TFQP32 packages, but this one is the smaller MLF package.

The temporary ISP connection has been made to the GND (white) and Vcc (black) at lower left, and /RST (blue), SCK (yellow), MISO (red), MOSI (green), along the top of the board.

Once a bootloader is installed, and fuses and lock bits set correctly, the ISP connection can be removed and future flash and EEPROM updates done via the servo connector using a Turnigy USBLinker.

Fig 3:
 

 

Fig 3 shows the ESC with the BEMF filter caps removed, necessary for wii-esc, (two above the ATMEGA8A and one to the middle left of the chip). The caps in this board are delta connected to the sense voltage divider.

The appropriate tgy and wii-esc firmware file is bs.hex. tgy bs.hex with bootloader loaded 26/06/2013 (boot not locked).

The ESC was tested with a NTM1312-2400 outrunner by Hobbykink and it seemed to work fine. The motor gets quite hot at full power which appears normal, the FETs on the ESC did not get hot.

Stock vs wii-esc

On a 12.6V power supply and loaded with a 5043 two blade propeller, the motor speed was 10,500rpm (2.8A, 35.3W) with the stock firmware and 12,200rpm with the wii-esc v2.1 firmware (3.2A, 40.3W). Power input to the propeller increases approximately with the cube of rotational speed, so the power output of the motor / ESC increased by about 56% whereas power input increased from 35.3W to 40.3W (14.2%), system efficiency improved markedly.

This might seem a small motor to test a 10A ESC, but the 6A version of this series of ESC does not start the motor reliably whereas the stock firmware and wii-esc do start it reliably and can bot slow the motor to about 1,000rpm reliably.

No warranty

Advice (or a warning) to those who might try to replace the firmware on an ESC. Most FW comes with no warranty, and typically the OEM firmware is read protected so you cannot save and restore it. In most cases, changing the firmware may terminate any seller's warranty.

In making hardware or firmware modifications, you may damage the ESC, or the model may fail and cause consequential damage.

The author gives no warranty and makes no representations about the suitability of this technique or any particular products for the end user, or the accuracy of the article content, they must inform themselves and make their own judgment aware that there are risks. If you are not competent to do these things, don't do them!

Products

The article should not be seen as a recommendation or endorsement of any products.

The products shown in this article are from Hobbyking who manufacture products under a range of brand names, possibly creating an illusion of competition. Their products tend to be low in cost and low in quality, products are not good value when you have to throw a proportion of them in the rubbish because the cost of returning them exceeds the value of the replacement which is only available after excessive delay, many follow ups and haggling. If you see the claim [o]ther stores will force you to ship the product back to China in full retail packaging every time! Hobbyking's warranty service is professional, fair and fast, don't believe it, it doesn't work that way in my experience... I get better service from most eBay sellers!

Links

Changes

Version Date Description
1.01 15/05/2013 Initial.
1.02    
1.03    

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