ESC protocols explained for beginners (PWM, OneShot, DSHOT, calibrating!)

My video on what an ESC does: • RC Basics - Understand...
My series on R/C basics: • Electronic Basics for ...
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[@sarahdaviscc]

This is sooo useful. It's the first time I've seen all of this explained in one place.

[@beefybeef1326]

Lee the Legend!. So kind of you to share your knowledge with these brilliant videos

[@robaxelsson530]

Started with quads, building my first fixed wing. Discovering some differences.. this cleared up some questions .. thank you!

[@MCsCreations]

Thanks a bunch for all the info, Lee! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@jatag100]

Thank you, this was just the information I was looking for on my diy drone flight computer.

[@elouiseeverett3986]

Very helpful! Thanks so much for making complex topics easy to understand.

[@XobyOne]

I love your videos brother thank you so much you are catching me up. I wanted to share something with you that might crack you up.... so, i cant follow you and hook things up as fast as you are showing us how to do something. So i always put you on playback speed of .5 and you always sound like your Hammered at that speed thanks again brother.

[@rickm1283]

Well, that clears up a lot. Thanks Lee! Love the video.

[@TobiKellner]

Thank you, very helpful! I feel my question must have been one of those prompting you to make this video! Now I need to look into if/how Ardupilot supports the two-way communication aspect of DShot...

[@thirtythreeeyes8624]

I got into arducopter a couple months ago and it does support bidirectional Dshot while selecting the target when flashing choose the version with "-bdshot" after the name of the FC then you need to set a couple parameters for it. The info is found on the wiki and it wasn't too bad took me maybe a half hour to figure it all out for the first time. Not sure if it's supported on arduplane though as I haven't used it. Edit: I will say using ESC telemetry threw a UART on a blheli32 esc is the simpler option but, if you're using a cheaper blheli_s esc that's not an option.

[@TobiKellner]

@@thirtythreeeyes8624, thank you! Do you know what parameters are reported back to ArduCopter?

[@Painless360]

Be aware that not all Ardupilot flight controller hardware supports DShot... Video coming soon

[@TobiKellner]

@@Painless360, thanks for that! I have a Cube Orange, so I hope/think that it is compatible. But there was something about using the aux ports... Yes, a video on this would be great!!

[@Painless360]

Cube will run evertthing.... Happy flying

[@Prevettspecialdesign]

Nice video thank you very much, would be nice to have a follow up video where you can show us some of the esc that you use and why.

[@Painless360]

Please see the build series where I cover all of the pieces I use and why.. It changes all the time as new stuff comes out but there are a few vendors I trust..

[@Prevettspecialdesign]

@@Painless360 Thank you for the reply 🙏

[@armadynepan9571]

Excellent video as always! Thank you!

[@robelgembre2241]

GOAT, JUST AN ABSLOUTE GOAT

[@gregorydahl]

I was occasionally using a method where i would leave everything like it was or buy a semi complete model or occasionally try clicking in betaflight either what another drone might have used or try a selection . If i would have noted which one it was i could check notes to see if the one getting hot motors breaking was the one i did something to . Then i put it in box .

[@JoeSmith-el9yt]

Been waiting for this one!

[@aviatoFPV]

Another tip for blueJ esc users, don't put them in bidirectional mode, it doesn't mean bidirectional dshot. It means when your throttle goes above 50 procent the motors change direction. Haven't been able to fly for 2 months trying to figure out my mistake :')

[@Teb-yh5zd]

excellent video, I learned a lot. I am setting up my old Atom 122 with Kakute F7 and Lumenier Kiss 18Amp esc. This was only flown a few batteries a number of years ago, but Im back in the hobby. The only way I can get the motors to do anything is PWM in the motors tab and 480 motor frequency. When I arm the quad, motors work the way they should for about 5 seconds then start to ramp up on their own to full throttle. What do I do or how should they be set up in motors, please help.

[@Painless360]

Most pilots will use DShot 150, 300 or 600 these days. If you are using PWM then you will need to calibrate them. I assume you are seeing them speed up while on the bench - this is normal as the FC doesn't get to 'feel' the movement that a change in speed should produce. Happy flying!

[@Teb-yh5zd]

Thank you for the quick reply. I tried every motor setting Betaflight 4.4 has and PWM the only one that would spin the motors. @@Painless360

[@Painless360]

Checking the specs for that ESC, it supports 50-500 Hz input signal (PWM) or oneshot125 (up to 2000 Hz). Best of luck

[@rokasbarasa1]

Very useful. Thank you.

[@tanerefekarabas]

Thx for the video ı leatned lot things from you

[@Nugget-FPV]

This video is excellent! I have a question though, I’ve got a 4 in 1 esc (speedybee 35a running bluejay) where 3 of the 4 ESCs still work. I want to use this on a boat without a flight controller. I have a 6ch ELRS PWM receiver and I was wondering if I can connect the PWM signal wire from the receiver directly to the motor control pad on the ESC? Do I need to configure the ESC to accept PWM first or change the protocol on the receiver side? Thanks

[@Painless360]

Powering an ESC without a motor on the outputs is not a good things to do. So, using one of the working ESCs and leaving the other two not connected to a motor could damage them too. I'd bite the bullet and get a cheap single ESC that can reverse for that kind of model... Best of luck!

[@Nugget-FPV]

@@Painless360 Thanks for your reply

[@Nugget-FPV]

⁠@@Painless360 hi, I bought the second ESC now. To clarify I’m making a catamaran airboat with two parallel hulls and a motor on each hull. The way I had it before (without an FC) had the mixing of the motors done in my transmitter however I’m a bit confused about the mixing on INAV. What I’m trying to achieve is that the throttle will control the throttle on both motors, and the yaw will control the difference in throttle between the two motors. For example, if I’m on 50% throttle, and my yaw is all the way to the right, the right motor will turn off and the left motor will stay at 50% throttle. Apologies if I’ve worded it confusingly. Overall, I would like the throttle on each of the motors to be subtracted by the yaw output. In INav, would I need to configure a logic rule in the programming tab in order to do this or will it just work in the motor mixer section? Thank you so much

[@Painless360]

You can mix the yaw into the throttle outputs. See how it is done for differential thrust in twin motor planes... Best of luck!

[@Nugget-FPV]

@@Painless360 I did exactly that and it works perfectly. Thank you so much

[@husseinsleiman6119]

Thank for this valuable information! Would you please refer me where I can find documentation or steps to configure the ESC dshot type logging rpm data (arducopter)? Another question; based on your experience, does the rpm data coming from the ESC is accurately measured? Could you please recommend which ESC currently in the market I can buy to get such data? This will help me alot not wasting time trying many things. Appreciate your help and your content is very helpful so thank you!

[@Painless360]

ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-esc-telemetry.html is the place to start! Loads of fab detail in the docs!

[@husseinsleiman6119]

@@Painless360 Thanks alot! appreciate your guidance

[@witneydiggersrc3251]

Great video. For bench testing purposes, do you have to use a esc to provide the 5v to power a receiver, or can you use a bench top power supply set a 5v

[@Painless360]

Anything that provides a steady 5v with enough current capacity can be used... Happy flying

[@altermannfliegt3927]

Thanks a lot 👍 Can I use a multirotor esc without a flight controller on a fixed wing airplane?

[@Painless360]

Yes, AtomRC use them in models like the Dolphin... Happy flying

[@RobertSmith-wj7zf]

Another great video, thanks! I’m only a few months into the quad copter hobby. Starting small with building my own quads with future intentions of heavy lift hex and octo copters. Right now I can’t even get my S500 Pixhawk 2.4.8 quad to auto tune. I’m using DShot600 ESC’s with 920Kv motors (thinking lower kv for heavy lift). Anyways, I am getting all kinds of advice on the ArduPilot forum about running test flights in Alt Hold, analyzing logs, and tweaking myriad parameters before I can even begin to Auto Tune. But you didn’t do any of that in your “Pixhawk/Mission Planner ArduCopter Build for Beginners” video series. My Pixhawk won’t even switch into Auto Tune but will switch into other flight modes. What the heck am I doing wrong?

[@Painless360]

See my recent Ardupilot build series for how I set it up. Best of luck

[@sgilb9471]

I don't think it was really made clear, but: IF you are flying a fixed-wing airplane without a flight controller, then you won't have any choice: You will be using PWM, because that is the only output signal your receiver can put out. (at least this is true of every receiver I've ever seen). Only when you introduce a flight controller does the question of ESC protocols come into play.

[@Painless360]

Yep, but if you are looking at things like SBUS and others, then you're already in that world.. That is when this video helps. Happy flying

[@kieren7763]

I use the multi rotor esc's on my micros I find they work well with anything with a small shaft 1.5 to 2mm the issue is the external bec the wiring can be abit heavy for smaller models sometimes and its usually lighter to go with a fixed wing esc I use fpv so I need the external bec anyway they are dirt cheap though

[@youngmangoingwest]

Thanks Lee! How do I tell what protocols my ESC supports? More to the point - if I plug in the iNav configurator will it be able to determine that, or will it let me screw up and pick a protocol not supported?

[@Painless360]

First port of call is the manual for it. Second is to try it with DShot150 and see if you can control the ESC from the INAV interface and then try DShot300 etc.. Best of luck!

[@anthonykelly8668]

You = Brilliant! Many thanks for another truly helpful video. So assuming that a Sonic Model 40A ESC can run DShot 150, is it OK to set a motor brake by checking 'stop motors on low throttle' in iNav? Are there any other ESC tweaks for FW models?

[@Painless360]

Brake is set in the ESC, not in INAV.

[@anthonykelly8668]

@@Painless360 So the brake is set independent of the FC? Do we go back to analog ESC mode to do that?

[@Painless360]

Brake is set via BLHeli for modern flight controllers connected to Dshot controlled ESCs... Happy flying

[@nevillecreativitymentor]

EYE-OPENER ... ESC's were an alien thing for me ... welll now with this video its in the Solar System ... LOL. Cheers and thank you.

[@PhilippDT]

Hey i realy helpfull thanks. My question is.when i turn my Transmitter off, the Motor gos to full Power. How can i fix this on my tx12?

[@Painless360]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZmqgZZ5oNGtm6s

[@jvalovcik]

Does all quad motors work with different Esc protocols. How do you know what motor will work with what Esc protocol settings. Like (Standard, Oneshot, DShot)

[@Painless360]

It's in the specs for the ESCs you have. Or, trial and error. Happy flying

[@jvalovcik]

Thank you I appreciate all the hard work you put into your videos they really do help all of us who don’t have anyone else who flys FPV Wings or Quads so we can ask questions or help.

[@socks_in_rocks3259]

Does the settings in blheli_32 like timing 16-RPM and stuff like that give me an advantage with tge AR Wing PRO?

[@Painless360]

You can try it and see. I don't play with ESCs in fixed wing... Best of luck

[@emmanuelsab1095]

thanks for the video, very helpfull, can yoiu make a review of the software used to configure ESC?

[@Painless360]

Thanks for the idea. What kinds of things are you looking for?

[@emmanuelsab1095]

@@Painless360I mainly use esc under blheli, I know blheli suite and the other whose name I forgot, which are quite old software. maybe there are other more recent software to configure these esc. But we get a little lost with the firmwares, which ones to choose? as for the various parameters, including of course the Dshot, they are not obvious to well mastered, except the brake whose use is obvious

[@BULPIN847]

I got me a 4 in 1 boxer, And i've got me a 1600 phoenix sail plane. I plan on eventually going ful autonomous e.L.R s. Will my boxer support e l r s as is. Right now I just want to fly line of sight. Can you Recommend a receiver. Plug in play with my 4 in 1 boxer where I can just fly line of sight for now. Telemetry would be nice. 5 or 6 Chanel. Thanks for the great videos. I live in the open desert off grid near las vegas. dry lake, mountains open desert is great for long distance. experimentation. Forty miles line of sight. If you're ever. In las vegas shoot me a reply and come over and fly. Once again thanks for the great work. On the map, dry lake 15 miles southwest of pahrump Nevada. In between. Tacopa road and Pahrump that whole valley. Thanks Dave.

[@Painless360]

Boxer might be ELRS already. If not, then you can add a Ranger module into the back. If you want ELRS PWM recievers, then check out kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4W8fIafosaYpbM

[@jlacleveland]

Thanks for this video

[@fklotaloi]

Uploader, Any video of u explaining which ESC to choose like in FPV BLheli or BLheli S or 32 etc??? Thanks.

[@Painless360]

Depends on what you want to use them for. BLHeli_S is the open source alternative to BLHeli32. The latest firmware for ESCs that is getting a lot of love is Bluejay... Happy flying

[@osmo1901]

Does apm directly suppor blheli dshot, over normal pwm ports of apm

[@Painless360]

The support for the old 8 bit APM was retired years before digital ESC protocols became a thing, so I wouldn't expect so... Happy flying

[@RespectMatrix]

Hello brother. I just joined on this Hobby. I have Omnibus F4 V3S Plus Flight controller. And 30A BLDC Esc. They are PWM Protocol. The problem i am facing is that Esc aren't Connecting to The flight controller even though the wiring is right. And flight controller is good the transmitter is connected to FC.

[@Painless360]

Make sure you have seiected the right ESC protocol in the software too. See my various builds aimed at beginners... Best of luck

[@MrLunithy]

I've got old Afro 30amp ESC's that are Simon k will they work with the latest FC's?. I have a dalrc f405 the old Naze32 gen 5 from timecop have died.

[@Painless360]

They will but probably only using PWM... Happy flying

[@MrLunithy]

@@Painless360 Thank you .

[@jwc4520]

I watch because ...well my memory is evidently being rebooted. I thank you for these reminders . Although it is doubtful i shall fly anything , the why of this is all the new rules , the FAA stealing my lifetime hobby away. Not above flying a quad about the neighborhood although many were built several years ago, and are large ... have special lighting heavy batteries , coming in at 1 to 3 killos . 250 gram models are just too easy to lose . Taken to 3 D printing in bright colors and strobes still lose them ...oh well, you take care.

[@Painless360]

With a GPS on a smaller model (and a lost model alarm) smaller models are a lot harder to lose :D

[@fklotaloi]

Hi , What is PPM proto if u can explain pls n thanks.

[@Painless360]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bInGY6pteLpsq7c Happy flying