AutoQuad Forum

I'm planning building a test rig for different motors and propellers. I need to measure current, motor RPM, voltage and thrust in real time. Thrust is measured with a load cell connected to an Arduino board but I was thinking what would be an easy way to measure the rest. Sure measuring voltage and current are easy with Arduino and few external components, but RPM is a bit trickier. Then it occured to me ESC32 has all these measurements built in! But how to get them out?

I remember reading the ESC32 telemetry is sent via CAN bus. Is there any other (easy) way to access it? If not, any pointers on how to read the CAN data?

I made such a tool with an arduino due and a small PC app with CLI for the arduino due.
If you are interested in the details, I can send them to you. It took me quite a while to get it right.

Best
Christof

Yes, I have a similar problem. All the measurements you mentioned exist internally in ESC32 (except thrust of course), but how to get them out? I'm primarily interested in a fast measurement of commanded RPM to actual RPM.
What would be an easy way to measure this with a decent sample rate (at least 200Hz)? Thanks!

The binary protocol of ESCC32 should allow you to read at up to 1000Hz.

Best
Christof

Hi, is there an example for the binary protocol to do this?
Where can I find some documentation about this?
Thanks

Hi Ray

Yes these where the first steps.
Here is the final linear machine:

Cheers
Christof

Hello guys!,

I am working on a twin propeller arm, i have to design a control systems that rotates and maintains the arm pivoted in the middle to a desired angle.

Controller: Arduino DUE
ESC: ESC32 from AutoQUAD (Power selected to Vb)
Angle: IMU 9DOF from Spark Fun

When interfacing the ESC32 with QGroundControl and a FTDI cable a can read de ESC32 Parameters, Tune it, start it etc... it seems to work.

With the Arduino DUE a could interface another ESC ("Afro ESC 30A") even with 3.3 V (servo library), nevertheless the ESC32 does not react to the PPM signal even with a level shifter to 5.0 V. According to QGroundControl, following values are shown:
-Min Valid PWM: 750
-Max Valid PWM: 2250
-Min Throtle: 1100
-Max Throtle: 1950
-Motor Start: 1100

What i am doing: I initialize the system and send a PWM of 1000 to the ESC32, i would expect the ESC32 recognizes this signal as a valid signal and should arm, but this is not happen, the red led continius blinking.

Someboy any Idea?