Blue Robotics Tutorial: Controlling an ESC with an Arduino and a Potentiometer 

Hi Mantas, you can absolutely use connections like this in a real device. The connectors we chose here are all rated for the appropriate voltage and current so they don't have a big impact on the system performance.

Hii! Were you able to do a reverse function on through a regular ESC? How did you manage to do so via code without swapping 2 of 3 ESC to Motor connections? Thanks in advance.

@@hazzchah I used a bi-directional ESC. Look at the code and you will understand how it reverses direction. I believe it's not possible to do the same through regular ESC. Essentially when joystick is in the middle, it reads as 0. But when I start to move joystick up or down, throttle rotates, either clockwise or counterclockwise. Again look at the code... And good luck!

@@tomjoad1060 Thank you very much! I spent a whole day just trying to figure out how to reverse the direction via code without adding any additional circuitry or manually swapping 2 of the 3 phase junctions. I'll go find a bi-directional esc now. Thank you again.

Hi Adam, the reason is because the analog to digital converter (ADC) on the Arduino is a "10-bit ADC". 10 bits means it has 2^10 = 1024 possible readings. So, when reading a voltage between 0 to 5V, it maps that reading to one of those values from 0-1023, which is 1024 possible measurements. Google can probably tell you a lot more about the Arduino ADC!

@@BlueRobotics great that clears it up, thank you much!

Hi, you can use this technique with any ESC, but you'd have to change the code on the Arduino to start at 1100 and go up to 1900 microseconds signal. The example in this video is for bidirectional ESCs and starts at 1500 microseconds, going to 1100 and 1900 in each direction. Here's the written version as well: bluerobotics.com/learn/guide-for-controlling-the-basic-esc-with-a-potentiometer/

Hi Nick, that wouldn't give you any more precision here. If you want to test your EDFs precisely, we'd recommend adjusting the Arduino program to step up a bit at a time until it starts. That way you'll know exactly when it starts as well! If you're not comfortable with Arduino, that would be a great project to get started with. This page has some good examples to start from: makersportal.com/blog/2020/3/14/arduino-servo-motor-control

Hi David, this code already supports having the thruster run in forward and reverse. Note that you do have to have a speed controller (ESC) capable of doing that, and many of them are designed for just one direction. The "Basic ESC" we use here can do both.

Hi Mehmet, can you share the exact code you are using on our forums? I'm sure there's a reason, but it's hard to know without seeing the code. discuss.bluerobotics.com

Hi NightLeo, you can absolutely do this! Can't really say what's wrong without seeing you code and setup. If you make a post on our forums here, we'll be happy to help! discuss.bluerobotics.com/c/blue-robotics-products/escs/29

Hi Fred! This is easier to explain via email - please get in touch with our team at support@bluerobotics.com! Thanks!

This tutorial does both forward and reverse, but requires a speed controller that is compatible with that!

Hi there! We used 0-1023 as the input range because that is the range measured by the potentiometer with the analogRead function. We used 1100-1900 as the output range because that is the signal range that the ESC accepts as a valid signal. These values should work for the vast majority of ESCs!

Hi Milo, the ground connection is required to complete the circuit so that the Arduino can properly measure the signal. With a single wire, there wouldn't be any flow of electricity, just like any electrical circuit. You don't have to connect the 5v wire because that only provides power to each device and they are separately powered (ESC by battery and Arduino through USB port).

Hi there! It’s a 4S battery with a 230Wh capacity, and it doesn’t have a BMS (battery system management). Arduino boards have five options in which they can be powered: * Powering via USB connector * Powering via the onboard barrel jack connector (if available on the board) * Powering via the onboard battery connector (if available on the board) * Powering via the VIN (Voltage In) pin * Powering via the 3V3/5V pin* If you have other questions, please reach out to our team at support@bluerobotics.com!

Unfortunately, not. ESCs listen to "servo-style PWM signals" which is a short pulse that indicates the speed. Potentiometers just output an analog voltage that varies as you rotate the knob, but the ESCs typically won't take that as an input. The Arduino is just there to translate from the analog voltage to a PWM signal.

@@BlueRobotics oh now I get it! That really clears it up for me. So is there some way that maybe I can tap into the pwm signal on a small servo circuit board with the ESC 3 wire connector? Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. 🤙

Just use a simple "servo tester"....simple and cheap

@@TheWingnut58 yeah that's a good point. I wonder if that will work, using a servo tester as a potentiometer connected to the steering. That would be a heck of a lot easier and cheaper than messing with all that Arduino stuff

@@brsrc759 yes, it will absolutely work.....I've been into R/C 40+ years and have used servo testers on everything from micro servos all the way up to the giant scale stuff as well as for testing motor/ESC combinations on drones. You could use a large servo on the rudder and rig some sort of spring system to "self center" the servo tester as well as using one to controll the motor speed....

Hi, it should work continuously. Issues like this are typically from insufficient power that causes the voltage to drop and reset the Arduino. Are you powering from a battery?

You can use any digital pin to control a thruster speed controller with an Arduino using the Servo library, so it's quite a few! If you want the thrusters to all behave the same, then you can connect one signal to multiple speed controllers.

should be possible. the GPIO on a RasPi should be fast enough to handle firing a PWM signal to an ESC

Hi there, you can use a joystick that has the same type of analog output as a potentiometer, like this one: www.adafruit.com/product/512?gclid=CjwKCAjwuqiiBhBtEiwATgvixDMCx7IXv09zDqk0-3Tk3Z5XYOJqd3f1fsJoWF0q7Cb-WYmNeeP7PhoCTwUQAvD_BwE

Hi there, yes, that should work fine as well.

that should i change pwm value or the same?

@@ahmeddiab9778ytr It should result in the same PWM output value.

thank you 😊 i want ask you about something i made robot arm using bruchless motor but I can't know how to control it with arduino or another board

@@ahmeddiab9778ytr Cool! That's not something we're familiar with but I'm sure you can find some others online doing robotic arms with Arduinos!

Hi there! Please send us a message at sos@bluerobotics.com if you have any issues with your thrusters and we'd be happy to help you there!

Hi there, the library file "Servo.h" must start with a capital "S".

@@BlueRobotics C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino: In function 'void setup()': C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino:10:6: error: expected unqualified-id before '.' token Servo.attach(servoPin); ^ C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino:11:6: error: expected unqualified-id before '.' token Servo.writeMicroseconds(1500); ^ C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino:14:1: error: expected ';' before '}' token } ^ C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino: In function 'void loop()': C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino:17:27: error: 'potentiometerpin' was not declared in this scope int potVal = analogRead(potentiometerpin); ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino:17:27: note: suggested alternative: 'potentiometerPin' int potVal = analogRead(potentiometerpin); ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ potentiometerPin C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino:19:20: error: 'potval' was not declared in this scope int pwmval = map(potval,0, 1023, 1100, 1900); ^~~~~~ C:\Users\jakob\OneDrive\Dokumente\Arduino\sketch_oct11a\sketch_oct11a.ino:19:20: note: suggested alternative: 'potVal' int pwmval = map(potval,0, 1023, 1100, 1900); ^~~~~~ potVal exit status 1 Compilation error: expected unqualified-id before '.' token #include byte servoPin = 9; byte potentiometerPin = A0; Servo servo; void setup() { Servo.attach(servoPin); Servo.writeMicroseconds(1500); delay(7000) } void loop() { int potVal = analogRead(potentiometerpin); int pwmval = map(potval,0, 1023, 1100, 1900); servo.writeMicroseconds(pwmval); } weis nicht weiter