Brushless DC help

[Iawia]

How to hook up a brushless dc motor (12v)? It has three wires. I purchased an ESC which has the corresponding 3 phases. The ESC also has 2 leads for a battery, and a three wire bundle for the signal and BEC (batt elimination circuit). Do I have to have a reciever or can I control this motor direct from an arduino uno???

-t

 

[audioguru]

A brushless motor for radio control has its speed set with Pulse Width Modulation.

 

[jpanhalt]

You need an RC receiver and transmitter or a circuit to simulate the servo signal. There are dozens of such circuits on the web. First, do you want to use a microcontroller or discrete devices? If the latter, then many (butnot all) use the 555 chip. Here is one of the more complicated circuits:
**broken link removed**

There are versions based on a single 555 too.

John

 

[Iawia]

Hi John,

I will go to the shop and pick up a reciever. Do I also need to purchase a transmitter? I have an arduino that will be sending out the signals and acting as the microcontroller. I am just trying to make the brushless DC motor turn back and forth and have very few constraints at this time.

Thanks for your input.

 

[jpanhalt]

Hi John,

I will go to the shop and pick up a reciever. Do I also need to purchase a transmitter?

Yes, you need a transmitter, if you take that approach. That would be quite wasteful, if that is the only reason you get the transmitter. I would suggest instead building one of the 555-based servo drivers. At a minimum, it is good practice, and if you get into RC or robotics, they are invaluable for setting up servos.

With an ESC, it is hard to see what the driver is doing, unless you have an oscilloscope. So, for a few dollars more, get the cheapest servo the shop has. You can use that to be sure your servo driver is working. If you can find an older modeler, most of us have many used servos that we will never use. Some are new, but not of the quality we want. I give them away. Ask a shop where the modelers are and then make contact. If you were in Cleveland or nearby, I would give you one.

In summary, make a servo driver and test it with a cheap servo. Then use that to drive your esc.

Edit: Oh, I see you are in San Diego. That is a hot bed of RC activity. Definitely, ask the shop about a local club and make contact.

John

 

[Iawia]

Yes, you need a transmitter, if you take that approach. That would be quite wasteful, if that is the only reason you get the transmitter. I would suggest instead building one of the 555-based servo drivers. At a minimum, it is good practice, and if you get into RC or robotics, they are invaluable for setting up servos.

With an ESC, it is hard to see what the driver is doing, unless you have an oscilloscope. So, for a few dollars more, get the cheapest servo the shop has. You can use that to be sure your servo driver is working. If you can find an older modeler, most of us have many used servos that we will never use. Some are new, but not of the quality we want. I give them away. Ask a shop where the modelers are and then make contact. If you were in Cleveland or nearby, I would give you one.

In summary, make a servo driver and test it with a cheap servo. Then use that to drive your esc.

Edit: Oh, I see you are in San Diego. That is a hot bed of RC activity. Definitely, ask the shop about a local club and make contact.

John

Hi John,

Thanks for the club advice. I should probably not say that this is all it is suppose to do. I am frustrated that I can't get it going right now, so perhaps I over simplified it. I suspect that this is the wrong motor to do position control where the max travel will be 360 degrees. Should I have used another 'servo' with pwm? We are still in the design phase and can swap it out for something else. You advice is greatly appreciated.

-thomas

 

[jpanhalt]

I also suspected that was the wrong motor from the start. It is not a servo motor. It may actually be some form of stepper, which would not be appropriate for that ESC.

John