I have connected an ESC (an electronic speed control) with a battery and a brushless motor. The Raspberry is connected to the ESC to control it. I know - when I turn on the program that is on the Raspberry - the battery and the ESC used to do some beeps, then I could turn the motor. I think I have a stupid problem, now with the same configuration the battery and the ESC doesn't want to beep anymore and I can't use the motor. Nothing happend. I'm suspecting GIPOs Pi to be "broken" and not send the signal but I already check them with a voltmeter and it's seems all GPIOs are OK.
Do you have any idea where the problem comes from ?
Here a drawing of the setup. I call Output the pin who send the right energy voltage to control the speed of the motor.
Raspberry Pi b+
Ground on pin 9 (GND)
Output on pin 11 (GPIO17)
5V on pin 2
The ESC is control with PWM
Here the specs of the product :
Details:
• Smooth and linear throttle control
• Fast response to throttle input
• Atmel MCU
• Stalled motor protection
• Throttle signal lose protection
• Safe power-on (throttle lockout)
• Support 480Hz+ high refresh rates (up to 499hz)
Specs ESC :
Constant Current: 20A
Input Voltage: 2-4 cells Lipo
BEC: None (OPTO)
PWM: 8 KHz
PCB Size: 41mm x 24mm
Weight: 25g
That's the link to download the datasheet.pdf (Beez2b send me that) : http://uplea.com/dl/5B9F54B59E9B9FB
Here the code I use :
main file :
#solenerotech 2013.09.06
from motor import motor
mymotor = motor('m1', 17, simulation=False)
#where 17 is GPIO17 = pin 11
print('***Disconnect ESC power')
print('***then press ENTER')
res = raw_input()
mymotor.start()
mymotor.setW(100)
#NOTE:the angular motor speed W can vary from 0 (min) to 100 (max)
#the scaling to pwm is done inside motor class
print('***Connect ESC Power')
print('***Wait beep-beep')
print('***then press ENTER')
res = raw_input()
mymotor.setW(0)
print('***Wait N beep for battery cell')
print('***Wait beeeeeep for ready')
print('***then press ENTER')
res = raw_input()
cycling = True
try:
while cycling:
mymotor.increaseW()
finally:
# shut down cleanly
mymotor.stop()
print ("well done!")
motor file :
class motor(object): """Manages the currect Angular rotation Implements the IO interface using the RPIO lib __init_(self, name, pin, kv=1000, RPMMin=1, RPMMax=100, debug=True, simulation=True):
def __init__(self, name, pin, kv=1000, WMin=0, WMax=100, debug=True, simulation=True):
self.name = name
self.powered = False
self.simulation = simulation
self.__pin = pin
self.__kv = kv
self.setWLimits(WMin, WMax)
self.setDebug(debug)
self.__W = self.__WMin
self.__Wh = 10
try:
from RPIO import PWM
self.__IO = PWM.Servo()
except ImportError:
self.simulation = True
def start(self):
"Run the procedure to init the PWM"
if not self.simulation:
try:
from RPIO import PWM
self.__IO = PWM.Servo()
self.powered = True
#TODO Decide How to manage the WMax < 100
#to keep anyhow the throttle range 0-100
except ImportError:
self.simulation = True
self.powered = False
def stop(self):
"Stop PWM signal"
self.setW(0)
if self.powered:
self.__IO.stop_servo(self.__pin)
self.powered = False
def increaseW(self, step=1):
"increases W% for the motor"
self.__W = self.__W + step
self.setW(self.__W)
def setW(self, W):
"Checks W% is between limits than sets it"
PW = 0
self.__W = W
if self.__W < self.__WMin:
self.__W = self.__WMin
if self.__W > self.__WMax:
self.__W = self.__WMax
PW = (1000 + (self.__W) * 10)
# Set servo to xxx us
if self.powered:
self.__IO.set_servo(self.__pin, PW)
