Using ESC (Electronic Speed Control) with ESP32

[meslin]

Hi all,

I would like to know how to control a brushless motor with ESC using ESP32. Is there a library? I used Servo.h to control them with Arduino, but a could not find a library like that to use with ESP32. Can you help me, please!

Thanks in advanced!
Alex

[ESP_igrr]

You can generate a PPM signal needed by ESCs using a variety of ways on the ESP32. RMT peripheral, which has 8 channels, is a good default choice..

[clarkster]

Also try using the LED PWM peripheral. It's simple to use. The ledc example included with the ESP-IDF gives you a great starting point.

[meslin]

Hi ESP_igrr,

I forgot to mention that I'm totally new to ESP32...

I googled for RMT peripheral and ESC and I got no results (sorry, I don't know what is RMT peripheral). Do you know a link for a tutorial?

Thanks!
Alex

[JacktheRipper]

Brushless motors and the ESCs that drive them are very complex. The discussion above falls well short of providing enough information to get them to work with an ESP32. With a standard Arduino, this complexity is handled within the ESC.h library which uses the Servo.h library to arm and then set speeds for the motor. Unfortunately, these are avr-only libraries, and the ESP32 does not seem to have equivalent ones, in particular the ESC.h library. It's much more complicated than just sending a PWM signal to the device. In ESC.h, there's a specific arming command that must be sent first, then specific calls to set the speed of the motor. This tailors the resulting PWM signal in a specific, very complicated way. I could find no equivalent library for the ESP32.

[JacktheRipper]

I did get this working, and posted what I did in another thread:

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=20450&p=75073#p75073