ESC control with Arduino Nano

Hi there!

I'm trying to control an ESC from an Arduino Nano. The ESC has a potentiometer attached to a NE555p timer to control the speed of the motor.

This is the ESC: DC10 60V DC motor speed regulator 12V 24V 36V 48V High power drive module PWM Motor speed controller 20A current regulator|Motor Controller| - AliExpress

I tried to hook a PWM output from the Arduino to the wire where the wiper of the potentiometer was, but it doesn't work. It seems this ESC doesn't accept PWM, only a constant voltage.

I bought a MCP4725 DAC and after hooking it up to the Arduino Nano, it outputs a steady voltage.

This is the one: MCP4725 I2C DAC Breakout module development board|development board|dac boardboard development - AliExpress 1

I programmed it to output 2.5V and checked it with a multimeter. It outputs 2.37V. I then made a little script for the DAC to output 2.5V for 2 seconds and 0V for another 2 seconds.

After this, I connected the output of the DAC to the wire where the potentiometer wiper was connected to the ESC and connected the GND of the DAC to the yellow wire of the potentiometer. The ESC is always at full speed.

I left the potentiometer as a 100k resistor, as it seems the ESC needs it as a security measure.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

With a pot connected to ESC power supply, what V range causes
speed changes ? You might ask for a schematic, or do one by hand,
that would help answer some pertinent facts.

If pot is terminated to board 10 to 60 volts then you at minimum have to
translate the 0 - 5 output of DAC to that range you measure above paragraph.


Regards, Dana.

The pot is an integral part of the 555 timing circuit, it's not something that can be directly replaced by a voltage signal in that unit.

But: You should be able to feed a PWM signal to the pot connector wire nearest the centre of the board, if you leave the pot disconnected and remove the timing capacitor that connects between pins 2/6 to negative.

As long as that is high enough level, it will trigger the 555 thresholds and make that give the same signal out, but inverted.

That end pot pin appear to go to 555 pins 2 & 6 via a resistor. Driving those pins, without a timing cap, the 555 will just work as a schmitt trigger and turn on & off at around 1/3 and 2/3 its supply voltage.

You need the servo library. Throw away everything except the ESC and the Nano. The ESC needs a signal between 1mS and 2mS which the servo library will supply. A quick google throws up this page.

Mike.
Edit, Ahhh, should have followed your link. If you have a standard ESC then the above will work but not with the one linked above.