Simple ESC

Simple ESC

A simple brushless motor ESC designed as a test/prototype for a larger dual-ESC project.

The goal of this board is to get a basic ESC working first before integrating the design into the final project. It is intentionally relatively simple and is mainly being used to validate the schematic, PCB layout, components, and firmware.

Features

• Single BLDC motor ESC
• Designed to eventually become a dual-ESC
• RP2350-based control
• DRV8323 3-phase gate driver
• SPI communication
• Battery voltage monitoring

The PCB

Designed with KiCAD.

Schematic

Layout

4 Layer board.

CAD

BOM

Bill of Materials

Bill of Materials

*Note: a lot of these parts have MOQs.

Instructions

1. Assemble the pcb with a stencil
2. Use the waveshare external usb board to connect it to your computer
3. Upload the firmware (main.ino) using the arduino ide
4. To use the esc, you need to send a 16 bit spi command: first 8 bits store direction (0/1), last 8 bits store speed: (0-255)

Example Code

#include <SPI.h>

const int SLAVE_CS_PIN = 10;

void sendMotorCommand(uint8_t direction, uint8_t speed) {
    // Format: [ 8-bit Direction ] [ 8-bit Speed ]
    uint16_t spi_packet = ((uint16_t)direction << 8) | speed;
    SPI.beginTransaction(SPISettings(1000000, MSBFIRST, SPI_MODE0));
    digitalWrite(SLAVE_CS_PIN, LOW);
    SPI.transfer16(spi_packet);
    digitalWrite(SLAVE_CS_PIN, HIGH);
    SPI.endTransaction();
}

void loop() {
    //Forward (0) at Half Speed (127)
    sendMotorCommand(0, 127);
    delay(1000);

    //Reverse (1) at Full Speed (255)
    sendMotorCommand(1, 255);
    delay(1000);
}