trying to make ESC Mamba Monster X work with myRIO PWM signals

[rehan_the_great]

Dear All,

Im trying to control the motor speed of me ESC Castle Mamba Monster X by sending the following PWM signals 1ms for full reverse, 1.5 ms for neutral and 2ms for full forward. At a frequency of 100Hz, as per instructions provided by the Castle support team . Also I have removed the link Live option to all my self to control the ESC however it still isnt working as you will see in the video. 

Please any suggestions or advice as Castle support team are not replying back to me so my only hope are u people so please let me know.

Thanks

[rehan_the_great · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

Just would like to put it out there that I finally cracked it. For all of you who are trying to run a MAMBA Monster ESC + Castle 1650 KV motor when they purchase it with Traxxas X0-1 (THE FASTEST RC CAR IN WORLD). You better follow the following steps:

1. Using the Traxxas app unlock your X0-1 (at your own risk please read the guidelines for this on the traxxas app before applying this).

2. Buy a castle USB V-link device and cable (all in one), connect the ESC to it and plug it your computer now using there software (free) go to advanced options and disable the "Link Live" option. 

3. Now plug in your NImyRIO and use any of the recommended PWM signals (for example using Connector C then you most probably using DIO-3 or DIO-7). connect the signal pin(usually white color) of the ESC with DIO3 or DIO7 and grounds pins together (ground of NimyRIO (any) with Ground of ESC (usually black color)). 

4. For the PWM settings make sure frequency is fixed to 50Hz. and then applying a PWM duty cycle of 0.08 (neutral position) then incrementing slowly duty cycle to 0.082 (lowest forward speed), 0.0825 (2nd speed) + 0.0830 .... and so on to increase speeds. (speed and duty cycle seem to be related exponentially so be careful.

5. for reverse apply 0.078 downwards and decreasing would make the RC car go faster in reverse direction.

**** caution very important never skip steps of duty cycle (no jumps) that will destroy your ESC and heat up the motor causing extremely dangerous situations to arise. So always increase or decrease speed in steps and never skip any step of duty cycle while doing so.

Soon will post under the same post a VI for this with RPM measurements ...

Hope this helps to whoever wishes to control a Traxxas using our very own NImyRIO.

Regards,

Rehan