ESC programming profiles

Deutsch

An ESC (electronic speed controller) profile describes how to program one family of ESCs through its throttle-stick menu. It covers how the menu is entered, how the ESC sounds a number, and which items and values the menu holds. It is the data stick programming runs: the operator picks an ESC and the values to change, and the bench drives the throttle and counts the beeps in the supply current. 24 of the 72 profiles are of a kind it runs.

What is in the set

	Count
Profiles (families)	72
Models	451
Brands	20
Menu items	360

Who can run a profile	Profiles	Models
The bench alone: throttle signal and power	44	340
A person sets a jumper, presses a button or reads an LED	26	108
of those, with the steps listed in manual	24	88
Nobody: the manual gives no usable procedure	2	3

Every profile is "verified": false. The profiles come from 153 manuals and were written without an ESC on a bench. No manual states a beep length, a gap or a loop time in milliseconds, so every time field is null until a bench recording measures it.

Where profiles live

Store	Path	Read
Built in	shared/esc/profiles/*.json, compiled into the panel image	always
SD card	/ESC/*.json	once, at start-up

A card file is named after its id: /ESC/hobbywing-flyfun-8item.json holds "id": "hobbywing-flyfun-8item". Upper and lower case may differ; anything else is refused. A card file with the id of a built-in profile replaces that profile. A card file with a new id adds a profile after the built-in ones. File names of 64 characters or more are not read. A card file that would take its maker past 512 models (ESC_MAKER_MODELS_MAX), counted across the maker's profiles built in and from the card, is refused. The card holds at most 32 profiles; the panel reads the names of the first 64 .json files in /ESC/. A refused file is named on the console with its reason, for example:

ESC profiles: MYESC.JSON refused: items[2].values: not 1-255 entries

A file is refused when it:

• is larger than 64 KiB, is not JSON, or is not UTF-8;
• nests deeper than 16 levels below the top object, or has an object of more than 64 members;
• has a key twice in one object, compared as it decodes ("sch\u0065ma" is "schema");
• holds \u0000 or half a surrogate pair in any string;
• is named other than its id;
• breaks a rule below.

The generator applies the same rules to the files in the repository. The panel runs without a card; the built-in profiles are then the whole set.

The file

One JSON object per file. id is the file name without .json, 1 to 48 characters of a-z 0-9 -.

{
  "schema": 1,
  "id": "hobbywing-flyfun-8item",
  "brand": "Hobbywing",
  "family": "FlyFun 6A-100A sensorless, 8-item menu",
  "verified": false,
  "automatable": "full",
  "automatable_note": "",
  "sources": [{"file": "...pdf", "pages": "3-4", "url": "https://..."}],
  "models": [...],
  "scheme": {...},
  "items": [...],
  "unknowns": ["Beep duration in ms is not stated."],
  "notes": []
}

sources, unknowns, notes and every description field stay in the JSON. The panel does not load them.

Fields the panel reads

Field	Values
automatable	full, assisted, none; anything but full needs automatable_note
manual	an assisted profile's steps a person does at the ESC; see Manual steps
scheme.type	count, short_long, melody_groups, yes_no, stick_position, other
scheme.entry.throttle	min, mid, max: the stick position that opens the menu
scheme.entry.when	before_power_on, after_power_on
scheme.entry.hold_ms	0 to 600000, or null when not stated
scheme.entry.steps	1 to 255 operator actions, in order
scheme.announce.what	item, value, item_then_value
scheme.announce.encoding	count, short_long, melody, yes_no
scheme.announce.long_equals_short	short beeps per long beep; required for short_long
scheme.announce.beep_ms, gap_ms, group_gap_ms	0 to 60000, or null
scheme.announce.repeat	0 to 255: 0 repeats until a choice is made, null not known
scheme.select.throttle, scheme.skip.throttle	min, mid, max, none
scheme.listen	where the stick rests while the menu sounds: {"throttle": "min"}, mid or max. Absent or null: where the entry left it. Set in the 9 profiles for YGE ESCs, whose menu sounds with the stick at minimum after a maximum entry; stick programming runs such a profile only when hold_ms gives the entry's length
scheme.store	the move that stores a selection once the ESC has answered it: {"throttle": "min"}, mid or max. Absent or null: the selection stores. Set in the 8 mode setups of YGE ESCs, where the stick back to minimum stores the mode
scheme.select.within_ms	0 to 60000: the time after the tone in which the move counts, or null when not stated
scheme.value_select	two-stage menus only: select picks the item, then value_select.throttle (min, mid, max, none) stores the value sounded; within_ms as for select. Absent or null: the select move stores the value
scheme.changes_per_entry	one, many

Models

Field	Values
name	unique within the profile
cells_min, cells_max	0 to 255, or null
cell_type	lipo, nimh: what cells_* count
v_max_mv	maximum input in mV, or null
v_min_mv	minimum input in mV, or null; not above v_max_mv
current_a	continuous current in A, 0 to 65535, or null

Items

Field	Values
number	1 to 255, as the ESC sounds it
name	as the manual names it
key	1 to 32 of a-z 0-9 _; one meaning across brands: brake, timing, cutoff_voltage, cutoff_type, battery_type, cell_count, startup, governor, direction, throttle_range, pwm_freq, aircraft_type, mode, reset
values	1 to 255 of {"number": 0-255, "name": "...", "default": true}; numbers unique, at most one default
values[].entry_throttle	min, mid, max: the stick position the manual programs this value from, where it is not the entry's; absent or null, the entry's. Stick programming powers the ESC up there for that value
values[].entry_hold_ms	0 to 600000: power-on to the menu when this value is programmed, where the manual gives a wait other than scheme.entry.hold_ms; absent or null, the entry's. Kontronik SUN PLUS modes 4 to 6 wait 5000 ms
values[].after_select	1 to 4 of min, mid, max: the moves the manual asks for after this value's select move, in order, each once the ESC has answered the one before; absent or null, none. The Kontronik car modes and PIX mode 2 go to min, the brake. Each is a move: the first not where the stick is when they begin -- the profile's scheme.store move, else the select (or value_select) move -- and none the same as the one before; a file with one that stays put is refused. Stick programming makes each STORE after the one before, after the profile's scheme.store move; a two-stage profile takes none
applies_to	model names of this profile, or null for all. Stick programming offers the item only on those models
applies_when	a condition in words, e.g. "model type heli"

Two items may share a number only when both carry applies_to or applies_when.

Manual steps

manual lists what a person does at the ESC besides the throttle and the power, in the order a run meets it. Absent or null: none.

"manual": [
  {"when": "before_power", "action": "Fit the jumper on any 2 of the 3 programming contacts.",
   "source": "Kontronik_Beat.pdf p.5"},
  {"when": "before_menu", "action": "Pull the jumper off after 2 s or the tone sequence."}
]

Field	Values
manual	1 to 4 steps; only on an automatable: "assisted" profile
when	before_power, at_power_up, before_menu, during_menu, before_power_off, after_programming; each step no earlier than the one above it
action	1 to 120 bytes of UTF-8, in English: two lines of the screen's pop-up
action_de	the same step in German, 1 to 120 bytes of UTF-8, umlauts included; absent or null when none, and the English shows in German too
starts_menu	true where the action itself starts the menu's series, as a Kontronik jumper pulled or button pressed does; absent, null or false otherwise. Only on a before_menu step, at most one a profile, and no before_menu step after it. Where scheme.listen is set, it equals the entry position and every value's entry_throttle: the menu rests where the step is asked. Stick programming listens from the moment it asks for that step (Stick programming)
locks	true on a before_power_off step where the manual says the ESC locks itself when its supply goes off before the step is done, as the Kontronik KOBY, JIVE Pro, KOLIBRI, KONTROL-X and KOSMIK do; absent, null or false otherwise, and only on that kind. Stick programming then says the ESC may be locked, not only that the value may not be stored
hold_ms	at_power_up only: 0 to 60000, how long the step is held after the supply comes on; absent or null when not stated

source and any other member of a step stay in the JSON. The action is the profile's own text: in German where the profile gives action_de and the interface is German, else in English. Every step of record has its German. The screen shows when in the interface language. What a run does with each step is in Stick programming.

24 profiles hold steps: the 22 families of Kontronik ESCs, turnigy-aquastar (its switch at full throttle) and greatplanes-electrifly-c-series (its on/off button). graupner-brushless-control-t, whose menu is read from LEDs, and hacker-master-senstrol, which needs its motor's identification chip, a second channel and a JetiBox, are assisted with none: no step a person can be asked for at a moment.

Adding or correcting a profile

On one bench: copy the file to /ESC/ on the card and restart the panel.

In the repository: edit or add the file under shared/esc/profiles/, then regenerate the C file and check it:

python3 tools/gen_esc_profiles.py
python3 tools/gen_esc_profiles.py --check

CI (continuous integration) runs --check. The host suite parses every file with the panel's reader and compares the result with the generated table, field by field, so the generator and the card reader accept the same files. The suite's esc_parity test changes those files 3000 times, in structure and in text, and fails on a result the generator and the card reader read differently.

Current limitations

• Item and value numbers, defaults and entry gestures are as the manuals state them, and some manuals disagree with each other; each profile's notes names the conflicts.
• The beep fields (beep_ms, gap_ms, group_gap_ms) are null in every profile and stick programming does not read them: its timing comes from its settings.
• The bench supply is the PD mini, at most 20 V. ESCs whose minimum input is above that, such as 6S-and-up YGE Opto and Navy models, need an external supply.
• Where a profile's menu is told apart by pitch rather than by count (the profiles for Hitec, Mystery and Readytosky ESCs), the supply current may not separate the items. This is not measured.
• A card changed while the panel runs is read at the next start.