Esc Flashing Using The Turnigy Linker

[Gaza07]

There is a different way to flash your esc's using the turnigy linker that is available from HK, to be able to flash your esc,s this way you first need them to be flashed enabling the boot loader, which is as simple as the selection shown in the picture below,
Once you have flashed your esc this way you can then upload any further firmware updates, using the turnigy linker connected to the servo lead of the esc and running the flash tool serial command (kkMulticopterFlashTool_SERIAL)

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I have a linker on order and will be testing this as soon as it arrives 

[flyingizm0]

does it mean you dont have to mess around with all those pins on the ESC? Flash simonK via the UBEC connector???????? Or do you need to flash  the bootloader "the needle way" first?

greetings

GiZ

[Gaza07]

Unfortunately you still have to do the first flash the old way with the pins / pads to enable the boot loader on the atmega chip, but once this is done all further updates will be by the servo lead 

You don't have to have the pin tool you can solder the wires to each pad which is quite easy and because of the linker you would only have to do this once,

Ive been looking at the HK F-30a as this esc has the pins in a position that is easy to get to and also has the external oscillator so can't suffer from temperature drift like the one's that have the internal oscillator can 

heres a pic of the F-30a

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[MadMax]

I will give some of those escs a try next time I need some, I have been trying to find out about the boot loader and linker option on rcg but the info is spread through 100s of posts, thanks for making is so clear 

[teslahed]

How often do you reflash your ESCs? How often do you find they release new updates of the firmware that offer improvements?

I ask because I've flashed all my rctimer speed controllers using the esc flash tool for SimonK Firmware by Catch15117;

http://www.0x000000.info/escfirmware/flashtool.zip

and just used the default simonk firmware that is selected when you pick the right speed controller in the drop down box. Does the program automatically download the latest version of the simonk firmware or have i been flashing my speed controllers with old code?

[MadMax]

Thats the original flash tool I think most people use the multikopter flash tool now, I seem to recall the repository being moved and the multikopter flash tool stopped down loading the updated firmware as would the original tool, the multikopter flash tool got updated to the new location I think the original tool just re downloads the old firmware whe you get it to update the cache, there is no real way of knowing the multikopter flash tool shows you the current version number,
As for how often I would flash my esc,s the answer is once as I cant be bothered to undo every thing 
but I think I will get a linker and reflash once more so I can take advantage of future releases with out the need to do the whole process again 

[Gaza07]

I agree with Madmax you should be using the Mk flash tool, I also think it is worth going through the flash process one more time to be able to redo it with ease in the future 

[teslahed]

As for how often I would flash my esc,s the answer is once as I cant be bothered to undo every thing

I've successfully flashed my speed controllers whilst they were attached to my quadcopter in the past. It's still a fiddle to cut open the heatshrink etc but it can save on a lot of other soldering, assuming you can get at the pads with the speed controllers still wired to your particular quadcopter.

[Gaza07]

Its funny you should say that because I flashed some that were already fitted to the quad and I even heard the motor beep as the esc initialised, they were rctimer the same as my others and I just cut a small slot for the pins to connect to to the pads,
All four flashed with no problems 

[MadMax]

I wouldnt have risked doing that but glad it worked out for you 

[Gaza07]

To be honest I never thought about it being any risk and just connected it, then I realised what I had done but because it worked and the beep from the motor sounded perfectly normal I did the other 3  ;D

[flyingizm0]

whats the distance between those connector points? I found this guys:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/260987567741

They also offer a custom made pogo-pin connector so I an thinking of getting those for the rctimer esc.

Can you programm all of the 10A,18A,20A,30A ESC from rctimer?

greetings

GiZ

[Gaza07]

Thats a very good find as the last time I looked I couldnt find any pins he sells them loose to 
1.27mm sounds about right but I will check this later and confirm it with you as I dont have the tool to measure it with me right now,
Dont flash the 10a rctimers as they will burn out there is a bug in them and they will not work,
I have flashed the rctimer 20a and 30a with no problems and as fas as I know the 18a si fine its just the 10a ones,
I have also found these pins to http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370632172282?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_2175wt_928 they are a smaller diameter than the ones I used so should be easier to make an adapter, as the others with the larger diameter need tilting a little to keep them apart, you can also buy some heat shrink from here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30mm-Dia-Heat-Shrinkable-Tube-Shrink-Tubing-1M-black-/250984124426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6fd1d00a#ht_1873wt_694

[Gaza07]

I have read a post on another forum that the guy in your link is now aware about esc flashing and is going to make some 1.5mm spaced pogo pin adapters to suit the HK F-30a, which should also be fine for the rctimers , I have taken a few pictures so you can see for your self, you can also see the bare one shows how they were made, by sticking 2 pieces of ply together over the pins with hot glue, every other pin has heat shrink on to prevent shorting,
The pins were lined up with the pads while clamped between the 2 pieces of ply, once in the right place, the other end of the pins were clamped together to prevent movement while soldering on the wires then applying the hot glue, clamping the silver pin ends not only stops them moveing about but also keeps them in a straight line 


Here's the pictures (click on them for the full image)

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The 7.8mm divided by 5 is 1.56mm so should be close enough

[Gaza07]

I forgot to mention don'tflash the rctimer 10a esc's they have a bug in them and will burn if you do,
the 18a 20a and 30a are fine and have exactly the same pin arrangement 

[MadMax]

let us know how you get on with the linker when you get it, I can also confirm the rctimer 10a esc's dont work with the simonk firmware, I have read several reports about this on other forums 

[Gaza07]

Will do they should be here very soon I hope 

[Gaza07]

My Turnigy linker's turned up today and I have given them a test and all went well, you have to flash your esc,s with the boot loader enabled, using the multicopter flash tool, and then run the flash tool in serial mode by running this file (kkMulticopterFlashTool_SERIAL) I have made a screen capture of the flash below, I also had to power the esc while doing the linker flash for it to work,
I have also finished off my second flash tool and have made it so I can easily alter the pin out configuration as can be seen in the picture below,
Is the linker worth having It's probably debatable as if your happy with the flash you already have on your esc's and don't really care about any updates then no its not worth getting, but if your just starting out flashing esc,s it would be better to enable the boot loader on your first flash so you can use the linker later if you want to upgrade to a newer version of the code,
I have already got all my esc's flashed and they all run ok but I do like to try out new developments so will ref-flash all of mine in time to enable the boot loader, so if an update is released that is a improvement on what Im currently using then I can just re-flash through the linker 


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[MadMax]

I like your idea of making it so you can arrange the pins in any order, so the linker thing worked fine then, with them being so cheap at HK I suppose they are worth having 

[teslahed]

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__10628__Turnigy_USB_Linker_for_AquaStar_Super_Brain_.html

Is this the one you've got? Looks like it but the description says;

Compatible with AquaStar water cooled esc and Super Brain series.

which i am not sure about. Also they are out of stock 

[Gaza07]

Yes that's the one I spent a few hours last night and re-flashed 16 rctimer esc's with the 10-6-2012 simonk firmware with the boor loader enabled, and after I re-flashed them again with the linker to make sure it worked and it did on all of them 
I re-flashed them all while they were all still connected to the quads and could hear the motor beep when applying the flashing probe, and also could hear it initialise again after the flash  ::)
When using the linker you have to have the esc powered from a lipo the linker doesn't supply any power like the flashing tool does, you also need to recalibrate your esc's after flashing   

[MadMax]

Out of stock and I wonder if the price will increase as demand increases  I bet they didnt sell many before it was found they could be used for flashing normal escs 

[Gaza07]

Well I ordered and got 2 coz they were so cheap  ::)