Turnigy TZ-85A brushed motor hack - amended code for Spektrum Dx6i

[shakesc]

Think I might have to get one of those. Saves lots of fiddly soldering

[adz600]

How easy is the hack watched bids etc, and not too bad with the iron. Need three esc for the new no toy,

[adz600]

Videos hate predictive text on phones

[Danjr1]

its very easy but can seem daunting at first. Take your time and follow the videos as you do it. make sure you have good quality solder too.

[Danjr1]

And don't remove the heatsink as the video says, it never sticks the same again and there's no need to do it.

And if I remember rightly, the last wire you solder (which is the ground wire or pin 6) is soldered to the ground wire on the RC input wire on the ESC. Don't do that, its very fiddly and a pain. Easier way to do is to get a RC wire like the link below, cut it so you have one end with the female plug and the other where you've cut it. Solder the ground wire pin 6 programmer wire to the black RC wire and simply plug in the ESCs RC input wire into the female end, making sure that the bare red and white wires where you've cut don't touch (so seal them with tape or something) and you've got the rc plugs round the right way.

http://upload.ecvv.com/upload/Produc...9710172010.jpg

[RogueTwoRobots]

Seems a bit convoluted, I got my ground wire soldered in seconds. Just stick a blob of fresh solder on it before you try and solder the wire on (Marto does this in the video).
Agreed on the whole heatsink thing, no point that I can see. No need to put it all back in its casing before programming either.

The longest/most frustrating part for me was installing Atmel Studio 6.1 and all its associated cr@p. Then once you've opened the program up and are ready to go, the procedure is different to what Marto does in the video. He was using an older version (AVR Studio 4) and the interface on 6.1 is dfifferent. But once you figure it out, it's straightforward. The Pololu website has some troubleshooting sections that helped work it out (if you're using their board) but if necessary I can make a video to go through it.

[adz600]

Jamie I think a full upto date video with that cord, or whatever it is would be great, im not bad at electronics but I am only a mechanical engineer after all, ps I also hate computers not just predictive texts

[adz600]

So looking at the link the new cable as in the link removes the cable soldering process, so does that just leave the switch wire link and output c removal , then just programming the esc. what is the programmer being used as there have been a few types used. sorry looking at the vids and links but just asking to clarify

will need to do some hacking very soon to run the speed 900s on there way

[RogueTwoRobots]

Sorry Adam, haven't got round to getting a video done. I've gone through the process and taken screenshots though so that might help.

Firstly, I'm using this programmer and cable: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1300
Ordered it Friday morning, arrived from Vegas on Monday morning - can't argue with that!

I'm assuming that the cable you mention that removes the soldering process is this one: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dproduct=27195
As far as I can tell, yes if you use this, all you need to do soldering-wise is the BEC switch link and the wire removal (although I just did the latter with a pair of wire cutters).

Right, using the Pololu programmer, make sure it's plugged into a USB socket (should install drivers automatically) and that it's connected to the ESC you want to program and that the ESC is powered up. Click to open Atmel Studio 6.1. Once that's loaded up, go to Tools and Add Target:

02 tools_add_target.jpg

The following box will appear. The Pololu programmer isn't automatically detected by the program, so we've got to set it up. For Select Tool, STK500 was the only option available to me. In the Select Serial Port, you want to select which port the programmer is using. In my case, it was using COM6.(If you're not sure which port it's using, go to the Start Menu, open Devices and Printers, find the programmer and right click on it, select Properties, then Hardware and it should tell you there)

03 com_6.jpg

Once you've selected those two and clicked Apply, go back to Tools and select Device Programming:

04 tools_device_programming.jpg

This will again open up a window. On the top left hand side, we have to select the tool we're using to program the ESC, so click the drop-down Tool menu and select the option you've just set up (so, in this case, STK500 COM6):

05 dp_tool_stk500.jpg

Then we have to select the specific device name. There are a lot of options in the drop-down menu and I didn't know what mine was, but after doing some searching on the Pololu website FAQs and Information, I found out it was an ATmega8A:

06 dp_device.jpg

Then make sure the Interface tab is set to ISP and click Apply. This is what you will then see:

07 dp_window.jpg

You shouldn't need to worry about the ISP clock stuff. Where it says Device Signature, click Read and it should match up to the programmer you've got plugged in. Your ESCs need to have power for this bit to work. Then click on Memories on the left-hand side menu, and you'll see this:

08 dp_programming.jpg

All you need to do now is search for the .hex file that contains the new firmware (BrushedESCdx6iorangerx.hex.zip). Under the Flash (8KB) heading, you can see where I've got it saved. To browse for it on your computer, just click the small grey box to the right-hand side with the [...] in it and find where you saved it on your computer.

Then hit Program, and a few seconds later, that should be it done!

Like I said, this is only the way I've done it using the Pololu programmer. I have no idea how different it will be (if at all) when using the socket tool that doesn't require soldering. If the worst comes to the worst and you can't get them programmed, stick them in a jiffy bag and I'll do them for you if there aren't any local roboteers that can do it.

[adz600]

thanks for info Jamie will get on the case