No more kick from the HW 70A soft start

[Bob O]

Hey guys,

I was directed to this thread from the build log of my 6HV. I just upgraded the firmware of my HobbyWing Platinum Pro 70A HV - Opto ESC. I sifted through this entire thread to get the information I needed. I figured I'd post some screen shots of the process in case it might help out in some way.

This first pic is what you'll see after you launch the V1.62 software. You'll see this whether you have the 2 in 1 Programming box connected or not. As has been previously mentioned in this thread, power to the 2 in 1 will be provided as soon as you plug the USB cable into it. You do not need to power it separately. Also, when you do power it with the USB cable, the only message to appear on the 2 in 1 screen is "Connecting to PC" or something like that. I tried pressing every button on the unit to see if it would say something different and it wouldn't.



I don't know if it matters as to the order you make the connections, but I'll tell you what I did. Just so there weren't any surprises, I removed the main rotor blades and then powered on the transmitter and receiver. Then I connected the short lead from the ESC to the 2 in 1 box.



With the software/program already launched, I connected the USB cable to the 2 in 1 box. At that point, a "Device" tab will appear, which will let you see what hardware and software version the 2 in 1 box is running. The green light next to the 2 in 1 in the "Connection Status" box indicates that the program has connected to the 2 in 1. If the ESC was selected in the Device tab, there would be a green light for the ESC.



Now is when I connected the main packs to the ESC. After that, go to the "Device" tab again and you will see the option to select the ESC, go ahead click that. You'll see the Hardware, Software, and Choice versions. As you can see, my Firmware version was older than the Choice version. If you want to upgrade the Firmware to the Choice version, click the "Upgrade" button.



After I clicked the Upgrade button, the program automatically started to apply the new "Choice" version of the software/firmware. There was a progress bar that let you know how far along the upgrade process was, and a green light next to a "Busy" indication below the ESC light. This green "busy" light flashed rapidly during the upgrade, and the update took less than one minute.



When the upgrade was completed, there was a confirmation window stating that the upgrade was finished successfully. When you click "OK", the window will go to the "Basic" tab.



Now click the "Software" tab and you should see a message that the upgrade was finished successfully, and the versions listed in the software and choice fields are the same.



What you want to do now is go through each field of the Basic and Advance tabs to verify and/or change any ESC setting to what you had it at before. Basically what the upgrade did was reset everything to default. So if you made changes prior to the upgrade, you'll need to make those changes again. Since you're already here, the easiest thing to do is make the changes and hit the "Apply" button, which will send the changes to the ESC.



I don't know the proper power-down sequence for all this, so what I did was disconnect the main packs from the ESC, closed out the computer program, disconnected the USB cable and ESC wire from the 2 in 1 box, and then shut down the receiver and transmitter as normal.

There was a question earlier in this thread as to whether or not you needed to reset the throttle range after doing a firmware upgrade. I would have to say yes you do, at least that's what I did. Make sure you set your normal throttle curve to linear prior to programming the limits in the ESC.

One last thing, and this has been mentioned previously as well. The motor turned the opposite direction after the firmware upgrade. We all know by this point what you need to do to make it change directions.

Obviously in the field, you can use either the 2 in 1 programming box or the transmitter stick method to make changes to the settings. What I used to power the 2 in 1 box (without the USB cable) was an old airplane ESC connected to an old 3S LiPo. The output voltage was 5.3V for that BEC. Make sure whatever you use does not output more than 6V to the 2 in 1 box.

Hope this helps me the next time I take the bird out, and I hope it helps someone else along the way.

[Whomprat]

I'll put in a duplicate request that this should be made a sticky, or even better, take Bob's post and make a new one and make "it" a sticky. Also, maybe add a giant red arrow to the part about re-setting your esc up, especially soft start, for us that like to skim over and miss the small stuff. sigh.....

[TheBum]

Originally Posted by Whomprat

I'll put in a duplicate request that this should be made a sticky, or even better, take Bob's post and make a new one and make "it" a sticky. Also, maybe add a giant red arrow to the part about re-setting your esc up, especially soft start, for us that like to skim over and miss the small stuff. sigh.....

Yep, been there, done that, with my 6HV.

[Bob O]

Originally Posted by Castel

The only bad thing about the update is that the soft start is a little too slow for auto-rotation bailouts, the previous version was better for that but it's a compromise I guess. I wish the HW ESC had a bailout feature...

Yes, also disappointed in the lack of an auto bail-out feature. However, the "slow" version of the soft start is pretty fast, as in it's over with and you have full power in about about 3 seconds.

Very slow is too slow for auto bail-out use.

[Bking1340]

Thanks for everyone`s input in this thread. Just have to share my experience.
Replaced my align 70a with a hobbywing 100a platinum pro on a 550e and I must say the governor is actually working pretty damn good, but I also had that dreadfull major startup kick from the motor and chipped both my edge blades when they collapsed in the blade grips. I have downloaded the turnigy 1.62 software and tried to change my version to 1.07, but it just told me that I can not change to that version. Opened up my hobbywing 3.1 software and saw my esc version are 1.09 and that I have the option for the 1.06, 1.07 til 1.09 and my esc were ver 1.09. I thought to downgrade to 1.06 and go to the turnigy software to do the 1.07. But I eventually downgrade to ver 1.07_100506_u in my hobbywing software and thought to try the hobbywing firmware version 1st. It fixed my problem, but my governor was going straight to 2400rpm in any mode. Thought I must maybe try the turnigy ver 1.07 firmware, but then I remembered that I did not do throttle calibration. Now I`m a for away and governor + slow start are working great. I`m set at very slow start mode - don`t need a bail out for auto`s. Had to learn the hard way doing auto`s with my 600 nitro.

[andersn]

so 1.07 seems to be working best for everyone now? pretty weird that the later 1.08 and 1.09 doesn't.

Im getting another newer version HW, currently the ones I have are to old for 1.07 etc, anything over 1.05 is a nogo

[Rodney Kirstine]

Originally Posted by andersn

so 1.07 seems to be working best for everyone now? pretty weird that the later 1.08 and 1.09 doesn't.

Im getting another newer version HW, currently the ones I have are to old for 1.07 etc, anything over 1.05 is a nogo

I mentioned in the other thread but this thread is more appropriate... I'm using the HW USB Link 3.1 software and V1.08 firmware on three different ESCs and the very soft start on all three is like it was using the Turnigy V10.7.

[ragge1]

not really want to try as the turnigy software works great for me , if I upload the 1,08 and don't like it , I'm not sure if it will allow me to download to 1,07
so anybody with two helis ( 6HV ) with the HW70A HV on both that can do the test to clarify which software has the best soft start

[Rodney Kirstine]

Me, and I thought I just said they were the same as far as I can tell.

[andersn]

I might do some testing with this, this weekend.

Im borrowing the usb box from, and will keep it at least over weekend, so thats good, I have laptop with me at field since brain requires it anyway, and sk720 is also easier

[Bob O]

Auto bailout isn't just for electrics. TH on a nitro just puts the engine at idle speed. Unless your engine dies, flipping out of TH is your "auto bailout". I learned inverted autos on my last nitro bird. Had it not been for a bailout, I'd have stuffed it repeatedly.

[soko]

Hi guys,

I want to get rid of the kick-start on my HW 120A-HV.
I searched this whole discussion for 120A but couldn't find anything...
SoI and was wondering:
If I can use this procedure for the 70 for my 120 as well
Can I use the same software/firmware for my 120
Is there a newer FW than the 1.62 linked in the opening post

Thanks a lot guys!

Soko

[Rodney Kirstine]

Yes, you can. I'm running the same firmware in a 40A, 70A, and 120A.

[soko]

Sweet as

Do I need a special box/cable to connect it to the PC or just an ordinary mini-usb cable?

Soko

[Rodney Kirstine]

Originally Posted by soko

Sweet as

Do I need a special box/cable to connect it to the PC or just an ordinary mini-usb cable?

Soko

You'll need the programming box, unfortunately.

[soko]

OK thx,

The programming box of Hobbywing I reckon. Or is there a cheap from Turnigy/HobbyKing?

Soko

[Rodney Kirstine]

Originally Posted by soko

OK thx,

The programming box of Hobbywing I reckon. Or is there a cheap from Turnigy/HobbyKing?

Soko

I bought the Hobbywing one, it was pretty cheap. I don't know about the Turnigy one.

[TheBum]

Either the Turnigy or Hobbywing box will work.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...idProduct=8996
http://helidirect.com/hobbywing-2-in...ox-p-10275.hdx

[soko]

Great...
thx for that info.
Soko

[jperkosk]

Originally Posted by Bob O

One last thing, and this has been mentioned previously as well. The motor turned the opposite direction after the firmware upgrade. We all know by this point what you need to do to make it change directions.

How did I miss THIS in your tutorial?

Anyway, no biggy, swapped a couple of wires and my 6HV was flying again.

A question: anyone tried a governor on the new firmware? The original governor was quite bad.