Blheli_32 Configurator Mac
BLHeliSuite – BLHeliS ESC firmware installation and configuration software and documentation for Windows PC. BLHeli Configurator – BLHeliS ESC firmware installation and configuration software for Mac. BLHeli 32 – BLHeli32 knowledge base and documentation including ESC firmware and configurator download. BLHeli32 configurator can be downloaded from git hub, and luckily has a beta version for mac that works great. I first downloaded it for my PC but had the driver issues that are common, and instead of messing with the impulse rc driver tool I found the mac beta. Im running BLHeli 32 and the configurator will recognize the quad and connect and says it read the ESC's but i get nothing on the screen. I've tried the stand alone version as well. Is there anything i can do to fix this issue.
What is BLHeli Suite?
BLHeli Suite is powerful program for flashing, setting up and configuring your BLHeli or BLHeli_S ESCs.
Why do you need BLHeli Suite ?
One thing remains the same is using BLHeliSuite for flashing and configuring ESC’s, which is known to be incompatible with Mac and Linux but only Windows. BLHeli Configurator Chrome App was created to tackle this issue by third party developer Andrey Mironov. But we found out that it won’t support BLHeli32 since it’s close-source.
There a several reasons you may need to use the BLHeli Suite (or BLHeli Configurator). This is list of some:
- Reverse the rotation of the motors (Props In or Props Out);
- Upgrade the BLHeli firmware on your ESC
- Change the BLHeli ESC parameters
BLHeli Suite or BLHeli Configurator?
BLHeli Suite is the most feature rich application for setting up the BLHeli and BLHeli_S ESCs. It is still maintained and time to time is updated. BLHeli Suite runs only on Windows platform. (BLHeli_32 Suite however is available on Win, Linux and MacOS platforms)
BLHeli Configurator is simpler, but user friendlier than BLHeli Suite.
BLHeli Configurator Chrome App is the same BLHeli Configurator, just it was originally distributed only as Chrome App. BLHeli Configurator Chrome App was last updated in the 2017. So this Chrome app is probably is abandoned. But it works and might be sufficient for you.
I would recommend the BLHeli Configurator for beginners and BLHeli Suite for advanced users.
How to download the BLHeli Suite and BLHeli Configurator?
You can download the BLHeli Suite (also the BLHeli_32 Suite) from here: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/dx6kfaasyo24l/BLHeliSuite
You can download the BLHeli Configurator Cross-platform application from here: https://github.com/blheli-configurator/blheli-configurator/releases
How to install the BLHeli Suite and BLHeli Configurator?
No special installation is required. You just need to unzip the contents of the BLHeliSuitexxxx.zip to any folder you want.
How to connect the BLHeli Suite to ESC ?
Start BLHeli Suite. Select the interface “SILABS BLHeli Bootloader (Cleanflight)” if you are connecting to the ESC via the flight controller (ESC is connected to the FC). Then select the port number that the flight controller is connected to and hit Connect button.
If you have sucessfuly connceted to the ESC, then the next step is reading the settings of the ESC or ESC’s. Hit the Read Setup or
The result will be shown in the dialog box.
How to reverse the rotation of the Motor?
In BLHeli Suite you need to connect to the ESC, then Read Setup and change the Motor Direction by moving the slider to the position 2 (Reversed).
Don’t forget to hit the Write Setup after you’ve made the changes. Have in mind that BLHeli Suite writes the changes for the selected ESC, so you need to select or unselect the ESC below.
Otherwise BLHeli Suite will write only to the first (master) ESC.
In BLHeli Configurator you can also change the Motor Direction by selecting Normal or Reversed (Bidirectional and BidirecitionalReveresed is used for 3D setups).
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It was only about a year ago when we were all getting excited about a new BLheli-S ESC firmware (the S is for special). But now the developers have been working on something extra special, called BLheli-32. This 32bit firmware introduction covers the important things you need to know about. BLheli32 will be supported from BetaFlight V3.2
Key Features
- Runs on ARM 32bit MCU (much faster than 8bit MCU on BLheli-s, runs Dshot1200 now, but faster in future)
- Direct configuration of ESC from flight controller using Dshot commands.
- Programmable PWM frequency (up to 48Khz) – allows for much smoother motor operation
- Automatic Motor Timing – helps run your motor at maximum efficiency with robustness against desync. You can also manually fine tune the motor timing to get maximum power from your motor.
- Current and Voltage Limiting – helps prevents your ESC failure
- Bidirectional mode improvements
- Ability to set the motor brake force
- ESC Telemetry Support
- Maximum Motor Acceleration – can be set to prevent desync on some motors under high acceleration.
Some of these features are not fully implemented yet but are part of the initial release plan.
BLheli_32 is closed source 🙁
I will not go into the debate, but ultimately this means that all BLheli-32 ESC’s are going to be a little more expensive since manufacturers need to pay the developers a licensing fee. I was disappointed to see that the 32bit version is now closed source.
Steffen Skaug, the original developer of BLheli said that as the project grew, so did the workload. Blheli-32 was created from scratch and they decided to enable them to get some returns on all the effort they have put into the project, while also stopping clones. This will allow the BLheli developers to push ESC performance and the hobby to the next level.
You still need to use BLHeli suite
BLHeli suite v31+ will support the 32bit ESC, which means if you run MAC or Linux you might have some problems. To make it worse the BLheli configurator chrome app will not support BLheli32 right now.
The main reason for this is that when you flash new firmware, BLHeli suite connects to the internet to verify the ESC serial number to make sure it is an official ESC. The one upside of this is that the market will not be flooded with knockoff ESC’s.
Why is 32bit better?
Apart from the extra computing power available to developers, the most significant advantage is the fact that the code can be written in C. This makes it significantly easier to work on new code and features. The initial BLheli and BLheli-S firmware are Assembly based. So I expect the 32-bit firmware to get significantly better as the project continues. Also since the developers are now getting a monetary reward for their efforts through licensing fees, there is more motivation to make it worth it.
Dshot vs Multishot – Speed is not everything
Just a quick mention to say that I don’t think the main advantage of BLheli32 is the speed. The guys working on the RaceFlight project introduced the multishot protocol a while ago. Multishot is a much more simplified protocol, so it means that on today’s 8bit MCU they can run at 32Khz, reducing overall latency. However, with Dshot you need to run BLheli32 to get the same update speeds. The main advantage of Dshot is the fact that it is a digital protocol so you can send commands to your ESC. This is where the versatility of Dshot will become apparent. For example, you can send a command to tell your motors to beep, and when to tell it to stop beeping, or tell your ESC to enter bi-directional mode while in flight (so you have full throttle resolution when you don’t need bi-directional mode). I can’t think of any other use cases but I am sure we will see some cool features in the future.
Where can I get my BLHeli-32 ESC?
Blheli_32 Configurator Mac Download
I will be writing a separate article to list off of the official BLHeli32 ESC’s soon. For now we are selling the Wraith32 Series ESC, which are the first production units to be sold.
I should mention that there are other 32bit ESC’s on the market that supports Dshot such as the racer33. These run custom firmware that is not BLHeli32.
Current Protection
Apart from the performance improvements, I like the fact that they have added current protection support. This will only be supported with ESC’s that have a current sensing resistor (like the wraith32). By using this feature, if the current draw gets above the value you set, the ESC will reduce the power to the ESC to prevent it overheating (like when the motor gets jammed on a crash). This in combination with the temperature monitoring on your ESC MCU will mean that its unlikely you will fry an ESC from overloading it! One thing I am not sure about is the calibration procedure of the current sensor.
Automatic Motor Timing
Automatic timing is great when you are not sure about what you are doing. With automatic timing, the ESC will ensure that your motors run as efficiently as possible. However, this will mean your motors are not running at max power, which is not ideal for FPV racing.
Blheli_32 Configurator Mac Os
However, you can also manually set the timing between 1 and 31 to fine tune your ESC for your motor setup for maximum power. Usually, the medium setting will work fine for most motors. In the old BLheli-S firmware you can only choose between 5 values that correspond to 0/7.5/15/22.5/30 timing advance.
Maximum Acceleration
This setting lets you tell your ESC to limit the power sent to the motor within a given millisecond. This feature is useful if you are having desync issues with your motor under heavy acceleration (when your motor chirps and looses power when you increase throttle rapidly). You can set this between 0.1% to 25.5% per millisecond.
So if you set it to 15, this means that the power sent to the motor cannot increase by more than 15% per millisecond. If you have desync issues you should try to get this to be as low as possible to get the most power out of your motor.
ESC Telemetry
As mentioned before ESC telemetry is on the plans for BLheli32. Aerosurfer noticed that on the wraith32 ESC, they have a UART port on them (still to be documented). But one advantage is that you can use the current sensor from the ESC for your flight controller, and if the ESC can send other info back to the FC, the flight control algorithm can get extra info about motor state such as RPM to improve performance and tuning.
Blheli_32 Configurator Mac Download
So that the main things I think will be great about BLheli32, and the main downside is no more open source (but it is fair that they get paid for all the work). If you have any questions or comments let me know in the comments section!