BBB Beetleweight Dual Brushed ESC

Example robot: WheelyBigLad by Alex Shakespeare

Alex built this incredible thwack-hammer-saw robot called WheelyBigLad – he runs a BBB Beetleweight Dual Brushed ESC to drive two BBB 22mm motors for those big wheels and the Dual ESC’s built in BEC powers his receiver. Check out his build diary on the forum.

More info about the ESC:

LED indicator light & beeps:
Start up beep = ESC has just powered on – it is receiving power and is connected to motor(s).
Solid LED = Powered on. Receiver ready, ESC is armed.
Flash & beep with short gap = Powered on. Throttle isn’t centred.
Flash & beep with long gap = Powered on. No receiver signal.
Rapid LED flickering on start up = Short circuit detected, disconnect your link immediately and check your wiring.

Driving & Mixing:
By default mixing is enabled on this ESC – the servo connectors drive the following:
– CH1 is steering (turning left/right)
– CH2 is drive (forwards/backwards)
These match nicely with the defaults of the  FS-i6 transmitter + flysky receiver (CH1: AIL, CH2: ELE)
If your turning or driving is backwards on your transmitter, you’ll want to reverse the appropriate channel above.
If you want to disable mixing, there’s solder pads labelled on the back of the ESC – you want to create a solder bridge between them (and then re-heatshrink the ESC) Each servo connector will control one drive side and you’ll need to set up your own mixing – see our guide.

Firmware Updates:

• 17/5/23: BN2 on PCB – Adaptive currrent limiting – 2-3 secs of 10A, 10 secs of ramp down to 4A
• 18/7/23: BN2 + 2 written on PCB – Failsafing bug fix (after multiple Receiver disconnects).
  Short circuit protection at motor output (see LED indicators above).
• 6/1/24: BN2 + 3 written on PCB – Improved resistance to motor noise for second channel. More ways to fix for noisy motors below.

Do not use more than one BEC at a time  – see both diagrams below:
This dual ESC comes with a built in BEC perfect for powering your receiver.
If you’re powering a servo or other higher current components, use an external BEC – unplug the ESC’s red servo wire, we recommend cutting this wire (or taping over the metal connector) to prevent risk of shorting.

Please note:  We don’t recommend running 25mm motors above 3S, however our 22mm Planetary Gearmotors will run 4S lipos. Typical Beetle Wiring Diagram for two or four wheel drive:

Using ESC’s internal BEC – for powering just a receiver:

Components in this example: 3S or 4S Lipo, Beetle Safety Kit, Breakout cable, BBB dual ESC & as BEC, BBB 22mm Motors, and Flysky Reciever.
Image made by Team DSC.

Using external BEC – ESC’s BEC (red servo wire) are disconnected / cut:

Fix for noisy motors causing glitchy movement above 50% throttle:

Almost all beetle sized brushed motors will work out the box with our single and dual ESCs, but a few nerf and 25mm style motors can produce enough EMI to interfere with the input signal from your receiver at high speeds. There are two things you can add to help fix this:
1. Solder 100nF (0.1uF) ceramic capacitors to your motors – if you use one per motor solder across the terminals, if you use two per motor solder from each terminal to the motor case, if you use three do both the below. (diagrams from Pololu – more info on reducing motor noise here)

2. Solder a 1Kohm resistor between the signal wire (yellow for dual, white for single) and the 5V wire (red) to help reduce interference at the input signal to the ESC.
Any questions or issues, please email us and we’ll happily help.