Hi!
I've got a ~2016 "Enertion" VESC version 4.7 (red circuit board). I've used it for years on & off but wanted to connect to PC and see there's a new "vesc tool" these days... took a while but I got the latest version (2.06) compiling on mac, and got the VESC connected. When it connects, I'm told:
"The connected VESC has too old firmware. Since the connected VESC has firmware with bootloader support, it can be updated from the Firmware page. Until then, limited communication mode will be used."
On the bottom of the firmware page, it says the current version is "Fw: 1.13" along with "Paired: false, Status: STABLE". Supported firmwares loaded shows "5.0, 5.1"
If I click on my hardware version in the list "46 & 47", then VESC_default.bin, then the Update Firmware button, the process begins with "Erasing buffer (0.0 %)", and after about 10sec an error message box comes up with "Erase timed out".
I tried this with someone elses compiled mac vesc tool (v 1.08) and same thing (though on there it showed the Supported firmwares as 3.27 or so).
What should I do next? I have an STlink V2, is there some way of programming the firmware directly without using vesc-tool? I see talk of bootloaders existing or not existing, not sure what state this VESC is in... the vesc-tool claims its firmware supports a bootloader.
If I should be programming with the STlink, where do I find the actual firmware bin file to upload? Or does that only replace the bootloader and I'd still need to do the firmware via vesc-tool?
Oh and is there somewhere I can upload the mac build of vesc-tool so others can find/use it?
Thanks heaps!
Peter
An update: I've since built the bldc-tool on mac, and kept going back all the way to the version that deployed fw 1.13 (which is on my VESC). Weird things are happening. I was able to click the duty cycle button and get the motor spinning, but the VESC no longer seems to respond to the remote (through PPM receiver 3 wire signal cable). When using the duty cycle button and pressing hard brake, eventually the bldc-tool disconnects from VESC and can't reconnect. VESC seems stuck at this point and I noticed the ARM chip is warm to touch... I did try deploying firmware with bldc-tool 2.x versions, which "worked" but after reboot, VESC reported 1.13 again - I'm guessing somehow the firmware on the VESC is now corrupted and it's stuck an endless loop during runtime.
I would happily reprogram with the STLINK - just need to know what I'm doing, if I'm replacing bootloader or fw or both with it?
Thanks again!