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Quick Start Guide

Required hardware

  • PhotonDrive Prog Tool
  • PhotonDrive ESC-R-150
  • USB-C data cable

The Prog Tool provides the SWD programmer, USB-to-serial bridge and one-wire adapter circuit on one board.

Required software

  • ESCape32 Tools — firmware updates and configuration through the FT231X serial bridge
  • Black Magic Debug App (blackmagic-bmda) — SWD bootloader recovery and target reset. Prebuilt packages are available for most platforms; to compile it against the revision our units were tested with, see Building the Host Tools.
  • The ESC-R-150 Firmware and bootloader

Download the ESCape32 Tools for your operating system, extract them into a working directory and open a terminal there. The commands below use ./escape32-update and ./escape32-cli from that directory.

info

The programmer runs Black Magic Debug, so it is driven by Black Magic host tools rather than STM32CubeProgrammer. If your unit reports a different firmware revision, contact us to confirm the matching tools before proceeding.

Connecting

  1. Disconnect the battery and all other external power from the ESC.
  2. Seat the ESC over the marked area so its SWD connector meets the 1.27 mm header. Match all six silkscreen letters; see Connections.
  3. Connect the Prog Tool to your computer with the USB-C cable.
warning

The Prog Tool supplies 3.3 V to the target electronics for programming only. Keep the battery disconnected while the ESC is seated on the tool. Disconnect USB before fitting or removing the ESC.

The USB hub exposes the Black Magic debug interface and the FT231X serial bridge at the same time. Use the FT231X port for escape32-update and escape32-cli; any serial interfaces exposed by Black Magic serve a different purpose.

Firmware update

Use this route if BOOT4_PA2 revision 4 is already installed and protected. For a blank board or a missing or damaged bootloader, start with Bootloader recovery.

Use the FT231X serial port and a PHOTONDRIVE1 firmware binary:

./escape32-update -d <ft231x-serial-port> <path-to-PHOTONDRIVE1-firmware.bin>

The onboard one-wire circuit supports communication in both directions, so -f is not needed. On Windows, the ESCape32 tools use /dev/ttyS#, where # is the COM port number minus one: COM4 becomes /dev/ttyS3.

After a successful update, reset the ESC through the debug interface:

blackmagic-bmda -Rh

Verify the installation

Open the CLI through the same FT231X port:

./escape32-cli -d <ft231x-serial-port>

Enter info to check the target and firmware revision, or show to read the settings. These commands do not start the motor. Radio configuration requires ESCape32 revision 17 or later; follow Radio Configuration after updating.

Disconnect USB and remove the ESC from the Prog Tool before reconnecting battery power.

Bootloader recovery

A normal firmware update does not need an SWD erase. If the ESC already has BOOT4_PA2 revision 4 installed and protected, continue to Firmware update.

For a blank or recoverable board, the tested ESC-R production workflow writes the bootloader with:

blackmagic-bmda -Ew <path-to-BOOT4_PA2-rev4.bin>

This erases the ESC application and saved settings. Connect only the intended programmer and target. If protection prevents access, stop and contact us for recovery instructions for your board. Do not substitute commands that change option bytes without checking the existing protection state.

After recovery, continue with Firmware update.

For the legacy ESC-A-150, use its separate Flashing Guide with the programmer specified there and the archived ESC-A files.

Need help with your setup? Contact us.