VESC firmware

An open source motor controller firmware.

This is the source code for the VESC DC/BLDC/FOC controller. Read more at https://vesc-project.com/

Supported boards

All of them!

Check the supported boards by typing make

[Firmware]
     fw   - Build firmware for default target
                            supported boards are: 100_250 100_250_no_limits 100_500...

There are also many other options that can be changed in conf_general.h.

Prerequisites

On Ubuntu (Linux)/macOS

• Tools: git, wget, and make
• Additional Linux requirements: libgl-dev and libxcb-xinerama0
• Helpful Ubuntu commands:

sudo apt install git build-essential libgl-dev libxcb-xinerama0 wget git-gui

• Helpful macOS tools:

brew install stlink
brew install openocd

On Windows

• Chocolately: https://chocolatey.org/install
• Git: https://git-scm.com/download/win. Make sure to click any boxes to add Git to your Environment (aka PATH)

Install Dev environment and build

On Ubuntu (Linux)/MacOS

Open up a terminal

1. git clone http://github.com/vedderb/bldc.git
2. cd bldc
3. Continue with On all platforms

On Windows

1. Open up a Windows Powershell terminal (Resist the urge to run Powershell as administrator, that will break things)
2. Type choco install make
3. git clone http://github.com/vedderb/bldc
4. cd bldc
5. Continue with On all platforms

On all platforms

1. git checkout origin/master
2. make arm_sdk_install
3. make <-- Pick out the name of your target device from the supported boards list. For instance, I have a Trampa VESC 100/250, so my target is 100_250
4. make 100_250 <-- This will build the VESC 100/250 firmware and place it into the bldc/builds/100_250/ directory

Building with Nix

Nix is a build tool which manages all dependencies. With Nix flakes enabled, build the general-purpose firmware package from the repository root.

nix build .#bldc-fw

The packaged firmware and res_fw.qrc are available under result/. All boards are built by default. make *_flash helpers are not supported with nix.

Other tools

Linux Optional - Add udev rules to use the stlink v2 programmer without being root

wget vedder.se/Temp/49-stlinkv2.rules
sudo mv 49-stlinkv2.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm trigger

IDE

Prerequisites

On macOS/Linux

• python3, and pip

On Windows

• Python 3: https://www.python.org/downloads/. Make sure to click the box to add Python3 to your Environment.

All platforms

1. pip install aqtinstall
2. make qt_install
3. Open Qt Creator IDE installed in tools/Qt/Tools/QtCreator/bin/qtcreator
4. With Qt Creator, open the vesc firmware Qt Creator project, named vesc.pro. You will find it in Project/Qt Creator/vesc.pro
5. The IDE is configured by default to build 100_250 firmware, this can be changed in the bottom of the left panel, there you will find all hardware variants supported by VESC

Upload to VESC

Method 1 - Flash it using an STLink SWD debugger

1. Build and flash the bootloader first
2. Then _flash to the target of your choice. So for instance, for the VESC 100/250:

make 100_250_flash

Method 2 - Upload Firmware via VESC tool through USB

1. Clone and build the firmware in .bin format as in the above Build instructions

In VESC tool

2. Connect to the VESC
3. Navigate to the Firmware tab on the left side menu
4. Click on Custom file tab
5. Click on the folder icon to select the built firmware in .bin format (e.g. build/100_250/100_250.bin)

[ Reminder : It is normal to see VESC disconnects during the firmware upload process ]

[ Warning : DO NOT DISCONNECT POWER/USB to VESC during the upload process, or you will risk bricking your VESC ]

[ Warning : ONLY DISCONNECT your VESC 10s after the upload loading bar completed and "FW Upload DONE" ]

6. Press the upload firmware button (downward arrow) on the bottom right to start upload the selected firmware.
7. Wait for 10s after the loading bar completed (Warning: unplug sooner will risk bricking your VESC)
8. The VESC will disconnect itself after new firmware is uploaded.

In case you bricked your VESC

you will need to upload a new working firmware to the VESC.
However, to upload a firmware to a bricked VESC, you have to use a SWD Debugger.

Contribute

Head to the forums to get involved and improve this project. Join the Discord for real-time support and chat

Tags

Every firmware release has a tag. They are created as follows:

git tag -a [version] [commit] -m "VESC Firmware Version [version]"
git push --tags

License

The software is released under the GNU General Public License version 3.0