V5 Protocol for BLHeliSuite Box and other Serial Interfaces for Silabs ESC (c) by 4712 1 of 4

Command

START COMMAND ADRESS PARAM_LEN PARAM XMODEM CRC16

PC

Byte Byte High-Byte Low-Byte Byte PARAM_LEN x Byte High-Byte Low-Byte

0x2F 0x30 - 0x3A 0x00 - 0xFF 0x00 - 0xFF 1-255 // 0=256 0x00 - 0xFF 0x00 - 0xFF 0x00 - 0xFF
INTERFACE

START COMMAND ADRESS PARAM_LEN PARAM ACK XMODEM CRC16

Answer

Byte Byte High-Byte Low-Byte Byte PARAM_LEN x Byte Byte High-Byte Low-Byte

0x2E 0x30 - 0x3A 0x00 - 0xFF 0x00 - 0xFF 1-255 // 0=256 0x00 - 0xFF 0x00 - 0x0F 0x00 - 0xFF 0x00 - 0xFF

Field name Min Value Max Value Description

START 0x2E = 46 = '.' 0x2F = 47 = '/' Escape character: (PC) must send 0x2F / Interface must send 0x2E in response

COMMAND 0x30 = 48 = '0' 0x3C = 58 = '<' All chars are printable to better control with portmonitor

ADRESS 0x0000 = 0 0xFFFF = 65535 (Max for F330 is 0x1DFF). Only Valid if Device Read or Write (Big Endian)
For all other commands the adress bytes will be ignored (better set to 0)

PARAM_LEN(n) 0x01 = 1 0x00 = 256 Length-Field for the following PARAM Block.
To handle the whole Byte range from 0..256 a trick is used
The minimum Value is 1 so there has to be allways 1 Byte in PARAM
Values from 1..255 count what they say, but 0 means 256.

PARAM 0x00 = 0 0xFF = 255 A Data-block of PARAM_LEN count of Bytes.

Only Valid if Device Read or Write. For other commands PARAM bytes will be ignored
(so for other command set PARAM_LEN=1 and the single PARAM byte = 0)

ACK 0x00 = 'OK' 0x0F Interface Response Field with OK or Error Code. Only send by Interface.
Error Codes range is from 0x01 to 0x0F

XMODEM CRC16 0x0000 = 0 0xFFFF = 65535 As used in crc16.h of AVR-Gcc: Polynomial: x^16 + x^12 + x^5 + 1 (0x1021)
Initial value: 0x0
This is the CRC used by the Xmodem-CRC protocol.
All previous bytes are calculated from START to PARAM
 V5 Protocol for BLHeliSuite Box and other Serial Interfaces for Silabs ESC (c) by 4712 2 of 4

Rem: The last 2 byte in sequence = CRC. Hex-Values are show when they are allways equal.

Command Table HexVal DecVal Ascii Meaning

cmd_InterfaceTestAlive 30 48 0 May be send by Master to check: Interface still present and responding ?
PC sends: 2F 30 00 00 01 00 CF D4 Data: 0
Interface responds 2E 30 00 00 01 00 00 44 C2 Data: 0
Rem: BLHeli-Setup sends this command 1 time/sec to check the interface connection

cmd_ProtocolGetVersion 31 49 1 Retrieve Interface Protocoll version

PC sends: 2F 31 00 00 01 00 65 85 Data: 0
Interface responds 2E 31 00 00 01 bb 00 CRC Data: bb = 1 Byte with interface protocol version number
Rem: The version number of this command table and handling

cmd_InterfaceGetVersionStr 32 50 2 Retrieve Interface version as text.

PC sends: 2F 32 00 00 01 00 8B 57 Data: 0
Interface responds 2E 32 00 00 nn abc... 00 CRC Data: nn = number of chars; abc... = chars with interface version text
Rem: Only the name of the interfaces (w/o the Rev. num)

cmd_InterfaceGetVersion 33 51 3 Retrieve Interface version as byte value.

PC sends: 2F 33 00 00 01 00 21 06 Data: 0
Interface responds 2E 33 00 00 02 bb bb 00 CRC Data: bb = 2 Byte with Interface version number I.Byte= 12.3 II.Byte= .4.5
Rem: Rev. Number of the interface

cmd_InterfaceExit 34 52 4 Exit Interface PC Mode Resets the BESC's and restarts Boxes Display Mode
PC sends: 2F 34 00 00 01 00 46 D2 Data: 0 .
Interface responds 2E 34 00 00 01 00 00 42 63 Data: 0
Rem: Only valid for Dual mode Interfaces (Box with LCD), otherwise simply return OK

cmd_DeviceReset 35 53 5 C2 Command: Reset connected Target (BESC)

PC sends: 2F 35 00 00 01 0n CRC Data: 00-07 select the BESC channel 'V2 / V1 always 00
Interface responds 2E 35 00 00 01 0n 00 CRC Data: 00-07 *V2 / V1 always 00
Rem: Used as a single command will restart the BESC

cmd_DeviceGetID 36 54 6 C2 Command: Retrieve Target MCU ID as byte value.

PC sends: 2F 36 00 00 01 00 02 51 Data: 0
Interface responds 2E 36 00 00 01 bb 00 CRC Data: bb = 1 Byte with MCU ID = 0x0A for C8051F330 / ID = 0x08 for F310
Rem: BLHeli-Setup evaluates, if the chip is supported / not the interface
 V5 Protocol for BLHeliSuite Box and other Serial Interfaces for Silabs ESC (c) by 4712 3 of 4

cmd_DeviceInitFlash 37 55 7 C2 Command: Enable Flash access to Target MCU

PC sends: 2F 37 00 00 01 0n CRC Data: 00-07 select the BESC channel *V2 / V1 always 00
Interface responds V1..V3 2E 37 00 00 01 bb 00 CRC Data: V1 = always 00 /*V2=00-07 /V3 = Derivative ID
Interface responds V4 2E 37 00 00 03 aa bb cc 00 CRC Data: aa=DeviceID bb=DerivativeID cc=LineState
Rem: LineState: bit 0 = C2CK, bit 1 = C2D (0=Low/1= high) should be both high -> 11b

cmd_DeviceEraseAll 38 56 8 C2 Command: Erase whole memory of Target MCU

PC sends: 2F 38 00 00 01 00 CD F9 Data: 0
Interface responds 2E 38 00 00 01 00 00 49 80 Data: 0
Rem:

cmd_DevicePageErase 39 57 9 C2 Command: Erase one page in memory of Target MCU

PC sends: 2F 39 00 00 01 bb CRC Data: bb = 1 Byte with the page number
Interface responds 2E 39 00 00 01 bb 00 CRC Data: bb = 1 Byte with the page number
Rem:

cmd_DeviceRead 3A 58 : C2 Command: Read memory of Target MCU

PC sends: 2F 3A hi lo 01 nn CRC Data: hi lo = start address; nn = number of bytes to read
Interface responds 2E 3A hi lo nn bbb... 00 CRC Data: hi lo = start address; nn = number of data bytes; bbb... = data bytes
Rem: nn = 0 means: read 256 bytes

cmd_DeviceWrite 3B 59 ; C2 Command: Write to memory of Target MCU

PC sends: 2F 3B hi lo nn bbb... CRC Data: hi lo = start address; nn = number of data bytes; bbb... = data bytes
Interface responds 2E 3B hi lo 01 00 00 CRC Data: hi lo = start address
Rem: nn = 0 means: read 256 bytes
Rem: Writes are internally verified (Interface reads back after write and compares)

cmd_DeviceC2CK_LOW 3C 60 < C2 Command: Set C2 clock line C2CK to low

PC sends: 2F 3C 00 00 01 0n CRC Data: 00-07 select the BESC channel 'V2 / V1 always 00
Interface responds 2E 3C 00 00 01 0n 00 CRC Data: 00-07 *V2 / V1 always 00
Rem: Not yet implemented in BLHeli-Setup; may help recover wrong flashed BESC
 V5 Protocol for BLHeliSuite Box and other Serial Interfaces for Silabs ESC (c) by 4712 4 of 4

Errror codes
If a command sequence is send by the master and the interface fails to proceed, it will answer with an Error code.

Interface Error Response 2E cc hi lo 01 00 er CRC Data: 00 cc = command which failed; hi+lo = address value which failed; er = Error Code

Error codes defined for ACK

ACK_OK 0x00 Operation succeeded. No Error.
ACK_I_UNKNOWN_ERROR 0x01 Failure in the interface for unknown reason
ACK_I_INVALID_CMD 0x02 Interface recognized an unknown command
ACK_I_INVALID_CRC 0x03 Interface calculated a different CRC / data transmission form Master failed
ACK_I_VERIFY_ERROR 0x04 Interface did a successful write operation over C2, but the read back data did not match
ACK_C2_INVALID_COMMAND 0x05 C2 communication failed and the Status was 0x00 instead of 0x0D
ACK_C2_COMMAND_FAILED 0x06 C2 communication failed and the Status was 0x02 or 0x03 instead of 0x0D
ACK_C2_UNKNOWN_ERROR 0x07 C2 communication failed and the Status was of unknow value instead of 0x0D
ACK_I_INVALID_CHANNEL 0x08 Interface recognized: unavailable Port is adressed in Multi BESC Mode * V2 only
ACK_C2_GENERAL_ERROR 0xFF C2 communication failed for unknown reason

History: V1.0 Intial release

V2.0 Added Support für Multiple BESC Handling
Interface Name starting with "m..." indicates: this is a multiple BESC Interface
The following Commands got a new parameter 0-7 which selects the BESC Channel 1..8
Once selected, the Channel will remain activ till another one is selcted.
cmd_DeviceC2CK_LOW
cmd_DeviceReset
. cmd_DeviceInitFlash
To enable Interfaces with less than 8 channels ACK_I_INVALID_CHANNEL is added
Interface will respond if a Channel higher than supported is addressed.
V3.0 cmd_DeviceInitFlash returns the Silabs device Derivative ID
V4.0 cmd_DeviceInitFlash combines cmd_DeviceReset + cmd_DeviceGetID + cmd_DeviceInitFlash
and returns DeviceID, DerivativeID and LineState for C2D and C2CK wires
V5.0 cmd_InterfaceGetVersion now returns 2 bytes.
(first byte = 2 digit main+ 1.digit sub / second byte 3. and 4. digit sub)
Length of cmd_InterfaceGetVersionStr is no longer fixed to 12 but variable length