An Arduino sketch to control an ESC via PWM, including initial handshake and reading input from a potentiometer to modulate the speed.

Arduino_ESC_controller_with_pot.ino

#include <Servo.h>
// create motor handler of the Servo class type
Servo motor;
// The On/Off button will be on pin 6
const int buttonPin = 6;
// The Potentiometer to adjust speed will be on pin 7
const int potPin = 7;
// Motor signal is on pin 3
const int motorPin = 3;

// store the current state of the button
int buttonState = 0;
// store the signal level from the potentiometer
int signalLevel;


void setup() {
  // attach motor pin to the motor handler
  motor.attach(motorPin);
  // register buttonPin as an input
  pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT);
  // For debugging, start a serial connection
  Serial.begin(9600);

  // Start the complicated handshake with the ESC
  motor.writeMicroseconds(1000);

  delay(100);

  motor.writeMicroseconds(2000);

  delay(100);

  motor.writeMicroseconds(1200);

  delay(100);

  motor.writeMicroseconds(0);
}

void loop() {
  // get the current state of the button
  buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);
  // do the following if the button is pushed
  if (buttonState == HIGH) {
    // reads the value of the potentiometer (value between 0 and 1023)
    signalLevel = analogRead(potPin);
    // output potentiometer value to serial for debugging    
    Serial.println(signalLevel);
    
    // scale the potentiometer value to within the minimum and maximum values of the ESC (between 1200 and 2000 in microseconds for PWM)
    signalLevel = map(signalLevel, 0, 1023, 1200, 2000);     
    
    // Sends new signal value to the ESC
    motor.writeMicroseconds(signalLevel);
    // output the scaled value to serial for debugging    
    Serial.println(signalLevel);
  } else {
    // if the button is not pushed, set the ESC to not run the motor
    motor.writeMicroseconds(1200); 
  }
  // wait a bit between loops
  delay(45);
}