Blheli32 is no more, servers are down, flashing is disabled

geofrancis · June 5, 2024, 12:38am

BLHeli_32 Server Down For Maintenance - Safety Critical Firmware

opened 11:43AM - 04 Jun 24 UTC

Hi, first of all we are shocked and sad to see BLHeli stop trading and stop deve…lopment on BLHeli_32. There are customers who have purchased ESCs already with older firmware flashed from the factory with known potentially critical bugs that could cause harm and injury to themselves and others that are now no longer able to update via BLheli Suit as the servers are now offline. We understand there will be no new updates however will you be providing users ongoing access to the last update V31.10 for BLHeli32 for all ESCs supported ? Further more as you will no longer be providing updates there may be yet unknown bugs in BLHeli_32 32.10 that you will be no longer addressing. As such will you be providing a bootloader unlock for users to allow them to install alternative software on their hardware. I am sure you can appreciate the inherent risks around multirotors and the importance of safety in all aspects and being able to update or replace firmware is not only a basic user requirement but also will be required by many regulators around the globe where uas are used for commercial and industrial use. We would appreciate some clarity on the future for current BLHeli_32 users who have supported the project and business. Regards Mads Tech.

Oli1 · June 5, 2024, 6:30am

Always left a bad taste in my mouth that Blheli32 wasn’t only closed source, but basically a fully fenced off proprietary environment. Oh well, either projects like AM32 will take over, or we’ll see development of completely new firmware.

Either way, it’s a really bad situation for people who depended on Blheli32 for commercial operations.

andyp1per · June 5, 2024, 6:59am

It’s true and I have had confirmation from a very reliable source that its true and not coming back. I’ve also verified that the servers are down so no more updates. We’ll be making sure that AM32 works in the coming days and of course BlueJay is still around, but BLHeli32 is no more.

Oli1 · June 5, 2024, 11:03am

No idea how the organizatorial aspect of the ArduPilot project works, but might be a good opportunity to reach out to the AM32 devs and maybe start a cooperation or even integration?

geofrancis · June 5, 2024, 11:18am

Am32 uses kiss telemetry but I don’t know if it supports bdshot.

Oli1 · June 5, 2024, 11:29am

Looks like it does:

andyp1per · June 5, 2024, 12:13pm

Yes we are in contact

dkemxr · June 5, 2024, 3:52pm

FWIW At least the Server Operations may come back online.

simon2 · June 7, 2024, 6:00pm

I set up a new Copter and i realy need to upgrade my Speedybee F7 V3 ESC otherwhise my Engine dont want to Arm. So i cant upgrade anymore? Are there any other possibility??? Help, i want to FLY. Thanks

geofrancis · June 7, 2024, 6:19pm

The ESC will work with the firmware thats on it, it just cannot be updated.

simon2 · June 7, 2024, 6:35pm

But my Betaflight say, i need to Update it

Oli1 · June 7, 2024, 6:44pm

Disable DShot telemetry then. Or see if you can get AM32 to run on them. If you can then share your experience here and people might forgive you for asking for Betaflight support here

dkemxr · June 8, 2024, 1:50am

Where did you get that idea?
Head to a BF Forum and run that line.

NikosSprocket · June 8, 2024, 6:45am

Probably not; the Github repo. for BLHeli is been cleaned:

LupusTheCanine · June 8, 2024, 8:03pm

Lol. Github delete is do secure

davidbitton · June 9, 2024, 6:56pm

Aw man that sucks. BLHeli passthrough finally works consistently. Just go to figure.

geofrancis · June 9, 2024, 7:09pm

has anyone tested AM32 with ardupilot?

andyp1per · June 9, 2024, 7:14pm

Yeah, it works for the most part I believe. I have some ESCs arriving soon that I will flash and do a full flight test on.

davidbitton · June 9, 2024, 7:14pm

Is AP_ESC going to come back?

marco3dr · June 10, 2024, 1:28pm

On their GitHub there is of course the option to checkout and still have all the hexes to flash for Multi as well, but I never understood the difference between these they call “test code” and the ones downloaded with the Suite.
They are certainly not the same, but more to the point, what would be the reason for these test code ones?