This guide goes through the configurator section by section, says what each setting does and which values to use on a typical 5-inch freestyle quad. The short version comes first, for anyone who just wants to fly.
The short version
The AM32 wiki's freestyle recommendation is short: turn on variable PWM, set Motor KV and Motor poles to match your motors and keep everything else at the defaults. Oscar Liang's settings guide gets to almost the same place, with a few extra ticks:
- Protocol: Auto, or pick DShot if you want to rule out a wrong protocol being detected.
- Stuck rotor protection: on.
- Complementary PWM: on.
- PWM Type: Variable.
- Timing advance: 15° or Auto timing advance.
- Startup power: 100%.
- Motor KV and Motor poles: the values for your motors.
- Low voltage cut off: off on a multirotor.
- Brake on stop and Sinusoidal Startup: off.
If the ESC came with AM32 from the factory, most of this is often already set. Check it anyway, especially KV and poles.
Before you connect: props off, battery in, Chrome
The configurator runs in the browser at am32.ca and talks to the ESC through the flight controller's passthrough. Nothing extra has to be configured in Betaflight. MicoAir's guide notes that INAV needs the motor outputs enabled first. The web serial connection only works in Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome or Edge.
- Take the props off. Every guide I used repeats it, because the motors can spin while you are working on the ESC.
- Plug the USB into the flight controller and plug in a flight battery. Without the battery, the ESC has no power and the configurator can't read it. Oscar points out that the "ACK_D_GENERAL_ERROR" error usually means exactly that.
- Open the configurator, pick the port, click Connect, then Read.
- Each ESC gets its own box. Select all of them before changing anything, so the change goes to all four. A box with a red border has unsaved changes.
- Click Save. Oscar's guide warns not to confuse it with Save Config, which writes a backup file.
Before a firmware update or a bigger change, use Save Config to download a backup of the settings (a .bin file). Apply Config loads it back.
Firmware: which version and how to flash it
The list of AM32 releases on GitHub shows how fast the firmware has moved. Version 2.18 (March 2025) added automatic PWM frequency based on RPM. Version 2.19 (September 2025) added a lot: active braking, a choice between low voltage cutoff per cell or as an absolute voltage, a ramp rate adjustable from 1 s to 1/50 s, PWM frequency from 8 to 144 kHz, timing from 0 to 30° in 1° steps, current limiting with a PID controller and a minimum duty cycle from 0 to 25%. It also moved to a new EEPROM layout (version 3). 2.20 (December 2025) fixed the maximum RPM on F051 chips that 2.19 had broken and improved 3D mode. 2.21 (August 2026) is the newest at the time of writing.
How to flash, following MicoAir's and Oscar's guides:
- Click Flash Firmware. The configurator usually recognises the ESC target by itself.
- Pick the version. Normally the newest one.
- Tick all the ESCs and start the flash. Oscar says a 4-in-1 takes about five minutes.
- Don't unplug the battery or USB while it runs. MicoAir warns that an interrupted flash may leave the ESC needing recovery with a hardware programmer.
If you upgrade an older ESC across the EEPROM change, the firmware sets defaults for the new fields. According to the v2.21 source code, it sets the ramp to 16% per millisecond, the minimum duty cycle to 1, and active braking and braking at zero throttle to off. After an upgrade, read the settings again and check that nothing looks odd.
What about BLHeli_32 ESCs?
Many BLHeli_32 ESCs can run AM32, but that's a different job. You first have to put the AM32 bootloader on them, and locked ones need an unlocker or a debugger (ST-Link, CMSIS-DAP or J-Link), as the am32-unlocker project explains. Oscar warns the conversion can't be undone. His advice when BLHeli_32 shut down was not to rush: an ESC that works on BLHeli_32 keeps working, it just won't get updates. If you are buying new ESCs, it's simpler to buy ones that ship with AM32.
The settings, section by section
Labels below are as they appear in the configurator. Ranges are taken from the configurator's source code and the AM32 release notes.
Essentials and motor switches
Protocol. The options are Auto, DShot, Servo, Serial and EDT ARM. Auto works, but Oscar sets the protocol by hand so a wrongly detected protocol can't spin up a motor unexpectedly. With Betaflight and DShot, choose DShot.
Stuck rotor protection. If a motor is blocked, for example by grass after a crash, the ESC stops trying until the throttle returns to neutral. The AM32 wiki says it was designed for quads. Leave it on.
Stall protection. When a loaded motor is about to stop, the ESC pushes a bit more power to keep it turning. The wiki calls it good for crawlers. Leave it off on a quad.
Use hall sensors. The wiki says it isn't currently used, because there are no targets that support hall sensors. Off.
30ms interval telemetry. Turns on serial telemetry every 30 ms using the KISS telemetry protocol. You don't need it for RPM filtering, which uses bidirectional DShot.
Complementary PWM. Oscar recommends having it on, because it is what gives active braking during flight, and that keeps the quad responsive. AM32 2.21 adds an option to coast at zero throttle even with complementary PWM on (more on that under braking).
Auto timing advance. The firmware picks the timing by itself. It has been available since 2.16.
Timing advance
Range: 0-32° in newer firmware, 0-22.5° on older versions. Oscar uses 15° or Auto. He would only go lower on large 8-10" quads, because too little timing increases the risk of a desync. In a guide on Hobbywing's support site, Joe from JDRotor tested Hobbywing's 4-in-1 ESCs on 5-inch quads with Auto timing, and also with 15° and 22.5°.
Startup power
Range: 50-150%. The AM32 wiki describes it as the minimum duty cycle and power boost during the first commutations, before the motor is spinning properly. Oscar uses 100%.
Motor KV and Motor poles
Motor KV: 20-10220. Motor poles: 2-36.
The AM32 wiki explains that KV and poles set the RPM thresholds for low-speed power protection and high-speed stall protection. The manufacturer's KV figure is good enough. The "ESC Settings Explained" table adds that the KV value is used to limit throttle at low RPM.
Oscar gives the practical consequence: set KV too high and you lose top throttle. Set it too low and the motor can draw too much current and run hot. If you're unsure, go slightly lower than the rated KV.
For poles, Oscar says 5-7" motors usually have 14, and micro motors 12. If in doubt, count the magnets on the bell. Use the same number for Motor poles in Betaflight, because RPM filtering depends on it.
PWM frequency
Since 2.18 you choose between three PWM types:
- Fixed: one frequency.
- Variable: the frequency changes in a range from X to 2X kHz, which the configurator displays.
- by RPM: the firmware sets the frequency based on RPM. The frequency field is then disabled.
The range is 8-144 kHz on new EEPROM versions and up to 48 kHz on older ones. The 2.19 release notes warn that not all ESCs work well at high frequencies. The AM32 wiki also notes that on STM32 chips a higher frequency means lower PWM resolution.
Oscar's view: 24-48 kHz, the default, is the best balance for most quads. Avoid 8-16 kHz. Higher frequencies can make braking and propwash handling worse. He found "by RPM" gave minimal gains in freestyle. The JDRotor guide for Hobbywing ESCs, on the other hand, strongly recommends "by RPM" on 5-inch quads with 1750-2020 KV motors. Start with Variable or with the manufacturer's recommendation. If you experiment, change one thing at a time and feel the motors after a short flight.
Ramp rate and Minimum duty cycle
These are in the extended settings.
Ramp rate limits how quickly the duty cycle can rise, in "% duty cycle per ms". The range is 0.1-20, and the firmware sets 16 after an upgrade from an older EEPROM. In the comments under Oscar's guide, a reader described a Seeker 3 on 2.20 with the ramp at 0.1% per ms. The quad flipped on throttle and was fine once he set 16. That's one report, not a test, but it shows the cost of a wrong value. Check this field after flashing.
Minimum duty cycle: 0-25% in 0.5% steps. Leave it at the default unless the ESC maker says otherwise.
Limits
Low voltage cut off: Off, Cell based or Absolute (the last two since 2.19). Oscar recommends Off on a multirotor. A cutoff on a quad means motors dropping in the air. Watch the battery voltage on the OSD instead.
Temperature limit and Current limit: in the configurator, moving the slider all the way to the right (141 for temperature, 202 for current) turns the limit off. Oscar disables both on his quads. He gives 140 °C as an example for a wing. If your ESC maker recommends a limit, keep it.
The current limit is controlled by the Current P, I and D values (0-255 each). Leave them alone.
Sinusoidal Startup
Sine Mode Range (5-25) and Sine Mode Power (1-10) control a soft start for slow, precise vehicles. The AM32 wiki puts this under crawlers, and Oscar turns it off on quads.
Brake
Brake on stop: Off, Brake on stop or Active brake (the last since 2.19). On a quad this is about what happens when the motor is stopped, not about braking in flight, which complementary PWM handles. Oscar sets it to off. It's a car and crawler feature.
Car type reverse braking, Brake strength, Running brake level, Active brake power (0-5%). Leave them at defaults on a quad. Oscar leaves the running brake level at the default.
AM32 2.21 adds braking at zero throttle with three modes: brake immediately, coast even with complementary PWM on, or brake after a set number of seconds. The release notes say it needs offline configurator 1.96 or newer and that am32.ca would be updated soon. In the online configurator's source code from October 2026 I couldn't find a separate field for it.
Servo settings
Low and high threshold, neutral and dead band only matter with a PWM servo signal. With DShot they don't do anything.
After saving: a bench check and the first flight
- Read the settings again and check that all four ESCs show the same values.
- Props still off. In Betaflight, in the Motors tab, spin each motor briefly at low throttle and check its direction. If a motor spins the wrong way, you can tick Reversed for that ESC in the configurator.
- If you use RPM filtering, check in Betaflight that RPM data comes from all motors.
- The JDRotor guide's advice for the first flights: after a minute, land and touch the motors. A hot motor is a reason to go back to the settings, mostly the timing and the PWM frequency.