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Installer Tool Advanced Usage
This page will discuss the hidden advanced features of the hydra-fw-tool that is the companion installer for the Hydra firmware.
In order to access advanced features of the hydra-fw-tool, you need to run it from the command line. Open a command prompt and use the cd command to navigate to where the hydra-fw-tool.exe is located. For example, if you saved it to C:\abc\hydra-fw-tool.exe, then type into the command prompt cd C:\abc and hit enter.
Then to run the tool, simply run the command hydra-fw-tool or hydra-fw-tool.exe, this will run the tool as if you've just double clicked it.
To view a list of commands, run the command hydra-fw-tool --help, and it will show the list of additional options when running the tool from the command line.
One way you can take advantage of the option is to fully automate the flashing process, by specifying the serial port and specifying the firmware file all in one command. This allows other applications to use the tool easily, as the tool will not require any additional user inputs when it is running.
For example, the command will look like this: hydra-fw-tool -f "C:\path_to_fw\HYDRA_EMAXFORMULA_F051_V0m4.hex" -s COM6
The -r option tells the tool to read from the connected ESC instead of writing to it, for example:
hydra-fw-tool -r -f "C:\path_to_fw\save_to_here.hex" -s COM6
This will read the flash contents from the ESC and save it to C:\path_to_fw\save_to_here.hex. This will save the bootloader, firmware, and the user configurations stored in EEPROM, all in one file. This file can be used again in the future, even with other tools such as ST-Link.
If you already have a set of user configuration options that you want to include along with a firmware installation or firmware upgrade, the -c CFGFILE option will let you do that. First, write a file that looks like:
channel_1 1
channel_2 2
rc_deadzone 20
... and save it to something like myconfig.txt, for example, as C:\path_to_fw\myconfig.txt
Then run the tool with a command that looks like hydra-fw-tool -c "C:\path_to_fw\myconfig.txt" or hydra-fw-tool -f "C:\path_to_fw\HYDRA_EMAXFORMULA_F051_V0m4.hex" -s COM6 -c "myconfig.txt"
The text file should look like the output of the read command inside the CLI. It does not need to contain every single configuration item. If you omit an item, then the default value or previously stored value will be used.
The -p command will preserve the user configuration if you are installing a firmware as an upgrade. The command will look like hydra-fw-tool -p or hydra-fw-tool -f "C:\path_to_fw\HYDRA_EMAXFORMULA_F051_V0m4.hex" -s COM6 -p
WARNING: some upgrades will force the configuration to be reset anyways, even if you use -p