Arduino ESC controlled motor has issues

Question

I have a brushless motor what is hooked up to a external power supply and I'm using an arduino with a potentiometer to control it. I know that the motor has power but whenever I turn the potentiometer nothing happens. I'm wondering if my wiring is wrong. Here's the wires is connected:

First pin of the potentometer to arduino GND Second pin of the potentometer to arduino A0 Third pin of the potentiometer to arduino 5V

Black wire of the ESC to arduino GND Red wire of the ESC to VIN White wire of the ESC to D8

I'm also using a switch to give both the arduino and motor power and they both seem to turn on fine.

Motor has external power and does twitch very slightly when powered on with this circuit but I can't get is to actually move substantially using the potentiometer.

Here's my code:

#include <Servo.h>//Using servo library to control ESC
Servo esc; //Creating a servo class with name as esc
void setup()
{
esc.attach(8); //Specify the esc signal pin,Here as D8
esc.writeMicroseconds(1000); //initialize the signal to 1000
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{
int val; //Creating a variable val
val= analogRead(A0); //Read input from analog pin a0 and store in val
val= map(val, 0, 1023,1000,2000); //mapping val to minimum and maximum(Change if needed) 
esc.writeMicroseconds(val); //using val as the signal to esc
}

Answer 1

It would seem you are attempting to power the motor's coils from VIN of the Arduino. If you are powering the whole system from USB or from the barrel connector on the Arduino, then it's likely that the small voltage regulator on the Arduino cannot supply sufficient current to the motor.

You should connect the black and red wires of the ESC directly to a high-current power supply, and ensure the black (GND) wires of the ESC, power supply, and Arduino are tied together.