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Firmware Stable

What is a HWID and how to understand it?

This article describes the HWID (Hardware IDentification) used as the primary descriptor of any siliXcon device. If you specify the exact HWID within your order, you will always receive the same hardware with the same features.

Together with SWID (Software IDentification), the product is fully defined. The string is divided into sections that specify different aspects of the hardware:

hwid

Target HW​

The highest level of division reflects the primary purpose of the product. The esc5 means, that the product is 5th generation of the ESC controller. The sx1 defines the outline: the SX controller.

tip

Comparison to the car industry:

  • esc5 - a car
  • sx1 - a Volkswagen Passat

PCB revision​

This letter specifies the main PCB revision.

note

Changing the PCB revision is considered as minor change and will not change the overall functionality.

Assembly variant​

The assembly variant defines which functionalities are present. This is useful for different current/voltage ranges, powering variants, sensor interfaces, power stage sizes or OEM modification variants.

tip

Comparison to the car industry:

  • the assembly variant is the motor type.

Finish​

The finish defines the form factor of the device. It defines, heat sink variants, used connectors (and their pinouts), etc.

tip

Comparison to the car industry:

  • the finish is the car paint.

How to decode a HWID?​

Every controller series page has a decoder under Product variants (for example the AX series): paste the HWID there and it lists the features it encodes — the power stage, the sensor interface, the voltage and current range, the internal configuration. When a controller is connected through emGUI, Read from controller fills the field in for you, and the HWID shown in the top bar's node panel is a link that opens the right decoder directly.

You do not need to know which series page to open: /mpn?hwid=<HWID> — for example /mpn?hwid=esc5-ax1d_61kxa0810-A80 — finds the right decoder from the HWID and opens it with the id filled in. The same decoding is available to programs as JSON at /api/mpn?mpn=<HWID>.

How to read a HWID from the device?​

  1. Connect the device to the PC,
  2. open 'emGUI' and click 'search for nodes'
  3. double-click on the device.

read_hwid