10S custom skate ESC: testers wanted!

[jacobbloy]

hi guys this is the link for my google drive, it contains the Windows and OS X BLDC TOOL and Video Logger applications, i keep them up to date and currently are ready for FW 1.10 that vedder updated just 2 days ago,

i keep older versions of the software available just incase there are bugs with new FW, also for this who don't have a boot loader FW like version 1.2.

i also have a FW and config folder that i want to keep updated, so if any one has a motor configuration that they want share please sent it to me and ill add il to the folder.

as for updates if you update your FW and your BLDC TOOL can't use it and i haven't updated it please just contact me and let me know and ill work on fixing this asap.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bym9X ... lQxS0R5ZlU

[sl33py]

quick VESC question for those who know. 12s with 200kv motors on VESC - OK? I know more than 200kv is not good, but unsure if the "cutoff" is at 200kv or i should have lower kv to use with 12s? Just don't want to damage my VESC's and got my new 6s batteries charged up last night...

Appreciate it!

[silviasol]

quick VESC question for those who know. 12s with 200kv motors on VESC - OK? I know more than 200kv is not good, but unsure if the "cutoff" is at 200kv or i should have lower kv to use with 12s? Just don't want to damage my VESC's and got my new 6s batteries charged up last night...

Appreciate it!

Not sure anyone has ran a 12s setup yet. I ran 12s with my 270kv and the drv8302 was dead after one ride. Going to try 10s in a week just waiting on some parts.

[sl33py]

quick VESC question for those who know. 12s with 200kv motors on VESC - OK? I know more than 200kv is not good, but unsure if the "cutoff" is at 200kv or i should have lower kv to use with 12s? Just don't want to damage my VESC's and got my new 6s batteries charged up last night...

Appreciate it!

Not sure anyone has ran a 12s setup yet. I ran 12s with my 270kv and the drv8302 was dead after one ride. Going to try 10s in a week just waiting on some parts.

Hmm... that's a bit scary and i might not run my board at all or switch back to 8s. I skipped 10s and figured 12s would be the better option for me long-term.

Anyone or Vedder comment on 200kv OK or not on 12s? I just don't want to fry the drv8302 as it's not a simple replacement and outside my meager soldering skills...

[chaka]

I recall Vedder recommending a motor under 200kv for 12s, I could be wrong.

[jamesonotc]

quick VESC question for those who know. 12s with 200kv motors on VESC - OK? I know more than 200kv is not good, but unsure if the "cutoff" is at 200kv or i should have lower kv to use with 12s? Just don't want to damage my VESC's and got my new 6s batteries charged up last night...

Appreciate it!

Not sure anyone has ran a 12s setup yet. I ran 12s with my 270kv and the drv8302 was dead after one ride. Going to try 10s in a week just waiting on some parts.

Hmm... that's a bit scary and i might not run my board at all or switch back to 8s. I skipped 10s and figured 12s would be the better option for me long-term.

Anyone or Vedder comment on 200kv OK or not on 12s? I just don't want to fry the drv8302 as it's not a simple replacement and outside my meager soldering skills...

If you happen to burn up you're drv8302 I can help you replace the chip. Ive got all needed tools and years experience. Since we're local to each other I figured I would offer if you wanted to real world test.

[vedder]

200kv on 12s should work fine.

I will make a check in the next firmware that shuts down and gives a fault code when the KV * voltage * poles number is too high.

[sl33py]

If you happen to burn up you're drv8302 I can help you replace the chip. Ive got all needed tools and years experience. Since we're local to each other I figured I would offer if you wanted to real world test.

Thanks James! That's great peace of mind. Give you a shout this evening after work and maybe can connect. Let you try the dual 5065 on 12s!

200kv on 12s should work fine.

I will make a check in the next firmware that shuts down and gives a fault code when the KV * voltage * poles number is too high.

Ben - awesome! I will post back if any troubles!

Excited to try 12s now!!!

[jeffpetersen]

Sorry if I am missing something, but couldn't find any hint on how to use the ADC app-which of the VESC inputs is the voltage input?
ADC tab of BLDC tool mentions a button,"Duty cycle button, Current norev button..."-which button is that?

Thanks for any info!
Jeff.

[onloop]

Finally getting somewhere with my latest VESC batch...Please review this and comment if issue can be found.

[chuttney1]

[quote="onloop"]Finally getting somewhere with my latest VESC batch...Please review this and comment if issue can be found.

Much improvment over the first VESC batch I've seen with the correct caps and shunts used this time. Definitely ready for firmware upload.

[vedder]

Finally getting somewhere with my latest VESC batch...Please review this and comment if issue can be found.

Looks good so far. It would be nice if I can test one VESC from this batch.

[onloop]

Two have been made and will have some basic testing done. If all is good I will proceed with the assembly of the 100PCS.

[peters]

Nice little controller Benjamin!
I'm trying to understand your sensorless start algorithm from stopped rotor state, but not easy to get it from the source code. Could you explain briefly?

[vedder]

After killing 5 DRV8302s and a MOSFET, I got lizards motor running well. To get the current measurement right I had to increase the highest switching frequency a bit and adjust the current sample timing. To make the components survive, I had to add a PEG225MG3680QE1 capacitor close to the FETs and stacked extra ceramic capacitors. Again, capacitors are very important, especially for high power low inductance motors.

The gearing is for 150 km/h without any load and the current limit is set to 110A. I actually give full throttle several times in the video, which gives a motor current of over 100A.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMxd9J0 ... e=youtu.be

The next test will be outdoors and will be scary with that speed

Nice little controller Benjamin!
I'm trying to understand your sensorless start algorithm from stopped rotor state, but not easy to get it from the source code. Could you explain briefly?

Thanks! I wrote a bit about that here:
http://vedder.se/2014/08/startup-torque ... dc-motors/

[okp]

just crazy; this seems to be a monster. 150km/h... just ridiculous ! it's going to fly !

[silviasol]

After killing 5 DRV8302s and a MOSFET, I got lizards motor running well. To get the current measurement right I had to increase the highest switching frequency a bit and adjust the current sample timing. To make the components survive, I had to add a PEG225MG3680QE1 capacitor close to the FETs and stacked extra ceramic capacitors. Again, capacitors are very important, especially for high power low inductance motors.

The gearing is for 150 km/h without any load and the current limit is set to 110A. I actually give full throttle several times in the video, which gives a motor current of over 100A.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMxd9J0 ... e=youtu.be

The next test will be outdoors and will be scary with that speed

Can you post a pic of the esc? I want to try and see if the same setup will fix my problem with 12s and the 270kv.

[lizard]

Wow. That video was impressive. Geared for 150kph and can push heavy things around from a standstill

[elkick]

Maybe a stupid question, but nevertheless: I'd like to adjust some of my boards to make them usable for my kids (in secure environment of course, not for the streets!). Ideally it should be possible to program one of the nunchuk buttons (for example Z) with the capability to limit speed/acceleration and remain in that mode even after switching of.

How to achieve this for the nunchuk? Or a more simple attempt: what are the values I'd have to change in the BLDC tool to implement a general power limit?

[Nordle]

Z should be 6kph anti police mode:D at that speed our boards or whatever we ride/drive would be treatet as a toy and totally legal.

[Vulthor]

Maybe a stupid question, but nevertheless: I'd like to adjust some of my boards to make them usable for my kids (in secure environment of course, not for the streets!). Ideally it should be possible to program one of the nunchuk buttons (for example Z) with the capability to limit speed/acceleration and remain in that mode even after switching of.

How to achieve this for the nunchuk? Or a more simple attempt: what are the values I'd have to change in the BLDC tool to implement a general power limit?

There is no stupid questions then it's about safety, especialy for your kids.

Even I am interested in this question, i'm a new builder (work in progress) so can't help you but the question is legit

[Dr_T]

hi guys this is the link for my google drive, it contains the Windows and OS X BLDC TOOL and Video Logger applications, i keep them up to date and currently are ready for FW 1.10 that vedder updated just 2 days ago,

Thank you Jacob!

After killing 5 DRV8302s and a MOSFET, I got lizards motor running well. To get the current measurement right I had to increase the highest switching frequency a bit and adjust the current sample timing. To make the components survive, I had to add a PEG225MG3680QE1 capacitor close to the FETs and stacked extra ceramic capacitors. Again, capacitors are very important, especially for high power low inductance motors.

The gearing is for 150 km/h without any load and the current limit is set to 110A. I actually give full throttle several times in the video, which gives a motor current of over 100A.

Awesome! Looking forward to your results . Can you explain a bit about stacking the extra ceramic caps please? You frying 5 DRVs without, scares me a bit .

I tested the experimental firmware version tonight and it made a big difference! Only 2 over-current faults this time in a full pack, both at comm step 4 again (details below). Was late and didn't bring laptop, so didn't try changing Control gain and Maximum ramp step (at 1000 Hz) yet. Motor and battery Current limits were set to 80/-80 A and 80/-20 A, and gearing same as earlier tests: ~75 km/h no-load @ 3.7V/cell. I did add a body with 80x80x25 mm fan this time. Motor temp went up to ~65°C and highest temp recorded in VESC fault codes was ~50°C @ ~22°C ambient.

Somehow my Peak Currents are stuck at a little under 60 A still though, see plots below. In the 2 zoomed snips, you can see there's big 10-25 s full throttle bursts with ~40 A draw and ~23k motor RPM (54 km/h wheel-speed) at around 23.3 V (i.e., ~990 kv under load: 69% of the unloaded 1440 kv I measured with a Castle ESC- if it's really the load slowing down the motor so much, I'd expect it to be way hotter, no?). Any idea what could cause the low draw and RPM? I think if it was a lack of traction (driving grass) that keeps load down, the RPM would be higher. Batteries are 5.0 Ah 6S 60C, and those stay happy delivering 200+A bursts in my other cars, so I'm sure it's not the batteries discharge rate limiting the Current (also check the Voltage sag in the plots, it's not big at all). I double-checked calibration of the PPM throttle signal to go to 100%.

Final question: what was the max safe ERPM again? In the BLDC tool I see 100k, but did I understand it correctly that there are problems with 270kv 14-poles on 12S (95k ERPM @ 4.2V/cell, 84k ERPM @ 3.7V/cell)? Does this happen only during the no-load motor test (little to no battery Voltage sag) or also under load? I could try 7S (85k ERPM @ 4.2 V/cell, 75k ERPM @ 3.7V/cell) with same gearing to see if I get higher Current/RPM out of the motor, if that's within the safe ERPM range for VESC. Otherwise I could gear up a bit.

Cheers!

Edit:
Just checked all the fault codes I had both this and last time, and saw that even with all the full throttle driving, the duty cycle at the recorded faults never went past .79. Does that say anything?

Fault codes:

Code: Select all

The following faults were registered since start:

Fault            : FAULT_CODE_ABS_OVER_CURRENT
Current          : 32.5
Current filtered : 131.8
Voltage          : 22.56
Duty             : 0.71
RPM              : 49227.4
Tacho            : 980456
TIM PWM CNT      : 3370
TIM Samp CNT     : 3376
Comm step        : 4
Temperature      : 45.76

Fault            : FAULT_CODE_ABS_OVER_CURRENT
Current          : 58.7
Current filtered : 134.6
Voltage          : 21.97
Duty             : 0.72
RPM              : 47453.4
Tacho            : 1675942
TIM PWM CNT      : 4574
TIM Samp CNT     : 4580
Comm step        : 4
Temperature      : 49.54

Total log (Temp A is motor temp):


Snip 1 (with 10s WOT burst driving dry grass: ~40 A draw and ~23k motor RPM (54 km/h wheel-speed) at around 23.3 V (i.e., ~990 kv under load: 69% of the unloaded 1440 kv I measured with a Castle ESC):


Snip 2 (with 25s WOT burst, driving dry grass):


Fan mounted:


Ready to go:

[Vulthor]

Looks like a mini batmobile (Burton style).

[Dr_T]

Looks like a mini batmobile (Burton style).

Thanks!

[jacobbloy]

https://github.com/jacobbloy/BLDCAPP/tr ... lNPNzk2Z3c

i need the community help to connect a bluetooth module to the VESC and test that the current APK can connect search for bluetooth devices found in the settings tap of the APP and connect to the VESC bluetooth module.

the data that i need is:
You should pair devices and tell me the device type - it will be displayed something like "Service %TYPE%: %NAME%"
this is done all through the settings tab of the android APP.

Connecting bluetooth is easy and works with the same firmware as before without modifications. Just enable the UART app and connect a bluetooth-serial dongle (e.g. the rn-41 as found on the bluesmirf gold) to the rx and tx pins of the VESC. Something like this works to connect to it from ubuntu:
https://gist.github.com/xseignard/9367829
Then, in BLDC Tool, replace /dev/ttyACM0 with /dev/rfcomm0