PSA, enertion FOCBOX's are only rated for 100 miles before failure

ggalisky

1 µW
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
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1
I ride my board every day and both motors worked fine, maybe 100 miles on them, then one of my FOCBOXs (entertions motor controlleers) stopped working when I tried to turn on my board to go for a ride. I did the next logical thing which was to contact customer service to see if they would replace the faulty motor controller, since I have 2 of them on my board for both motors, and only one failed. If my settings on both FOCBOX’s were harmful, shouldnt both of the FOCBOXs died? Anyways I went forward and contacted customer service to get a replacement. After talking to enertion customer service, they told me that they wanted me to buy a “warranty” for $80 to repair a product that failed under the specs listed on the enertion website. After waiting 5 months for FOCBOXs and having one of them die after 100 miles, I will never buy an enertion product again. I also advise others to take their business elsewhere. I have a second FOCBOX that was always used in conjunction with this one, with the same settings, and it never failed. It is also interesting how enertion tried to shift the responsibility of the error on to me with these statements:
"I think your FOCBOX is fried due to incorrect values. 1: Batt Max for 10s system will be maximum 30A and yours is 50A which is high for the 10s system"
It says on the enertion that each FOCBOX is rated for 60A. My battery is only capable of 60A max, meaning two FOCBOXs drawing power from a 60A pack couldn't have exceeded that limit. It is even stated that each FOCBOX can hand up to 120A peak, meaning even if my battery send more power the whole system would have never exceeded 240A.
Link: http://www.enertionboards.com/electric-skateboard-parts/FOCBOX-programmable-brushless-motor-controller/
"2: ERPM value is also high, recommended value is 60000 and your is 100000 which is high"
Again, it says on your website that 100,000 is "fine" and 60,000 as a limit is a "myth". Link: https://enertionboards.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000605073-Erpm-limits-on-the-Focbox-
"3: Input voltage recommended for FOCBOX is 50.4 maximum, your is 57 which is high."
My battery can only produce a max of 42v, thus it is impossible to exceed 50.4v since 42v is less than 50.4v. I have a 10s4p battery pack, so 42v max, 60A max since I am using Samsung 30Q cells.
I spent over $250 with enertion. I regret every dollar I spent with enertion and all the wasted time. If you want quality and customer support, enertion is not the place to go folks
 
I want every detail of your settings you used for your setup especially because you have a 10S4P pack capable of 60 amps. Judging by your response it looks to me you are somewhat knowledgeable on the FOCBOX's operation, but not enough to know the downside of surpassing those limits if you manage to break the FOCBOX. Excuse my response, but this is the internet and I am not able to tell your education level unless stated explicitly.

Did you understand the full effect of messing with the ERPM? I can infer from your response you did not because of reading 60,000 ERPM is not really the true limit of the device.


I'm aware the reliability of FOCBoxes is not as great as the VESC made by Ollin. More like hit or miss to say. Don't bother trying for Ollin's version because he stopped making them.
 
The Samsung 30q cells are *rated* at 15a, however they will do substantially more than this. I have done discharge testing to 30a/cell. They sag a lot, get hot and won't last long if done regularly, but it's completely incorrect to state that your battery will only deliver 60a. If the controllers are set to 50a, they were probably pulling 50a.

The specifications on the website are poorly written, however I believe the stated current limits are *phase amps* not battery current. These are not the same thing. 50a x2 battery amps on a HOC 10s pack of 30q will deliver ~3.5kw, that's definitely enough to smoke the relatively tiny form factor focbox.

The voltage they're stating is recorded on the unit, it did happen. There are a variety of ways to get to bus voltage that high, it's normal to see voltage spikes with large phase amps and inadequate capacitance. Alternatively if you took the board past its geared maximum RPM down a big hill this would also blow it up pretty rapidly. Why did you have the erpm set so high?

Just to clarify, you opted specifically NOT to purchase the warranty, set everything to unreasonably high limits, blew it up and are now throwing your toys despite being offered a very reasonable significant discount for a replacement?
 
Guys, I run focbox on 90 amps set on 4x4 mountain board and with a battery capable to discharge 175 amps continues and all 4 focboxes are running super awesome. I have about maybe 50 miles on the set up with no issues. Not sure if this helps any way.
 
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