I'm sick of Sabvotons and want to switch to Fardriver. Looking for opinions.

[MangDav]

I'm sick and tired of Sabvoton SVMC72150 and 72200 controllers, I had them catch on fire, FETs shorting with less than 50% rated power, MCUs dying for no reason and so on. I went thru 8 or 9 Sabvotons and want to try something else. Only things I'm looking for is 72v and for it to be able to output atleast 550 phase amps. Fardriver ND72680 caught my eye, it's $150 cheaper than a SVMC72200, it can output almost double the DC current, has 130A higher protective phase current and it's smaller in size and weighs less than a SVMC72200, it almost sounds too good to be true as on paper it's cheaper and better than a Sabvoton in every way.

I'm wondering if there's a reason why it's cheaper when on paper it it looks superior than a Sabvoton SVMC72200? Only negatives that I noticed so far is when I was trying to figure out what display can be used with the ND72680 by looking at the diagram, half of it makes no sense (atleast to me) and I still don't know if I can use ONE-LIN displays with it. Wondering if anyone has experience with the Fardriver controllers or maybe with both Fardriver and Sabvoton and can provide some feedback. Thanks

 

[dominik h]

I to kiiled two Sabvotons a SVMC72260 and an SVMC72150, both died because of overvoltage created with weakening field and no load situation, where the wheel makes more than 50% more speed than on the road, the fets or the control board die immediatly during this overvoltage situation.
The other SVMC72150 is running at 175Adc and full phase current now since 10000km in my 180kg scooter, without any issue. Setting up the sabvoton took 5 minutes.

I have a Fardriver ND96850 and an ND72680 but have only tested them on the workbench., both are running with no load.
The software from the Fardriver is much more complicated than from the sabvoton.
It took me 3 months and three 2 hour online sessions with Siacosys to get the right firmware and the right voltage settings on the ND96850.

If I where shure they would work directly in my scooter I had already changed one of them against my sabvoton. But as the scooter is my daily driver, I fear of touching (changing) the good running system.

 

[DingusMcGee]

I am currently running Fardriver controllers ND96530, ND72530 and ND72350 on Edirtbikes. You program them with an iPhone. I have had two Sabvoton controllers and they were short lived — Never Again. 2 out 3 Votols are in the grave yard but they did outlast the Sabvotons. Both the Votols and the Sabvotons use vintage communication methods for programming the controller — PC/RS232.

Fardriver gets stars from me. They are very robust — they keep working better than the rest and at very low $$.

If you decide to buy a Fardriver, see my post in Vendor Relations about alternatives to Alibaba. You might save some $$ and get better customer support?

 

[dominik h]

I'm wondering if there's a reason why it's cheaper when on paper it it looks superior than a Sabvoton SVMC72200? Only negatives that I noticed so far is when I was trying to figure out what display can be used with the ND72680 by looking at the diagram, half of it makes no sense (atleast to me) and I still don't know if I can use ONE-LIN displays with it. Wondering if anyone has experience with the Fardriver controllers or maybe with both Fardriver and Sabvoton and can provide some feedback. Thanks

Now I have installed the Fardriver ND72680 in my scooter. It is 2/3 of the size of the SVMC72150 and has twice the power.
I measured over 310Adc and the 680pA , this is continous and not peak power.
The controller does this until it gets to hot or the phase wires melt. I had mine installed with a cooling fan and melted my AWG6 13.3mm² phase wires. It definitly has more power than the Sabvoton. Now im running it with 220Adc and 600pA on my 21S100A scooter build.

 

[ttmk]

I'm sick and tired of Sabvoton SVMC72150 and 72200 controllers, I had them catch on fire, FETs shorting with less than 50% rated power, MCUs dying for no reason and so on. I went thru 8 or 9 Sabvotons and want to try something else. Only things I'm looking for is 72v and for it to be able to output atleast 550 phase amps. Fardriver ND72680 caught my eye, it's $150 cheaper than a SVMC72200, it can output almost double the DC current, has 130A higher protective phase current and it's smaller in size and weighs less than a SVMC72200, it almost sounds too good to be true as on paper it's cheaper and better than a Sabvoton in every way.

I'm wondering if there's a reason why it's cheaper when on paper it it looks superior than a Sabvoton SVMC72200? Only negatives that I noticed so far is when I was trying to figure out what display can be used with the ND72680 by looking at the diagram, half of it makes no sense (atleast to me) and I still don't know if I can use ONE-LIN displays with it. Wondering if anyone has experience with the Fardriver controllers or maybe with both Fardriver and Sabvoton and can provide some feedback. Thanks

I've just bought nd72680 as replacement for my sabvoton 72150. So far it's really pain in the ass.

It doesn't have variable regen.

When set to big regen current, it starts to rotate the wheel backwards EVERY time at the end of any regen. If wheel is in the air, it starts spinning backwards. If it's on the road, it just heavily knocks. Annoying.

And when my motor is heated already about 100°C, it just shuts down every time I start either at full throttle from low speed, or if going uphill, i.e. big phase current. Probably this is my motor problem, not sure.

And THE WORST: When this piece of crap shuts down, you need to stop completely, otherwise it cannot recover. Sabvoton can, you can easily turn ignition off and back on, while running at any speed, and it works.

This last point is extremely dangerous, imagine going in the left lane on a freeway and controller shuts down.

 

[ttmk]

Add-on:

What I really like in the fardriver controller, is the app for Android, it really works, yet hangs my phone every time it disconnects from the controller.

On sabvoton the app is crap, cannot program the controller, shows fake info, sometimes ruins settings of the controller, so I almost broke my fingers when tested the motor holding it with my hand, because sabvoton got broken parameters and thus extremely sharp throttle reaction.