Older far driver controller and latest Far driver app

ChrisX

10 mW
Joined
Jan 24, 2026
Messages
21
Location
New Zealand
Hi , I have a Far driver ND72530 controller at least 6 years old that doesn’t seem to work correctly, seems the latest app won’t communicate properly with an older Far Driver controller, has anyone had this issue, don’t think you can source an older version of the app that would work with my controller but I could be wrong Chris
Photo is full throttle 72v QS138 90h
 

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This photo was taken at full throttle, this motor is rated at 4000 w continuous so would expect to see at least 4000w displayed with a current of approximately 50 amps, there is no throttle reading or phase amp reading’s which I have seen on similar setups , interesting that for a couple of seconds it shows those sort of readings then flat lines every time it goes from no throttle to full throttle
 
This photo was taken at full throttle, this motor is rated at 4000 w continuous so would expect to see at least 4000w displayed with a current of approximately 50 amps, there is no throttle reading or phase amp reading’s which I have seen on similar setups , interesting that for a couple of seconds it shows those sort of readings then flat lines every time it goes from no throttle to full throttle
Were you driving it when you took the screenshot? Or was the wheel off the ground and spinning in the air? If it was in the air, it's impossible for it to use that kind of power because there's no load on the motor. Power output is not constanty the values you set as max values, or what the motor is rated for. What you set as max values will only occur when you have maximum load on the motor. And the rated power honestly has nothing to do with anything; the 4000w rating is not a continous power rating. Motors don't have continuous power ratings. They only have a power level that was used for testing, and a recommended peak power output. The 4000w rated power of the 138 90h is just the power that was used when they tested the motor at the factory. It does not represent a minimum or maximum or constant or continuous anything. Power output is directly related to the load on the motor. If there's no load on the motor, it won't use any power to hold at any speed. For a qs138 90h to hold 4k rpm with the wheel in the air, it only takes about 1-3amps of current, or 77-230watts with your battery. If the wheel was still accelerating, it would be using a hair more current, because acceleration is load. But it's extremely low load because it's only accelerating the mass of the wheel, not the entire bike and rider. Which means everything in your picture is normal. It's even common to only see around 40watts when holding full throttle once the wheel has reached peak top speed.
The only way you're going to see 4000w on the power guage is if you drive the vehicle, after changing all critical parameters to the proper values for your motor and battery, doing the autolearn, and tuning it correctly, and have it set to at least 50 line amps. But just so you know, that motor is actually a 25kw-50kw motor. So I hope you have the battery and controller to support that kind of power. Bare minimum yuo want an ND72680, but preferably an ND72850 or ND721000, or even an ND721200 if you want to actually make real power with it. And a 72v nominal 50ah+ battery capable of 200amps continuos 300 amps peak absolute bare minimum, but preferably 300-400 amps continuous and 500-800 amps peak.

Also, the app works totally fine. Close the app. Go to your phone settings, display options, font size. Reduce the font size to the smallest possible setting. Back out. Open the FD app again. Everything will be visible. All numbers, setting names and values, everything. Just smaller.
 
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Thankyou for your very informative reply, yes it’s a kart and it was off the ground, changed the font size so could read the throttle and phase readings, applied the brake while giving it full throttle and got a phase current reading of almost 100amps, the battery I got made for it is 72v 30ah and I believe 200a continuous, not sure of the max amps, I’m 66 years old and retired so limited funds and I would like the kart to be quick but doesn’t need to rip my face off😀
Regards Chris
 
Hi, Took my kart to the track today with a fully charged battery, takes off quickly but then won’t accelerate, if as you say it needs a load to draw more current which creates more torque, once the kart starts moving there is no load especially since I only weigh 60kg/132lbs, when I watch videos of people with a similar setup to mine wheel spinning constantly as they go down the road I’m wondering how they create the load to get the motor and controller drawing high current, the far driver app informs me I need a new Bluetooth dongle which I bought but can’t get to work so wrong pole pairs and no motor temperature sensor readout , maybe this is the problem but I’m not sure
Regards Chris
 
You are mistaking what he wrote again. More load will not make the motor go faster. It will just make it use more power.

You didn't see any high power reading when the motor was free wheeling, because it didn't take the motor any power to accelerate. And keeping an already accelerated wheel spinning takes even less power, which is why you only saw the small initial spike when it initially sped up and nothing afterwards.

The problem why your cart is not accelerating further is because either your battery or your controller are not capable of delivering enough current to the motor. Either they are not physically capable, or incorrect settings prevent them from doing so.
 
Post screenshots of your seetings to see if there is anything wrong.
Also a sreenrecord of the graphs during a ride would be helpfull.
 
Thanks for your replies,I’m suspecting the battery I got made may not provide enough discharge current for the motor, believe it was made with cells having a 10a or 20a discharge current rating, rather than the 45a of the considerably more expensive cells , they are on holiday till the end of February so will have to talk to them when they return
 
The serial number of the controller doesn’t match the product number in the app, could this cause some issues
 
Serial number does not change anything. I have one which has also a different number on the housing as shown in the app and it was running with plenty of power.
 
Correct, when I went to change it ,it displayed needs new BLE so I brought one but it doesn’t seem to work correctly , I am now retired but use to work on the electronics on fighter jets and then high end scientific and medical equipment and this thing is doing my head in
 
Some more investigation, this is a screen video of 0 to full throttle and holding for a few seconds, now I understand because it is off the ground it won’t draw alot of current but I would expect the throttle dial to stay over to the right until I release it,it doesn’t, any idea why
Chris
 
Have you measured the actual range of your throttle and adjusted the respective settings in Fardriver?
 
Yes, what is strange is I can apply full throttle, it will rotate the dial fully clockwise but only for a couple of seconds, I can repeat this numerous times but it will not maintain full throttle, when doing auto learn should the dial go fully clockwise indicating it knows what full throttle is
 
During autolearn the dial sometimes doesn't even move, but it should show you the voltage value below it, and it should be somewhere between 3 to 4.2 volts or so, depending on the speed setting (low med high) you are currently in.
 
Hi, 4.07 v on all three speed settings, thought the speed settings were supposed to limit rpm but got approximately 4000 rpm on all three settings, kart is off the ground if that makes any difference
 
Oh, and what is your wheel diameter (including tire)? You can use that to calculate top speed. It's rpm * 60 * wheel diameter * 3.141 / 63360 = mph, so if your wheel diameter is for example 8", that would be a theoretical top speed of 95 mph.
 
Wheels off the ground only matters for current/power related dials, because if there is no load on the wheels, it takes next to no power for the motor to spin up the wheel. Power is only needed for torque, not RPM. RPM is limited by motor construction and system voltage.
 
Ok, So if I get in the kart weighing 60kg/132lbs and put my foot down, the motor spins to 4000rpm only drawing enough current to get to top speed what determines how fast you accelerate and if that is the case why would you need a more powerful battery, you would only need a battery that supplied enough current to overcome the initial load, any more would be wasted energy
 
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