And it’s time I start ordering and assembling my board’s electrical components. However I don’t know what ESC to get. I get that I need two. Most of my parts are from torque boards and my first inclination was to order 2 of their vesc. However, I was informed that their systems were failing often and that I should get a focbox esc. I understand that enertion is having trouble filling focbox orders, and currently they are largely unavailable. Enertion said that they would have a big shipment in March. I’m not in any queue for a focbox so I imagine I wouldn’t be able to get a unit from that March shipment so I don’t know how long after that I would be able to acquire a unit for my build. So now I am wondering if I should just get a different esc until the focbox is more available because I don’t want my board to just be sitting around without any progress. So should I just go ahead and get a vesc and if so which one? Or is there another esc worth looking at? Or are the vesc so unreliable and so far behind the focbox that I should just be patient and wait. What are the other advantages to focbox over vesc other than longevity?
I thought they were calling it a vesc-x as it was some kind of proprietary variant and then changed it to focbox. Unless I’m mistaken foxbox is a specific brand of vesc variant.
Well I still dont know why people are so crazy about VESC? I get that it gives you a lot of control, and you can really customise it. But what if you don’t want that? What if you don’t want to go faster then 30mph? Can you just pick up a ESC that is around 100amps?
Yes, your options are almost unlimited. A lot of ESCs on the market might be too rough for use with electric skateboards and might knock you off the board for example an RC car ESC might hit the brakes too hard without a ramp-up which will knock you off-balance. Plus, if it’s not VESC-based you don’t get compatibility with a multitude of mobile applications and future upgrades and some accessories. If someone writes some cool new firmware offering a neat feature, everyone but you can start using it… lots of reasons. If you break it, lots of folks know how to repair them. So many reasons.
Speed controls typically dole out volts to control speed and breaking. A vesc, doles out amps…the difference is night and day for ground vehicles. There’s a very good reason why we use it…
Best power? Best price? Best waterproofing? Best repairability? Best shipping time? Best software? Best compatibility? Best throttle curve? Best remote selection? Best dual motor setup? Best single motor? Best vibration-proof? Best lightest? Best looking? Best voltage rating?
I guess I’m looking for the most popular one. I just want to be able to configure settings to tweak my power curve. And maybe link up some led strips that react to the speed of the board.
You probably should not consider anything that’s not VESC-based then unless you’re an embedded systems engineer. There are lots of VESC-based ESC manufacturers though. Are you interested in cheaper or more robustness?
Torqueboards also sells a 12s 120A ESC. I’ve bought two for two separate single motor boards. They are reliable and customizable, with the programming card. The more recent one I got from him has better firmware on it, brakes are smooth. And there’s a second 5v port for leds.