Have you done any experimentation with completely waterproofing one of these?
I can see an original VESC overheating if it was encapsulated in something (say silicone or PU) but for the high-output design would it be possible to encase everything except for the ports and heatsinks and still not overheat it?
I know it would be impossible to service if something went wrong but I imagine a relatively indestructible VESC at that point.
I would say fully encapsulating the VESC will have to wait for v5.0 with the direct fets but I could be wrong. We could probably get away with fully encapsulating 4.12 if we limited the load with a proper reduction otherwise I think heat would just build up and you would have to let it sit while it cooled.
Maybe a thermally conductive potting material? http://www.epoxies.com/products/thermally-conductive/
I would have to do some heat transfer calculations to see the effect it might have. I would be optimistic though since my high-output vescs are in sealed enclosures with minimal convection cooling and they run like champs.
Does anyone else have Ollinboardās heat-sinked vesc running in a closed box ?
I do and Iām having problems with the vesc limiting power after roughly 10 minutes of riding. Stop, wait for 5 minutes and back to normal. Outside temp isnāt even that high, like 14 deg C or so.
Itās weird because Iāve done quite some heavy riding before and havenāt had the vesc drop the power. Only lately.
I upped the temp limits in the vesc to 120/140 to see what gives.
I am running in the same box as yours, even alot thighter with more components. I have experience that esc can be hotter if motors and batteries are not compatible. My car esc almost cooked when running my hub motor. Also thr motor gets extreme heat with rc car esc.
I canāt even get my vescs hot no matter what I do. The fets get warm at most
I plan to pot some this week and had heard that as long as the fets arenāt potted its ok. But now Iām second guessing with Chakaās words. I think you might be talking about fully potting though. I plan to use some 90 duro polyurethane that isnāt special or thermally conductive. Same as wheel rubber
How fragile are the fets? I wanted to pot the vescs and have the fets exposed under the board. Should I make some protective cover for them?
When will u have more vescs Chaka?
I guess my problem may be related to one particular vesc. One that failed earlier and was repaired.
Got some warmer days coming next week, Iāll swap it out for an other one and see what happens.
Let me know if it continues to act up, did you reduce your motor max recently?
When will U have more vescs and how fragile are the fets
@chaka will you please look at my settings. I have your vesc.
I have my enertion receiver connected to vesc via servo cable but It wonāt work. Iām not sure if I did something wrong. Here is my build thread: http://www.electric-skateboard.builders/t/i-need-some-help-connecting-my-motor-to-my-vesc-and-my-vesc-to-my-receiver/2642/26
Hey @eskateking glad to see your connector issue was resolved. Donāt feel bad your are not the first to make that mistake.
Looks like you still need to apply your detection results and write them to file.
In app configuration you need to select PPM write to file and configure it on the PPM tab. Take your time and do some research, it is really easy to burn up perfectly good hardware if you are not too experienced.
You can still use ppm uart, but yes make sure in the ppm tab you have actually sellected current with brake no reverse, Basically by default the ppm tab current isnt activated
I donāt quite understand.
Everything you need to know is on this page: http://vedder.se/2015/01/vesc-open-source-esc/
A few very helpful videos too!
I think he fixed it, he didnāt do a reset after setting the application.
Iv been in this rut before I swear I pressed reset but guess what I didnāt!
I upped the temp limits to 120/140 and did some pretty hard riding without problems. Itās still too soon to say but Iām guessing the temperature sensing on this particular vesc is off somehow.
I watched some videos. Still quite confused. If possible, I would like to have a phone call with you.
Iām pretty sure I pressed reboot since Iāve tried so many times I must have done it at least once.
Hey Caleb,
I might be able to give you a few minutes today but, I am going to be really honest , I think you bit off a little more than you can chew with your project. Please donāt take this as harsh, I am happy to help but I dislike having to spoon feed people info when it is so freely available.
PM your phone number to me and I will give you a call a little later when I have some VESCās in the reflow oven.
