I´m in love ! - first time VESC rider ! (Hobbyking SK8 ESC FOC)

ESK8 Electronics
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Woooohooooo!

Salutations riders!

I just competed wiring my ride and I must say - now I understand you VESC crowd out there. I had a Trackstar 150A GenII ESC on my first build running on 6S LiPos and I was pretty impressed by that. It had its own PC-link software wheré I could adjust some parameters such as acceleration curves, brakes motor timing etc. After a summer of huge grins on my board I decided to step up to 8S or more cells. So I got myself a Turnigy K-Force 120A ESC which, I figured, would be a better match for SK3 5065 235KV motor I have since it´s meant for use in RC flight models…plus I could go up to 12S - nice. So yeah, I was fairly ok with the K-Force ESC but it had it´s issues which I will not discuss here. One day something failed on my second build and I decided to bite the bullet and grab a hobbyking (V)ESC.

I completed the wiring a few minutes ago and decided to give it a try and I´m not looking back man! I just tested it in my house to get a feel for it. I´m running it on FOC and the way it accelerates is just smoooooooooth as butter ! And the breaks - oh my…just feels so good ! I can´t wait to hit the road with this baby !

Alright, my B6 charger just finished charging my second pack and It´s getting late and I need to settle down from all this excitement before I get a heart attack in my early 40´s. :rofl:

blitz und donner!

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Regardless of all the trademark and legal nonsense around the VESC it is still by far and away the best ESC available when it comes to customization and features in the software. Welcome to the church of Vedder sing his praises :wink:

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haaaaaleeeeeeluuuuujaaaaaaa aaaaamen! I shal get baptised tommorow and join your ranks!!! :grin:

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Please be careful using foc. It can very easily fry your vesc, ecspecially 4.12

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Thanks for the warning. I read about FOC killing VESCs - but, squishy654 mentioned that he never had problems on any of his 5(?) Hobbyking VESCs. ervinelin and Kookaburra have the same VESC and they seem to have sucess with it running in FOC. I´m hoping mine will be a reliable piece of hardware. What VESC you cruising on?

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Never, ever think “person X did thing Y with no problem” is the same as “I can do thing Y with no problem”

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I think they are selling a revamped version now and as long as you keep your erpm and amps within reason, you should be totally fine.

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I´m sure you´re right. I´m aware of the risk running the VESC in FOC and frying it. The Hobbyking VESC comes with a 1 year warranty - I just chatted with them. I´ll be a bit annoyed if it does fry - but I guess I could risk running FOC with a 1 year warranty ?

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Yeah that’s what I love about the HK vesc, if it gets fried you can get a replacement

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Yes, my VESC is configured rather conservatively. I´m aiming at safety and reliability with this build edit (I´ll be using this build for my daily commutes to work) edit. Maybe I´ll go beast mode on my third build if I ever find time and financial resources for that. So yes, I agree - I think it´ll be fine.

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Which hobbyking VESC did you get?

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got the 4.12 hardware.

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Is it the sk8 esc? I have 4 of them in my shopping cart for the past two days but I have been researching before buying them. I’d appreciate any feedback. I need 2 for my board and 2 for my sons board.

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Yes I got the sk8 esc 4.12 hardware. Can’t say much yet in terms of on street performance - my kid has a fever and I can’t hit the streets.

What I can say is that I was able to upgrade to the latest firmware with the VESC TOOL and do some tinkering around with the settings.

I also designed an enclosure for the VESC and 3d printed it to protect it from mechanical damage and provide basic dirt and splash protection. I may need to address overheating issues in the future due to the enclosures current design.

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Cool deal. I’ll be following this post hoping to gain some insight. I hope your kid is feeling better soon.

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Did you order two of the sk8 esc? Did it come with the cann bus cable to hook both of them up together?

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No, just need one drive…dunno know if you get a cable if you order a pair. Probably not.

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OK…just got the chance to hit the the road and yeah - FOC ROCKS! I’m love how quiet my motor is. I love the break…but the board feels “tame”. I have a hill near my neighborhood that I destroyed with the K-Force ESC with the same setup. I could go up from almost a still stand with the K-force and the VESC needed a push to get started. So my subjective impression is that the VESC was almost at it’s limit while the RAW acceleration of the K-force kept pulling and pulling and pulling.

Now, I also have to say that I altered the acceleration curve on the VESC which may explain why it was not biting that hard uphill. I man handled my board with hard accelerations up to speeds close to the point where speed wobbles start to occur on my board.

The VESC took the abuse like champ so far. Now time to cruise home and fire up the VESC TOOL and try to find out how to RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

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So revamped version of hobbyking vesc works perfect on FOC? This is great news considering it’s a low cost version.

I’ll keep subscribed for updates and endurance tests :+1:

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HK revamped thier vesc? I don’t know the history of thier vesc but i like how it performed today (except for that hill). I’ll try to take notes of my current vesc settings and post as soon as I freed myself from dad duty.