Dead Chaka VESC

I made a youtube video explaining it, and will link it below- the youtube video may still be processing if you catch this thread early, but I wanted to go ahead and get this up so I can start troubleshooting and documenting the process. @chaka

summary: Road about 10-12 miles today. 2/3 or so with @longhairedboy in the morning, and then went for another couple miles before sundown when it gets slightly less hot here in FL. After stopping, changing some camera settings, and then starting back up, the board just stopped within 300 yards of my ride resuming. The reasonI mention this is because while I changed camera settings for 5ish minutes, you would think the VESC could cool a little, and therefore heat wouldn’t have been the issue- not to mention I road it way harder with LHB in the morning. Space Cell was fine and at about 35%, but I got no throttle response, and my GTB2 light was blinking, showing that the receiver disconnected.

The rest is shown in the video:

of course, right when I sell my two unused ESC’s, Enertion’s VESC’s get super delayed, and my chaka one dies-

I’m officially eboardless for the next month or so…

yet I have 4 motors, 3 18650 packs, remotes, wheels, and basically everything I need to make 3 completes except VESC’s

fun times for sure :disappointed_relieved:

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Check your xt connector for cold joints.

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will do that tomorrow- it’s 11:30 here, and my dad would (literally) shoot me if I opened the garage door at this time of night.

appreciate it man.

Let me know either way. We’ll get it sorted out :wink:

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Bro you’re hard core… Head Lamp it! :flashlight:

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strange popping sound , flashing lights these sound like symptoms of a broken solder joint in my eyes. where you riding in a particularly bumpy place?

Get your stealthy red shoes on, that way you can be stealth and go 20% faster.

Looks like the xt60 joints are ok…

Also, I’ve been using that xt60 -> 12gauge -> 10 gauge -> VESC ever since I first got the VESC, and had to fit it in my crammed wood arbor box. At first, I accidentally cut too much off the 10gauge, so I soldered little pieces of 12 on there before throwing back on the xt60. The space cell uses 12gauge, so it’s not going to be a bottleneck.

Time to bring out a multimeter and check your power source. Something is definitely going on with those cables judging by your video. Since you a hearing a little pop every time means you have a bad connection somewhere upstream from the capacitor.

Soldering these fat cables requires a big soldering iron, 80 watts at least to do a good job. You also need some good flux, I use Kester 186. You can find small bottles on ebay for cheap if you don’t want to buy a gallon of it.

Of course you can send the vesc back for repair but I really think it is a cable issue here.

You should also check the solder pads on the vesc to be sure the cables have not lifted.

solder pads look fine. I soldered this with a Hakko- it looks ugly, but the connections are strong and the solder goes all the way through the wire.

I uploaded another video testing the voltage of the wires after the capacitor array: it’s showing 36v just like the space cell.

The only thing I can think of is the solder joint at the PCB has failed. If you want to send it in for repair I will take care of it for you.

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You could ask the inventor himself! He lives in europe so you will have to get on late at night but there are very knowledgeable people on the chat that might be able to help. He might help you out. When i talked to him it was really late. I think something failed you just dont know what. http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=vedder

Orson Scott card, eh? Hell of a novel, ender’s game was.

I got it all handled out with Chaka- he haas by far the best VESC customer service out there right now.

Thanks for the help though!

worst case you’ll have to ride my rat board for the May ride. Its plenty ornery enough. But i think you’ll have a fix or replacement from @chaka by then for sure if you send it off now. I was hoping we’d both be on 10S so we can show those spandex clad cyclist hoards what’s up.

I priority mailed it to Chaka… hopefully will have a speedy fix.

I think worst case is I buy a castle 6s esc and get my 6s4p + torqueboards 230kv motor up and running. It would be significantly slower than the rat board though…

I really wanted to bring my bro to the ride though! Haha it kills me to see hubs, three batteries, 2 motors, remotes, boards, wheels, and LITERALLY everything I need for 3 boards except VESC’s…

haha, i know how it feels…

I got like 30 Raptors sitting here… no vesc :frowning:

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@cmatson i could have three personal boards running right now too! The feels bro! It hurts in the feels.

I’ve got 5 Ollins coming but only two of them are mine. My shop mocks me! IT MOCKS ME.

Found the problem.

Decided to switch out the cap 2 C18 while I have it on the bench.

Then it was off to the ultrasonic bath and some conformal coating.

Some fresh cables too! Ready for final testing and shrink wrap.

Should be good to go! @cmatson

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That is Great service Chaka !!