You’re missing the entire point of what I’m saying, look at the image
@b264 I reread what you explained, I missed your point and understood @lrdesigns question incorrectly, sorry about that.
Positive and negative balance wire tapping is exactly the same, physically is much better to tap it on the negative as the wire won’t flex or vibrate and addition inch and between the p-groups.
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Well I was really proud of the “improvements” I made the last few days. And was going to show my brother the board… Rode it maybe 100 yards and it stopped… Upon inspection I found this… I thought I was safe b cause it was not running over the BMS but it seems it shorted out on either the screw holding the BMS to the board or the screw on the board itself… When I plug it in it doesn’t show power on the FOCBOX anymore… Though the receiver has power… I am guessing I killed another BMS… What should I have done differently to avoid this for next time?
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Looks great! 
You sure? I know there’s got to be something I can do to prevent a short like I just had… Im thinking I might change the brackets I mad so they have a protective wall that goes over that screw on the top… That will prevent another short. I’m also thinking of making some sort of channel I can run the wires in so they don’t rub on anything
@mmaner and @b264 what do you guys think? I just hooked a multimeter to the BMS and that actually seems to be working fine, there’s 41V at the FOCBOX and the receiver comes on but I got nothing. Any suggestions?
What lights are on at the FocBox?
None… However the receiver lights up when I turn on the board using the loop key
Check with a multimeter?
Are you getting a connection in the software?
I’ll have to probably wait till this evening to see if I get a connection in the software sine I’m at my brother’s house. Unless he has a laptop I can use. But basically I was riding and it just stopped abruptly essentially power cut out came to stop took the cover off everything looked fine so I disconnected the loop key reconnected it and the motor worked again but as I was putting the cover back on I heard a spark which is when I found the where in the shrink wrap on the positive of the battery which I assumed shorted out on the screw that goes into the wood of the board since then I have not noticed any lights on the speed control aside from power to the receiver. I was really hoping someone else had experienced something similar and had an idea that wouldn’t require a ton of troubleshooting. I’m just disappointed I can’t show my brother the board after all the hard work I put into it.
I did check and there was 41v at the FOCBOX bit light still didn’t come on
All right I connected the vasque to the computer but the computer does not recognize it. The receiver still turns on and shows the blue power light but no lights display on the vesc.
So to help provide as much info as possible I want to mention that when shortening the wire under the board I shorted the wires on both the FOCBOX and the motor since they were really long. I was told that wire length can have an impact on this scenario. Wondering if you guys would agree.
see any magic smoke come out?
No, no smoke, nothing when I get home I’ll take the cover off the VESC not that I’ll really know what I’m looking for. But if it helps get to the bottom of this
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some people here know what to look for here and are willing to help, so just upload it whenever and we can help ya 
Cover any exposed contact and any sharp edge of the BMS that could wear down an insulation with fish paper or some other abrasion resistant material.
okay, I’ve taken a few pictures of the fox box but nothing looks right to me… Anyone know where I could check voltages on the vest to see what actually went bad? I’m no electrical engineer but I’d be curious if it’s possible to isolate the bad component and replace it.
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Ok so I got a suggestion from @JohnnyMeduse to follow this thread which I think has confirmed the u401 can bus is bad… I’ve done a little research on replacing it but still have a few questions.
- Are all vp232 can bus chips the same? or should I be looking for a specific one?
- I saw someone say that the chip will fry if the wires touch when soldering. Do you agree that it would ruin the chip is the ends touch while soldering?
- While looking at the board I noticed one of the caps are missing from the r6 spot on the board ( you can see it in the first picture above in the very bottom right corner next to the micro usb port) does this matter?
Thanks for all your help guys!! As frustrating as this is I feel like I’m still learning and getting better!!! I’m also considerably less frustrated at the moment since it seems I have the chance to possibly fix the board vs buying a whole new one