My Flipsky VESC died after 3 rides

ESK8 Electronics
1

Hi this was my first build and I am writing to find out why my VESC died only after 3 rides?

I built my 1st skateboard after months or doing my homework and putting off building everything I had purchased.

  • I built my own 12S6P battery pack using Samsung 25R cells.
  • I used two sensorless motors (Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 - 6374-192KV)
  • My VESC was Flipsky Dual FSESC4.20 100A

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20200924_1552223264Ă—2448 1.85 MB

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IMG-20201014-WA0005
IMG-20201014-WA00053264Ă—1836 1.63 MB

IMG-20201014-WA0017
IMG-20201014-WA00173264Ă—1836 1.41 MB

20200828_193919
20200828_1939193264Ă—2448 1.8 MB

20200829_183232
20200829_1832323264Ă—2448 2.03 MB

20200902_134139
20200902_1341393264Ă—2448 1.8 MB

20200708_211449
20200708_2114493264Ă—2448 2.21 MB

After building my board and configuring using the VESC Tool, the first problem I noticed was stalling. The motors would both spin fine with no load, but once I got onto my board, the motors would both shake then stall and trip the VESC.

I discovered my cut-off voltage was too low and also the current setting going to the motors. Once I adjusted the setting things got better, but still the VESC would fault and I still experienced stalling, what I’ve come to know as cogging.

I am not sure what is at fault? The Flipsky VESC or the dual sensorless motors.

I wrote to Flipsky several times, but this girl Helen would only reply to the email and never put me in touch with one of their engineers. I was told by Flipsky that my sensorless motors were not the problem so I provided them with my setting but they never told me what was wrong.

When I wrote Flipsky that my VESC popped and died they replied that they would give me a 10% discount code, not replace their VESC.

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I have wrote back to Flipsky asking to speak to their engineer to explain to me what exactly cause their VESC to die and I provided them the VESC settings, they stop responding. It is the weekend, but I don’t expect Flipsky to stand behind their product or give me a straight answer, nor replace the VESC.

I posted on this forum to get help and learn a few things since Flipsky never provided help: Not enough power to move me

Long story short my VESC popped after 3 rides, following the advice I got. At the time I was at home trying to start and stop the board with me on it and tweeking my VESC settings. This is the last known setting I had before my VESC died:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I8_i-Ytc2zLKl3lYfTe_62e-Mv8uVLekibsdnGLqrNM/edit

I now have to buy a new dual VESC and I don’t know what to do?

Should I replace my motors also to have a hall sensor? was this the reason my VESC died and kept stalling. Flipsky told me my motors were fine.

Should I buy another Flipsky VESC? are they reliable? I searched this forum and some say they are not good with false specs or inferior components.

Someone who made a youtube video told me Flipsky does not make their own products and just re-brands them and I could buy the same for 1/3 the cost off a Chinese site.

I don’t know what to believe and afraid to see my money go up in smoke again. So I am asking someone with years of experience or having made multiple boards to help me decide what to buy or upgrade.

I love this sport and I am super bummed out this happen to me.

2

Sensorless motors shaking and stuttering is normal. Try to use HFI (you can change from sensorless to HFI in vesc settings)

Flipsky quality is known as shit, so don’t expect any help/replacement from them. Unfortunately, you had to learn your lesson hard (expensive) way.

Buy something from makerX, original Trampa vesc6, or try something new like Stormcore or Ubox.

3

get a focbox, tried & tested, used by Lacroix, kaly, flux, bioboards extremely rare for them to blow up & if they do we got you covered.

4

Hi Jason,

will focbox work with the set of motors I have? or will I experience the same problem of cogging and then stalling from a stopped position? This was really unnerving when I was on the street, not knowing if I was going to stall and keep pissing cars off in traffic behind me in the city.

The last thing I want is for more stalls to happen from an under powered VESC and then be asked to ship something back at my expense to be verified. So I just want a straight answer upfront before making a purchasing decision.

Q: Will I need to tweek settings, other than say my cutt-off voltage, when using the VESC tool, or will it be as simple as 1-2-3-go using the VESC wizard?

I also don’t know which focbox design I am getting? When I go to your website selling focbox, one of them shows banana connectors (Ones I need) vs one with totally different connectors? As for your unorthodox xt90 plugs, I can work around this, but not your other connectors going to my motors.

Me being forced to de-solder and solder new connectors will make my warranty void as you will claim I altered the product and even caused destruction with over heating from soldering iron.

I already have 2 anti-spark xt90 connectors, one going to the VESC which pretty much remains connected. The other anit-spark connection is on my battery pack since I have to plug/unplug for use and between charging my battery pack with a balance charger.

With my 12S5P battery pack, focbox 50V max for component doesn’t adequately protect me, this is not even taking into account voltage spikes. How is this even compatible with 12s? A fully changed 18650 12s6p battery pack will have 50.4V already over the limit. Technically you could argue I voided your warranty!

Also you have a mistake in one of the bullets claiming, “Up to 160A Continuous Motor Current” it should be “Up to 80A Continuous Motor Current”.

5

makerx website looks like trash, it has vitial missing technical info and looks like a cheap rebranded china product. I don’t trust Lacroix, they are pretty scummy. Also someone bought their VESC and it died on the 1st ride, if he didn’t have a youtube channel, the company would have most likely ignored him.

I wouldn’t truth someone new like ubox with my money and be their guinea-pigs beta testers. They have zero history about reviews or client service and I hate to say this, it is just another china clone company.

I trust Trampa as this is where I got most of my parts and they were good to deal with although really slow to ship things out when they messed up. However the VESC I need will be $700+ CAD, that is more than I am prepared to pay but then again their spec and trust is top notch!

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6

the 100D? also they will honor their orders with support on product defects.

I ordered once, I’ll let the real money burners test the limits then use it just under those.

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7

It’s all paper honor right? you will need to ship the product back at your cost for them to inspect, then you will need to pay for shipping of the replacement, by the time you factor in the cost you’ve burned even more money for an already overprice product that isn’t built without defects.

One of the reasons a company charges so much is because they should do a battery of “real world” tests and QC everything that goes out the door with a promise of a zero cost replacement, no questioned asked! Also the company eats the cost for any shipping fee after purchase. Overtime, everything should work itself out for the company and they should be profitable if they produce stuff that will last. In return more people will continue to buy other products from them.

Most of these DIY companies are bullshitters on the stuff they loosely write on their website and then over-charge for. They need to go bankrupt if they’re going to sell you overpriced trash they can’t stand behind.

I might close my eyes and just buy Trampa VESC, at least it is the real deal and they seem to be on the level with customer care and service.

8

you have unsensored motors… what you are experiencing is expected.

Maybe you will need to try out HFI.

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9

Thanks I will watch the video, the riding season for me is pretty much over till next year.

10

Flipsky doesn’t sell VESC. You keep saying that…

It’s refreshing when someone asking for help posts screenshots of their settings :heart:

Your “battery max” looks really, really high. Next time, try setting that to 20A and testing everything out and once it’s all working, slowly dial that up. But probably not to 100A.

No. Your motors are fine, and while sensors help eliminate the 0km/h cogging, they also drastically increase failure rates and decrease water resistance a lot.

You didn’t buy one at all, because they don’t sell them.

Your best advice is to not try to be cheap and buy good stuff up front. “Buy cheap, buy twice” is the motto.

Get a community-tested device that doesn’t say Flipsky on it and don’t start at full power. Gradually raise the “battery max” from a very small value at first. The motor max et al you want to start with those high. Never lower “Absolute Maximum Current”, leave that at 150A.

11

OK it’s a VESC like ESC (due to patent & copyrights), but we all get what I mean, and it’s just easier to type and works with the VESC Tool.

Just one thing you said that I found confusing about hall sensors. Are you saying having a hall sensor will increase failure rates and decrease water resistance.

As for the battery max the VESC tool states the motor current max is always lower than or equal to the motor current.

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So technically it’s only 50A not 100A, are you saying even this was too high? and my battery should be something like 20A to start with. The setting in VESC Tools are straight up confusing!

As for a real VESC, I am looking to buy Trampa VESC. Being new and watching all those trash youtube videos I was under the false impression that Flipsky was a legit stand-up company, not one selling trash with inferior components and ignoring you when you need support or a replacement for the junk they sell. :-1:t2: :poop: :poop: :poop:

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12

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Well, simply having it won’t increase failure rates, but using it will probably do that, yes. In my experience.

13

OK I just wanted to make sure it was not the other way around and I just read it wrong :slight_smile:

I’m OK with a little bit of cogging at the start, Trampa VESC mentions it delivers enough power for a smooth start for sensorless motors. :pray:t2:

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14

If you use HFI, you can get smooth starts at 0rpm AND not use sensors, if you manage to get it tuned correctly. Some motors just don’t seem to work well for that, but most do. It’s really the best of both worlds.

i would tackle that after you have it all working though.

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15

I am considering HFI but having watched the video I was like this might not be a fun time tuning it. I’ll give it a shot and go slow.

16

Tuning it isn’t fun. I’d make sure everything else works first

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