My VESC blew up!

Hi,

One month ago I built my first electric skateboard. Decided to change my ESC for a VESC. After trying to run it in FOC mode the motor started jittering at startup. So I put it back in BLDC mode. Pulled the trigger. And BAM. Big spark from my DRV8302. See the pictures for the burned spots on my VESC. What went wrong? Is it my fault by setting some wrong parameters? Or is it just a faulty VESC? I assume this is not repairable, so what do I have to do so this does not happen again if I buy a new VESC? It is a 12s setup with a 230kv. Greetings, Luc

sounds like a typical fault due to the FOC-BLDC switching. Sorry to say but that is on you. FOC is not recommended with the current VESC version.

Why is it not possible to put this VESC in FOC mode? And if I buy a new VESC and keep it in BLDC mode everything should be fine?

Lots of blow ups seem to happen in FOC mode and 12s. No idea why people try it anyway and then wonder when things go wrong?

Are there warnings on that go wth the vecs about not to go into FOC. I thought some ppl did have vescs in foc or is it with certain battery set ups.

When you switch between FOC and BLDC, you should reupload the firmware, otherwise bad things can happen.

Well a bit foolish of me. But if I knew I should not be running FOC mode with 12s I would not have done it.

esk8.de says this on their website: “WARNING: FOC is still in deveolpment, therefor we recommend using the VESC in BLDC mode only! Using FOC happens on your own responsibility and risk!”

  1. 12s is sometimes critical for vesc. 10s is recommended
  2. Foc is not stable with our current version
  3. Switching back to bdlc causes problems without a proper reset
  4. 12s 230kv is a bad combo for vesc
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Will it be less likely to go wrong with the new VESC-X?

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that is what they claim - not specifically though as they just say it is more robust in general.

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Look at some reviews, perhaps someone tested it with 12s and foc. But your motor is still to high.

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Well it is hard to find proper reviews of the VESC-X since it is not officially released yet. They claim it is 12s compatible, so it should be fine. But what is wrong with a 230kv motor?

a little more research would have been good for you:

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Thank you all for answering my questions. Well I first started out with a complete kit from which included a 12s torqueboards ESC and a 230kv motor. But then I wanted something more programmable. And blindly assumed that a VESC would fit my needs. But lesson learned, I need to do better research next time.

I feel your pain brother. I just learned this five days ago. I stumbled across this forum because I couldn’t get any response from Tb. I didn’t even ask them to pay for it I just wanted to know was it something I did

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So, I don’t know if I’m the only one that noticed…but your screenshot of settings shows your battery cutoff start and end at 36V and 33V respectively. Those are good settings, for a 10s setup. But if you’re running 12s it should be 43.2V start cutoff and 42V end cutoff.

I actually have been running the TB VESC and 230KV on my board for over a month. Over 200 problem free miles so far.

You can run 12s in FOC. I have 8 VESC 4.12s in FOC at 12s, hummie runs at 12s in FOC, and same with chaka with chaka vescs.

What you can’t do is run 12s FOC with a standard enertion VESC and not expect problems…

I have also switched between FOC to BDLC and back to FOC before with no issues… It’s where you choose to buy your vesc from that determines what you can do with it…

I hope the vesc-x fixes these issues. I will let you know when I beta test one if you can run 12s in FOC, since that’s pretty much the only way I run…

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you can’t even run 10S in FOC with Enerton-VESCs but they are cheap: 1 Enertion Vesc + 1 DRV-Repair is still cheaper than 1 Chaka or 1 esk8.de-Vesc which can blow up too

waiting for VESC-X

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yea but if a chaka vesc blows up you get it repaired under warranty