Alright, I’ve been reading quite a bit about this but I haven’t found anyone who’s run this setup and reported back. I’m building (rebuilding) my old setup and due to some lapses in initial judgement I have been going on a 13s design. That is to say 149KV sk3, 13s3p q30 battery, vesc 4.12 from torque and a Vedder Antispark Switch.
I have gotten the very clear sense that 13s is risky due to voltage spikes nuking the drv chip on the vesc. At this point I want to stick with the 13s for science and to see if we can’t push some boundaries.
What I am hoping to collect here are the improvements that can be made, whilst keeping the 13s, to ensure the best possible reliability. My approach to this is to minimize the chance of voltage spikes at all. And to understand how they occur.
I have read that a TVS Diode across a the battery inputs will help. Can anyone detail this some more? Specs on the diode? I’m guessing one with 60v brake down voltage but what about quiescent current and power rating? This sounds similar to ESD protection setups I’ve heard about.
Along the same.lines I’ve heard of adding more caps across the battery terminal on the vesc?
Another topic is braking. It sounds like braking is when the voltage spikes occur. Is there a way to perhaps set up the firmware such that I retain some braking but reduce back EMF spikes?
A definite possibility for me is to move to the vesc 6 or any other esc (esk8 specific preferably). From my understanding that vesc 6 is also only recommended at 12s. But still rated for 60v in theory. Is this a much safer option? Does this or any other esc have the hardware that protects from spikes?
Not really, this is just a bad idea. It it’s known for not being able to handle it’s rated capacity and you are planning to go over this. Nobody else is commenting because they don’t want to touch this with an insulated 9 foot pole.
Fair enough. Thanks for the input. Nothing’s built yet. I’m still working on the campus cruiser for a friend. Sounds like I’ll just cut my losses on the charger and BMS and go for 12s.
I seriously wouldn’t run 13s through that particular vesc. They don’t stand up to 12s and this I know by experience. One of mine went in a week of normal riding.
My Darth Maul has been runing almost 3 years wuth 12s4p, no issues related with FOC as 12s.
My Trampa 12s4p has been runing for over 1.5 years on v4.12 and FOC, not a single issue
My Sidekick 12s5p has been runing for 8 months pushing the shot out of the system, VESCs are 100% perfect from day one
My Century 40" 12s4p made of Samsung 30Ts is runing 100A of battery discharge and it’s a fucking rocket runing Unity and it’s the best eboard I have riden in my life, again zero issues.
This is has been my experience, would I recommend 12s and FOC, yes but only with Focbox or Unities as I never tried anything else besides them
Isn’t that the key here? You are right it makes sense to not just say VESC, because actually arent both those mfg known for making upgrades to the design that help them handle the higher voltages?
@AgressivStreetLamp Voltage spikes are what could most likely kill your vesc. I think @Winfly run 13s and has some data logs where he hit like 58v during breaking.
still running 13s on my hummie build. used to have 6.6s now Focboxes. at full charge and I live on a hill. It can spike up to 58V so I raised the default over voltage fault to 59V. never have a problem since.
