I had a chance to run the foc tests and apply them to my pneumatic. WOW! SUPER quiet. Almost no cogging from a standstill. This is with 150mm tires. Really impressive. Running 10s and two 245kv 63mm motors.
Can you guys imagine FOC on hub motors! This has some serious potential for sneaky undercover shiz!
I find with my hub motors even using the bldc program itās really quiet. I like the noise actually. Should try foc in a day or two
@Hummie What company makes those hub motors? I havenāt seen them before and they look pretty nice.
I also like the noise but silence might be even more enjoyable. Just curiousā¦ Where do you get those cool hub motors?
We are going to sell them. There are only four made at this point. I promised people on endless-sphere Iād sell them for the manufacturing cost for the first 100. I got the inspiration to make them there it was kind of a community project. Maybe hundred bucks as we are waiting on a good wheel manufacturer to give us a price for the rubber so Iām not casting second-rate rubber. After those hundred maybe 150 each Iāll post up a video here in two days
What I still want to know, in a nutshell, is: is there an overall benefit of FOC for electric skateboard drives? For sure, I get that we get a quieter ride, but is this the only benefit? As far as I understand, FOC aims to linearlize the motor, and allow us to get max torque at zero speed. Does this factor in to reality. Are there any comprehensive comparisons between FOC and BLDC mode on the VESC to date? It would be really great if someone could do some control tests on a conventional setup (like 10s dual drive 190kv), testing flat land constant velocity performance, uphill constant velocity performance, flat land acceleration from stop, uphill acceleration from stop and then some braking tests, maybe flat land braking from 20km/h, and downhill braking. Would be really interesting to see those results and conclude on whether FOC is useful or not, in terms of performance. Iām still waiting for my VESCs from Enertion, and will happily do those sorts of tests for myself when I get them and post the results unless anyone else is keen to do them sooner?
I get more power on bldc but the noise, while it sounds kinda nice like a jet engine I still prefer the silence. I read the FOC is also more efficient. Iāve never done testing but will do a bit today if the weather holds.
This should answer some difficulties in understanding what is FOC
Saw that @laurnts. I understand what FOC is, but what we want to know is, practically, does it work for us and what are the advantages/drawbacks as proven by testing? There is some science that needs doing.
There have been posts about that in the past. I canāt find the exact post right now but even Vedder himself stated that the advantages for an e-board may be limited to just the silent running. In that post he also states increased heating of the MOSFETS.
Iād also like to hear from an actual user what else is better with FOC compared to BLDC.
FOC has more torque from standstill?
Its hard to tell without testing equipments to understand FOC performance. I am personally not an electrician, so I couldnāt tell alot about it. I think others could have tried, but personally I donāt have the knowledge / background / testing tools to conduct the ideal test.
Its understandable that FOC advantage for eBoard is noticeably significant on silent running compared to others. Because lets say to test efficiency wise, it needs to be run for many miles under strict control. Yet the differences could only be ranging from 1% to around 10%, which is not alot for short distance commuter unlike cars in which can travel 10.000km per year.
Since FOC is modulating and not on - off switching, its understandable that is running hotter (phases never power down). In general the whole VESC should be warmer because more calculations are needed / involved. But how warm compared to BLDC could also be not that significant since.
But more torque on lower speed is something I could feel and logically right. Because it provides each ABC phases the right current needed for each rotor position, hence it works so well for torqueing the hell out of motor. However FOC is in a waveform, the amplitude of phases peak point is reduced, thats why less top speed.
The exact detail I canāt tell really, should ask Vedder for that.
I didnāt do any testing other than riding around again. In my experience riding the vesc Iāve been on bldc maybe 2 percent of the time and I switched to FOC quickly both times I tried because Iāve been looking for a quiet ride as long as the power is still largely there and it is. At slow speed the bldc tool doesnāt sound nice. At high speed it kinda does
For me the fets donāt even get warm. The vesc may supposedly be more inefficient but I read the motor is running more efficiently and the system as a whole is therefore more efficient.
Iāve read it can be dangerous to the vesc but I havenāt had a problem on any of the four vescs I use it.
Iād like to do some testing though and will have to get another watt meter as my last broke. What kind of test? Top speed and distance on one amp hour at 20mph are simple enough.
Busted my can bus wire connection and waiting for another but if if I can get the hot glue to solve it again Iāll at least steal my gf phone for some max speeds