Beginner Question Thread! 2023 Edition

Sure, but the circuitry is likely broken and not allowing you to turn off the esc. This has been an extremely common failure mode for the unity.

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I like the VX4 but it kinda has that track record. Doesn’t work, then try a bunch of random shit and it eventually works but no one is quite sure what they did to get it to work.

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It worked fine before the firmware update and absolutely nothing happened that would have fried it. I don’t feel like flashing the old firmware but if I did it would still work to turn it off. I would have heard and smelled it if I fried and and it would spark when connecting to the VESC if it was dead :person_shrugging:

Sounds a lot like nearly every other case of fucked unitys i have heard of.

I’m not saying it definitely is the case, but its extremely likely given their track record.

I’m all for bashing vesc, but i don’t think it’s guilty in this circumstance.

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Yup, before I bought a stormcore I had a unity from @PropulsionBoards which they got from massive stator. Lasted all of three minutes before I heard a pop and smelt the burn, and that was the end of the unity. To be fair to propulsion boards though, they were very good about it and refunded immediately.

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There is a great thread on soldering that will help these to look better. It looks like not enough heat is being applied and the wire is wicking up the solder

Another tip for soldering xt60/90 is to have the connector plugged in, esp to something that has wires on it. It acts as a heatsink and prevents the pins from melting the plastic and going out of alignment

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I wish I could upvote that more than once

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It is just this. It needs more solder which I pointed out. I had to stop to go to the pharmacy and also to let it cool so the pins themselves wouldn’t melt the plastic too much. Also to let everything cool down in general so I stop burning my fingers on my damn clips. I burn my finger tips very often

I just wanted to post it to show how clean the shape of the wire was and how I used the least amount needed or close to it. Didn’t think someone would have an issue with the soldering itself not being finished

I’ve found that with these metal inside plastic connectors that the best way is to get the pin and the wire primed with solder, add more flux, then get the initial connection and wanted position down and let it cool down. After it is cool then you can go back and add more solder or fix the position without needing to worry about the plastic around the pin completely melting.

I find it way easier to just clip my connectors like that :person_shrugging:

That other xt60 connector was an old solder joint done with “baby’s first soldering iron” where I couldn’t get more on it because the iron itself was struggling to stay hot. I haven’t bothered to fix it because I’m not using that wire and haven’t needed the connector for anything else :person_shrugging:

Proof I can solder well:


I use those little grey caps for the end where you can’t add too much solder and still fit them on, so if you don’t make it look nice they won’t even fit on. I hate those caps so much but they look so much better with them.

Pro tip: always solder amass connectors with the partner connector attached. Helps stop the plastic from melting and misaligning the bullets.

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Alternatively: don’t let the pins melt the plastic enough to even become misaligned in the first place. :person_shrugging: Which is what I figured out how to do because I didn’t think to use the other half to keep them in place when it was an issue.

I don’t. But i still always use the other connector. Sinks the heat better and is just an easy insurance policy.

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That’s the whole point of using the other connector. The extra thermal mass absorbs some of the heat from the iron so the bullets don’t get toasty enough to move.

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Using loctite 648 my keyway keeps coming out of the slot in my BNM1, the slot in the motor is longer than the gear. I have no more loctite left what can I do? I have grub screws and epoxy of various sorts.

Easiest thing to do is list the BN M1 for sale and wait 7 minutes for it to disappear

Well technically… to be pedantic about it, the easier thing to do is nothing :joy:

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In all seriousness, I’m not sure about options for the long run (since this issue seems to be quite common on BN drives), but maybe try to make sure everything is clean and degreased before reapplying loctite next time and let it cure fully. You’ll probably want to just wait to fix this until you get more loctite btw. doing some janky half fix rn could lead to another failure very soon and is probably just not worth the efford unless you have some urgent need of the board.

The BN M1 market is HOT right now

commuting is kind of a need, I could deal with single drive I guess

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IMHO if you rely on your board to commute to work and put food on the table, you need at least 3 boards. One in repair and two that run. Don’t take apart one that runs. More than 3 is better.

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JB weld the motor pinion onto the motor shaft and don’t look back! Motors are now permanently part of the gear drives but it’s the only thing that got mine to hold haha.