Beginner Question Thread! 2023 Edition

Tried the app again to get the motor detection done and it failed to write settings several times so I plugged it in to my pc and tried. Can id for vesc 2 reset again to 74. Vesc 1 set to 75. Tried to set vesc 1 to 65 and vesc 2 to 45- not for any particular reason just had good luck before after changing the can id before. Detected the second vesc easily but failed motor detection again and again. Going to look at the hardware before i get frustrated

Opened it all up and everything looks new and clean af, traced out all my connections and serial coms and everything is clean and nice. No vibration wear or debris, slight “electronics “ smell but it’s still so new and the smell so faint i got no alarm bells. Opened the ubox and can get everything but the bottom pcb out and it looks good, very methodically looked it over for shit stains are r anything and cant see anything

Think i need to pry the bottom pcb out and look at the fets? It is glued in pretty good and I’m hesitant

Im at a loss, can post the vesc tool configuration if anyone wants to see ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Anyone know why my backup Flipsky just turns itself off after a few seconds? I get a little red flash if i have the usb connection or not. Vesc tool is just connecting when it powers off.

VESC 6.0+?

On the ubox- yes. On the flipsky idk can’t connect

Edit: trial and error, s to + on the switch input

Anyone know where he wiring diagram for this button?

Flipsky website says to match their button layout instead of giving the diagram or saying anything helpful

Have you tried 5.2 or 5.3? I was having buggy remote issues with 6.0 so I swapped back.

I started on 5.3, haven’t tried to roll it back to 5.2 yet because vesc tool won’t let me do anything unless my firmware is 6.0 or better. Can’t find an old copy of vesc tools to do it, have a link? My googling keeps giving me old dead links

6.0+ sucks. Had similar issues with it on another board with one remote. Ended up changing remotes and got it working ok but it definitely would reset motor config stuff on its own and forgrt app settings. Tried rolling back to 5.2 or 5.3 but same thing you said, VESC tool complains that it can’t run input wizard unless your VESC version is the newest.

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Also try freesk8 app. Seems to be way easier to work with in my experience, doesn’t fuss about versions/firmware

Also doesn’t have every single parameter that the normal tool does, but basically everything you need

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cheers that makes a lot of sense, I’m really not feeling like Fusion at the moment but I’ll see if a pot of coffee and an afternoon gets anything done. Failing that, might try cutting the rough shape into some rubber sheets and trying to soften it into place or something

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Am I tugging on these motor wires too much? Would you guys worry?

As long as the connectors are secured against working loose (heatshrink over bullets so they don’t work loose and short together over time), then yes that’s absolutely fine. They’re plenty loose and aren’t binding or rubbing against anything.

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The visible shrink that was near the cans actually pulled loose… think I should give the wires more slack if this is the case?


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Separate question - is there such thing as heat shrink that you can put on after already having run wires? ie not needing to run the wires through the shrink first… I hate having to use electrical tape, didn’t have big enough shrink wrap, and don’t want to open the enclosure again if I don’t have to

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1 inch x 180 feet Black Heat Shrink Tape Non Adhesive Amazon.com

I’ve used this stuff before, it would be better with adhesive on one side, but it works

In theory some kind of stuff like Liquid electrical tape could work on every wire joint and connector… just for most people it would take longer and look worse likely. wrap it all in TESA tape to make that idea work better lol.

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Which version of the ubox do you have? Spintend has a guide: Ubox series product and Firmware Warning! – Spintend
There’s a very high chance your spintend will catch on fire if you don’t have the right firmware. At the end of the spintend guide, they give you the downloads.

Also, if you’re looking for older versions of VESCtool:

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Ive got the correct files, i have the ubox V2 75v 100a dual esc. I have run the v5.3 and the he v6.0 firmware. The 5.3 seemed more stable as in the settings i could get to take never disappeared or reset but it was a nightmare to get vesc tools 6.0 (6.3?) to work with it.

After learning you need to upgrade the boot loader before flashing the 6.0 firmware the upgrade was easy and went really smoothly.

Then i had some issues with my older ennoid bms having the wrong termination resistor destabilized the can bus connection: as explained to me by ennoid - the version of bms i had was terminated with a 120 ohm resistor so the connection resistance dropped below 60ohms causing the can to become unstable/unreliable. I pulled the ennoid bms out of my build and slapped in a cheap llt bms as a fix while he was working with me on a solution and everything started work amazingly. Great throttle response, easily detected both ubox and it ran great for a couple weeks without doing anything weird. Hell i was able to log 150 miles on the metr/davegax and build a little confidence in the control/drive system.

Then i go for a short ride - started working on the lights and leds and troubleshooting the TTL module outputs. Had some success but then out of nowhere on a toeside 10mph turn it throws me into a ditch.

Check the metr and vesc tools and the can id # has changed and my settings are wiped, looks close to default but im not familiar enough to know better. Test and only one motor is getting power when i throttle up and only one side breaks. My fall killed the pot on my puck so I don’t know what happened. Tried to rerun detection and kept loosing connection or getting errors, after fng with it for 45min on the side of the road i was able to just limp home on one motor at 4mph and tried connecting to my pc but that’s when I noticed my puck was acting up and found the bad pot

Grabbed this, thanks for the info. Waiting on more bullet connectors from Amazon so I don’t have to keep swapping/soldering them every time I switch vescs then im going to roll back to 5.2 like you suggested before I completely give up on the ubox lol. Still ordered the skp, is there a way to grab a “break light” signal from the skp? the ttl break light and response when running lights has a 1/4 to 1/2 second delay on the output state change vs the almost instant response of the ubox output so i have been running the break light from the ubox output. i see another compromise for this build in my future lol.

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Have you ever used RTV silicone? If you are careful with it the finished product looks almost as good as shrink, good dielectric properties, comes in black, can be thinned with mineral spirits to use as a potting compound, very water/dust proof, BUT takes 24hrs to setup so no riding until its dry.

Clean the wire opening really good (99%iso and wipe all the dust) and use something to hold the wire wrap in place that can be encapsulated easily. Slide that wire wrap all the way to the motor side with a small tyrap or some string/floss and put a bead of RTV on there then let it set for 20-30 minutes and with gloves gently smooth the surface with your finger after wetting your glove with mineral spirits. if you make sure the bead is thick enough to hold up that shit gets pretty bullet proof. I’ve used it to plug 7/8 holes with temporary masking tap as a backer and even cut off flush when cured holds up really well. The non Loctite stuff they have at auto-parts stores works great imho but amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-37467-Black-Performance-Silicone/dp/B000FW7V3C/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1M2NGIWHHAPW9&keywords=rtv+silicone+adhesive+black&qid=1685372364&sprefix=rtv+silicone+adhesive+black%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-11