@camomaster24
This seems fairly thorough if you haven’t already come across it.
Take a shot every time he says firmur
Also this post
@camomaster24
This seems fairly thorough if you haven’t already come across it.
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Thanks! Idk why I couldn’t find a video like that but I will give it a watch and hopefully learn what I need too. I found videos on using the vesc tool but not on how to program one specifically. I’m using 6374 190kv motors with a bkb zenith. I definitely want to stay conservative with amps on 12s sense the esc tops out at 12s. Definitely a learning curve here.
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That will be a peppy set up for sure. The xenith should be able to handle whatever you can throw at it under 12s voltage in terms of amps. And lipos can dump some serious amps for short periods of time, but they run into voltage sag quickly. If you limit your battery amps you can squeeze a bit more range out of them, but you will likely want to move to a 12s4 or 6p li ion soon anyways for more range and battery longevity.
Play around with key words in the search function and you can find most everything you need
Thanks, it a mountain board so I’m more less going off other builds I seen. I already have some pretty beefy 6s batteries as I fly large rc planes so wanted to go that route for now to make use of them but as long as a I can actually get this working I will likely find someone to build me a proper pack. Lipo can be kind of a pain to deal with. I appreciate the info
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Ah, yes light weight lipos make more sense in the fun off road boards. Check out some of @ixf builds for inspiration also
Happy to help 
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I have 2 set of li ion battery but at the end prefer lipos.
Ease of build, management and cost are main factors.
- Knowing every single cell is balanced
- Being pretty much plug and play enabling me to bring extra packs along for the ride and easily swap out aging packs
- Cost, if you are patient good deals pop up on a semi regular basis. Tattu 14000mAh 25C 6S LiPo SALE PRICE($99+shipping) for example.
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This was precisely, point-for-point what sent me down the lipo route. That and the fact that egress from a burning skateboard has to be one of the world’s easiest escapes. 
-Peter
LOL
But seriously, it’s when it’s at your home at night charging that it’s a bigger ordeal.
Posting here to save creating a new thread.
I’m after some qualified (ie definitive) advice on my max safe settings for my flux build which currently has a BKB Xenith 2.1 as its vesc.
Xenith Specs say :
160A Continuous Current
300A Max Burst Current (??)
80A Motor Current (Continuous)
My battery is 12s10p P42A
My vesc settings are currently :
To my mind this equates to 90A Max Battery (2x 45A) and conservative 70A Motor Max per side.
I run 18/72t gearing on 165mm Landsurf tires. (Got a set of 62t wheel pulleys to fit soon)
Motors are FS 63100s
Problem is it feels sluggish 
Can i go higher with my setup, and what would you consider absolute Max settings to go to without frying anything.
Ride Style : Generally a fast as I can, for a long as i can. I weigh 100kg/220lbs - tall, not fat 
Is it because I’m so used to PU setups that this thing feels slow, or have i completely missed something in the setup process?
Cheers 
2 Likes
I love that build btw!
few things I would do personally:
I run my Xeniths at:
80A motor max.
55A motor min
49A battery max
22.5A battery min
Ramp up time is 0.2sec (originally it is 0.4sec I think you could lower that even more if you wanted to)
Ramp down time is 0.2sec
im happy with those settings anyways. ramp up is probably going to be the bigger piece of the puzzle. that said the low-end torque is not stupid high, It more so kicks in at higher speeds.
I guess you could push the settings a bit more but. but theses have been working fine for me for quite some time. Keep an eye on thermals.
On the brake side I have an negative exponential curve. as the puck is a little jerky in my opinion.
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In the last VESC Tool the battery settings are for both sides, so you should put 90amps for battery current max.
Motor current brake seems to low for my taste, i would set between 60/65amps.
P.s.: i’m no expert in VESC Tool if something i said is wrong please someone correct me.
3 Likes
oh it is well I guess that is that then.
yeah im running the 5.2 firmware through the freesk8 app.
thanks. I’ll make those changes and see how it goes. Thermal (should) should be OK as I live in flatland, with no inclines to speak of anywhere near where I live. Does get windy though…
Btw, I presume when you say Motor Min you mean ‘Motor Current Max Brake’ on the Vesc tool ? Mine is so low as I found the brakes too sharp with higher values - I don’t like emergency stops, more gradual slowing down. I don’t ever ride on public highways, just long stretches of promenade when there’s no one around.
I’ll change the Ramp Up time which I did leave at 0.4 sec to see how it goes. My other builds have pretty much zero ramping using the old Unity SW App.
Seemed odd to me that this build, which on paper was bigger/better/more powerful than any of my other builds, feels slowest off the line. Sure it does get up to some decent speeds, but not in the fashion I’m used to.
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Yeah unfortunately beefier gear doesnt equal more power. The Vesc settings is what controls the power output. If comparable smaller gear can handle the thermals it will be more or less the same.
yeah motor min (motor current max brake) affects the breaking more so at lower speeds. I assume that you are using a puck that thing has a exponential breaking curve making it touchy. So I have read at least. And that is my experience as well, I am currently playing around with those settings.
tbh I prefer the old unity FW over the 5.2.
The start up sensorless mode performed better. and the boards could actually stop to a standstill and not just continue to roll. and for some reason the the boards are more jerky accelerating and sitting at max duty cycle which is a little sketchy.
Idk that is just my experience anyways.
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Every dual esc except unity specific FW (not vesc official versions) do settings like this:
So full motor settings on each side, half battery settings.
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I’m no expert, but i was just playing in vesc tool last night (12s5p P42A, dv6, puck) trying out new settings.
Your board should have plenty of power. Unless you’ve been hitting those battery/motor cutoffs, it sounds like you need to play with some of the minor settings to get it to feel like you want.
I’d start with the throttle curve. Play with the throttle expo and throttle expo brake
Positive throttle expo should feel like better acceleration
Negative throttle expo brake should give you gentle low speed brakes
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thanks. I’ve changed the Throttle curves to 20% positive for Accel, and 20% negative for Brake. Does that sound about right or do you have higher values ? I guess the way for me to test is try different settings off course, but wanted to check that these aren’t too much/little.
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Yep, that’s a great place to start.
You can also play with the input deadband, control/reverse type, and ramping times. But i would start with the throttle curve.
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Couple noob questions, Bought one used. Where do I find the bigger ppm cable for the zenith?vx1 cable won’t fit. Why isn’t the loop key I made working? I still had to plug in a switch to run vesctool.
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You would need a 3 pin JST XH 2.5mm connector for the vx1 receiver.
The Xenith has a built in anti-spark system, so it doesn’t need a loop key. If you do run one, then you can make a simple jumper that plugs into the switch port and connects the two MOM pins (labeled on the PCB) together. That would force it to stay on then you can use the loop key to turn it on/off. That port uses a JST PH 2.0mm plug.
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