I just bought an Esk8 through this site https://www.bibuffboard.com/ because I like the carbon fiber deck and the specs look decent. It actually works well, except for the fact that the remote cuts out on me quite frequently. When I hold the remote near the back of the board (in close proximity to the ESC) the signal becomes more reliable, but will still cut out every once in a while.
I’m considering replacing the entire ESC/remote setup because the ESC appears to be highly integrated and difficult to modify, but would like to avoid this if possible. Hoping there’s a quick fix that won’t drain my wallet.
Has anyone experienced this problem before?
Is it possible to boost the signal of the antenna?
That’s interesting. I was wondering how Evolve managed to do it. Although Evolve’s lid appears to be carbon fiber as well.
I’m installing a Flipsky 200A VESC 6.6 with the VX2 remote. Is it likely that the carbon fiber lid will interfere with that signal as well? The receiver connects via UART cable, 2.4GHz signal… not sure if the actual signal is bluetooth or what.
I don’t think it blocks all of the signal, but it can significantly attenuate it, and blocking any amount of a signal that your life depends on is not good.
Yes, that will still probably be an issue. Routing the antenna outside the enclosure is the best easy solution.
Consumer 2.4GHz devices have a hard power limit of 1W, but most devices are FAR below that (I’d expect 200mw or less), because for most applications it’s not needed, and in some instances, extra power can actually decrease the signal quality or cause loss of connection because the receiver gets swamped by noise and harmonics or reflections.
Basically my stance is “don’t use CF where it could cause radio (or other) issues.” But since you’ve already spent the dough, you’re kinda just stuck dealing with the results.
^^^ What LR said.
You could drill a tiny hole and poke it up through the deck somewhere inconspicuous, or something. Maybe make a little 3d printed radome over it to keep it from getting mangled or stepped on?
Update: I ran the antenna outside the board and zip-tied it along the motor wire. To an extent, this reduced the issue, but the motors still cut out for a fraction of a second every now and again, and it’s always during full acceleration.
I also did a test with the antenna taped on the top of the board, so there would be no carbon fiber blockage in any direction. Same story.
Is it possible that this could be a battery issue?
It could be some other issue if your cut-outs are always at full-load. But since you reduced it by moving the antenna, most likely signal problems.
The Motor cable you zip-tied it to is creating lots of interference at full-load, this could be what’s affecting the signal in the current setup.
Pressing Antennas against conductive materials changes their sensitivity and can affect the signal quality.
Try to keep an air-gap between conductive things (either Carbon-fiber or High-current cabling). You could put some padding behind the antenna, or clip it to the sensor cable.
They also make a thing called ferrite sheet, this acts as a wall and would stop whatever is behind the tape from affecting the Antenna, this blocks signal too, but acts as a magnetic shielding so could counteract some of the attenuation the Carbon is putting on the signal.
Also, how about your Hand-held remote? Where does that antenna end after you put it back together.
do you have the flipsky already installed? You can just read faults in the terminal tab after the issue appears. Maybe the esc throws a fault. Like @SouthEast-eSkatementioned the antenna directly attached to you motorwires could be a problem, too. Not sure
I used to get cutouts on a board when accelerating up hill. My antenna wire and receiver where very close to the motor wires, after I moved them away from the motor wires the issue went away. Not sure if your issue is the same but it can’t hurt to move them if they are close to any high amperage wires. (Battery or motor)
I had an evolve (fiberglass) hood laying around so I swapped that on, and it worked beautifully. Problem is, it doesn’t perfectly fit on the board, so that’s not a permanent solution. Also tried drilling a hole in the top of the carbon fiber hood and running the antenna through that and under the grip tape. Thanks @Louie for the insight- there’s also no air gap between the CF and antenna which is why this idea flopped.
Finally, I tried drilling a separate hole for the antenna out of the back, where it would have space from any CF or motor wire interference. For the most part, this works. I get uninterrupted throttle connection but the screen that shows my speed is still a little slow to refresh. Now I’m looking into getting a custom fiberglass lid manufactured. If anyone has supplier/manufacturer suggestions please let me know.
Also found out that this board is using NCR18650B cells which are only rated for 4.9a discharge. The battery works fine until it gets down to about 50%, and then it cuts out for a split second (under full load) probably because I’m over-drawing the battery.
