Can I ask, how did you get the ESC out of its case?
Just unbolt it on the top with inbus.
1 Like
Could also be battery/BMS related. To me it looks like a voltage spike. Anything in between battery and VESC?
No overvoltage. I run high discharge with a cap at 51v on the battery. So no overvoltage spike is possible.
The cap could be the issue!
I mean for cap like protection. Like limit (something more dutch related). It is a setting in the BMS. When I had a spike above 51v it will cut off
And when it cuts off and you touch the brakes, the DRV goes poof.
If you can tell me how that is even possible on a part where I wasn’t braking an my battery was ±42v so 3,5v/cell. I was riding at like 15km/h
I don’t know, but DRV failure is related to shorts or over voltage.
Frank do you offer warranty on your vescs if the customer gets a DRV failure?
6 Likes
If yes, then this would justify the high price. If not, then… might as well get a cheaper alternative.
4 Likes
I buy trampa for premium quality. It has all a high price. Will see if they are willing to help me out.
Mostly it is but cheap and then it break easily. But a vesc that they are now selling for 200-250 euro… I hoped it had some more protection.
3 Likes
I don’t understand this, could you explain it?
1 Like
We have a warranty. Vesc 6 and DRV failure is nothing that happens without a reason. In total I know of maybe 15 units that have had a dead DRV. If you put that in relation to the sales volume, DRV faults are nothing to worry about.
I would go as far as saying that a DRV failure almost certainly points to a problem with another component or system problem.
So the answer is no?
2 Likes
The matter is more complex. If you would only swap the VESC without digging deeper into the problem, the next VESC will be dead soon.
If it blows for no reason, we warrant it. The chance to blow a DRV during normal operation is just very minimal.
I understand that.
I just feel it should be a little better explained in the warranty documentation. Not everyone knows how a vesc can fail.
1 Like
So because trampa wasn’t willing to offer me a replacement and only a discount on a new vesc (that still will cost me ±200euro/pcs). I sended mine to @seaborder
after a check up :
1) VESC 6+ :
Damage: MCU, DRV, CAN Chip, Gate Resistors
2) VESC 6+ :
Damage: MCU, DRV, Big Caps and Mosfet
I am happy to hear that one vesc is still repairable but the other isn’t.
While this all I had a talk with trampa (Dave & @Trampa) about this situation. Check mails here under it.
Frank
`Hi Pjotr,
looking at the damage list, I can certainly tell you that the VESCs have seen more than 60V.
The big caps are 60V tolerant, but sensitive to overvoltage. I have never seen them blow up before, other than via overvoltage or super long battery cables and inductance caused spikes. Blown DRVs on the VESC6 are also a clear sign of overvoltage or massive current spikes caused by VESC separation from the battery pack or phase wire shorts.
Blown CAN: The CAN chip is 60V tolerant, if it blows you had more than 60V at some point.
Dead Mosfets point to VESC being separated from the battery pack or short in the phase wires/motor windings.
The amount of parts blown up on both VESCs can only be caused by a problem in the BMS or wiring. The VESCs would not take themselves down via CAN, since VESC 6 have a 60V tolerant CAN chip. We plug them in one after another.
If you ask me, I would say your BMS separated the VESCs from the battery and when letting go the throttle, a spike killed both units in one hit. Overvoltage is the only plausible explanation for the damage seen in your VESCs.
Personally I hate any Part in between the battery and the VESC that can decouple the VESCs from the battery, other than a fuse or manually controlled kill switch/loop key.
Frank`
Me
Very strange to hear.
Wires from battery to vesc is max 50cm. Also I am running this setup without any problems for more then 8months. (And pushed it much more then just doing 15km/h)
Battery is build by me and has a high discharge bms. It only cut off when the battery voltage it is higer then 54v. Battery was around 50%. + I wasn’t even braking so I can never see how it is possible to have a voltage spike.
Here you can see the cap
Frank
Hi Pjotr,
the damage is definitely overvoltage related. If it was current or short circuit related, the caps and the CAN would have survived.
If these two parts blow, you can be pretty sure that overvoltage happened.
There are only two ways to get overvoltage.
a) you run a battery that is close to 60V (not the case)
b) you can’t store the regenerative energy.
Benjamin killed quite a few power supplies, reverse feeding currents when the RPM changes on the VESC during tests.
If a BMS or switch decouples the VESC from the battery, it is almost certain that the VESC will see a damage, similar to what can be seen on your VESCs.
It’s pretty much the only way to get such damages. Reverse polarity would cause a similar damage but we can rule that out.
If a motor is the cause it would be only one dead VESC.
If the VESC is the problem (defective in some way), it is one dead VESC, not two + the damage would be limited.
If the battery/BMS/switch is the problem it is two dead VESCs and the damage can be severe.
CAN-Bus can not take down a VESC 6 since it is 60V rated. That is only an issue on some clones or the older HW4.xx , Focbox.
We can offer you a discount, but not a replacement. The chance that two VESCs just fry with such a huge damage, simultaneously is zero.
I can almost certainly tell you that your BMS switched off for some reason. It is pretty much the only way to cause such large damage.
Frank
Now some questions I ask myself.
- How is a voltage spike even possible when I wasn’t braking and only doing max 15km/h?
- If you power off your esc, you don’t have any brakes, how is a overvoltage then possible
- My BMS record each thing I am doing because it is wired high discharge… There you see 0 BMS overvoltage times and I checked it tonight it is putted @51.6v
2 Likes
The VESC is powered by the motor. You can test that yourself. Hook up a motor to the VESC and spin it. The LED will light up. The motor charges the caps, the VESC is powered.
To blow a VESC you don’t need high speeds. If the generated energy can’t be stored, 5Km/h or less is enough. There are only the two small caps that can take up a very limited amount of energy! Anything bejond will blow up the VESC.
3 Likes