Hey guys, having a senior moment and I’m stumped at what could be going on.
Riding my board at low speeds, no issues whatsoever, but when I push it past let’s say more than 50-60% throttle, the controller immediately shuts off. Presumably some level of thermal protection kicking in, but not sure why?
Boards setup with a 12s4p battery, new replacement FOCBOX Unity controller, a pair of 6355 230kv motors (hall sensors, belt drive), and generic ppm remote.
Key settings that come to mind…
Motor current max 55
Motor current max brake -25
Absolute max current 180
Battery current max 30
Battery current max regen -8
Battery cutoff start 36.60
Battery cutoff end 33.60
Max ERPM 140000
ERPM limit start 80%
Not sure exactly where to start, but this all started after the replacement of the original FOCBOX Unity that went on me. Everything was working perfectly prior. The replacement is a NOS unit I had purchased as a backup way back when they were still in business.
Would sincerely appreciate any help, advice or suggestion. Thank you in advance to all that chime in!
What remote are you using? There’s a chance you paired your remote in the lowest mode and that would cause your board to loose power during max throttle.
Regrettably there doesn’t seem to be any fault codes. The ESC just powers off. I can pin it full throttle off the ground, and everything works fine, but the minute you’re standing on it (under load), and you exceed 50% throttle, it just shuts down. I have to power it back up to get it going.
Using a tried and true generic no frills (ppm) style remote. Seems to be calibrated correctly. Full throttle, center and brake all appear to be properly adjusted and accounted for. The remote does have a switch for hi/lo mode, but the issue remains regardless of mode. Naturally the only difference between those two modes and the issues at hand is the percentage of throttle at which the ESC shuts off.
I also just checked the battery, and it’s currently at 46.6v (since my last short ride). Haven’t checked individual groups but I think it’s good. Motors also seem good. Board currently can’t go fast enough to really heat them up, nor did I have any issues during the setup. Connections are all clean and tight. Nothing even remotely loose, frayed or corroded.
I’ve gone through numerous setting variations, playing with the currents and such, but everything I’ve tried has always been well within reasonable limitations. I’m in no way pushing or exceeding these values, which would then perhaps justify such an issue.
Yes, calibration was performed in HI mode to utilize the entirety of the remote band. In LO mode, you’ll only be able to access (and calibrate) roughly 75% of the remotes usable range. What I was trying to explain, the issue at hand of the esc simply shutting off happens regardless of the remote mode you’re in. In HI mode the cutout happens a little earlier in the throttle thumb position, and in LO mode, a little later. It’s like an over current scenario, but with no faults stored.
I don’t really have an easy method of monitoring voltage while riding, but yes, that would be beneficial. I’m tempted to just hardwire my laptop to it while I take it for a ride. Sitting on the board is exactly how I’ve been testing it out (lol) as I got tired of being throw off.
Yes, I believe it does connect but last I recall (it was years ago) I am not sure how much info is available and to what capacity. If I remember correctly there was a firmware conflict between the vesc tool app and the Unity esc. I will have to double check.
Just installed 5.2 (as per HippyDeathCult’s recommendation), and bingo! Now I can connect to the board through the Vesc Tool app. Fine tuning and dialing in everything as we speak and will hopefully test it tomorrow, granted the rain doesn’t come earlier than forecasted.
I would also check that your wires to/from the motor or remote are not “pulled” when you accelerate. If the wires are only loosely connected, this would explain the strange drop-outs.
