I have 5 boards that are all powered with lipo batteries and TB12S esc. One by one the esc’s have failed. Now transitioning to the VESC. I’ve changed over 2 of my boards with TB’s VESC. Setting them up seemed easy enough using the Wizard tool. My problem is that both boards have no power going up an incline. Never had this problem with TB’s12S esc. The Vesc does seem to be hot. Took a temp reading on the heat sink of 116. Is this normal? Is there something that I should look at in the Wizard tool that needs changing. This 56yr old kid needs some input.
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Could we get the rest of the specs?
Drivetrain and also what settings you are using.
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My set-up is a single Turnigy 6374 192kv motor, 3X Zippy 30C 8000 making for 12S, 36:15 gearing. The setting I’m using were automatically chosen for me in FOC motor detection using the Wizard tool. Changing over to the VESC, I thought how could anything go wrong when the settings are chosen for you using Wizard. I’m great at the mechanical aspect of this hobby but when anything that involves a computer is my downfall.
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The wizards in the VESC tool are notorious for giving bad amp values. Keep in mind, the wizard does not know your hardware or application. If you want to maximize the performance from your setup, you will have to manually change your settings. Specifically:
Battery Amp Max
Battery Amp Min
Motor Amp Max
Motor Amp Min
Increasing those values will give you more performance, but generate more heat as well. Increase them too much, and your VESC may pop like a fuse. For more general help with setup and stuff like this, I encourage you to post this question here:
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I would recommend either reverting the firmware versions or going to the FOC advanced tab and setting the decoupling setting to FOC_DECOUPLING_NONE.
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what does that do?
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Does some mixing of the D and Q axes currents,
Unless I’m reading the source code wrong.
I tried all the different decoupling settings on the official trampa vesc and ran it in my scooter, the torque generation was poor on all except for FOC_DECOUPLING_NONE. The difference was being able to climb the hill by my house to not being able to climb the hill on same current settings.
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interesting, would this help with starting from a standstill ?
Not in my case, apparently.
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IMHO you safest bet would be to use a more standard and tested firmware and settings setup, at least until the latest issues with the VESC Tool are resolved.
Check this out and yell if you need help.
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+1 for ack’s. @Cdn, if you dont need a new feature offered in the latest FW’s (and since you are replacing years old esc, im assuming you dont 
) then Ack’s is the way to go. And Mike’s tutorial article is the way to learn it. Its the only FW i have not had issues with. I just wish it had smart reverse.
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Thank you for the compliment I wish the new firmwares didn’t. I like the ack implementation of reverse and brakes way more than anything else I’ve tried.
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I also like the double tap breaks to enter reverse. But smart reverse is the only mode I have found that can bring me to a complete and smooth stop on a downhill. For me, thats a safety thing and so I will accept all the tradeoffs that I go through to get it haha.
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I can dig it, people have argued this topic more than politics 
.
More than anything I just wish we had the choice. I ‘think’ the Ack implementation was discarded simply because Frank hates Ack and Frank politic’d against it. That’s a bad methodology for engineering decisions.
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Thanks everybody for their suggestions. I’ve already adjusted my settings manually and still have the same problem. I’ll keep playing with it. One good thing is that I haven’t blown my VESC yet.
I think TB12s esc’s are Fvt’s and Fvt’s have a huge amount of raw power that is just not achievable with a 4.12