Little FOCer! 84V 5kW VESC-Based Controller

@Fosterqc you can PM me if you would like help with the detection issues. Be prepared to provide full, complete, and unambiguous details on your setup so that I can get an idea of what you’re dealing with

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I will do my best to get you lots of but not too much documentation

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It works but my balance tuning is pretty rough :joy:

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Get with @Flux or @surfdado for tuning the little FOCer for balance applications. They’ve got it figured out well

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I’ve been talking with surf :+1:

Though I just tore my board down for the switch from 15s to 18s

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I am preparing to plug in my FOCer. Some questions, apologies if something should be obvious, this is my first VESC, don’t want to mess anything up.

  1. I understand I need to solder my own pulldowns for the footpad sensors and I think I’ve located the holes for them, see the picture. How do I connect the pulldowns? Does one resistor go between the two semi-circled holes and the other one between the other two? (I’m also wondering if I’ll be able to solder them well from the top or if I can/should take off the heatsink; I’ll be taking it off eventually and flipping the caps/connectors but first I want to make sure everything works this way)

  2. The discussion about the spark scared me, I wasn’t planning for an anti-spark switch since the FOCer has a built-in switch. I was recommended to use an XT90s with a built-in anti-spark resistor. That should do it, right? Any alternative solutions or any drawbacks to this one?

  3. I’m gonna use a 80A car audio fuse, since I won’t be using a BMS wired for discharge. Highly advisable, right? The thing is huge… Do people run without a fuse (and without a discharge-wired BMS)?

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ayy I am at the same step. Was wondering why I was getting nothing from the footpad.

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@surfdado has an youtube showing this step, but as I’m not that electrical/electronics savy, I’m not sure what orientation to follow as well.

I would research but since you asked, I hope somebody replies with an answer. Hehe

Thanks, didn’t know about that channel, this video does answer the pulldowns (I’ve had it wrong): Upgrading my Funwheel with a Little FOCer - YouTube

As for research, I’d expect this to be part of the documentation, not sure if I missed it somewhere. I also kinda assumed people that actually have Little FOCer (and therefore possibly possess this knowledge) and do share their build progress would post in this thread… but there’s not much of that :frowning:

I’d love to see how more experienced builders do it and learn from them.

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The pulldown resistors are only necessary for funwheel footpads, right? If I’m using this as an ebike controller then they are not needed?

R67 for ADC2 pulldown. R66 for ADC1 pulldown. Just solder a through-hole resistor of value between 4.7k and 10k.

You only have to worry about the initial connection to the battery and then use the “ON/OFF” function thereafter. A single spark event is not nearly as destructive as repeat spark event from constantly plugging and unplugging the battery. There are also ways to do a quick and easy precharge of the caps to avoid spark without having to buy a special connector. However, an XT90S has a precharge resistor built in and reduces the spark significantly.

There’s no orientation to a resistor. It doesn’t matter which direction you solder it in.

Certain applications work well with a pulldown resistor. Footpads are just a popular reason around here. I’ve found that ADC2 in particular benefits from it when using it as a brake signal input for ebike applications

Pulldown resistors are designed into rev2 and populated by default. They help applications that need it but don’t often affect applications that don’t need pulldowns.

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Makes sense, I think I saw it connected “across” the two hole pairs on some pictures on Facebook. Better get the info from the source. Thanks.

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Here’s a virtual demonstration

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After you do that, it wouldn’t hurt to put a tiny dab of silicone or hot glue on it so it doesn’t touch other things on the PCB. You don’t need a lot, just a dab.

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Fighting a lack of connectors, I managed to connect my Little FOCer to my scooter and configured it. So far, I’m impressed.

I’ll take it for a ride this weekend once I fasten the VESC to the scooter frame.

Using a brushless MY1020 motor. Perhaps the 60V 2000W version, not sure though.

Here’s some pics and the absolute unit it’s replacing.

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Nice! 65km/h is pretty fast on a scooter!

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I’ll see how fast it really goes once I mount a steering damper. I’ve heard these motors exploding somewhere over 8k RPM, so I theoretically could do 100kmh/60mph if I feel like killing myself :grin:

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Is there a way you can take advantage of the threaded mounting holes in the little FOCer heat sink and couple it to a metal part of the scooter? That way you can take advantage of all the airflow in operation

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I was planning on doing that actually. Since it’s so little, it’ll fit in the front part of the chassis mounted on a thick steel plate right behind the front wheel.

That will also give me enough space to fit a 20s12p battery. Because why not.

What thread are those holes? M3 is too big and 2.5 screws fell right in(not sure if they really were M2.5 though)

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They’re M3 0.5mm pitch. I just threaded a screw through a block right now to be sure

EDIT: 0.5mm pitch. Not 1mm

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