In the eternal effort to make upgrades to my board, I discovered that I would not be able to power the ESC fans I wanted to add, while also being able to power other stuff like any lights I wanted to add to the build. This set me out to learn how to design PCBs and solve this issue. And so, a few days later, I present version 0.1 of the VPU!
Its very obvious that this thing is very early in development, but I wanted to share it early and add functionality that will be useful to others, on a very space efficient board (which it currently itsn’t).
Features
60V input using XT60, with 3 outputs at 3.3v, 5v and 12v each with 1A of power available.
All outputs fused
PWM splitter (1 receiver to 2 escs, 2 receivers to 1 esc)
More to come!
I’m looking for ideas on what else to add to this. While the board in its current state serves my purposes, I definitely would love to expand it further. While there is definitely options out there for powering things like lights (TTL) I wanted this product to be simpler whilst also being fairly cheap and small. My only aim for this is to keep it cheap which is why I will be assembling using JLC’s SMT assembly service.
The next step will be to tidy up board layout and make it more aesthetically pleasing and also ensure all traces are capable of carrying the current they require.
If anyone has any features they want added please let me know!
Exactly. There is also dip switches to make the handover manual. Feature was designed for @b264 specifically, with it being bidirectional being very useful
It would be nice to have one of the acc outputs dimmable from the pwm. Should be very easy to implement. And would make brake lights for something along to that serviceable
At a specific voltage? Each voltage is capable of 3A, but is split between the 3 outputs. if you wanted 3A@12v for example I could go down to 1 output and achieve this
I’m always amazed at how many technologies other industries have that just don’t quite have an implementation in esk8.
Here’s a temperature controlled case fan:
a smaller version with your power unit would be golden.
Or, have a port on your unit that regulates voltage depending on a temperature probe? Good for peltiers and external fans
So I have a couple 30mm raspberry pi fans I wanted to add to my build, which is the original aim of this project. Maybe like a 60mm fan to make it worth while, but it could totally be controlled by a thermistor. Will look into it
What if someone simply just released an esc with an auxiliary 12V 1A output?
Also would 15V work? Probably not, can probably live with reduced gate overdrive since the resistors limit the current anyway.
I need to generate that rail for gate drive anyway and the lm5164 is good for 1A.
This also means a full 2.4A is available on 5V (total power from both rails combined cannot exceed 12W).
I haven’t even used the VESC’s 5V 1A outputs more than absolutely necessary because I don’t want any non-drivetrain accessories being able to take down the ESC if they malfunction.
Have blown an esc doing exactly this. While it wasn’t from pulling too much power, but rather a short, I decided I wanted all accessory power to be kept off the ESC.
