I wasn’t expecting a huge lineup either. Just saw real potential for power distribution boards/modules like yours for esk8. There is no real off the shelf option for led drivers interfacing with vesc for brake light activation or even blinkers. The more esk8s become a legit&legal mean of transportation the bigger the demand will be for stuff like the VPU.
And dont underestimate yourself, you did an amazing job and worked with all the feedback that was given to you to improve upon the first iteration. That is what I call intelligent 
5 Likes
I thought TTL did brake lights and blinkers? I may be mistaken. In any case, I’d love the challenge of bringing something like this to you guys
1 Like
I’m looking at this closely. Haven’t found a nice way to drive cooling fans yet. Needs to go up to 20S though.
1 Like
I believe I designed it to support 20S, I need to go through the BOM and confirm though. The LM5164 supports up to 100V and so I just need to make sure all passive components on the high side are also 100v. I specifically designed this so I could power fans for cooling, I think its sorely missing from higher end ESCs
1 Like
I feel that gap rn. Thermal throttling all over the place. I had a lot of bad things to say about the HW Max6 ESC’s, but the one thing they did well was thermal management.
Each was potted into an aluminium finned heatsink, with a dedicated fan on top that ran all the time. Result? They never even got lukewarm, no matter how much you flogged them.
1 Like
Ley me know when you’re ready to make a batch, I’ll buy one.
When originally thinking of this concept, it was intended to be 12S with 3A outputs at 12v, 5v and 3.3v. I quickly came to the conclusion that I needed to support higher voltages as this area of the market is about to explode. I then pivoted to upto 100V input, and instead offering 1A output at each of the output voltages. These are split between two 500ma fused outputs. I am thinking of changing the SMD fused with pico blade if possible to make replacement easy. This would also allow the option to have a single 1A output simply by changing the fuse. I hope the compromise down to a 1A output isn’t limiting, perhaps a board like this of this size could be stacked if required.
A few resistors and stuff need to be changed but its ready to be used at up to 100V currently.
2 Likes
Personally speaking, 500mA is limiting in terms of the fan you can fit to that. 1A is much better though, but I’m wondering why it came down from 3A?
1 Like
Limitations of the IC used. I’m not aware of something that is this small and can take those voltages. I’m sure an off the shelf DC-DC from Ali or something would be able to provide more.
As an example, I would be looking at using a couple of these fans: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/38515/noctua-nf-a4x10-5v-40mm-fan
They use MAX 50mA, which is kinda crazy
1 Like
I could be wrong, but I would make sure that the 500mA is enough for the initial current draw of cooling fans. Might need a capacitor or something to help with that initial spike. I’m wondering if these regulating components designed more for IC’s and not an inductive load.
1 Like
I’d love to know what sort of fans people would plan on using so I can design around that
3 Likes
PC cooling fans are what I was looking at. Did you see Noctua makes a slightly more powerful version in the same diameter?
2 Likes
Yeah I did. Even still, that uses max 0.5W which is 1/10 of the max capacity of each output. I’m not sure I would be worried, that’s what the test run will determine
2 Likes
I’d love to see some kind of turbine design in the 40mm size that draws a bit more power for higher CFM to be honest.
1 Like
Server fans is what you’re looking for. They’re fast as fuck, loud as fuck but move a heap of air. This here is one example: https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/axial-fans/1810536?ef_id=CjwKCAjw26H3BRB2EiwAy32zhZEHhjNVN_K-HQCOp-6mpn_yN-WglwHfz8uxHAy5Br6UGa-taunRdRoCp68QAvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!8733!3!434253227467!!!g!300481891187!&cm_mmc=AU-PLA-DS3A--google--PLA_AU_EN_HVAC_%26_Fans_%26_Thermal_Management_Whoop--(AU:Whoop!)+Axial+Fans--1810536&matchtype=&aud-772940708119:pla-300481891187&gclid=CjwKCAjw26H3BRB2EiwAy32zhZEHhjNVN_K-HQCOp-6mpn_yN-WglwHfz8uxHAy5Br6UGa-taunRdRoCp68QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
It uses 7.8W which is still within spec for 12V, could probably find something a little lower to allow the use of two. It has nearly 3 times the air movement capacity to the Noctua you linked above
3 Likes
These things scream and move good air.
3 Likes
Oh damn that would scream, 450ma draw. Would be perfect for my board, just under the spec with 2 of them on 5v
2 Likes
