I just bought a Makerbase VESC 75100, and this is my first time powering it on and trying to connect it since it arrived. When connected to the battery, the blue LED turns on, but when I connect it to my laptop, no COM port shows up in Device Manager, so it cannot be detected in VESC Tool either.
I opened the controller to check the internal USB connection. The USB cable is connected, but I noticed that only 3 pins are used and the red (+5V) wire is cut. I assume the VESC might not be using 5V from USB, but I’m not sure if this is normal.
Is this expected behavior for the Makerbase 75100, and is there any solution to get USB communication working?
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Why when I set a positive motor current in VESC Tool, the motor rotates forward as expected, but the measured current is shown as negative. This confuses me because I would expect positive current while driving the motor forward, not during braking or regeneration. I’m not intentionally applying negative current or braking. Is this behavior normal in VESC/FOC (e.g., related to current sensor polarity, calibration, or observer behavior), or does it indicate a configuration or hardware issue specific to the 75100?
It’s possible the current measuring circuit isn’t very accurate, and has an offset from zero.
The motor looks like it’s spinning unloaded near max rpm, so is taking very little current.
Haven’t seen it before, but isn’t too shocking imo
