NeoBox Testing Results V6 (serious)

Summary of my experience and thoughts

I got about 150 km on my v6 neoboxes and no problems. Would have wanted more miles on them but the corona situation limited my riding times.

Setup

Trampa board (200 mm wheels) with 12s6p 30q battery170kv, motors, e-toxx helical mini geardrive 4:1, centre mounted enclosure, gt2b remote, metr-pro, davegax.

Rider: 74 kg with gear.

Im using 3.58 fw since that was the last stable fw I had on my computer at the time. Motor setup FOC sensored.

Neobox experience

At first I didn’t really notice a difference between my old single focboxes and the v6 neo’s but after pushing them a bit further, I notice acceleration is smoother and torque at top end speed seems to have improved, since I really get pushed into my bindings when accelerating at high speed now. I can also confirm the neoboxes run a little cooler than the focboxes since I’ve had no thermal throttling, which I did sometimes have on my focboxes. They also got pretty toasty sometimes but no issues when they did. I also ran some decent amps (see metr pro logs in my previous posts in this thread).

I would also like to mention I broke my top speed (62 km/h) on them, which was quite stable. Additionally, I braked hard going about 50 km/h a few times and no issues there either, brakes are strong (-20 battery current max regen).

So, at this point I would recommend them (keep in mind I have just used them for 150 km, time will tell if they hold up).

I will now list some points that can use some improvement IMO:

Like others have mentioned, im not a huge fan of the structural case design its not very practical for unplugging or plugging in connectors (on the go), a tradeoff for a almost fully enclosed pcb (which will be waterproof in the next batch as I understood). The case does look stunning for sure, I really like the look of them in my enclosure :rofl:

Moreover, two connectors gave me some issues. The rx and tx on the uart connectors is swapped which made me swap the cables on the davegaX connector, not a big deal but maybe the rx and tx can be swapped on the next batch. For the metr pro this is not a problem btw, only for davega users. Anyway the leads on the davega connecter can be swapped easily. Furthermore, I had to solder on the servo cable leads from the remote receiver because the connector doesnt fit in the case.

Also, some of the brass standoffs in the case seem to extend beyond the heatsink part of the case which prevents the lid from being snug with the heatsink case. Also not a big deal but if fixed would ensure slightly better heat dissipation and a nicer look.

Its also a bit of a hassle to close the lid with the cables running through the case. I came up with my own heatsink/mounting plates which bolts to the lids and makes it easier to unmount and open up the cases when I need to. Plus adds a bit of extra heatsink.

To summarize the last two points, the heatsink side of the case (where the fets are placed against) does not have any mounting points. The mounting points (bolts) are placwd on the thin lid side, which makes placing a heatsink on that side less effective because there is a gap between the lid and heatsink part and its further away from the fets.
So at this point if you want a better heatsink than the stock case of the neo’s you will have to take the pcb’s out of the case and use a completely separate heatsink plate, which @Skatardude10 did i believe. Again not a big deal but its something to think about, since some setups are made to expose the mounting side of the escs to the air for cooling. With the current design this would be less effective, which I noticed in my setup. I run my battery and escs in a centre enclosure and the escs can get pretty toasty sometimes. Im sure if the fets were placed on the mounting side, I would have more effective cooling within my setup.

Jeff already took feedback and the case will see some changes, curious to see what they came up with. And im sure with the support of Jeff the neoboxes will be a great and affordable option :slight_smile:

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