Hello everyone, first time poster here,
I have an electric scooter build that had a 12s 3p battery, Turnigy SK8 6374 192kv, and a Trampa VESC 6 MK5. It was working well, until I drove it through the rain where the MK5 did not survive. I ordered a MK6 to replace it.
After running the FOC wizard and setting up current/apps, the motor would click and the VESC would throw an overcurrent error. This seems to happen in current control (no reverse brake center) and when I maintain a throttle position, eg not just instantly releasing it. Interestingly enough, the only way that I got this problem to go away was to control the motor in duty cycle mode. This problem happens on the bench and while I am riding.
I have tried the following: (in rough order)
Rerunning the FOC wizard and also manually running the detection tests
Checking all of the connections (this solution was closest to other people’s problems with overcurrent)
Checking the Hall Sensors
Checking the VESC capacitors
adjusting all of the FOC, current options
what seemed to help slightly was doubling the observer gain
Checking the throttle connections
the problem persisted when I used an adjustable power supply to replicate the throttle
Replacing the motor with a new identical one
testing a different battery without a bms
updating the VESC firmware to 6.2
testing a new VESC MK6 HP from Trampa (I was sent one after talking through email - they thought it might be the VESC)
Testing a completely different motor without a sensor (Turnigy SK3 6364 245 kv)
This setup worked perfectly before with the MK5, and I don’t remember having to do anything specific or encountering this problem. If a video would help I would gladly make one.
Anything will help, as I have exhausted most of my options. Thank you!
I don’t recall, but I can try that, thanks. I’m planning on testing the motor with an older 4.0 type VESC to maybe try to see whether I can target the problem to the software or the VESC MK6
Ok, so I managed to downgrade the firmware to HW5.2 (the same version that came with the MK5) and it works perfectly with no faults! I just ran the FOC wizard and it worked perfectly. I also used a previous version of the VESC tool that I used with the original, 3.00, vs the newer 6.00. So there’s definitely a bug or issue somewhere with either the firmware 6.00 or the VESC tool 6.00. I thought it would be the firmware, but I also thought by upgrading it to 6.02 beta would solve it. Apparently not.
Thanks rusins, sometimes it just takes another person to recommend something simple.
The MK6 Version should be used with the MK6 FW only!
Issues like that can be related to many things. Could be a GND loop or bad soldering on one phase connection etc.
Hooking up a voltage supply to ADC is not a good idea BTW. It creates a ground loop in between the power supply and VESC 6. You want to hook up the throttle to 3.3V of the VESC 6. And place a 10k resistor in between GND and the ADC pin, close to the ESC. In case the wire snaps, the resistor will pull the pin low.
We currently run numerous VESC 6MKVI on ADC throttles in our drift trikes and karts. They are all on FW6 and similar motors and there’s no issue.
You could note down detection results or save the XMLs and see if things differ a lot in between the FW versions. Same goes for the App settings.
I’m currently using a thumb throttle I got off Amazon connected to ADC1, though I’ve plugged it in to 5V power because it said to, and I’m getting an ADC voltage from 0.8 to around 2. I won’t use a voltage supply anymore to test it though, thanks for the heads up!
I did check the VESC phase connections inside and out, and I tested it with 3 similar motors with the same result. It could be some that the new firmware is somehow not working with the throttle? My circuit does have a few things on it such as a screen and lights, but it worked with the old VESC and apparently with the old firmware
I’ll check the XMLs when I’m able to work on it this weekend, as this is an interesting conundrum
I switched my throttle to use the 3.3v supply, and it works fine. No wonder I thought my throttle was a little touchy.
I also compared the values of the motors and app, and apparently the motor resistances and inductance are compared differently after FW5.02? (I got a popup). I still tested the values by putting the VESC back to FW6.00 and tried those valuse, and I still get the overcurrent faults issues. Again, all I’m doing is running the FOC wizard and then adjusting the apps just like how I do it with FW5.02. I still don’t quite know the issue.
I can attach files now, so Ill go ahead and link the xml files for FW5.02 and FW6.00. In the meantime I might just keep using FW 5.02
If you can log the fault, we can look into this. Did you try to lower the motor amps a bit? Did you try to lower the time constant from 1000uS to 500uS?
On a scooter you can create higher current spikes and possibly hit the 150A absolute max. These spikes happen when the stator saturates or when high load shifts occur. Lowering the motor amps a bit sometimes helps quite a lot. The new FW might detect higher possible motor amps. Also regen currents could be set a bit higher, even on 3P.
One thing I noticed is that since FW 5.3 Slow ABS current is set to false by default. I find that to be a pretty important thing to keep on to avoid getting faults.
Each controller has it’s own ABS MAX set. That setting might get changed by the hardware designer between firmware releases, but that doesn’t mean all controllers will have a different ABS MAX
The Stormcore 100D series did get an update between 5.03 and 6.00 where the designer lowered the ABS MAX from 200 to 150.
Here are some faults I collected: faults.txt (8.0 KB)
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Also to note is that I got the overcurrent error with no load on the stand, attached to the powertrain and not. I tried lowering the motor current significantly, and I don’t know if I adjusted the time constant. The regen currents are set pretty low because I have a pretty high gear ratio on it so any higher and the back wheel will just lock up.
if i remember correctly overcurrent can happened due to high resistance on battery/phase wires. have you checked the solder joints on the vesc. while the chance may be low there could be a dry solder joint
I’m glad it worked!