Problem all sorted with the X Cross, it was a setup issue with the VX3, appreciate the help, thank you gentlemen.
I’ve actually also gone with Current Protection set to Off as suggested by Jesserosco. The VX3 has H, M, L setting to reduce power and I’ve found that has worked well in the past with non current limited, powerful, escs.
I finally have my motor esc and controller all assembled and am using the telemetry wire off my 120Amp X-Cross to display the amps. The value reported correlates extremely well with the DC amps I measure via my multimeter attached to the battery leads. + or - about 2 amps.
What did you do to read telemetry data? Arduino?
I’m hoping some electrical engineers in the group can help me.
I’ve been using my 160A X-cross for about 8 weeks now and it’s been working really well.
For some reason yesterday, I plugged a fully charged pack in just to check my receiver was working and the second I plugged in, the ESC sparked and then completely fizzled up in smoke.
Upon closer inspection it looks like the main failure point is the small row of smd capacitors closest to the heatsink. I can’t understand what has happened because I am using an anti spark XT90 and am always super careful with water and making sure there is no water ingress or droplets anywhere near the esc.
Has anybody else had their ESC go up in smoke just from plugging in a battery?
I was using this system 2 days ago with absolutely no issues at all.
These are my BlHeli settings that have been working great this far.
Any help appreciated. I am about to replace with the same ESC but don’t want to have heart failure from plugging in a battery.
Yes, it is a xaio esp32 s3 which I program using the arduino IDE.
The code I posted above in this thread. It should work with minor tweaks on any arduino compatible board that has an extra serial UART. Alternatively, one could probably use the SoftSerial arduino library which can mimic a UART.
Man that sucks. Makes me nervous about using mine.
Only thing I can think is maybe your phase wires were touching or damaged after your last session and when you plugged in it tried to play the startup music and fried?
Dunno though. Crossing my fingers that this is explainable
On that note of phase wires - can I program this esc without connecting to the motor?
Yes, I have done that. I avoid giving any throttle, but that is probably fine as the FETs are essentially just turning on and off without the circuit being closed, so should be harmless.
Hoping some experts in the thread can help me. On to my 2nd ESC (160A X Cross HV3) now and having trouble only on water starts with the motor stalling / cutting out with more than 70-80% ish throttle and making a horrible noise. Have to be very gradual with trigger to avoid. This used to happen with my first esc but when I changed props to alloy FD ones it went away so I just assumed it was my first set of larger props. Now using same smaller props and new esc with same settings the problem is back. 
Seems to be current draw related because once up I can happily e-foil around and full throttle without any issues. Only happens on starting prone.
would motor direction matter? Currently running reverse as my phase wires are connected as such.
is my current limit set high enough? Wondered if the stall I am experiencing is hitting current limit.
timing? I’ve always left on auto but do I need to reduce? Runs perfectly once up and foiling.
Turn off the current protection
Do you tune the throttle on the ESC?
Do you tune the throttle on the remote?
Just starting - how do I know that I maximize the setup? Maybe dry measure current from battery when pulling max throttle?
(I use VX3 and it seems to reach only 83% on the screen)
What size capacitors are on the x cross 120a? I can’t see the numbers on mine. I can see the 63 volts but not how many micro farads.
Ok. So if 2 of the phase wires short out on each other, would that cause the ESC to explode? Only reason I ask is because I 3d printed a holder for the 4mm bullet connectors out of PETG to keep them separated and after my last use I noticed they deformed. So, I am now wondering if before I made this separator and they were loose that the heatshrink melted and they shorted out.
Regardless it’s a good idea to add battery grease to the pins everytime inn case of a leak. My tests show pretty its a solid second barrier
I use MR60 under water for 3 motor phases, with grease, nothing bad to deplore!
I use PAHT-CF for the banana plug connectors, so no issue, but my question was more would it cause the ESC to explode if 2 or more phase wires shorted during operation?
Yes, it could. When a short occurs the motor is not a motor anymore to the esc so there will be a loss of control, motor will lock itself with a voltage spike as result.
