Need a small kick to start motor on a faux drive assist kit : any idea where to look at?

Build, Repair & Mod
1

Hi,

I have a very annoying issue on my faux drive assist, (ESC flipsky mini 6.7 PRO, motor 7070 flipsky waterproof, 10S2P parkside LIDL battery, VX3 remote and receiver).
Sometimes, without understanding exactly when, the motor won’t start at all, (without making any noise when using the trigger), ping with receiver is OK on remote, LED are ok on VESC, and the only solution to launch the motor is to help it launch by hand. (tried restarting remotes, VESC, …). After this manual and dangerous launch (always done in air), motor starts to work again normally, and I can stop and start again.
No fault in VESC console when it happens.

Pretty sure the issue is not from the batteries and the receiver, (also used on other efoil setups) Any idea how to debug ?

Looks like maybe the synchro between motor and VESC does’nt work, and this synchro works again when the motor rotates.

Where to look at ? VESC or motor ?

I may have used the motor with a bad connection with the 3 ESC cables once due to bad solder. Tried to switch from FOC to BDLC, because FOC was working at the beginning but then FOC was not working this bad connection, now using BDLC and solders corrected, but the issue still happens from time to time.

Thanks,

2

Just a thought - when it sticks make a mark on a prop blade and the motor casing so they line up. Next time it sticks see if it gets “stuck” at
the same spot.

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3

I had a similar issue with a different ESC and it turned out that the ESC had a fault.

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4

No way to solve except replace the ESC ?

5

I got a free replacement when it happened. But it depends on what your times worth vs the cost of new VESC…

Can you replicate it on land? I could replicate my issue on land so I knew it wasn’t related to power.

6

Does this happen randomly or only the first time after powering on the ESC?
If the latter, try disable the “safe start” option in the VESC settings. But be careful because if you disable it motor can spin for a split second after connecting with the remote.

7

I can randomly replicate on land, without finding the cause, it’s very random

Good idea to mark the position of motor, it could explain the randomness

8

It could be a problem with bad contact on one phase. If it is running on two phases only, it does not really work under load though.

What helped with my 63100 in FOC, was to configure a -5 to -10A break current. This is against any logic but it helped with FW 5.1, with 0A, the motor would not start some times.

9

If you already had bad soldering, I would double-check all solder connections - phase wires, connectors.

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10

How sure is “pretty sure” ?

You using a battery configuration somewhat outside the experience of most here - just saying😀

11

Tried with lipos also , same bug :wink:
Parkside batteries working very well, also for efoil 40 minutes continuous use

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12

Have you got a second speed controller you can try so that you can rule out the motor?

13

good idea, I have non VESC ESC (flycolor HV3 or HV V1 80A), I will try soon but weather is very cold in france now.

14

The problem could be either a short circuit on the motor phases somewhere or a poor connection. i’ve had similar problems like yours due to this, motor would not always start for me.

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