Hi First Time poster and new to foil assist. I would like to build a setup using the Saite 6384 motor and 40V batteries and would like to know what Vesc, antenna and controllers people have found that work best with these. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Maybe also some advice on what definitely not to use would be helpful but prefer help what to use obviously.
This was a good comment from you, wish I read it earlier. Link didn’t work.
However it still isn’t basic enough, think stone age versus electronics age.
I still think there should be a basic sticky, more with the perspective from beginners on what is needed. Even YouTube videos still assume a lot.
But the community is what it is, and without it there would be nowhere to start and learn, so it is appropriate that it is combined with foiling that also really lacks basic explanations, such as the physics of riding one.
We work with what we can, and progress with a combination of luck and persistence.
@ZedMan speaking from experience. This forum and the builds here sort of assume that you have some technichal background or that you are highly motivated to read up and study to reach the basic levels on electronics, batteries, motors, 3d printing etc.
There is no «start here» and well written tutorials (but feel free to use a chatgpt with websearch tool to try write one for you based on this forum link) again somewhat filtering out people with low to medium motivation . If you try to fast-track the build or skip knowledge you are likely to fail anyways so I see it as a natural-selection thing tbh.
The best «tutorial» one member can offer is this probably: Builds
Unfortunately there isn’t another place to cater for the first few steps.
You are correct that building your own unit certainly requires skills that you can only achieve with experience.
I speak entirely from my own perspective that there is a place for people like me who don’t own a 3D printer or spot welder to make batteries, that could be assisted to build to that later.
My request was just to replace the electronics from my broken FD Assist plus. I don’t understand why someone couldn’t have simply given me the basic:
“It uses an 8s3p battery, a 6374 motor and runs at 60 amp max with a Maytech remote receiver. Any ESC above 60 amp will work if it has a heatsink outside the box, you can find wiring diagrams and builds in other posts”.
I’m not judging or complaining, just disappointed that there isn’t consideration of such a small effort.
Thanks for your input guys. Seems like there are so many options and no real standouts or obvious choices in vesc , receiver or controllers. Thanks for the links. There was some great stuff in all of those. I will just muddle on and see how I go. Great to see the effort some people are putting in and jealous of those with 3D printers and spot welders.
Having now done the reading, it is no small effort to maintain, as there is no “correct” answer, the information is constantly changing as new products are released. With ChatGPT Deep Research there is less reason to maintain.
Here is my «start here» that worked for me
Buy a good soldering iron, Flipsky 6384, Sequre 12200 and a Flipsky vx3 pro,
Find someone that can make you a battery, and keep it in a steel box outside.
Practice soldering on 12AWG wire until you understand it, then solder your motor to the battery and get it running. Soldering is the only challenge I anticipate most will struggle with.
Keep it simple, follow an existing design exactly before trying to innovate.
Ensure waterproofing and cooling is adequate, and passive.
Be extremely careful about the propeller (especially at the desk), and careful about fires
As a competent DIYer (but without the time to 3d print or spot weld batteries), I have found the maytech 6579 kit cheap, powerful and works well in saltwater (lots of previous reports of low power 6374 and low quality waterproofing of their previous remote)
I needed more run-time than 10s3p 2.6kg provided so it may be more power hungry than 6384 setups where a lot of people seem to get away with 10-12s2p ~2kg
I would suggest that +1kg on a battery in order to downsize and lose 2kg on a board is the way to go. Ive (somewhat complicatedly) summarised my take on battery sizing here New Maytech kit - #32 by jbfoiluk
I dont have much to compare the 6579 to but from watching a lot of foildrive videos, recon its at least as powerful as the latest foildrive max kit which means you can ride smaller foils and boards…
Mounting the battery as far back as possible (ideally above mast between tracks) is my advice for ‘assist’ as coming off the power quickly results in the board nose diving
Alex built me a very smart 14s4p battery (60mm high) with samsung 50S cells
Foil Drive HP motor is just a Saite 6384 motor (4kw). Its nothing special. What they’ve really done is upped the power setting in their VESC which is a 70A vesc. So they would at max have 3.2kw of power.
The 6579 is a 6kw motor (not manufactured by Maytech though) and should actually be more efficient as it has more torque due to the wider stator and rotor.
If the battery is between the mast tracks, it actually completely changes the way a board pumps due to weight distribution. Ideally you want the weight on the COG for whatever setup you riding. This depends heavily on which foils you ride and their front wing placement. Foild Drive actually isnt optimal.
Interesting info jezza,
delivering enough power through BMS and VESC has always been the key.
Congratulations foildrive for eventually getting to where some DIYers were at years ago In 2030 maybe they will bring out a revolutionary 6579 version…
I must just be USING more power than neccessary if I have limited run time with 10s3p P42A.
What kit do people use to record stats on power usage per start? I guess this wouldn’t be compatible with maytech esc?
I had also imagined that the battery needs to be directly above the centre of lift mid stance
newer higher aspect foils need to be more forward in the tracks and a lot of old kitefoil boards the tracks are too short and far back.
maybe Its not battery placement and I just need to get used to the technique of shifting back/ coming off power smoothly for pumping…
I certain DO NOT get the glide out of my 1260 sabfoil that this guy does!
why would you say foildrive isnt optimal? how does it change pump technique with battery further back?
I run VESC and then record everything on my phone. I can see that with a 24L board at 95kg and a PNG1150, if I flatten the throttle on takeoff I need about 3.2kw to get up fast.
A lot of the gen 1 riders that proned and pumped a lot said they needed to change their pump technique. The Gen 1 could be balanced perfectly because you were free to move the case. The Gen 2 doesnt give perfect balance, however the added power is a massive drawcard.