So currently I have two 4.12 VESCs running two hub motors with two 36V battery packs. This is for a robotic application so I want to have an e-stop between the batteries and VESCs.
Putting both batteries in parallel should just make a single larger capacity battery. Would this have any adverse effects on the either of the VESC because now they are using the same supply? e.g. back-emf, droop, etc
Regards,
Seth
You can use one battery and one switch and then split to the two VESCs. This way they always power up simultaneously.
If you use 2x HW 4.12 inter-linked with CAN bus the ESC should power up simultaneously! If you power them up one after another the CAN Chip can/will fry.
So either two batteries and two synchronized switches, or one battery and one switch.
Keep the VESCs right next to each other, use a common cable from the battery, and split it as close to the VESCs as possible, to avoid large ground differentials. And don't connect any other ground wire between the two VESCs - e.g. if you connect both VESCs to serial ports on the same controller, only connect the ground wire from one of them. This to avoid ground loops (which might mess with the signals or even destroy hardware).
Or better: use CAN for control, at least for the second VESC.