Hi Folks
The documentation and the Wizards that come with the VESC Tool are great, though I think there is some additional detail that would be helpful.
I recently and for the first time connected my dual VESC, updated the firmware and then initiated the motor detection wizard. The motor spun up to a low RPM and then executed a couple of very slow intermittent motor revolutions and emitted a couple of 'clicks' . Is the expected behavior when detecting a new motor?
An understanding of what is normal would be very useful, for instance:
- should I expect the motor to go through multiple RPM ranges with intervals of zero motion
- how many seconds should each cycle take
- Would I expect the motor to change direction
If this has been addressed elsewhere, please help with a point in the right direction.
Thanks in advance for any help.
The FOC motor detection wizard performs 3 different tests when detecting your motor, which I will describe in detail.
First, it will run the resistance and inductance test. You will hear a high pitch sound with a slight click that repeats about every half second and gets progressively louder over a period of a few seconds. The motor may move a bit as poles line up, but it won't spin since this test locks the rotor. The high pitch will stop, and immediately after, the motor will make a pretty loud noise for about 2-3 seconds which sounds like a 120Hz triangle waveform to me. If you set the testing power too high, this is when the motor would get fried like the pop-up warned about. Next it will test for position sensors and calibrate them. The motor will very slowly turn in open-loop mode (like maybe 3 rpm); first one direction and then backward. How far it turns depends on how many poles your motors have, but it will not even turn a full rotation. This operation is pretty much silent and lasts for about 5-10 seconds. Last, the controller will spin up your motor to about 10% duty for 2-3 seconds. When it stops, you may hear one last pop or click sound, and then the wizard is finished with the detection. If you have multiple VESCS connected by CANbus, you will notice that the slave controller performs the wizard simultaneously, but with a 1-2 second lag behind the master.
Another thing you may want to know is that the FOC wizard in VESC tool for Android performs all these tests automatically in sequence. If you want to run each test individually, you can only do that from the desktop version (via the GUI), or by using terminal commands in either version.
Hope this helps you be confident that your setup is being detected properly. I know the warning that is presented can cause a new user a lot of anxiety when running the wizard for the first time, not knowing what to expect.
This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you for taking the time to respond Stupidspencer, this really helps.
Cheers