So, Long story short. I just updated my firmware from around the end of June to the newest. everything went smoothly except when I redid the motor calibration it gave me the R = 0 error, reconfigured and tried again and it worked. Took my board out for the day as I needed to go to uni and about half way there I loose connection for a split second - I think nothing of it as its probably just the remote and continue to uni ( It is sunny out and I am riding quite slowly as its extra busy today ).
End of uni and im on my way back, at first there were no problems but slowly over the trip home the responsiveness of the vesc decreased drastically to where a couple of seconds delay from action to reaction. about 50 meters from home and the board just packs up as if the power has been cut even though the blue led is still active on the Vesc. I do note however when the trigger is pulled instead of the usual orange/red led coming on to show an active singal input, it flashes red 3 times and stops - I check the receiver and it is still paired with the controller and receiving clear signals.
Bring it up to my workshop now im home. plug it into my computer ( Bug report : vesc tool cannot find the vesc if a HTC Vive is plugged in as it registers the vive as the Vesc ) connect the Vesc successfully, reinstall the new firmware, get to the motor detection and nothing. When measuring the Resistance and Induction, nothing happens 9/10 times, and when it does work it returns a value of 0. Currently I have no clue what to do as the Vesc seems to power on completely fine, connect to the pc completely fine, I am able to upload the current configs, but when it comes to controlling the motor nothing happens.
So. I have taken the heatsink off in hopes to see if something has blown and took some pictures for you guys to look at as I am definitely not someone who knows electronics on this scale. https://imgur.com/a/hv5hc
It looks like there is a bit of corrosion around one of the capacitors so maybe its a bad cap. but I have no clue. The vesc is bolted onto the bottom of the board with a 3d printed shell. then placed inside a water proof 3d printed case which is bolted onto the underside of the board with diy silicone sleeves to stop even moisture getting in on harsh rainy days. ( batteries are stored ontop )
I am kinda stumped on what to do, as all I do know is im down my only form of reliable transport just as uni starts for 2nd year :/
Any help would be amazing as I am a little out of my comfort zone when it comes to delicate electronics.
What is the newest firmware that you are talking about? FW3.29 or FW3.28?
Did you read out the Fault codes after coming home without shutting the board off? The red blinking indicates a fault normally.
That would probably be FW3.29 as I just updated the vesc tool today to do the firmware updates I mentioned at the start of the post and is the same one as the one I did after things went weird ( current vesc tool is 0.82 )
Edit: Can confirm the clip is running FW: 3.29 HW:60 with the numbers 44 00 1C 00 01 51 35 32 37 39 33 30 ( atleast the vesc still turns on )
As for the fault codes. I havent been able to read any as of yet. I got home, and turned the board off to get it ready for the work bench.
Have you tried to go back to your old working FW? For me the corrosion on the PCB also looks a little bit strange but I cant spot anything else with a quick view. I think because you can turn on your device normally the capacity is not shorted. Do you log your rides with something like the metr.at app and can show us a log?
As for the old FW I did try to go back to it but I got the same problem as the new FW at the motor detection so I decided to leave it with the new one. As for the corrosion I also found it strange as It never even got close to water, not even moisture because I had it in the equivalent of two cases which were both water tight and all the seals were silicone/rubber lined aswell.
Unfortunately I don't have anything to log the rides with as when I got the Vesc It was before metr.at app was able to be used with it, and since then I didnt really see a need to have it as I have voltage meters on each of the batteries for me to look at which was all I really needed. Sorry I cant be of much help.
Could you measure the resistance of each individual FET between Gate, Source and Drain with a Multimeter? (Vesc unpowered) Espacially the FETs near the "strange looking" capacity. Maybe Benjamin or Frank have other ideas.
What sounds strange for me is the fact that "the responsiveness of the vesc decreased drastically to where a couple of seconds delay from action to reaction". I don't see how that could happen when it really would be a hardware issue with a failing FET or something like that.
Ill see if I can do that. Ive never actually used a multimeter but I just got one a day ago so I might as well put it to the test ( always been a mechanical guy over electronics. I can solder just fine and follow instruction, but this is a hwole new world for me :P )
Edit: I have literally no clue what I am doing.
When you are a total electronic newbie maybe it would be a better idea to just contact trampa and solve the problem together with them. I dont want to be the person you blame about destroying your expensive hardware.
Some people already destroyed their hardware with measuring the wrong way. (VESC was connected to battery while measuring resistance or touched a wrong pin and so on)
Btw I also flashed the new FW3.29 to my VESC 6 and don't got any problem yet. Measuring the FOC values of the 192kv Turnigy 6374 motor was as always. (no R=0 problem)
Might be the best course of action. Im pretty bummed something has happened when I tried so hard to keep it safe. Lots of people on the Esk8 forum seem to think it could be corrosion damage but I have no idea how it could get corroded without water. Do you know if the caps are liquid based or solid based, it could be a cap is leaking ??
From the pics it looks like it is this cap: EKZN630ELL681MK30S In a quick way I dont see anything about "wet" or solid in the datasheet. I know there are "wet" and solid Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitors out there. I cant see in your pictures if the caps have a vent on the top. I think if they have a vent they should be capacitors with a wet electrolyte.
Yes these capacitors do indeed have a vent on the top. guess I got unlucky with the capacitor lottery.