Hi All... Im looking for help or suggestions to prevent Serial Connection lost with a Vesc 6.6, Firmware 5.2 HW60 and Vesc Tool 3.0
- I think the issue showed up when I upgraded to 5.2. I suppose I could downgrade and try again although 5.1 would not config the remote
- I see mention of the cable a lot in the forums... I am using the cable that came with the FlipSky. I tried connecting and reconnecting like maybe it was physical connection issue but no change.
- I have moved the cable as far as I can from the motors. Looking now it looks like my usb cable runs over the anti spark power switch which could maybe be a problem so I will try moving that.
- If there is some super awesome cable that I should use please lmk which one it is and I will get it.
- When the connection is lost the board still seems to respond ok I just dont have data. I cant say that it continues to work ok for much length of time ... I just dont know as I have not ran it long after connection lost.
- I dont see any faults only a message of lost Serial Connection and the Vesc tool is locked. It comes back most of the time if I reconnect.
- The issue was increased a lot when I increased the battery pack from 40v to 50v. I see in the forums that less system voltage helps so I decreased back to 40v and it did help a lot.
- I think, but Im not sure that it seems to help to run the speed/load slow and steady.
Thanks, Dan...
Not a software issue. This happens because of the noise injected to communication lines. At the very least, try to keep the USB cable away from phases and the DC, use shielded good quality cable, or better, get a good hardware.
NextGen FOC High voltage 144v/34s, 30kw (https://vesc-project.com/node/1477)
Thanks Vadicus and all... Any suggestions on shielded cable, where to buy shielded cable and where to hook up ground on shield if it should be hooked up?
- It is a FlipSky supplied cable and pretty much all the hardware. Is there better hardware regarding RF than FlipSky?
Thanks, Dan...
Just search for "shielded USB cable". That may or may not help. Another thing you may want to try is to reduce the baud rate. This all may or may not help. The underlying problem is the noise from the power stage.
NextGen FOC High voltage 144v/34s, 30kw (https://vesc-project.com/node/1477)
Hi Again... I'm still struggling here a bit. I have tried (3) new cables. One from Best Buy that was not described two others that were triple shielded. Admittedly the last layers of the triple shielding is likely more for abrasion as it's nylon but first two internals are aluminum and then copper. I also tried some homemade shielding on the FlipSky cable.
I think some cables are better but they all still repeatedly lose serial comms at higher speed/load. I didn't notice before but there is simultaneous loss of control to the motor ... The remote has to be let go of (maybe just backed off idk) and then the motor control comes back but the serial comms is still off. Comms will come back if reconnected (software button reconnected).
I'm back up to running 45 volts or so.
I will try the baud rate suggestion, some more cable issues and maybe some different motors.
Thanks, Dan...
Quick update and question... I tried about all the cables I have, even triple shielded. I also tried new motors and decreasing the baud rate. I still have the same issue of a drop in serial comms and the associated loss of function of the motors for a period of time.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I will likely try a new controller, old rev software, maybe decreased hz and increasing my a123 pack from 1p to 2p. I had been using the entire 96 cells in the oem 36V config and had separated the cells to increase the voltage but had only got 14s1p. It definitely has a lot of sag with 1p. Anyhow thats where its at atm.
I may also try some smaller motors to see if I can get to high eRpm without serial comms loss.
Thanks, Dan...
Hi All... I am still suffering from this issue and it is quite crippling. I see other users on youtube that as far I can tell they dont have this issue at all. They are running similar if not exactly the same hardware. I have increased my a123 pack size so I no longer have voltage sag of more than a few tenths of a volt. I am running 43 some odd volts. I do have a message into FlipSky on separate issue about trying to run android vesc. I will start a dialogue with them soon but as many of you likely know the time delay and communication is difficult.
Here are the youtube video that show similar/same hardware with no issues. I feel like I have tried every micro usb cable know to man and then some. In fact, I can completely disconnect the micro usb cable and the vesc with flat lose control all together and resets itself within a few seconds. Its obvious, its like it goes completely blank processing wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=
I did not get to try smaller motors with more KV as what I ordered was unfortunately not specd for more than 20 some odd volts... Never hooked it up, at all.
I have not tried another controller or the old rev firmware yet either but may try it today.
Any input would be greatly appreciated. I am in Northern California (Bay Area). Im halfway tempted to drive to Portland to see if the Propulsion Board guys could help so Im that motivated to fix this.
Thanks, Dan...
Hi All again... I suppose it can never be simple but you do get lucky sometimes. I did not change to a new controller today but I still might. I was attempting to get the BT module for my VX1 to work with the Vesc Android app. I noticed I had the spare PPM wires routed near the anti spark switch and thought hey I will move those and see if my issue goes away... Well it did, for the most part.
I had also switched to Duty Cycle with No Reverse instead of Current (might have been Current with No Reverse idk). And went to Hall Sensor mode instead of Sensorless. I cannot now recreate the Lose of Serial Connetion issue, at least not to crippling extent that it was. Well whatever I changed the issue is for the most part gone. I can still get it to lose Serial Connection (and lose of ESC control completely) by braking too hard. So on to trying to figure that out because thats not too cool either.
Thanks, Dan...
I'm surprised to see a USB port on the same board as the power electronics, since USB is not intended for that. Motor drivers usually use something like rs-422. Im impressed you found a workaround. Really the VESC firmware should stop driving the MOSFETs momentarily, then poll the client for a serial packet, then resume motor drive. Maybe a custom app could do this, but you'd need a custom client as well, not VESC tool. Thanks for posting!
This is a sample of my very best handwriting
I had this when I was hitting duty cycle cut on acceleration. I would lose connection and not be able to reconnect until the controller was powered down and allowed to drain the capacitors. I set a duty cycle fault delay and haven't had the issue since. And it's been months. I hope this helps.