After riding a Lift efoil, I am a really big fan of the way you can select from multiple power modes via the remote. There is just something really nice about being able to pin the throttle to maintain the desired power output. It definitely helped with learning to ride the board quicker. I do not dig the way you have to increase the power mode level as the pack discharges, but I understand why.
I have played with a metric poopton of ESC’s and remotes in the past, but am unfamiliar with most of the options that efoil builders are using. Is this something that can be easily programmed with the flipsky VESC and VX2 remote or is there any other option readily available out there that could provide this functionality off the shelf?
I have used a wii nunchuck remote and arduino on my eskate in the past. I also have ebike controllers that have similar options. Power modes or max throttle position setting modes would be fairly easy to integrate with the wii remote setup, but the connection is too finicky and unstable for my liking. Am I asking for too much?
If I built a controller today I would like to do something similar to Fliteboard. If I understood the video correctly they have preset incremental speed levels. Seems this would be ideal for a more consistent flight speed rather than trying to maintain a speed manually via the throttle. I’m not sure anything is available off the shelf though like this
Yes, that is how the Lift remote and motor controller work as well. The older model I tried had 4 preset power levels. Level 1 was enough to get the board to plane fast enough to stand on it. Level 2 was a great power level for riding and getting up on foil. Level 3 was necessary to still foil when the voltage dropped at about 70% DoD and Level 4 was too much power. To tow someone or maybe a clydesdale? I heard that they have added even more levels for finer granularity since. It was nice to not have to worry about throttle control which has always been something that annoyed me with eskating and why I prefer cruise control options.
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Yeah that just sounds perfect! I’m thinking the controller will be my next revision as soon as I get my foil working properly
Yes Lift now has 15 power levels. I haven’t gone past 10 yet – accidentally hit full throttle at that level once and it was pretty alarming how quickly the board rocketed out from under me. I usually start around 7 when the battery is full.
I wonder if each increment is equal and where level 1 starts. Never thought to check if level 1 is even enough to get up on foil…
I see in the flipsky VX2 remote features these two bullet points:
-Support 3 speed modes
-Support cruise control mode
Has anyone been able to get these features to work with the Flipsky 200A controller or any other VESC?
Preset power levels are also very useful when you want to compare two propellers at same setting.
@Felixfoiler, @samisin (tbc) do you have a similar feature in your remotes ?
I kinda need to understand this first. is this different throttle response curves or maximum allowed throttle or both? Since I designed the remote for VESC, remote has cruise mode which works like car cruise, very mild throttle curve and slow response which increases/decreases throttle based on trigger direction from mid point, and you can lock the throttle/RPM at any point with another button push and get out of it with same button push to full control.
I can’t speak to exactly what was going on electronically, but it seemed like each of the 4 power levels had a different response curve and maximum allowed throttle. There is a significant difference between a 25% trigger pull on level 1 and level 4. I would venture to guess almost 4 times as much power. For my first time on the Lift board, I found the throttle response at power level 4 too twitchy (and ultimately too powerful) to be enjoyable to ride. It probably won’t be a problem, but I just want to make sure I avoid this on my build until I have the appropriate skill and wing set to haul major ass. With that said, I have spent many hours over the past 3 years on a foil in many different conditions with only 2 of them on an efoil so far.
if you are using VESC you can adjust the throttle curve in the vesctool plus maximum throttle
Yes, but is there a remote available that will let me do this on the fly by switching between presets? I really like your cruise control concept. With a smooth enough response curve that sounds ideal.
i will impelment somthing like this in the future. As i have amps and voltage on my remote its easy to cut power or like lift make a gov mode.
… to @samisin, @Felixfoiler and any remote designer as well.
I am searching for a way that would satisfy both propeller testers and riders, at least the beginners.
What I had in mind was a rpm stable solution, in which the rider could increase the prop rotation speed by equal intervals say 200rpm (parametrizable). A remote where you press a button and each press increases the rpm by the same amount.
Like that, I could check the take-off rpm/amp/speed plus 20 sets of data between 0 and 4000rpm (20 tuples) so that I can compare one change (wing or prop) at a time, in the same test conditions (motor and stabiliser). I could finely measure the prop slip as well with the GPS data.
When that is possible, develop an automatic test tool of N (20?) steps… with a smooth transition curve between consecutive steps.
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Looks like I have the answer. I just got the Maytech remote with the firmware for eskate. It appears that it does exactly what I am looking to do. There are three separate programmable throttle modes. I set one mode to be 50%. This calibrated the throttle trigger to then use the full range of its throw to a max of 50%. It will be a bit before I can test it, but after riding the Lift, I think these programmable speed modes will be much easier to use than just a cruise control like on the esurf version. Next step, waterproofing the crap out of it!!!
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