Hi @virtualbruno,

are we talking about SOLO UNO or MINI? ( I guess you have SOLO UNO, so I continue as below)

Posted by: @virtualbruno

all SW UP,

Pls consider the following points:

1. Make sure you know well the difference between Analogue and Digital control in SOLO ( pls read the user manual section Analogue vs digital ), this will affect how you should approach SOLO in lots of configurations
2. in SOLO UNO, PIN Number 5 should be always down to stay in a closed-loop.
3. Make sure in Motion Terminal you set the Number of Poles of your motor correctly at 36 or 42 ( seems this is the number of poles for your motor based on my quick google search)
4. if you are attempting to control SOLO in Motion terminal, make sure the Motor type is at ultrafast BLDC-PMSM after putting the control Mode on Digital ( so first put SOLO in Digital Mode, Read all, make sure the motor type is at ultra-fast BLDC-PMSM, if not Set and Read it), the reason you see it drains a lot of currents is probably the fact that initially SOLO's Motor type is on DC brushed.
5. After making sure the Motor type is correctly set, run the Motor identification 1 time. 
6. Another point is once you are in speed mode, try to use the Speed controller gains as small as possible with values like 0.05 for speed controller Kp and 0.005 for speed controller Ki, and then increase them with small steps, specially Kp to find the best values, usually in sensorless mode, a value around 0.1 for Kp and 0.008 for Ki is enough.
7. after you set the speed controller gains ( while in Digital Mode ), you can set the speed reference on some value like 3000 RPM and see what happens
8. In general, you can also check SOLO's behaviour in Analogue mode following this tutorial.

so pls consider these points and let me know about your progress.

Milad

Hello Milad,

I tried the second controller we bought, another motor, Chrome browser, all different kinds of settings, results are always similar, jerky motor operation, although once in a while it will run smooth but not for long. RPM setpoint makes no diffirence.

I can still try large power supplies, analog mode etc. and with other ESC's. but with the TERMINAL Mode, sensorless, I can't get it to run properly  

Any way you can connect remotely to check my settings?

BCD

@virtualbruno 

Ok, just one more test, can you try:

1. Put the Motor type on BLDC-PMSM and then see what happens ( normal Brushless Motor)
2. Try to see the behaviour of the Motor for variable PWM frequencies, meaning that start with putting the PWM frequency in Motion Terminal at 8kHz, all the way up to 80kHz with steps of 2kHz and see what happens, in general for low frequencies you can increase with steps of 1kHz and for above 20kHz you can increase with steps of 10kHz, I believe at 8kHz the motor should behave totally differently than 30kHz or above.
3. Surely a bad power supply can ruin the tests, especially the initial state, but I think most probably that's not the issue now.

please check these and after the results, we will plan a video call if the tests were not succussfull.

Milad

Hello Milad,

Indeed my testing destroyed my TEKpower TP3016M switching power supply. These supplies can't take reverse current and with both motors running it must have pumped power back into the supply. I will get a conventional analog power supply ( transformer and a rectifier ) and try your recommended tests shortly.

BCD

@virtualbruno sure, of course for Motor applications the supply should be able to handle reverse current as, during fast decelerations, the current might float back to the supply.

I also recommend you if your motors are high power, use a couple of more Capacitors in the range of 2000uF ( 2 or 3 more) rated at two times of your Motor voltage in parallel to the input of SOLO coming from the supply, in this way, they can absorb the energy going back toward the supply more.

BTW, a supply like this can handle the reverse current and it has fast protection in case of errors: VOLTCRAFT DPPS-60-10

Let me know about your test results.

Regards
Milad

OK Milad,

Both motors are working, Motor ID auto different values retrieved, not changed.  Kp=0.05 Ki=0.008 on both.

DC supply 22V, Switching frequency 30Kz seems to work better. Supply voltage does not seem to be very critical

changing from CW to CCW is not smooth at 500 RPM ( a setting of 36 poles instead of 42 works better ? ) Speed regulation is good once recovered.

I can work with this performance for bench r=testing but for our application, hall sensors or encoders would be required as not all speeds are working smoothly. 

Thanks for all your help so far.

Bruno

@virtualbruno Great news and happy to hear that.

Posted by: @virtualbruno

a setting of 36 poles instead of 42 works better ?

this might slightly help, you can try it.

You can also try to manually reduce the current controller Kp gain in the Motion Terminal to values like 0.1 or lower and see what happens ( after changing the current controller gains, a power recycle is required so the new value takes effect)

Posted by: @virtualbruno

I can work with this performance for bench r=testing but for our application, hall sensors or encoders would be required as not all speeds are working smoothly.

sure, you can try to use an Encoder which will be even better than the Hall sensors in terms of resolution and performance of control if your system is very sensitive, you can have an eye on AMT102-V on its max resolution (4096 pulses), to have the smoothest control.

BTW, the firmware version you have is not the most updated version, you can send us a request and ask for the latest version that has an improved calibration function for Encodes and Hall sensors for motors with High poles ( for sensorless it has no difference).

Milad