Hi,
I’m looking for a cheap high power controller for a BLDC motor (max peak current of 20-25A is enough).
Buying an odrive is expensive, but I thought maybe I can just make it myself?
Any reason not to use the open source odrive v3.5? it seems the schematics and everything is open.
Thanks,
David.
Making it yourself in low quantities will probably end up being more expensive than just buying it.
What do you mean by this?
To order your own boards made with assembly - I highly doubt this will work out cheaper than buying a new one unless you need >10 pieces
To order PCBs and self assemble may just work out cheaper, especially if you have some of the components on hand.
To recreate the design using strip board - theoretically possible but less likely to give a well performing driver.
In any case I think all of the options only work out cheaper if you value your time with 0$
But certainly making your own driver is a fun and educational project!
Can you please help me understand what I am missing?
The odrive S1 seems to be the cheapest option to buy a high-power production-grade driver, but it cost about $140 - that’s quite expensive for me.
I am hoping generally the BOM of a driver should be an STM32F4, a TI DRV chip, a few FETs and so and so, but hopefully it can be about $20 to $30?
I must be missing something?
Thank you so much!
Have you checked this
Wow, that’s actually very compelling. Thanks for pointing it out!
It depends on your location, really.
But let’s say your in EU like me:
BOM $25, I think it’s a bit low but I’ll accept your estimate. Free shipping from mouser or digikey is available from $50, so then you’re talking either $50 for 2x BOM or $50 for 1x BOM + shipping.
Then a PCB - let’s say you design it so it’s $5 at JLC for your PCBs, +$20 shipping, + $5 VAT + $18 UPS/DHL “handling fee”.
Note you’re going to have to assemble with syringe and hot air, or 3D print a stencil or something if you want to reflow, because that price does not include a stencil.
So now you’re at around $100 and have PCBs and a bunch of components and a small hand assembly project to do.
If you order with assembly I would expect the cost to go up by about $100 for 2 assembled units, but if you’re a first time customer you may well get it cheaper. It strongly depends on the number and type of components you have for assembly.
On the other hand you may save a bit on the component shipping costs if the factory source them for you directly or you use JLC.
Either way you’ll have many hours of extra work compared to just ordering an ODrive, which is why I say it only works out cheaper if your time isn’t worth anything…
Are you not able to use the “Global Standard Direct Line” shipping option in EU? It’s practically free compared to all the other options. The order I placed last week was $1.56.
Maybe I haven’t found that one? How long does it take? I almost always order with stencils, so that increases the shipping costs and taxes for me.
I guess I’m not very patient and certainly don’t want delivery problems on boards I’ve ordered so I tend to ship with UPS, FedEx or DHL… that costs more but then delivery is never a problem…
But 1.56 is very cheap indeed.
Looks like my first order shipped Oct29 and arrived Nov10, so around 2 weeks. The current order shipped 3 days ago, and has been waiting at the international airport in Hong Kong for most of that time. It gets handed off to US Postal Service for final delivery. Unfortunately I have a bad mail man at the moment who keeps delivering packages to the wrong houses, so hopefully one of the neighbors will bring it over in that case. But none of the shippers are 100% reliable (granted there could also be porch pirates corrupting my statistics), and I’ve never gotten any of them to pay for a lost package, so I just take whichever is cheapest.
Huh, I didn’t see that shipping option before- the JLC shipping for me is always quite high (to the US). Thanks for mentioning it!
Any idea if the Makerbase xdrive is using a TI DRV chip? It’s clear it has an STM32F4 chip, but not sure about the driver. Thank you!
Please use the forum search
https://community.simplefoc.com/t/read-a-potentiometer-continuously-on-stm32-and-analogread/4214/114?u=candas1
Thank you! Amazing thread and forum. 
Hi Candas1,
Sorry for the silly question - but can I please ask how is your aliexpress url so short? I couldn’t find how to do so - if I copy the url of a product I find, it’s terribly long.
Thanks 
I think it happens when sharing from the aliexpress mobile app. Then you have to remove all the useless texts
Otherwise it’s like that:
Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out!
58,65€ | Makerbase XDrive MINI High-Precision Brushless Servo Motor Controller, Based On ODrive3.6 with AS5047P on board
