That is pretty awesome. I would very likely need to implement commutation with back emf, yes. It think I mentioned that. The motors can probably not produce the needed power output without commutation, and encoders are too expensive by far. I can try to do the programming myself, I think, however it’s a concern. I seem to have heard that back emf in simpleFOC is not implemented yet, and I don’t know if it would be practical.
I know it’s not SimpleFOC any more, but from a strictly utilitarian standpoint, it might make sense to use one of the dedicated FOC control ics on such a board, though, that’s the thing that concerns me the most from an optimality/ is this the best way standpoint.
I honestly don’t see how the manufacturer can obtain the parts, with shipping and so on, esp in a timely manner, make the board and produce it for such a price. It must be highly automated and I assume only a certain selection of parts are possible.
Regarding development vs production costs, that model doesn’t apply to what I am doing. I am not taking that capital intensive approach. I will make one unit and make it workable, and yes it has to have a fuse etc., then I apply scientific and engineering knowledge for reasonable safety etc. and then publish. It’s just a different mode of operation. I will sell kits on tindie to try to make up some of my development costs, which is likely not going to even happen, but hopefully.
It is a very low speed, low power, low voltage device, it doesn’t plug into the wall, the power supply does, and it is ul listed etc. I think it’s quite reasonably save and so on, far saver than a drone.
Honestly, when/if I use this board, I think it is a lot sketchier to use the designs someone you don’t know off a forum gave you than to buy an ESC that is designed by a company that has legal liability, lots of resources, is identical to a great many others, and well tested. There could be errors in SimpleFOC above all, which as you know could lead to the hbridge shorting out, if some of the pins go on at the wrong time. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it before, but it is a little sketch now that I think about it. I just recently had the issue of the approved hardware, the l298n board, not actually working, although it was not dangerous, when I updated the firmware on my ESC, it in fact did exactly that thing. The solder on one of the hbridges melted. I caught it and turned off the power supply fast enough, reloaded a different firmware, and it’s fine now. But still.
There are less severe issues too, like PID tuning, for example. In my limited experience I have already encountered situations where a PID controller that I thought was tuned started oscillating, which is not dangerous here, as it would be in a drone, which would fall out of the sky, propellors spinning furiously.