The initial board setup consists of these steps:
- Running the Motor Wizard
- Hand-tuning the motor configuration
- Calibrating the IMU
It is important to carefully follow the steps to ensure the controller is properly configured for safe operation and optimal performance.
DISCLAIMER: The VESC Bible is currently being republished and rewritten to encompass all necessary beginner guides. All guides with a beta tag are still preliminary and need to be vetted and reviewed by VESC experts.
General Tips for the Initial Setup
- If you are re-running any wizard for your already running board, don’t forget to press Backup Configuration on the Start tab to save all your settings just in case.
- When entering values manually, make sure to hit the Write button every time.
- If you do a typo or modify the wrong value, hit the Read button to reset all your changes back to the currently set value.
Get Started
The best resource for a full initial board setup is this video from @surfdado:
This video was done with VESC Tool (the app) and the Firmware (running on the board) version 6.02. For Firmware 6.05, these additional motor settings are recommended:
- Motor Settings → FOC → Advanced → Speed Tracker Position Source: Corrected Position
- Motor Settings → FOC → Advanced → Short Low-Side FETs on Zero Duty: Enabled (This enables stronger brakes at standstill)
Motor Setup
For a written reference for motor configuration, read this guide.
IMU Setup
A detailed written guide for calibrating your IMU can be found here.
Don’t forget testing
Once everything is set up, do a hand test first. This is covered in Dado’s video above. Only then an actual first test ride.
Next steps
If you have done everything correctly, congratulations! You can now enjoy your fully fledged VESC board. If you want to continue your deep dive, you can try out different Tunes via VESC Tool or the Floaty app. Or you can start tuning the package configuration values manually. For that, check out the Tuning and Riding - pev.dev section.