Controlling a brushless DC motor from a "Hoverboard" with a Raspberry Pi

Mbed OS
1

Hi,

we’ve taken apart one of those “Hoverboards” (Segway without a pole) to take out its two 300W brushless DC motors. We want to use these to power another small vehicle. To steer/control we have some software on a Raspberry Pi. According to various sources we will need some electronic speed control (?) to achieve this. We’ve found plenty on the internet, but aren’t sure whether they would function with the motors. Problem is that originally the motors were powered by a 36V battery that we intend to reuse. We don’t know if the ESCs can endure that. You only find Ampere ratings, but nothing about Volts with these things. Further, will getting a fitting ESC work to plug everything together or will we also need some resistors?

Would something like this work? https://www.amazon.com/Hobbypower-Brushed-Motor-Speed-Controller/dp/B00DU49XXS %product-title% kaufen

We can program, but have no freakin’ clue about electronics. Thank you very much!

2

Sometimes the ESC data sheet mentions how many cells the ESC supports. If you multiply that by the normal cell voltage (for that battery type) you can get the operating voltage range. Most use Li cells these days.

Here are a couple student projects from several years ago:

https://os.mbed.com/teams/41801234/wiki/Electric-Longboard

https://os.mbed.com/users/mfoster44/notebook/electric-mini-bike/

It used this ESC Amazon.com : Electric Motor Controller, 36V/48V 350W Brainpower Motor Controller for Electric Bicycle Scooter : Sports & Outdoors

Most ESCs use a servo PWM control signal, here is an example:

https://os.mbed.com/users/4180_1/notebook/using-a-dc-brushless-motor-with-an-rc-esc/

1 Like
3

i got this.