Delta is compatible with VESC® software but is not a VESC-branded product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Benjamin Vedder or the VESC project.
Delta is compatible with VESC® software but is not a VESC-branded product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Benjamin Vedder or the VESC project.
Detection values, current and voltage limits, thermal cutoffs, and sensorless FOC tuning for the Delta GaN ESC.
This page covers what to set after the FOC setup wizard has run, and how to tune sensorless behaviour. If you have not run the wizard yet, start with the quickstart.
Every procedure here assumes the motor is unloaded and free to spin, or that you are testing deliberately and know what the load will do. Remove propellers, gears, belts, and wheels before any detection or re-detection.
These are the hardware ceilings. Every parameter below has to sit inside them.
Parameter
Value
Max input voltage (continuous)
93 V
Max input voltage (transient, ≤100 ms)
100 V
Recommended battery pack
3S – 12S
Max continuous current
70 A — requires continuous forced airflow
Recommended zero vector frequency
30 – 60 kHz
70 A is an airflow-dependent number. Without continuous forced airflow over the heatsinks, usable continuous current is substantially lower and the controller will throttle or fault. Set your current limits against the cooling you actually have, not against the datasheet maximum.
The wizard’s detection step measures three values. Check them before applying.
Value
What it is
Sanity check
R
Winding resistance, plus cable, connector, and switch resistance
Positive, non-zero. Expect it to read high — see sensorless tuning below.
L
Winding inductance
Positive, non-zero. Zero or negative means detection failed.
λ
Flux linkage
Positive, non-zero. Measured while the motor spins up and coasts down.
If any value comes back zero, negative, or wildly implausible, do not apply it. Re-run detection at a lower voltage, or enter known motor parameters manually from the motor’s datasheet.
The core limits. Work through all of them — the wizard seeds them from a size class, not from your actual build.
Motor current max / min
The torque-producing current limit.Use the lower of the Delta’s 70 A rating and your motor’s own rating. Without forced airflow, set this well below 70 A.The min value is braking current. Set it to what the motor and drivetrain can take.
Absolute maximum current
The hard fault threshold — the controller shuts down when current crosses it.Keep it above your working motor current max so normal operation never trips it, but inside the hardware limit so it still protects the board. It is a backstop, not a working limit.
Battery current max / min
What the controller draws from, and pushes back into, the pack.The min value is regen. Set it to what your pack can actually absorb — a full pack has very little headroom. Excess regen drives the bus voltage up toward the 93 V ceiling.
Voltage cutoff start / end
Low-voltage protection, derived from your S count.Confirm the S count matches your actual pack. A wrong S count sets the cutoff incorrectly and will over-discharge the pack. Size against fully charged voltage, not nominal — 12S is 50.4 V full.On higher-voltage packs, also check what the bus does under hard braking.
Temperature limits
Controller cutoff start and end.These are the thermal safety net for the 70 A rating. Set them conservatively rather than at the maximum — they are what stands between a blocked air intake and dead hardware.
Max ERPM
Leave headroom below what the motor can mechanically handle. This is a mechanical limit, not an electrical one — check the motor’s rating, not the controller’s.
The Delta runs sensorless FOC only. There is no encoder input on this hardware, so rotor position is estimated from back-EMF.
Below roughly 10% of max RPM the estimate degrades. Expect weak or rough startup torque and possible stutter on hard acceleration from a stop. Once the motor is moving this is a non-issue — which is what this controller is built for.If your application needs strong torque from zero RPM, this is the wrong controller for it.
Detection usually reports R high, because it includes cable, connector, and switch resistance on top of the winding itself. The sensorless observer leans heavily on R at low RPM, so an inflated value degrades position tracking exactly where it is already weakest.
1
Note the detected value
Write it down before changing anything, so you can return to it.
2
Halve it
In Motor Settings → FOC → General, set Motor Resistance to half the detected value. Half is the usual starting point, not a rule.
3
Re-test low-speed behaviour
Check whether the stutter improves. Adjust from there if needed.
4
Re-test under load
Not just free-spinning. A value that smooths low-RPM stutter unloaded can misbehave when torque is applied.
5
Re-test at operating temperature
Winding resistance rises as the motor heats, so a value tuned cold moves further from actual R once hot.
6
Watch for new instability
At higher RPM or during hard acceleration. If it appears, you have gone too far — go back up.
If reducing R does not resolve it, the startup parameters on the FOC → Sensorless tab are the next place to look:
Openloop ERPM — the speed at which the controller hands over from forced commutation to the observer
Openloop hysteresis — the margin around that handover, to stop it chattering back and forth
Openloop time — how long forced commutation runs before handover