Regen clamp or brake resistor

Support
1

I have a project that is powered by a DC power supply and decided yesterday to switch from VESC to ODrive. The only reason I’ve used VESC’s was because I could get some for free, but they can’t do what I need them to do so I’ve now ordered 3 S1s. Since VESC’s don’t have brake resistor support, I was already using an ODrive Regen Clamp and now I’m curious if you guys recommend me to

  1. Only use the Regen Clamp and disable the brake resistor on the S1.
  2. Only use the brake resistor on the S1
  3. Use both.

Thanks!

2

Hi! Excited to hear how the ODrives work out for you!

Really both use cases are equivalent. I think mostly it just comes down to wiring and space requirements – in a lot of situations, it’s easy to stick a regen clamp on the power supply. Personally I’d just do that – less brake resistors to wire up and mount. I think the only case where you strictly need the brake resistors on the S1 is if you’re running super close to the S1’s voltage limit – the regen clamp will limit the supply rise to about 2.5V, but you can get tighter margins using the S1 brake resistors. But unless you’re running like… right at 50V or so, it shouldn’t matter.

3

Okay, I am using a 48V power supply, so I think I will turn it down to about 47V, just to stay safe, and use the Regen Clamp only. Thanks!

4

That sounds great! Best of luck.