YOADRIAN

I will be the first to say i know just about nothing so i seek better council. I fly only Gas/nitro planes yet in a package deal of 7 planes i got there was one electric ducted fan f-18 with retracts all foam colored the number 3 blue Angels markings. It measures 55"L by 40" ws. A friend told me it might be from a banana hobby/people or something like that. Well i turned the radio on, hooked up the battery and she came to life all except the engine when i would throttle up it acted like it wanted to grab but then it would stop, like there was not enough juice to run it, so i shut it down and called my friend. He said most likely the battery was dead, so i charged it up and waited for him to arrive. It has a topfire 25c 22.2 3200mAh battery in it and being a novice i let him deal with it. After full charge he hooked up the battery again, needless to say it did the same thing, he would throttle up and down to try to get the engine to spin up but it would spin once then die and free wheel then suddenly he hurriedly unplugged it, for the ESC was smoking and very hot. He said most likely the esc was no good now. That was it for the night but the next day I started to trouble shoot it myself. I have a spare esc 70a from a plane i am fixing here for a friend, so i figure i would try to use it. It is a no power to the reciever type so i hooked everything up and hooked up a battery for the reciever. Yet it did the same thing. I turn it on with throttle setting all the way down and still nothing. The engine free spins fine, its not jamming up SO I TRYED IT AGAIN, up and down on the throttle, then it caught one time, but the esc got real hot so i pulled the plug. Can one of these engines go bad from not using it or can i pull this apart and do something with it? Why is it heating up the esc so much? or is this normal?

YOADRIAN

Well i tryed it again and it caught so i kept the fan running at full throttle 10 sec later something died , esp super hot and engine super hot. If i had to guess i burned another esc due to this engine that is likely shorting out. What a shame the airplane seems new.

k12rc

try hobby partz they have the moter and esc pretty cheap

TedMo

This: It has a topfire 25c 22.2 3200mAh battery bothers me. Is the voltage 22.2V if so there's the problem.

YOADRIAN

Ted why is that an issue? to much battery for this plane? Its a li-poly. I do not know what this aircraft came with from factory so its hard to tell, i will make another attempt to do an online search for the manual. Great point! Yes it says 22.2v

gary41

My Feedback: (5)

I have a spare esc 70a from a plane i am fixing here for a friend, so i figure i would try to use it. It is a no power to the receiver type so i hooked everything up and hooked up a battery for the receiver. Why is it heating up the esc so much? or is this normal?
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First, assuming that the suppled battery IS the correct voltage for the ESC and the motor, make sure that whatever ESC you are using is rated for high voltage. It's label should indicate "HV" and/or 6S-12S. (Your 22.2 volt battery is made up of 6 lipo cells in Series) Was that 70Amp ESC a "HV" type?? It is normal for an ESC and motor to get quite warm, BUT NOT HOT!

ACES&8s

That sort of motor behavior could quite possibly be a poor connection on the three esc to motor leads. If 2 are connected, one isn't, or poor, in my experience the motor will tick over then stop. and possibly tick back and forth. See if the solder is good. About the ESC getting hot; As well, the ESC should be 'throttle range' calibrated. Connected the ESC to another motor (just to hear the beeps, the motor becomes a 'speaker' or 'enuciator') since the motors in the F/A-18 are questionable. The motor should be mounted and not have any prop or impellor on it. Fire up the receiver, and battery once the TX is 'on' and the throttle stick is at full. Listen to the beeps. A silence. then a special beeping, immediately, and I mean NOW move the throttle stick to idle. ( previous trim setting should be in the middle ). As with all ESC's and Futaba TX/RX the throttle channel has to be in 'reverse' mode. Spektrum, JR, Hitec to my knowledge the channel is in 'normal' mode.

When you set the throttle range from the TX this way...if the beeps have gone into chains of beeps, you don't know what trhey mean, without a reference. So if you go by the initial beep, and can't make the setting in time by moving the stick to idle, unplug the battery to the esc, don't try to set it. Try again, and listen for the silence...the space between the intitial beeping, and as soon as the next beep comes, move the throttle to idle. The range is set...including where you had the trim, so put it to the center.

Try the range on a known good motor now. Then hookup to the F/A-18's motor and listen for the initializing beep, followed by six (cell count). The fan should tick to each beep.

If the ESC works on a known good motor well enough, and the connections (three leads) are all good. then the motor won't turn, then you have a magnet losse, or washer inside fouling it, or bad windings from running it hot, or by some other damage.

YOADRIAN

Ace that made the process very clear concerning the beeping thats going on and thank you for explaining the process. Gary the esc i took out of the plane the first time had a light blue wrap on it with a copper cooling heat sink that would be seen facing out the bottom of the aircraft AND HAD 10AWG cables to the battery, the one i tested with engine outside the plane had no sink and says mag8 high frequency esc70a pwer mosfet but no HV and it had 14 awg coming from it. The motor itself has no marking on it just the casing is red thats it. I will post pictures as soon as i can to see if that helps.