hawk3ye

Hi all.

I just need a lil bit of help setting this up - I can't seem to get my ESCs to respond to my Radio throttle even though it seems like they're recognizing it's signal.

My setup:

-Futbaba radio 6EXA, using PCM
-PCM Futaba Receiver, model R146iP
-Channel 34 Crystal in controller and receiver
-2 brushless outrunners with 2 Lipo friendly ESCs
-One Lipo battery
-A Y harness connecting the two ESCs into channel 3 on the receiver.
-Y harness connecting the ESCs into a battery
-No on/off switch yet as I'm just trying to see if the motors respond.


I first found that the ESCs just beep at me when i hook up the battery to my Y harness powering them - when push down on the receiver crystal (with my radio set to on), the ESCs seem to pick up signal and then beep at me at intervals like the instructions said they would.

I then follow the ESC instructions where you have to like set your thottle position fully up, wait for beeps, then set it to the down position, and then i get a couple more beeps - after the last set of beeps, I'm not getting any reaction from the motors...am I missing something here?

Thanks all.

TimCouto

Try asking on www.rcgroups.com

Not knocking this site at all, as it's great! But, I notice you get answers much much faster there, than you do here.

I'd take a crack at answering your question but, i've never done a 2 motor/ 2 ESC, kind of setup yet, so I really don't know.

The only thing I DO know... is that often times, you have to "arm" your ESC... which means.. once the battery is plugged in.. and the ESC switch is switched to "on".. (if it has one).. you go full throttle for about 3 seconds.. then all the way back down to nothing. This usually "arms" most ESC's to start. It's a sort of precaution built in, so you don't accidentally start the motor and get chopped by your propeller accidentally, while looking things over, etc.

If you haven't tried that... give it a shot. If that doesn't work... I find it best to start right from the beginning again. Sometimes you don't realize that you've overlooked something minor.. or the connections were a little loose and caused it not to work, etc.

And if all else fails... definately consider trying www.rcgroups.com

Best of luck...




Fun and safe flying [8D]
~Tim~

hawk3ye

heya thanks Tim, my next post was going to be there heh.

Yeah, i know what you mean by engaging the controller at full and then bringing it down to 0 throttle, i did that in my case but if i engage the throttle up from the 0 (or bottom) position, it still doesn't start my motors.

I KNOW my wires from the ESC to the motor are ONE color though, so maybe i need to swap them around a bit to get the right mix?

TimCouto

If you mean the motor wires that are connected to your ESC being one color.... that's no big deal. The only thing switching those wires will do, is reverse the spin direction of your motors. Best thing to do, is test that out first... and make sure botha re spinning in the same direction.

Of course, there is always a possibility that your particular ESC only works if they're connected a certain way.. so definately consider that as a possible cause to your problem.

Honestly... if it isn't a wire problem.. and your receiver and crystals are all functioning well... then i'm stumped. The only usual causes for the electronics not working are....

1) Bad receiver/transmitter crystal
2) Bad receiver/transmitter
3) Bad ESC
4) Incorrect wiring of ESC to motor and/or receiver
5) Incorrect ESC/Battery combo.. (ex: Using Li-Po's on an ESC designed for NiCad or Nihm batteries)
6) ESC too small for the motor you're using
7) Using a brushless ESC on a brushed motor.. (or the other wat around as well)

ANd i'm sure there are a couple more things that could cause a problem, but those are the usual ones that cause most problems 9 out of 10 times.

I really hope someone is able to figure out what's wrong with your setup. Theres nothing worse than having a plane that's ready to go for it's maiden flight.. and then finding out at the last minute, that you have to order more things and now your screwed out of flying for awhile longer... ( or possibly for weeks, if the weather gets bad, and windy, etc).


Good luck on figuring out the problem. I hope to hear you're flying soon!




Fun and safe flying [8D]
~Tim~

TimCouto

Oh.... one other thing.

MAKE SURE YOUR BATTERY IS COMPLETELY CHARGED!!

ESC's have an LVC (low voltage cut-off). If your batteries voltage drops below the ESC's LVC... it won't start the motor. It's "fail-safe" designed to save you if you from totally running your battery dead, that way, when your battery DOES die out... you still have enough juice for the servo's so you can have somewhat of a controlled landing (flying deadstick).. as it's called.

Now that you mentioned your servo's were working, but your motor wasn't.. it's a good possibility that maybe you need to charge your battery completely brefore you try again.

Hope that helps!




~Tim~

jdetray

hawk3ye-

I have a couple of thoughts.

When troubleshooting any system, reduce it to its simplest configuration and test each component. Eliminate as many variables as possible.

Start with one motor, no Y harnesses, and no servos. Then test the second motor, again by itself. Only when you are sure each motor and ESC works by itself should you try connecting them at the same time. Don't connect any servos until your motors are working properly.

I believe some ESCs require that the BEC on one of the ESCs be disabled when you connect them to the receiver in parallel. You might give that a try.

Also, Futaba transmitters require that the throttle channel be reversed to work with an ESC. If you have never used this transmitter with other electric powered planes, then the throttle channel may need to be reversed.

- Jeff

hawk3ye

Yep, I need to charge my Lipo again, i thought I could at least get away with attempting to try out my servos but my ESC kept beeping at me like it had a low batt. tone.

Omg lol!

"Funny" thing happened last night when i was trying a few things out, the servos were all in place on my P-38's wing which now when I think about it was very stupid - I had one plugged into the RX as a test (thx jdetra) to see if would react to my controller and BAM when I plugged in power the thing went to it's neutral position and started to grind [X(]

the servos doesn't sound too good now, in fact I kinda wager it's broken...oh well lesson learned.