officedrone

I sure hope someone can help me out. I have an original Hornet that my Dad and I put together back in the late 80s when they were still being sold as new. It has been packed away for many years, but lately I brought it to my place and decided to get it back up and running.

It still had the old mechanical speed control and was missing the motor, so I picked up a 550 12T motor and a Losi electronic speed control.

I finally got everything together, but I'm not sure how this thing is gonna work now. The radio and receiver are old Futaba AM but should be fine. They were working ok when I put everything together with the old mechanical speed control, but the ceramic resistor was getting so hot after just a few seconds that it was giving off smoke (this is why I decided to put in electronic).

Futaba's website seems to indicate Ican just plug the speed control into channel 2 (where the servo for the MSC used to be) and it will send power from the battery that way too.

But when I plugged everything in it made a loud beeeeeeeeep, and now the steering servo doesn't respond.

Do Ineed to program this speed control somehow before the car will work? Did I fry something?

Sorry my knowledge is pretty much stuck in 1987.

mr quint

My Feedback: (2)

What made a loud beep. the esc or the receiver.. What model Losi esc are you using and what kinda battery.. Plugging the esc into channel 2 is ok. You will probably have to reprogram your esc. Also can your esc take a motor down to 12 turns. That 12t 550 you have is that a traxxas titan motor.. That's a low turn motor for a hornet.. The stock hornet motor is around 27 turns. If it is a traxxas titan make sure you brake that in first.. You said you have no steering but do you have throttle....

SyCo_VeNoM

probably have to calibrate the ESC to the radio so it arms.
Never touched that model of ESC so I can't give you the steps, but they should be in the manual

officedrone

The ESC should be ok, I specifically bought one that will run 12T motor. Yes, the motor is a Traxxas Titan.
ESC is a Losi lobs9520 12T LiPo Compatible Brushed ESC Electronic Speed Control. Battery is a 7.2v 6-cell NiMh. I have no steering or throttle, both worked ok with the old MSC but after I hooked this stuff up I get nothing, not even steering. I think the beep came from the ESC.

I bought the ESC used, no manual. I'll search around online for a manual and see if I need to do something with it. Weird that it would prevent the steering servo from engaging but maye not. This is my first foray into ESCs. Will look for a manual and go from there. Thanks guys.

theibault

Does your reciever have a built in BEC? If not, you'll have to get an external bec or use the 4AA reciever battery holder that the radio should have come with.

officedrone

Yep, the receiver has BEC.

theibault

Page nine of this manual shows how to set up the ESC. I hope thats the right one MSC12RB.
http://www.losi.com/ProdInfo/Files/LosiDesert.pdf

makya

My Feedback: (6)

you'll also need to make sure that the wires are oriented right for the servo plug. different mfr's sometimes have different orientation on the three wires going from the esc to the reciever.

SyCo_VeNoM

its a standard there will be no difference in the orientation.
only thing that might change is the color of the wire from white-red-black to orange-red-brown, but the wire color doesn't have any impact on the orientation or function.

black(or pretty sure brown on the alternate wire color) wire on every receiver I've seen goes to the outside(the thinner part)

makya

My Feedback: (6)

I know this is a very old thread, but I wanted to clear this up:

Old airtronics, MRC, and a few others rx's ran the black and red switched, putting the positive (red) wire in the center.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=392644

just something to watch for with the older, vintage electronics.

SyCo_VeNoM

uhh yea old thread... but the red still in the center so nothing really changed

makya

My Feedback: (6)

I'd hate to have you work on my vintage stuff then. if you look at the diagrams, the old airtronics stuff has the black in the center, and the red on the side.

SyCo_VeNoM

Honestly didn't look at the diagrams till now, but you stated it wrong, and my comment was on what you stated where you said "Old airtronics, MRC, and a few others rx's ran the black and red switched, putting the positive (red) wire in the center." note that would still be the same as today. You should have said the "negative (black) wire in the center" for the statement to be correct
Now looking at the old airtronics stuff honestly I would have looked that up if I ever worked on it as having 2 wires the same color is idiotic. I also can't recall owning any airtronics stuff either(unless it was rebadged as another brand)

makya

My Feedback: (6)

your right, I did mis-state that in the beginning :facepalm:

It was odd, with some of the vintage stuff having different plugs and layouts. you had A,F,G,J and one or two other style plugs that different companies used, and some also had male plugs on the servo and female on the rx.

when esc's first came out, a lot of them got smoked right off the bat from the different plug layouts. I cooked a futaba once before I even got to use it (and you couldn't warranty it, without having mailed in the card first with a copy of the receipt, so I had to buy a new one)