fastmike57

Have been working on a RC Tank with long travel suspension I built from scratch with 3D printed track, suspension and hand made aluminum frame. Started with Heng Long motors and it would run, but not very fast. Then went with dual Mabuchi RS540 motors controlled with a Sabertooth 2X12. Still was not fast enough for me, but was very controllable and plenty of climbing power. Had to rebuild the frame, but put in dual Velineon 3500 brushless motors with dual VXL-3S ESC's with dual 3S Lipo batteries out of a Traxxas slash 4x4. The thing just flys now, but I am having a hard time controlling it. With the Sabertooth 2 x12 and the heng long controller I believe it was called the Exponential Mood where you move the right joystick forward on my Futiba T4YF 2.4G transmitter and both motors would run the same direction and speed. If you want to turn you move the joystick either way left or right a little and it cuts one of the motors down so it turns. Now that I have these Velineon ESC/motors I can't make them run the same way. The center point (both motors running full blast) for both motors is 45 degree angle forward and to the left. I can't drive it like this. I have tried switching the servos switches forward and reverse. There is also a switch in the battery case for elevon mixing and that didn't work either. Have the ESC's running on channel 1 and 2 of the Futiba reciever

Can I configure this Futiba to run dual brushless motors exponentialy (if that is the right term, could be liniar)?

Sure hope this is possible with this setup. Sure want to use these motors. The tank just lights up the tracks on the shops concrete floor (sweet!), but I can't control it. If you have any ideas would sure appreciate any help or ideas Thanks


YouTube video of tank with dual Mabuchi motors and Sabertooth 2X12 speed controller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRz3TS2hO10

Augustus1967

Man!

That's One Slick Tracked Vehicle you have there...
And I can understand your Need For Speed.

i look forward to seeing it at Full Tilt once you have your power configuration sorted out.

-gus

Imex-Erik

Ok first, that is SICK!!! I love it. Also the video looks like you are on Mars and playing with a rover
Second, dual brushless motors is going to give you a headache, but it is possible. The easiest way I know is to get a Elmod system which has brushless output out of the box.... but that is expensive. I think what you are looking for is how to hook up 2 ESCs to 1 RX correct? You should be able to hook one ESC up to CH1 and another up to CH2 on your RX. One of those ESC will need to have the + wire cut as to not overload the RX. Then you will use your V-tail option to mix the channels. You may have to change what channels you plug the ESCs into to make the V-tail options work correctly.
Check around before you go cutting stuff though, best to get an servo extender for a few bucks and cut it first to see it will work. If it doesn't then you only lose a few bucks instead of having to fix those nice ESC plugs. Google around for 2 ESC 1 RX and dependable RCU shows a few people doing it with diagrams and such. Please keep us updated on this, I quite enjoyed the video.