I am building my first electric plane, a Performance Aircraft Extra 260.

I purchased a bundled kit that has all the components needed.

I have some questions. I will more than likely have more at a later time, but for now:

1) My Hacker A30 motor has 3 black wires comming ftom the motor, the ESC has 3 black wires that obviously connect to the black wires from the motor. IS it important wich wires are connected to the ESC wires?
3 on the motor are black, 3 on the ESC are black.

2) There is a C clip on the ouput shaft of the Hacker motor. Should I remove the clip prior to installation? or not at all.

3) The back side of the motor appears to rotate when power will be applied. Is this correct? It is fine if it does, just curious.

That is all for now. I hope someone can help me, I feel like a real NOOB right now.

Thanks for any and all help.

MR G

#1 Your Hacker can run backwards or forwards. Switching one wire will reverse direction. I put a small piece of heat shrink on mine after I have determined direction of rotation.
#2 The directions say to remove the c clip and absolutely do not make the center hole of the motor mount larger. So of course I made the hole larger, in fact I cut the drive shaft short so the prop adapter fit as close to the c clip as possible and had to make the MM hole evan larger!![X(] Please don't tell PA I did this OK? So far 80 or so flights no-problemo. Mine has the A30 12L, Perfect! Though I'd bet the A30 14m would be fine. The plane is over sized for wing surface so it floats forever.
#3 Screw through the motor mount into the housing with the wires ( I had to find 4 short 4or 5mm allen bolts and washers ). The can will be behind the motor mount and the shaft will stick forward. Check prop clearance to see if you need to shorten it.

Thanks Altavillan,

I have a few more questions about the motor install if you wouldn't mind.

I have never mounted an electric motor before and the instructions are not clear at all. In what sequence should I install the motor components. The motor came with a round lite ply disc, a plastic cross brace member and the motor.

I have attached a pic so that you can see what I'm talking about. Please excuse the poor scale and quality of the picture.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

MR G

First I see now you have a "Performance Aircraft". I mistakingly read "Precision Aerobatics" , my bad. Still I'll assume your kit has a motor- mount to attatch the motor to. Refering to your pic, the motor slips through the planes motor-mount like shown. But, don't use the disks or other parts from there just install the correct size and length bolts through the mount and into the 4 pre-taped holes in the motor housing. The Disk and cross are for mounting the motor to the firewall and running the motor backwards. Your motor came with two prop adapters, one goes on the shaft and one goes on the can. Use either but not both, and pick the way thats best for your plane.

How do you switch one wire ??

Old Chinese puzzle trick Good catch Dick, make that switch any two.

Altavillan,

I'm ready to wire up all of the electronics. Could you help me by providing a wiring diagram?

Do I put a switch in it somewhere? Also how do I setup the ESC (program the ESC?).

Thanks in advance

MR G

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7624327/tm.htm ... This was a very good thread and has some of your answers. I only use Castle Creation Speed controls and follow their instructions in the book they send with the SC. As well as now use the Castle link that allows programing the SC on the computer.
To briefly answer your questions, One end of your Speed Control has 3 heavy wires. These go to the motor. If you need to solder on connectors make sure to put the females on the SC side and the males on the motor.
The other side has two heavy wires and a servo connector wire. The two heavy red/black wires go to the battery. Install male Deans or other type with proper +-. Look carefully the plugs have +- marks, with Red+ Black-.
The servo wire plugs into the throttle channel of your reciever. No switches needed, the "bec" part of your speed control provides power to your planes electronics/control system through the throttle connection.
Run the motor without a prop to determine rotation of the motor and to confirm the servo travel for throttle is correct. Save mucho blood and bandaging if you follow this step correctly.
With electric's you unplug and remove the batteries after flying. So you do not need a switch. Never plug in the motor without turning the radio on first either. Or you might be loosing more blood and need more bandages because the motor might go to full power without a signal from the rx. For the same reasons unplug the batteries in the plane before turning off the radio.
What type of speed control are you using? If I don't know how it programs someone will.

Thanks Altavillan,

Your post completes my understanding of how the electronics is wired and functions.

Now, if I can just get the motor mounted. The X piece must be used, this much is obvious. The firewall already has some holes in it. These holes look like they are for cooling. I guess I will just have to drill some holes(4) for mounting the motor via X piece.

BTW: Thanks for the link and warning to avoid bloody knuckles!!

MR G