Wiring multi brushless motors
06-07-2010, 02:23 PM
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Wiring multi brushless motors
Hello all. I am in the middle of a project that has been around for ears in my garage. It is a C-130 Hercules. It was originally going to have 4 OS 30 four stokes in it, but the reliability has kind of driven me to brushless. Each side of the wing has two motors. There is a servo extension coming from each nacelle to the fuse. So there are 4 motors. Each nacelle is big enough to put a battery pack and ESC in it. I have seen diagrams as to various ideas how to work 4 ESC's and motors, but really they seemed to conflict each other. I think I remember the main issue was the control wire, but I am not sure. Overall I am trying to run 1 receiver, with all the packs, ESC's, and motors out in the nacelles. Can anyone diagram this for me or direct me as to how to do this?
Any and all help is appreciated!
Bill Richardson
Any and all help is appreciated!
Bill Richardson
06-07-2010, 08:47 PM
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RE: Wiring multi brushless motors
Hi Billy, I have a B-17 that also uses 4 Brushless motors.
As far as the battery packs are concerned, you are going to hear many different opinions. Some will thell you you MUST run all 4 motors on 1 pack, some will say 2 pairs of motors paired with 2 packs, and some will say that 4 separate packs are ok.
I chose to go the 2 pack route, pairing the inboard motors on 1 pack, and the outboard motors on another pack. There are several reasons I decided to go that route, but mainly so that I still have symmetrical power should 1 pack go bad.
Just for the record, I also have a Deuces Wild, that is a twin, and I run 2 separate packs on that plane, with absolutely no problems whatsoever.
What it all boils down to, is that you make sure to carefully monitor your draw, and consumption after each flight to ensure that everything is working evenly. A Wattmeter and Tachometer will come in handy for this plane.
As far as the control circuits, thats no big deal, but there are many different ways to do this also. Do you want thrust differential steering (not recommended for a C130)? If so, you will need to pair the ESCs on each wing with a Y harness, and run them to different channels, then program your mixing.
The most simple method, and the same method I use for both of my multi-motor planes, is to connect all of the ESCs in Parallel with Y harnesses, and run them all to the Throttle channel on the RX.
I'm running a separate RX battery, so all of the power wires (red wire in the middle) have been disconnected from the ESCs. All ESCs get the same throttle signal from the TX this way.
One more thing to think about....make sure there's enough cooling vents in your Nacelles to cool both the motors and ESCs.
Hope this helps some.
As far as the battery packs are concerned, you are going to hear many different opinions. Some will thell you you MUST run all 4 motors on 1 pack, some will say 2 pairs of motors paired with 2 packs, and some will say that 4 separate packs are ok.
I chose to go the 2 pack route, pairing the inboard motors on 1 pack, and the outboard motors on another pack. There are several reasons I decided to go that route, but mainly so that I still have symmetrical power should 1 pack go bad.
Just for the record, I also have a Deuces Wild, that is a twin, and I run 2 separate packs on that plane, with absolutely no problems whatsoever.
What it all boils down to, is that you make sure to carefully monitor your draw, and consumption after each flight to ensure that everything is working evenly. A Wattmeter and Tachometer will come in handy for this plane.
As far as the control circuits, thats no big deal, but there are many different ways to do this also. Do you want thrust differential steering (not recommended for a C130)? If so, you will need to pair the ESCs on each wing with a Y harness, and run them to different channels, then program your mixing.
The most simple method, and the same method I use for both of my multi-motor planes, is to connect all of the ESCs in Parallel with Y harnesses, and run them all to the Throttle channel on the RX.
I'm running a separate RX battery, so all of the power wires (red wire in the middle) have been disconnected from the ESCs. All ESCs get the same throttle signal from the TX this way.
One more thing to think about....make sure there's enough cooling vents in your Nacelles to cool both the motors and ESCs.
Hope this helps some.
