ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System
 

My first electic setup has a problem I cannot figure out. I have the great planes ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System. Battery fully charged. I apply throttle and the engine wines; louder as I advance the throttle. The prop tries to turn. At full power the wining quits, and I have to go back to idle to get the juice flowing again. Any Ideas??

ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System
 

What do you mean " the prop tries to turn" - without the battery connected, if you turn the prop by hand does the motor turn with it? Are you sure that your pinion is tight on the motor shaft and fully engaged in the spur gear?

Cheers, Phil

ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System
 

Yes the motor turns when the prop is turned without the battery connected. What I mean by "the prop tries to turn" is that the motor whines and the prop quivers a bit and moves maybe 1/8th of a revolution. It is as if the motor is binding. Or there is not enough electrical power to turn the motor. I am an electric rookie. I am going to go through the whole setup again to see if it is all hooked up properly. Is there any special setup in the transmitter (Futaba 9CAP)?

ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System
 

It'll be a small miracle if you haven't damaged something by repeatedly trying to apply power to the motor. See, if the motor is not turning, it's a dead short, and all the current the battery can possibly produce is flowing through the ESC and motor. Generally this amount of current is more than the motor and ESC are designed to handle, and this causes the motor and/or ESC to fry from the inside.

The motor is whining because you're pumping electricity though it, and it can't turn for some reason. Usually, this is because the gears in the gearbox are mashed together too tightly, or there is some other binding in the motor or gearbox.

You say you can turn it over by hand, but it should spin freely and easily. If you need a pipe wrench, it's too tight.

Take the motor out of the gearbox and try to run it separately. IF it still won't turn, the motor may be fried. Make sure the electrical connections are well-soldered and shiny. A cold solder joint could be the problem.

Cold solder joints look really bad, kind of dark grey and "crumbly." That means when the joint was soldered, the person holding the wire moved as the solder was setting.

The battery should have at least 6, or preferably 8 cells. The 4-cell receiver pack from your radio will power the motor by itself, but the ESC won't work properly.

Try connecting the battery pack directly to the motor. If the motor runs, you may have problem with the ESC.

RE: ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System
 

Go to the tower hobbies website and check out their warning at the bottom about assembling this gearbox/motor. Apparently there's an assembly issue that needs to be done carefully or it'l be too tight and you'll smoke the motor. Their offereing to replace the motor if you're a victim of this.

RE: ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System
 

here's the url

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXWK46&P=0

RE: ElectriFly T-400GD ESC System
 

Thanks