Multiple Motor Control
 

I am building a twin engine electric airplane and would like to know how I can control both motors with one speed controller?

Larry

RE: Multiple Motor Control
 

Larry,
Will work just fine if you use brushed motors, just hook the two motors in parallel to the output of the ESC, but if you plan to use brushless motors, most wind up using 2 controllers. Some have claimed to have had success, but theoretically 2 brushless motors will not work with one controller.
Good luck,
Pete

RE: Multiple Motor Control
 

Pete,
Thanks for the info. Brushed motors do not have the power that I need, given the size and weight constraints of the motor needed to power the airplane that I am building. I will need the thrust that the AXI 282610 motor can provide.

Larry

RE: Multiple Motor Control
 

Hi guys um,

I actually have questions about this myself.

I'm a little lost on a few things.

First, for a brushed motor setup i get that the connection in parallel will work with two motors on one speed controller,
however will the battery power have to be increased as well and if yes then how do you determin the actual values you should go for?

Now for brushless if two speed controllers are required how do you go about connecting two controllers to the reciever?

I'm guessing that you would have to employ a "Y" harnest to the two controllers ends (the part going into the receiver)
with the final and third end of the "Y" harnest going into the reciever.
Is that correct?

And since each speed controller has inedpendant connections for battery power, does this now mean you would need two batteries? or should the
single battery be connected to each of the speed controllers power inputs in parallel. Which brings me to the power question all over again.. should you use a bigger battery here again (by i mean more powerful) and how do you determin the correct size

sorry to be a total noob at this.

RE: Multiple Motor Control
 

Hi El_xero,
Nothing wrong with being a noob;)
Yes, with 2 brushless ESCs you would use a "Y" harness to the throttle port on the receiver, with most ESCs you also must disable one of the ESCs BEC circuit, as they will conflict with each other, one exception I believe is Castle Creations. where both can supply power to the receiver, great if you have a lot of servos to power.
Now as far as the battery power with multiple ESCs, you can do it either way, you can connect one (gotta be big enough[X(]) to both ESCs in parallel, or use independent batteries, in many cases the physical layout may determine which is best.
Good luck,
Pete

Larry, I'm with you on the brushless motors, I gave up on brushed a long time ago, never looked back[8D]
Pete

RE: Multiple Motor Control
 

wow that clears up ALOT

and i gotta disable the battery elimination circuit eh? hmmm

well i guess ill cross that bridge when i get there. have yet to buy a plane what uses a seperate esc... but hehe.. im gonna scratch build me one... yeah im a noob but i think i can swing it.

looks like ill need two batteries two esc one with the BEC off, a "y" harnest and a lot of prayers haha...ill be sure to come right back here when i get stuck again.. ill try to up some pics of my project (might take a while though :P)

RE: Multiple Motor Control
 

Actually, if you use two identical ESCs, there's no reason to disable the BEC on either, unless you're exceeding the BEC voltage (cell count), at which point you'd have to disable both BECs and use an external battery or BEC. Both BECs output the same voltage so they're not fighting one another. They will share the load equally.

Disabling the BEC is easy. Just remove the center (red) wire from the plug that goes into the receiver.