ESC cutting power to motor and other problems
04-08-2005, 03:15 AM
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ESC cutting power to motor and other problems
Last week I got my first electric, but I am having some problems.
I bought an Ikari Edge, with the standard motor pack, a 2 cell 800 mah Li-Ion battery and a ESC (it says "2 cell Li-ion/po ESC" on it), JR 6 channel micro reciever.
I plugged the ESC in on the "thro" channel of the Rx. (Do I have to plug something into the "batt" plug on the Rx as well?)
My problem is: I can rev the motor up to full speed, but as soon as I want to use the rudder or ail etc. the motor stops (the servos keeps on working). I charged the batt. full, so I don't think that is the prob.
Any1 have any ideas?
I bought an Ikari Edge, with the standard motor pack, a 2 cell 800 mah Li-Ion battery and a ESC (it says "2 cell Li-ion/po ESC" on it), JR 6 channel micro reciever.
I plugged the ESC in on the "thro" channel of the Rx. (Do I have to plug something into the "batt" plug on the Rx as well?)
My problem is: I can rev the motor up to full speed, but as soon as I want to use the rudder or ail etc. the motor stops (the servos keeps on working). I charged the batt. full, so I don't think that is the prob.
Any1 have any ideas?
04-08-2005, 08:09 AM
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RE: ESC cutting power to motor and other problems
There are two possible reasons for what you're seeing that cover 99.9% of the cases:
1. Battery. Even if the battery's fully charged, that doesn't mean it's suitable to handle the load from the motor. Every battery has a limited capacity to produce current. Exceed that capacity, and the battery acts like it's being drained. The voltage drops, and the motor cutoff kicks in.
To find out if this is the case, you'd really need a way to measure voltage on the battery as you run up the motor and kick the rudder over.
2. Interference. The noise generated by a combination of the motor running and servo movement might be interfering with the radio signal. Many ESCs will cut the motor in the face of a degraded control signal. This is somewhat unusual, as the vast vast majority of setups work well.
Since this is a brushed motor, make sure you've got the capacitors installed on the motor, and that you've broken the motor in by running it on a couple of flashlight batteries for an hour or so.
1. Battery. Even if the battery's fully charged, that doesn't mean it's suitable to handle the load from the motor. Every battery has a limited capacity to produce current. Exceed that capacity, and the battery acts like it's being drained. The voltage drops, and the motor cutoff kicks in.
To find out if this is the case, you'd really need a way to measure voltage on the battery as you run up the motor and kick the rudder over.
2. Interference. The noise generated by a combination of the motor running and servo movement might be interfering with the radio signal. Many ESCs will cut the motor in the face of a degraded control signal. This is somewhat unusual, as the vast vast majority of setups work well.
Since this is a brushed motor, make sure you've got the capacitors installed on the motor, and that you've broken the motor in by running it on a couple of flashlight batteries for an hour or so.
04-11-2005, 12:32 PM
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RE: ESC cutting power to motor and other problems
One possibility not mentioned is binding in the controls. If a control rod or a hinge is sticking, it may make the servo stall, and it will draw enough current to bring the battery voltage low enough to trip the LVC on the ESC.
