Slow Stick ESC?
 

I have a Slow Stick with the 400 motor. I just built it yesterday, but I tried it with the GWS 480 speed control (15A), and it didnt work. I called the LHS and they said I needed a 40 amp speed controler! Is this true?

If it isnt, what would be the cheapest ESC I could get besides the GWS? I was looking at some Electrify's or CC Pixie. Thanks!

RE: Slow Stick ESC?
 

__REVO__::a 40 amp speed controler[img][/img]!!??NO!!!NO!!!NO!!!A 15 amp will be fine (a 20's okay too) Check your con's, an wire route's , keep the ant, away from servos an alum, fuse , keep batt, an batt, con's, away from ESC, what brand receiver are you use'in?U, H,( United hobbies) has ESC's for 12-14 $ your bub, scoooper PS This is a great plane an will last forever,

RE: Slow Stick ESC?
 

Is your battery charged up full?

After checking to make sure all your connectors are in the right way and red is attached to red, and black to black and so on, try reversing the throttle channel on your transmitter and see if that does anything.

As far as I know, GWS ESC's don't need this done, but some ESC's need to be 'armed'. Put throttle stick to low position. Plug battery in. Hang on to the tail of the plane and go to full throttle for 5 seconds, go to low throttle again for 2 seconds or so and add throttle slowly and see if the prop turns. Reverse throttle channel and try again.

All my brushed ESC's have been GWS and they have served me well. No need for any other brand. It should work.

If none of my or scoooper's suggestions help, time to do other checks:

Take the prop off and touch the motor lead to a battery (positive lead on the positive end of the battery, etc....). It can be a C or D 1.5V cell or you can connect them to your flight pack battery. Doesn't matter. Just be careful not to short the leads. If the motor is not in the plane and you are using the flight pack, be ready for the motor to jump around a bit as it starts to spin quite fast. You may want to get someone to hold the case firmly and warn them to continue to hold the case firmly when the motor jumps to life. As long as the prop is not on the motor and no one is touching or near any of the gears when it starts to spin, all lives and limbs are safe. Anyway, if the motor turns, that is not your problem.

Plug a servo that you know works into the throttle channel of the Rx. If the servo works properly there, then the problem is not the Rx.

If reversing the throttle channel does nothing, then the problem is the ESC and needs to be returned for another. A 15 amp controller is more than enough! The GWS 400 is actually a better ESC than the 480, if you have a choice.

RE: Slow Stick ESC?
 

An Electrify ESC rated for 25 Amps would be more then enough to handle this motor. It's $35.00 at Tower and should serve you well for this and other motors. You don't need a 40 Amp for this kind of motor and the 15 Amp you have should work also, however, it may get a little warm. Just make sure you don't have any wires crossing over each other. This more then anything will cause problems. Keep your wires as far away from each other as possible. and check your ant. routing. The ant. needs to be as far away from everything as possible. Route it down or up away from the servoes, and ALL other wires. Also, don't put the receiver any closer to anything then you can help. RF interference can cause major problems with any set-up, so keep this in mind when you are routing the wires. After you get it working on the bench, take it out and do a proper range check. Just because it works on the bench does not mean it will work at longer ranges.
Ed

RE: Slow Stick ESC?
 

What kind of Rx do you have?

mred33's comments are good if you have one of those Rx's which will cut throttle if glitching occurs.

RE: Slow Stick ESC?
 

I use a Castle Thunderbird 18 for my Eflite 400 outrunner with a three cell LiPo and nothing even gets warm. My first build of my Slow Stick was with the GWS 400 brushed and a small GWS ESC (forgot the rating) and it worked well.

RE: Slow Stick ESC?
 

I have been using an Electrifly ESC a C12 and it works great with the 400 motor on mine. I use a 9.6V battery and even use an 11X7 prop to keep the thrust level up at part throttle to give me longer flight times since I am using Nicads(I am such a rebel). It gets a little warm at full throttle but I spend very little time there. Hey if you ever suffer tail surface damage (like I did LOL) it is really easy to rebuild it using slab balsa, and I think it works better.