Since the second pack worked well there is nothing wrong with the ESC.

So on which charger did you charge the second pack?

Use the same charger on the first pack.

Also the included battery may be out of balance.

You may need to cycle it a few times as well before it starts puttting out the rated power.

Some of the included packs have been laying around for a while.

I normally cycle the LiPos on a computer controlled charger a few time and check them for capacity before flying.

That is why a CC charger is a good investment. You'll know right away if there is a problem with a battery.

LiPo's are fairly sensitive, and must have a certain charge before shipment. They must then be recharged before they run too low.

-

Re: Vibrating

Do you have it perfectly centered?

Balancing a small fan can be unnerving as it is difficult to find the heavy or light side.

I sometimes put a marking pen lightly against the turning hub.

The side that gets the most mark is the "heavier" side, so I add weight to the other side.

But getting it centered is critical.

If you got the fan up, did you check the retainer as well?

Try spinning the motor with the retainer on it w/o the fan.

Run it up briefly.

It should be fairly smooth if the retainer is not unbalanced. Also check for lateral play on the motor.

I charged both packs on the included charger. The first pack, the replacement pack, charged in 1 hour 50 mins @550ma. The second pack, the pack included with the F-35, charged in 1 hour 20 mins. Do they ship them with some charge? After that charge, the green light never went off. When I plug in the AC or hook it up to the car battery, both the green and red lights go on.


I centered the fan. How tight are the cones supposed to be? I'm spinning the hell out of this thing, but when I put take on the back of the light blade I still can't seem to get it to stop vibrating on the drill. ACK!

I'll check the retainer. I'm pretty sure is has a bit of play in all directions.

Thanks for all of your help.

You really need to do a capacity test.

e.g. discharge the packs as much as the ESC permits, then recharge them until the light goes out.

The packs charge at 800mA not 550.

If a Lipo has no charge or drops below a certain level, it is effectively ruined.

Your AC adaptor may not have enough current output and voltage to perform a full charge.

The car battery should however.

Make sure that you plug the charger into the car battery FIRST, it will light up.

Then plug the battery into it to start the charge. Both lights should come on.

If the battery is almost fully charged, both lights should come on albeit briefly.

Check the directions on the bottom, one light should NEVER go out unless there is a problem.

I wonder if you truely have the fan centered?

As it spins check the edges of the blades, if you see a blurry back and forth movement, then they are not centered.

I'll bet that is your problem.... or maybe your drill is not balanced... try running it up w/o the blades... also run the spindle by itself..

Did you obtain the prop balancer?

That is why I recommended that you get one, as this helps assure the fan is centered, though you must have the two cones facing the fan.


It should have NONE!!!

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out. I really am clueless. I suppose this is what happens when you study philosophy. [:'(]

You're right, I need to do a capacity test. I'm going to go to radio shack to get the correct ac adapter that charges @ 800ma. More likely, though, I will just charge off of my car battery.

My problem is this: when I plug my charger in, even to the car battery, BOTH the green and red lights go on without the battery attached. When I attach the battery, both lights remain on and never go off.


I did purchase a balancer and I am currently using it. When I spin the fan on the balancer, it wobbles, but I just thought this was because it was out of balance. It's because it's not centered property? I will try to center it perfectly.


I am confused as to what the retainer is , I think. Is the retainer is the piece in the engine that the fan slides onto? Was I suppose to remove it and place that in the drill with the fan attached? As of now, I am putting the balancer rod in the drill and spinning it.

Thanks

800mA is not quite enough...

You need 1200mA or better... 1500mA would be good.

The car battery MAY be providing too much voltage.

Make sure that the two cones sit tight against the fan to prevent wobble.

Put a piece of fuel tubing after each cone to hold them taught.

After you remove the fan you'll see an aluminum circular "thing" that is mounted on the thinner motor shaft.

There is a grub screw holding it in place.

If you recall I mentioned that you must drill a small hole in the EDF "ring" to permit you to push a hex key into the grub screw to remove it.

Do so and remove the retainer.

Put BLUE locktite on the grub screw and put it on the retainer loosely. Put the retainer back on.

Notice that one side is flat...on the motor shaft... the grub screw goes against that...

Tighten the grub screw and there should be NO PLAY on the retainer, other than the movement of the motor.

Both lights turn on without the battery being attached regardless of the power source. They both turn on when I use the AC or when I use the car battery. I think it's defective.


The cones are both taught against the fan. When I spin it, looking at the inside of the hub, it is wobbly. I'm just having a tough time balancing it.


I was incorrect when I said that there was play in the retainer. There is not. There is, however, play in the thinner motor shaft.


Thank you.

John, received the fan, Thank You!

Re: Wobbly

You may need to find a bit or some other tube that fits the inside of the fan snugly to prevent the wobble.

Re: Play

The shaft cannot really move, other than in and out, as it is held by bearings.

If there is side to side play, then this might be the entire motor in the edf itself... Did you tighten the motor's retaining screws?

God, I really didn't even do anything to the fan, and now when I power it up, the jet is shaking. URG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds like it is more out of balance.

The fan must spin smoothly while on the balancer, etc.

Yup, I know. Wish I never touched it!

IN reading the description of the Exceed F-18/C it says it comes with the bigger battery and ESC can handle the voltage but the BEC needs to be ugraded. No one decided to state what to upgrade to? Can I just order a bigger ESC with BEC like this one? Volcano Series 60A Brushless ESC . Will that work? It comes with the 45A. Thanks. Want to know what to order in time for a christmas present to nephew.

-James

jmccabe82

The ESC the plane comes with is perfectly fine... the problem is that on ANY "Linear mode" BEC, which this ESC has on board, the maximum voltage the BEC can handle is 11v... Even at 11v there is not much capacity left over for multiple servos.

Very expensive ESC's use a SWITCH MODE on board ESC, but this costs significantly more as there is a whole different set of electronics involved.

Standalone BEC ( battery eliminator circuits ) that can power the receiver and servos can be purchased fairly inexpensively...

See this link:

[link=http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=C3351880]Click me![/link]

However you would have to wire it in yourself.

What I do in this situation, is I purchase a suitable BEC of greater capacity than I need... such as one of these bad boys...

[link=http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=C3351880&pid=V181660]Click me for BEC![/link]

And also pick up a male and a female Deans connector plus a bit of suitable shrink tubing.

I set the make and female Deans connectors back to back with the appropriate polarity observered and solder them together.

I then solder in the BEC's red and black wire to the middle of this new "shunt", again observing polarity, and cover the whole thing with heat shrink tubing. The tubing must cover the exposed section of your new "shunt" so it needs to be at least 1/2" in diameter or more...


This takes me about 5-10 minutes to do, but I end up with a removable BEC that I can use for other planes and applications later.

Basically the BEC is plugged into the battery, and the ESC into the BEC's new shunt.

The servo style lead of the BEC goes into an unused receiver port to provide power to the RX and servos.

The servo style lead of the ESC get's it's red wired capped off or cut so it no longer provides voltage to the RX/servos and it is plugged into the throttle channel port.

This sounds more complex to do than it is, but you should have minor soldering skills to tackle it.

Of course anyone interested in RC - NEEDS - soldering skills amoung other things, so most hobbiests have no problem with this.

Can I not just replace the ESC 45A that comes with the F-18 with this one? Volcano Series 60A Brushless ESC. We can do what you desciibe. Also, you say the 45A is perfectly fine. What limitations am I going to run into with the upgraded battery? Are you saying that additonal servos (beyond 4) would not be possible without the upgrade? I just want to make sure the plane is usable out of the box or if I should order an upgrade ESC now.

-James

On the website you recommeded for SportBEC and reading throught the PDF instructions. Would this be the better route as you suggested? Seems simple enough to do. Is the correct BEC to buy?

The Volcano 60A - DOES - have a switching mode ESC, so doing this WILL work.

But that's a more expensive alternative to the separate BEC.

However you'll be able to use the provided ESC on another 11v plane, so if that is your intent the cost may be a wash, as you may end up ahead w/o the wiring effort involved.

Re: Battery

The upgraded battery makes this plane scream!

It turns it into a fast flyer with ample power.

Whomever thought to do this actually did everyone a favor, but they forgot about the limitation of linear mode ESC's.

They should have put in a switched mode ESC and just charged more for the plane.

Re: Volcano

BTW:

I'm running one of these puppies on a Bobcat .25

I've flown this plane using 22v packs and cranking out just under 940 watts of power, while powering seven servos!

After burning out my .25 motors this way, I've gone back to 14.8v which is about right for this plane ( the ESC does handle the voltage, my motors did not! )

I haven't flown it on the F/A 18 but it will be fine.

Jsut to be clear. On the BPHobbies website, I'm looking at THIS BEC - http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id...0&pid=B3465164 . Also I downloaded the PDF instructions on installing to bypass onboard bec with the supplied ESC. Is the correct one to use?

Thanks.

I had that problem in most of my edf jets rtf. you have a fan shaft adapter you need to reseat it. first take the spinner off and losen nut make shure adapter is pushed in all the way then snug nut up just sug it and run the fan 1/4 throttle being very carefull of fan you dont want it to fly off.! it will center itself and should not make much noize tighten the nut down good replace spinner and break the fans in working your way up to 2/3 throttle and run the battery out and you should be good to go. happy flying Todd

Yup that will be fine.

I don't wire mine the way the instructions show though.

I wire them using the Male to Female Deans plugs back to back as in this picture...

New airplane version - But I had the same problem.

Looks like they test ran/broke in the EDF at the factory - I have not even put the battery in it yet.

However, the fan will need some work (and parts) before it will fly..

Is there another part that will fit in place or replace the spinner???