convert boat esc to car esc question
 

I have a question about the boat esc, would you be able to convert the boat esc to car esc ? I have the 240A swordfish that I was thinking of converting.

The problem has always been that boat ESCs have no brake. If you can somehow add a brake, or the ESC in question has a mode which is forward - brake/reverse, then I don't see an issue. If it has a water block on it, you can swap that for a heatsink and fan easily I should imagine.

not only that, boat and airplane ESC's are designed with a "stick" transmitter, and that means the 0 throttle position on your trigger style transmitter would be "full brake"... unless you can re program the throttle profile with the neutral trigger position at zero(which im not sure if castles will program that way) youll be at half throttle, and that will be dangerous. Also, they are not designed for the high startup currents involved with surface vehicles. ( the latter may just be the manufacturers looking to charge a premium for the same components)

I assume the ESC can be calibrated...wouldn't be much stick if it couldn't (no pun intended).

Most boats from what I seen use the same radio we use in cars as they generally have boat or ground written on them
For example the back of the Spectrum I got has a boat, and a car on it ;)

Not saying they don't use sticks on boats, but you still could get a stick radio for a car too.


Also quick trivia bit airplane ESC's can be used with a ground based transmitter too (I've done it) they just don't go in reverse ;)

I want to thank you all for your answer.I have the DX3S and yes I use it for both my cars and boats. When I race my boat its almost like the cars that I race. When you race boats you have the start punch, neutral, witch is like brakes in the water, and then you are back on it again. I race my cars without reverse, forward and brakes only for me. This esc I was thinking of using would power a leopard 58110/2Y 170A 44volts and I'm converting my fg evo 4 to electric and it has brakes on it already. So what do you think, can I convert the esc cause they don't make a lot of esc for this motor I've found one and its 700.00 for it. I think that's to much for me.

some don't have brakes, most don't have reverse (one reason they are often cheaper)
some have heat sinks but many are setup to run water cooling.

I don't think any of us have messed with 44v ESCs. what size boat do you race anyway...must be a big sucker. Only thing ive heard of using that kinda power is big helicopters.

how heavy is the FG? Cause a few brushless powered 1/5 scale cars run quick on just 6s lipo. That's half the volts of the setup your going for. The rovan 2wd brushless and redcat chimera 4wd both run 6s power and use hobbywing 150amp ESC's which don't cost that much. A hobbywing ESC and motor would cost half what that other ESC you are looking at cost. Unless the FG weighs a lot more than those other 1/5s I don't think you will need such high voltage. Unless of course, you want a 70mph+ brushless FG

like this system:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rovan-1-5-Sc...item3cd6a02392

The hydroplanes that I have is the 1/5 scale Bud twin wing and the 1994 Bud hydro and they do about 70. And I got the idea from my Trex 600 E Pro that runs on 12S. My evo is about 20 lb without gas. I'm a racer so i'm just trying things out and by reducing weight you get higher RPM's. Without gas engine my evo is about 14 lb and this leopard motor is a 10 horsepower motor. The gas engine in it now is the G230 Zenoah 23cc. I want to see if i can get longer run times on it to. And, trying to go past 70 would be a bonus don't you think. That Rovan setup looks good. Thanks

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1945964 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1945966 http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=1945981

the redcat rampage chimera gas version is 23 pounds....Id guess that the electric version is about the same weight as your FG.
The chimera has a similar system to the rovan, and does 40mph on generic 3s lipo packs.
The fg is onroad, so you could likely gear it for 50mph.
Granted, as you say 70mph is better, but Id think 50mph would be enough....at least for me.

here is a FG onroad running 12s, he uses a MGM controller.....another vid of a losi 5ive running 12s also used a MGM controller. is that the expensive controller you had found before?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TPfjOKej-0

The MGM is the one that I found, do you know of one that's not that expensive. Kershaw Design makes one but Dan said that he's not going to make it any more or until he finds out how to correct the problem with the one that he makes.

I'm using the hobby kiing 200a esc 8s and this thing is quick. WOW