ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Strange issue with my ESC and/or motor.

I've got the Turnigy Superbrain 100amp ESC paired with a Turnigy Typhoon 600H motor on my HK600.


The first time I powered up the esc and motor the can on the outrunner spun intermittently in a jerky, pulsating sort of fashion barely swinging the blades. No matter how much throttle I gave it just kept moving at the same speed. Well, I calibrated my throttle range on the ESC per the instructions and then it started working perfectly. It has been working okay thru 3 flights or so and then the other day it started doing the same thing again. The only thing I changed before I started having this problem was that I adjusted the swash mix for the aileron and elevator; after that its been acting like this

To fix the issue I attempted to

* Reset my throttle curves to linear 0 - 100% and recalibrate the throttle rangeno dice
* reset the settings in the esc and then recalibrate-no dice
* re-uploaded the ESC firmware; reset the settings and recalibratedno dice
* Flashed a different firmware; reset the settings and recalibratedno dice


The ESC and motor both appear to be functional; the esc powers up fine, interfaces with my computer thru the USB linker without any problems. I can make changes to ESC programming and it stores the changes without problems. I'm just guessing I've got a glitch somewhere in setup in the TX that's causing this issue.

I've been thinking about starting with a clean profile on my Dx6i and seeing if that clears up the issue.

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Some esc's need the number of battery cells programed in the ESC and the timing may be off. I suspect you need to program the ESC to 6 cells. Mid timing works most of the time,

Why do we need to tell the esc how many cells? So the esc won't go into or the wrong lipo cutoff. Pulsingcould mean a cut off warning.

Jim

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Well, I'm using a 6-cell 5000mah with a full charge and my ESC LVC is set for 6 cells.

I don't think its pulsing as a cut-off warning....pulsing was probably the wrong word for me to use. The outrunner can is spinning in more of an abrupt, back and forth jerky sort of fashion. Its generating enough motion of some kind to swing the blades maybe one revolution every 4 seconds.

Right now the timing is set to auto...I'll try moving it to low (0-15) and then medium (5-20) and see if that helps. Should I be changing anything on the PWM switching? Right now its set to 8 KHz.

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Two things:

1.  Is your ESC plugged into the reciever correctly?

2.  Have  you tried swapping to motor wires?</p>

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Yes, ESC appears to be plugged into the receiver correctly.

Tried swapping motor wires...didn't help.

Also tried adjusting the timing to auto,low,medium,high...same thing

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Might be a bad ESC. I've had them fail on me before

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Yea, I'm starting to think that myself....:(

I've got the receiver and transmitter that came with my nexstar; I'm going to plug those in the heli and see if its something related to to my DX6i/AR6200.

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Success!

Well, it looks like it was none other than MY fault. The 6mm connectors on the motor were not making a good connection with the ESC. I cut off the old and I'll re-solder on some new ones.

RE: ESC with Pulsating Motor
 

Easy fix... Always a good thing.