1956 Chris-Craft 54' Constellation by bcochran

[Ian_Grant]

Bob I wish I could help bit I have no idea why your rudder servo at least isn't working.

[bcochran]

19 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Bob I wish I could help bit I have no idea why your rudder servo at least isn't working.

 I have a new ESC and I am going to connect everything outside the boat.  My guess is the servo will work!

 

I spoke too soon. The new ESC does not work. It is outside the boat, connected to the receiver and batteries.  I turn on the switch, the receiver comes on as it should. I turn on the transmitter and the LED of the receiver lights as it should  The fan on the ESC does not turn and the servo does not move.

 

I don't now what to try next.  I think I need a dual motor brushed 40amp ESC

Edited Tuesday at 10:05 PM by bcochran

[Ian_Grant]

Bruce,

 

A brushed ESC should be able to run two identical brushed motors in parallel as long as their combined current draw is within ESC limits.

 

I still think the Viper ESC is a better part than those others. Did you follow the Viper ESC's calibration procedure? (given in the manual)

Place voltmeter probes across the PWR/GND pins (centre pin and outer pin) of the Rcvr's BATT connector when the LED is on; do you read 6V supplied from the ESC?

 

Your question about the 12V ESC range is interesting given that the NiMH packs will charge up to about 14.5V (hmmm). The ESC may be designed more for lead-acid batteries which are in fact 12V when charged. Try running with just one battery (6V) and see if it works.

 

Meanwhile |I will do some more digging on this.

 

Have you tried leaving the motors unconnected to see if the rudder works then?

 

It bothers me that the ESC fan does not turn, unless it only runs when the ESC is getting warm, maybe?

 

Again I urge you to try using a separate 6V battery to supply the Rcvr at the BATT terminal to see if the rudder then works. If so then pick one of your ESCs, cut the power wire on its Rcvr link, connect the motors, or just one motor at first if you like, and see if everything works now that RCVR supply is NOT the ESC.

Edited yesterday at 12:31 AM by Ian_Grant

[bcochran]

29 minutes ago, Ian_Grant said:

Bruce,

 

A brushed ESC should be able to run two identical brushed motors in parallel as long as their combined current draw is within ESC limits.

 

Have you tried leaving the motors unconnected to see if the rudder works then?

 

It bothers me that the ESC fan does not turn, unless it only runs when the ESC is getting warm, maybe?

 

Again I urge you to try using a separate 6V battery to supply the Rcvr at the BATT terminal to see if the rudder then works. If so then pick one of your ESCs, cut the power wire on its Rcvr link, connect the motors, or just one motor at first if you like, and see if everything works now that RCVR supply is NOT the ESC.

I will try what you suggest.  Way back when every  thing worked the fan stayed on.

Edited Tuesday at 11:47 PM by bcochran

[Ian_Grant]

Bob,

 

Looking way back in your post #7, your original ESC model can be powered by 6-12 cell NiMH so the ESC input voltage (of those original ESCs, not the Viper, should not be a problem.

 

I will let you know what I find out about the Viper. I've asked the guys in my RC club, and Harbour Models.

 

Also, look at pg 19 of your GT3B manual "D/R Function". By any chance could you have set the channel 1 and 2 outputs to 0% ie no servo travel, while playing around with programming? The factory default is 100% which might explain why everything originally worked. ??

 

Similarly, pg 17 programs "end point adjustment" which if accidentally changed to 0% could also set servo travel to none.

Edited 23 hours ago by Ian_Grant

[bcochran]

9 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Bob,

 

Looking way back in your post #7, your original ESC model can be powered by 6-12 cell NiMH so the ESC input voltage (of those original ESCs, not the Viper, should not be a problem.

 

I will let you know what I find out about the Viper. I've asked the guys in my RC club, and Harbour Models.

 

Also, look at pg 19 of your GT3B manual "D/R Function". By any chance could you have set the channel 1 and 2 outputs to 0% ie no servo travel, while playing around with programming? The factory default is 100% which might explain why everything originally worked. ??

 

Similarly, pg 17 programs "end point adjustment" which if accidentally changed to 0% could also set servo travel to none.

I would guess that I am doing something wrong since I have trouble with all the ESCs.  I just don't know what.  AS to the Viper, it has only one battery connection. How do I go about using one battery?  I do feel guilty about the GT3B because I was trying to set the end points when things started to go bad. Also when the servo tried to work with the other ESCs it barely moved then quit moving.

[bcochran]

Is it normal for r/c boat owners to have this much trouble ?

 

it is hard for me to accept that 4 ESCs that I have tried do not work.  Yet there is nothing mysterious about my boat. Just two 7.4 volt battery packs, an ESC, a receiver and a servo. All connections to ESC and batteries are keyed. I followed instruction on where to plug the ESC and servo to the receiver. Batteries are charged.

Edited 11 hours ago by bcochran

[Ian_Grant]

2 minutes ago, bcochran said:

Is it normal for r/c boat owners to have this much trouble ?

 

it is hard for me to accept that 4 ESCs that I have tried do not work.  Yet there is nothing mysterious about my boat. Just two battery packs, an ESC, a receiver and a servo. All connections to ESC and batteries are keyed. I followed instruction on where to plug the ESC and servo to the receiver. Batteries are charged.

No, it is not normal at all. It's going to be something silly.

 

Can you take a photo of your wired connections out of the boat?

[Ian_Grant]

2 hours ago, bcochran said:

I would guess that I am doing something wrong since I have trouble with all the ESCs.  I just don't know what.  AS to the Viper, it has only one battery connection. How do I go about using one battery?  I do feel guilty about the GT3B because I was trying to set the end points when things started to go bad. Also when the servo tried to work with the other ESCs it barely moved then quit moving.

Bruce

 

This makes me wonder how you are connecting your two batteries to ESC's.  You want to have your batteries in series; I assume they each have a 2-pin connector? You need to have the +ve of one connected direct to the -ve of the other. The second pin on each connector should connect to the ESC. This would require some wire snipping and splicing, but you'll want to keep the 2-pin connectors on the battery leads whole for charging. Don't you need to make up a special harness to achieve this, or did Big Mack supply something? Here is a picture. Upper half shows the electrical connection you want. Lower half shows how to do it without cutting your battery wires - make up the harness circled. Do you have something like this?

 

[bcochran]

7 hours ago, Ian_Grant said:

Bruce

 

This makes me wonder how you are connecting your two batteries to ESC's.  You want to have your batteries in series; I assume they each have a 2-pin connector? You need to have the +ve of one connected direct to the -ve of the other. The second pin on each connector should connect to the ESC. This would require some wire snipping and splicing, but you'll want to keep the 2-pin connectors on the battery leads whole for charging. Don't you need to make up a special harness to achieve this, or did Big Mack supply something? Here is a picture. Upper half shows the electrical connection you want. Lower half shows how to do it without cutting your battery wires - make up the harness circled. Do you have something like this?

 

I have a harness that takes care of that.  The connectors are keyed so I don't think I can connect them wrong. The battery plugs are male.The Y harness to the ESC is male and the plugs to the battery are female.

Edited 4 hours ago by bcochran

[Ian_Grant]

Bruce

 

That looks correct.

 

In other news, I must apologize for my Viper recommendation. Although the datasheet says NiMH and NiCAD can be used, it is really designed for lead-acid batteries. I got the following feedback from Harbour Models:

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Hi Ian,

The Viper line of speed controls are only compatible with SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries and can handle the extra voltage when fully charged. 

 

The ViperHV line can handle 12-24V and is compatible with SLA, LiPO, NiMH, NiCad.

 

The TIO line is made for 6-12V for use with LiPO, NiMH, NiCad. - This is the line you should be using for the description of your battery described.

 

Sincerely,
Nick Jacalone
Harbor Models
626 963 4591

 

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A couple of RC club members that use Vipers use them with gel-cell lead-acid batteries.

 

 

I think it would be worth a quick test with one battery to see if we're barking up the right tree.