Motor/3s Battery Question(s)

[jaloos]

Yup wire the bec direct to the servo and let your esc run the receiver.

Run the bec at at least 7 volts for that servo, right now you are only feeding it 66% of its rated voltage.

As Charlie-III said set your end points right.

 

[KanchiX]

You set the desired output voltage, not the amps (directly). I would set the BEC to 7VDC, maybe a little higher.
As to endpoints. you want the radio to stop driving the servo before mechanical things bind. When you bind up the servo, amp draw skyrockets.



I would look for a 4 channel radio that has adjustable EPA's & trims for all channels.
If you ever want to run a MOA, then ESC mixing is really needed.

I recommend either a Futaba 4PL (does well for crawlers) or a hacked GT3B/GT3C (8 channels, lots of options, inexpensive with $8 RX's.)

Hahahah, OKAY!, now I'm a little confused.

(And my buddy just walked through my door with a box containing a new timbuk2 esc and new 13.5t orange replaced as a courtesy for one that burned up after install. WTG NOVAK! Didn't take but a week.)

I got the castle link and it seems like it only programs esc's by the look of it... can I plug it into my BEC to adjust the voltage? It says for brushless esc's on the page. If I have to do it through a brushless esc this is going to take me forever to rewire it... Hopefully I'm just n00b flustered and I can plug it into the BEC.

---I also jumped the gun and purchased a Spektrum Dx3c 3channel. Guy at the shop recommended the 4pl like others but they didn't have it in stock and the dx3c came with the extra RX I wanted. Suitable for a Winch sometime down the road I suppose, but what am I missing out on?

 

[Johnnysplits]

Just plug the bec into the castle link then to your computer

 

[KanchiX]

Yup wire the bec direct to the servo and let your esc run the receiver.

Run the bec at at least 7 volts for that servo, right now you are only feeding it 66% of its rated voltage.

As Charlie-III said set your end points right.

I'm not seeing any bind in the steering, and it doesn't brown out unless I strain it on an impact.

How exactly would one go about wiring a BEC to a servo? Am I really going to pull apart the black clip and 3 wires? or am I just to switch the BEC from the esc plug to the servo plug and replace the red wire on my holmes esc to the 5amp internal for the esc?

I hope that wasn't too confusing.

 

[Johnnysplits]

Use a "Y" cable. Plug the servo in one end, the bec in the other. The last connector goes to the Rx but pull the red wire out of the plug first.

 

[KanchiX]

Use a "Y" cable. Plug the servo in one end, the bec in the other. The last connector goes to the Rx but pull the red wire out of the plug first.

I just watched a video on a BEC install using a Y connector like you're saying, this is what I'll do. Just need to go buy the Y from my LHS tomorrow.

 

[KanchiX]

In the meantime I'm going to go out tonight and enjoy some night crawling now that my friends ax10 is fixed.

 

[Charlie-III]

With your rig off, move the steering fully from one end to the other, note when it "stops".
Power the rig up, set the steering EPA's so the servo stops "just before" it stopped in the 1st test (using max steering from the TX). This means you won't overdrive the servo and increase the amp draw. This should help with "brownouts".

If you go to set the BEC output voltage, you may need to plug the rig pack in to do so unless the BEC is not connected to the rig. If it's connected, the Castle Link can't provide enough power to bring up the BEC and ESC through the USB connection.

 

[KanchiX]

With your rig off, move the steering fully from one end to the other, note when it "stops".
Power the rig up, set the steering EPA's so the servo stops "just before" it stopped in the 1st test (using max steering from the TX). This means you won't overdrive the servo and increase the amp draw. This should help with "brownouts".

If you go to set the BEC output voltage, you may need to plug the rig pack in to do so unless the BEC is not connected to the rig. If it's connected, the Castle Link can't provide enough power to bring up the BEC and ESC through the USB connection.

I understand how to set the EPA, and when I did so last night I didn't have a single brown out. But I noticed something bothersome.
My vp ti steering link (the main bar) is rubbing against the vp diff cover, and that's what was causing the servo strain....

Sooo now my steering sucks until I reprogram w castle link or tighten up the ball ends on the vp ti link. I'm hoping the tightening will fix the problem.

 

[KanchiX]

Ok, setting the BEC to 7 volts, even though I swaped the savox out for something that hasn't glitched once in 3 packs. Damn you Hitec... lol

I figure this is just so I won't have to do it in the future when I install a servo winch.

(I'm thinking I might turn the savox into a winch now...:ror:.)

What defines the maximum I can bump the voltage up to?
Please no smart ass answers like "Your battery!" I'm worried about frying something since the BEC is routed through the RX...

...Which I upgraded to SR301 by Spektrum, so no longer stock rx.

 

[Charlie-III]

Ok, setting the BEC to 7 volts, even though I swaped the savox out for something that hasn't glitched once in 3 packs. Damn you Hitec... lol

I figure this is just so I won't have to do it in the future when I install a servo winch.

(I'm thinking I might turn the savox into a winch now...:ror:.)

What defines the maximum I can bump the voltage up to?
Please no smart ass answers like "Your battery!" I'm worried about frying something since the BEC is routed through the RX...

...Which I upgraded to SR301 by Spektrum, so no longer stock rx.

Your battery!:shock:

:lmao::lmao:

You can't run an output voltage equal to or higher than battery voltage.

As to the max you should use, I get twitchy on running more than 6 volts into a RX, I run my external BEC output direct to my servo, thus removing any concern.
Then it comes down to the max to run into the servo, my HiTecs I tend to run 7.2volts.

PS, I will let others state what they run (long term) through their Spektrum RX's.

 

[KanchiX]

Your battery!:shock:

:lmao::lmao:

You can't run an output voltage equal to or higher than battery voltage.

As to the max you should use, I get twitchy on running more than 6 volts into a RX, I run my external BEC output direct to my servo, thus removing any concern.
Then it comes down to the max to run into the servo, my HiTecs I tend to run 7.2volts.

PS, I will let others state what they run (long term) through their Spektrum RX's.

:lmao: 3s 11.1v lol

EDIT: After doing some reading I think it may be wise to increase the gauge on my motor wires to get the maximum amount of power from my esc. They're a bit smaller than the ones coming off the esc, which I've read will create power ripples, damaging your hardware. Everything else I've read says 7v should be fine for 3s, and the voltage range on my rx is 3.5v-9.6v.

All in all I think that with your guy's help, I've learned a ton about electronics and finally have my system in order!
Stay tuned for a couple thank you pics!

 

[KanchiX]

"thumbsup" This is the only one that came out any good... I suck at taking pictures lol.

 

[Bigdaddy76]

im having same issues. new HH esc, new tekin motor, new castle bec at 7.2, new hitec servo. set end points. started glitching today. :evil: been through truck twice!