Bushwacker Questions

Chelonian

New member
I'm not sure about your motor wiring, because I can't see how it is, but let me throw something at you that happened to me with my first soldering job on my MiG-3.

When I soldered on the 3.5mm connectors from the motor to the ESC, I left gaps in the shrink tube. What I should have done was taken it all the way up to the top of the female port, and to the base of the male port. That way, there was no metal exposed when the connectors were plugged in.

When we first maidened the plane, I got about 2 feet off the runway and lost all power. The plane came down pretty quick; fortunately nothing broke. When we got over to it to see what happened, the plane was jerking and making beeping noises at the ESC. We took a look to see if something had gotten fried, and that's when we noticed that the connectors for the ESC and the motor were making contact. Disco'd the battery, brought it home, and re-covered the ends, leaving no further spots of metal exposed. No problems with that ESC and motor after that...Not sure if that's going on, but I'd definitely check your solder points and make sure there's nothing where there could be a possible connection for a short, either at the ESC/battery join, or the motor/ESC connectors. It may be completely fine, but I'd want to check just to eliminate it as a possibility...Also, wiggle the battery connector at the ESC. You may find one of the battery pins for the connector is "funky" and something's not working at certain connection points, exacerbated by wires shifting around.

I didn't solder them, so if it is that, the factory must have messed up. Even if it was shorting, how would that cause it to not turn off when I lowered the throttle?
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
I sounds like a LOS response or the ESC is damaged.

In order for the ESC internal LOS protection the Rx must NOT output any valid signals to the ESC during the loss of signal. To accomplish this you MUST ensure that your FAILSAFE is disabled in the Tx.

Another thing you could do is to program up one of the switches as a motor KILL. So that when you have a similar motor running on situation you could just flick the kill switch and if you have a radio connection the motor should stop immediately.

Have fun!
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I didn't solder them, so if it is that, the factory must have messed up. Even if it was shorting, how would that cause it to not turn off when I lowered the throttle?

Could be that the pieces are intermittently making contact. Vibration makes it touch, it stops, angles down, the wires shift, it's no longer contacting, and then you pull up or twist the plane and it makes contact again...I'm not saying this IS the culprit, just a possibility. And factory soldering isn't always perfect. I've found several cold solder joins on factory connections. I think Psyborg pointed one out to me a while back where the factory had a bad solder on an ESC he'd bought. :(
 

Chelonian

New member
I went to the field to try flying it about an hour ago, and the motor just would not spin. It did the usual beeping and twitching when the battery was plugged in, but when I applied throttle, there was no reaction. I tried unplugging and replugging it again several times, but it didn't ever spin. I then tried turning the prop by hand, and it spun rather freely, meaning the ESC brake (which should be on) was not working properly either. I even recalibrated the ESC right at the field hoping that would fix it, but it didn't. All the servos worked fine, it was just the motor that was acting up. When I recalibrated the ESC yesterday, I did give it a little blip of throttle afterwards to see if it was working, and it was. I don't think I changed anything with the plane between yesterday and today.
frown.gif
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I went to the field to try flying it about an hour ago, and the motor just would not spin. It did the usual beeping and twitching when the battery was plugged in, but when I applied throttle, there was no reaction. I tried unplugging and replugging it again several times, but it didn't ever spin. I then tried turning the prop by hand, and it spun rather freely, meaning the ESC brake (which should be on) was not working properly either. I even recalibrated the ESC right at the field hoping that would fix it, but it didn't. All the servos worked fine, it was just the motor that was acting up. When I recalibrated the ESC yesterday, I did give it a little blip of throttle afterwards to see if it was working, and it was. I don't think I changed anything with the plane between yesterday and today.
frown.gif

That ESC sounds like it needs to be replaced, I'm sorry to say...Something's janky with it. If it beeps, makes intermittent power, and doesn't report any problems in its self check, I'd move on.
 

Chelonian

New member
That ESC sounds like it needs to be replaced, I'm sorry to say...Something's janky with it. If it beeps, makes intermittent power, and doesn't report any problems in its self check, I'd move on.
Unfortunate thing is, it's practically brand new. I got it from Value Hobby, and have had nothing but problems from it. Is there a brand of ESCs that are usually pretty reliable?
 

Yawnsky24

Member
Chelonian,

I and my flying buddys have been using the sky power ESCs from Heads Up hobby. They have been rock solid and Heads Up is great to deal with. Good pricing, fast reasonable shipping and great customer service. I recommend them for any of the electronics used for FT planes.

Regards, Jan
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Chelonian,

I and my flying buddys have been using the sky power ESCs from Heads Up hobby. They have been rock solid and Heads Up is great to deal with. Good pricing, fast reasonable shipping and great customer service. I recommend them for any of the electronics used for FT planes.

Regards, Jan

I’d go with that as well - i’ve Heard nothing but positive things about Heads Up Hobby.

Unfortunately, sometimes there are just lemons in the hardware, even with brand new stuff; i’ve Heard a lot of that with cheap Banggood, Hobbyking, and Aliexpress equipment. Not bashing it, as sometimes it’s good, but i’d Rather spend a few bucks more for something that’s been QA’d than the company that skimps to sell it cheaper.
 

Chelonian

New member
Okay, I think I will get it from Heads Up. Do I want a 30A ESC, or a 40A? Also, while I'm ordering, should I get a new motor, or is the GForce E400 that I have fine for most FT planes?
 
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sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Okay, I think I will get it from Heads Up. Do I want a 30A ESC, or a 40A? Also, while I'm ordering, should I get a new motor, or is the GForce E400 that I have fine for most FT planes?

30A ESC should be more than enough. Motor looks like max load is 19A, so 30 gives you plenty of headroom. Stick with a 9x4.5 prop or a 10x5 using a 3S Lipo and you should be good...