First real RC - Craigslist find - Super-budget build

[Brake Weight]

Can you flip the pinion the other way?

[Mikeinsocal]

Maybe shorten up the shaft by grinding or filing? Then you know its still true.

[supra_89t]

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

Can you flip the pinion the other way?

The hole for the shaft does not go all the way through the pinion, so I can't stick it in the other end.

[Brake Weight]

Originally Posted by supra_89t

The hole for the shaft does not go all the way through the pinion, so I can't stick it in the other end.

I've been on the road and not 100% here nor there. I'm home and see what you're saying. It's a 10 tooth and impossible to have a hole through it.

Can you snip off 1-2mm from end of the motor shaft then file it down to fit in the pinion?

[supra_89t]

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

I've been on the road and not 100% here nor there. I'm home and see what you're saying. It's a 10 tooth and impossible to have a hole through it.

Can you snip off 1-2mm from end of the motor shaft then file it down to fit in the pinion?

Haha. No worries. You had me scratching my head for a minute wondering if I was just missing what you were saying.

I could shorten the shaft, but I would much rather modify a $10 gear than a brushless motor. My shorter pinions should be here Monday, but if I get a chance this weekend I will play around with it and see if I can drill it out.

[huntinrod]

I gotta get my post count up...lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

[supra_89t]

Mailman just showed up! Tonight, we build! (I hope)

[supra_89t]

Alrighty! I did some terrible looking soldering and heatshrinking and put it in the car last night to make sure it worked. It works! (Sort of) With the sensor wire plugged in, at very light throttle, the pinion just rapidly moves back and forth. With the sensor cable unplugged, the car moves, but it definitely doesn't feel right. It won't lift a tire from a dig and is not very fast. It is odd...but I have a castle link coming in tonight and hopefully that will shed some light on what is going on.


Terrible soldering. I think I may have used too much solder. On one of the connectors, the solder actually ran out the hole and wicked into the gaps on the banana connector so I had to do some squeezing and filing to get it to fit into the female end.

Funky heatshrinking. I used the kind with the adhesive on the inside to help seal better. You can see the solder in the connector on the left with the blue wire.

Titan 550 21t vs Tenshock SC411 4000kv

It fits! I put the 11t pinion on it to start with. Once I get the gremlins worked out, I will pick my favorite of the 11, 12, 13t.

[Brake Weight]

If it's not 'feeling' right have you swapped the leads around yet?

[supra_89t]

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

If it's not 'feeling' right have you swapped the leads around yet?

Not yet. I thought about it last night, but I wasn't sure which ones to swap and it was late. So I am going to look into that tonight. "They" say that it doesn't matter which ones you switch, which seems odd. Is it really ok to switch any two wires?

[Brake Weight]

Yep. Usually the middle one goes to the middle of the other. Then just swap the two outer ones.

[supra_89t]

Originally Posted by Brake Weight

Yep. Usually the middle one goes to the middle of the other. Then just swap the two outer ones.

Ah. Ok. There's a good chance mine is hooked up all wrong. lol

[supra_89t]

Castle Link and Quick Connector just showed up along with the set of professionally broken-in wheels and tires donated by notajerryskid. Thanks for the donation! They will be put to good, hard use!

[supra_89t]

Found some time to get this thing wired up and installed. I put the Tenshock SC411 4000kv motor in with an 11t pinion. I didn't feel like messing with the 2700kv Gforce. I'm glad I didn't. The Tenshock is pretty fast, but I'm not astonished. I think I would have been disappointed in the 2700kv motor. Who knows. Maybe I'll put it in later.


Motor is mounted. Trying to figure out where all these dang wires are supposed to go.





Field link card and quick connect. the quick connect is worth it's weight in gold. I can't imagine having to open the receiver box every time I want to make a tuning change.


All bundled up. Rough draft. I have parts to paint and clean, so I just got it all in there for now. I will tidy it up later. Maybe. I got it set up so that nothing is attached to the cage, so I can undo the skid and shocks and lift the body off. It is so much easier to work on that way.


Taking this thing apart is such fun! I seem to find something else broken every time I get into it. The joys of buying used...





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[supra_89t]

Ok, so I am following the directions as I read them, but sometimes I read into things that are not there. I cannot get the Castle Field Link card to connect to the esc when attempting to use it as a field link. It connects and updates fine when I plug it into the computer with the usb, but when I plug it in to make a change without the computer, I cannot get it to link. The esc just keeps beeping and all the led's are flashing and the fan turns on and gradually increases in speed until I turn the switch on the esc off.

As near as I can tell from the instructions, the only difference between plugging it into the computer and using it as a field programmer is that you plug the battery in and do not plug the mini usb from the computer into the card. So, I plug the battery in to the rc (esc switched off), plug the same castle quick connect connector into the programming card, and then turn on the esc switch. It does some startup beeps and then goes into all three led's flashing, beeping and the fan running faster and faster and faster. The instructions say that this may be an "unrecognized esc" error and to update the software, but the castle link software prompted me and I updated both the card and the esc last night before I did any tuning.

Any ideas?

[*Old*]

Originally Posted by supra_89t

Ok, so I am following the directions as I read them, but sometimes I read into things that are not there. I cannot get the Castle Field Link card to connect to the esc when attempting to use it as a field link. It connects and updates fine when I plug it into the computer with the usb, but when I plug it in to make a change without the computer, I cannot get it to link. The esc just keeps beeping and all the led's are flashing and the fan turns on and gradually increases in speed until I turn the switch on the esc off.

As near as I can tell from the instructions, the only difference between plugging it into the computer and using it as a field programmer is that you plug the battery in and do not plug the mini usb from the computer into the card. So, I plug the battery in to the rc (esc switched off), plug the same castle quick connect connector into the programming card, and then turn on the esc switch. It does some startup beeps and then goes into all three led's flashing, beeping and the fan running faster and faster and faster. The instructions say that this may be an "unrecognized esc" error and to update the software, but the castle link software prompted me and I updated both the card and the esc last night before I did any tuning.

Any ideas?

For me, I originally had the same issue, with all the lights flashing and then I realized I needed to update the field card, and then it worked.

But I don't use the Castle quick connector, I connect the ESC directly to the card. Don't know if it matters, but might be worth a try?

[84yoda]

Just fyi, instead of the quick connect, a simple 3" extension added works since it puts the connector on the outside of the rx box to hook up to castle link.

[supra_89t]

Originally Posted by *Old*

For me, I originally had the same issue, with all the lights flashing and then I realized I needed to update the field card, and then it worked.

But I don't use the Castle quick connector, I connect the ESC directly to the card. Don't know if it matters, but might be worth a try?

I had the same thought since that seems to be the error message I am getting, but I ran through the update process a couple of times. Perhaps I was just updating the esc firmware, it was late. I'll double-check my work. It struck me as odd that it would work just fine when hooked to the computer, but not on its own.

Originally Posted by 84yoda

Just fyi, instead of the quick connect, a simple 3" extension added works since it puts the connector on the outside of the rx box to hook up to castle link.

This is why I post these things...that is a really good idea.

[supra_89t]

I think I found my answer. From Castle's Website:

5. Can I use the Field Link Programming Card with a Quick Connect?
It is not designed to operate with the Field Programming Card as a standalone unit. If you plug a Y harness into the Field Programming Card and connect one side of the Y harness to the Quick Connect and connect a 4.8v to 6v source to the other side of the Y harness it will function properly.

Note: Neither Quick Connect, nor Quick Connect Duo will work with the Field Programming Cards when used as a standalone programmer. It will ONLY work when using the Field Programming Card as a Castle Link adapter.

So...that 3" extension is looking mighty useful right about now. Geez. It is not a big deal, it was only a few bucks more than the teeny tiny castle link, but I was excited about tuning in the field. :( I guess I will have to build some sort of power harness.

[2000UZJ]