Crawler still glitches with BEC

[ochevys54]

nahhhh, your still good. those will work too, good luck

[scalecrawler18]

So I stayed up late last night and got it all buttoned up.
I charged up a battery and it was good for about 6 minutes. Then it started with intermitant glitches and about a minute or two later the esc would cut in and out moving the car forward about an inch before it would cut off, then it wold cut back in and move it forward (this was when I have me throttle in any forward position.
I charged up the pack again put it in and again it worked for about 5-6 minutes before intermitant glitches would happen and after 6-7 minutes the esc was back to cutting in and out.
Im getting this problem every time I recharge and use the battery in the truck. So I see some improvement but not what I call a running working truck. Plus it seems slower then before, do I need to get the field programmer for the cc bec and set it to 6v for better performance? (The motor is only running off what ever voltage it was preset with correct? something like 5v?)

What could be the problem now?
I charge the 1900 7.2v nimh battery until my charger blinks for a full charge (about 15 min on 4amp), I then run my truck with it and will only last 6 minutes? Is it the battery again? (I already proved my 3000 7.2v nimh battery was dead, see first post)
If so what nimh battery would you suggest me trying?

Thanks
Ryan

[scalecrawler18]

Any ideas???
I'm still at a loss for what could be wrong.

Please see post above for my problems after I installed the .1mf caps.
I wanna run my truck but still am unable to.

Any suggestions and ideas are much appreciated!!!

Thanks
Ryan

[Cheatin]

Originally Posted by scalecrawler18

Thanks for the reply! Any help is great as I know very little about this side of the hobby!
I wired it up correctly, its spliced with the esc connecting to my battery and is also plugged into my receiver. Yes the red wire from the esc to the receiver is cut.
I do have a long antena wire and will try keeping it away from the other electronics, but I don't think this is the answer to all my problems.
What are the advantages of 2.4? My lhs said something about it costing ~$200 for a 6 channel.
No I do not have a castle setting program, is this how you set the BEC to higher amp out put? I think the default is 5.1 amp which should still be enough to run the truck the way I have it set up now and in the future with 2 more high torque servos. I really want to try and make it work with what I have before I do any more upgrading.

Is there anything else I should try or check or maybe I'm just not thinking of? Everyone says "hook up a BEC and all glitches are solved", but they are still frequent and far from solved!

Thanks
Ryan

I had glitching after running my BEC through the receiver. Red wire from ESC was removed as it should be....but I then read a post stating to remove the signal wire from the BEC where it goes into the RX (like the red ESC wire). I pulled it and so far...knock on wood...FWIW. You might also want to recalibrate the ESC to the TX after all said and done...

[Charlie-III]

The BEC output voltage has NOTHING to do with the voltage the motor sees, that is the job of the ESC.
Period.

Changing the output voltage of the BEC will change what the RX & servo see (provided you have the BEC plugged into the RX).

Still sounds like you have a LVC issue (low voltage cutoff), likely set to "auto", or "LiPO", make sure the LVC is off.

[ochevys54]

correct. your bec wont change the voltage to your,motor.. just your servos and receiver accesories. sounds like you are experiencing what thy call brown out.... change voltage on bec to say 6v and see if that helps... i assume you have a castlelnk?

[Norton]

When I first got my truck I bought a 1800 mah and a 5000 mah battery. Lipo cut off was on from the factory. The 5000 mah battery worked great, the 1800 mah did exactly what your talking about. (Ni-MH) A 1700 Ni-MH is pretty much going to give you crap run times anyway.

I have a Castle link and turned off the lipo cut off and it helped but the 1800 mah still sucked. If you have acsess to a higher mah battery I would try it!

I basically run Lipo now and have not had a issue since. A Castle link is a good cheap investment that I would go for. If your going to stick with Ni-MH packs, I wouldn't go under 3000 mah.

Hope this helps.

[scalecrawler18]

Originally Posted by ochevys54

correct. your bec wont change the voltage to your,motor.. just your servos and receiver accesories. sounds like you are experiencing what thy call brown out.... change voltage on bec to say 6v and see if that helps... i assume you have a castlelnk?

I will need to pick up a castle field programmer later next week at my LHS. I will then attempt to set the out put voltage to 6volts.

Since my last post I charged the 1900mah nimh battery on my brothers duratrax piranah charger and I got 15-20 min of indoor run time before any glitches (my 3000mah battery is definitely dead and I think my charger is as well!).
When the battery runs low is when I will now get some glitches from the servos (especially the winch servo, and I dont want my winch cable snapped every time my battery runs low and my servos glitch). Should all of these problems go away after setting the output on the bec to 6v and buying a 5000mah nimh battery pack?

Is there a way to wire in a cut off switch for nimh batteries so when the battery runs low to the point where I will start to see glitches it will shut it's self off? I want it to work like a LiPO cut off switch but for nimh batteries.
Is anything like that possible or is there something a little funny with my glitches as the battery looses power? or is this common with everyone who runs a nimh setup like mine?

Thanks
Ryan

[scalecrawler18]

Originally Posted by Norton

When I first got my truck I bought a 1800 mah and a 5000 mah battery. Lipo cut off was on from the factory. The 5000 mah battery worked great, the 1800 mah did exactly what your talking about. (Ni-MH) A 1700 Ni-MH is pretty much going to give you crap run times anyway.

I have a Castle link and turned off the lipo cut off and it helped but the 1800 mah still sucked. If you have acsess to a higher mah battery I would try it!

I basically run Lipo now and have not had a issue since. A Castle link is a good cheap investment that I would go for. If your going to stick with Ni-MH packs, I wouldn't go under 3000 mah.

Hope this helps.

My esc is a novak xrs sport (~5 years old) with a "single touch" set up. It doesn't have a LiPO cut off built-in so I dont need to worry about that.

I will definitely look into getting some good 5000mah nimh batteries! Any suggestions on which ones to get?

Thanks
Ryan

[Charlie-III]

Frankly for the price, I say jump to LiPO.

Yes, you may need a new charger, long term it's a better way to go.

-Cheap
-Small
-Light
-HUGE power

If you still want to stick to NiCD/NiMH, you will not get the capacity out of them.
Since a NiCD/NiMH pack is series connected, you need individual cells of high mah (capacity), these get real expensive real fast.

WHile I still run NiMH in 10th & 12th carpet cars, the loads & runtime required are low, thus this battery chemistry is OK for what I need.

[Norton]

The one the hobby shop sold me was a Tenergy 5000 mAH. I'm not saying it's the best but with over 70 charges it still works well. Cost for me was $40.00

If you paid for shipping I'd send it to you, I don't use it anymore.

Edit: I agree with Charlie, if your speed controller can handle Lipo's. I would go in that direction.

[scalecrawler18]

How do I know if my esc can handle LiPO's?
It doesn't have a lipo cut off switch. Does that mean its not capable?
I have the novak xrs reversible sport.

I know this has probably been asked 1,000,000,000,000 times but since my setup might require something different due to all the servos (2 High torque, 2 standard, 1 high torque servo winch) and load I am going to put on my electrical system...
What size lipo and c rating would you suggest? what charger? what brand? (This is all knowledge for future upgrades after I get the truck running with my current set up)

Thanks
Ryan

[Norton]

With all those servo's, I really could not tell you. While my next endeavor will be scale, Not there now.

[Norton]

Check your PM's.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by scalecrawler18

How do I know if my esc can handle LiPO's?
It doesn't have a lipo cut off switch. Does that mean its not capable?
I have the novak xrs reversible sport.

I know this has probably been asked 1,000,000,000,000 times but since my setup might require something different due to all the servos (2 High torque, 2 standard, 1 high torque servo winch) and load I am going to put on my electrical system...
What size lipo and c rating would you suggest? what charger? what brand? (This is all knowledge for future upgrades after I get the truck running with my current set up)

Thanks
Ryan

Hi,

All your ESC cares about is the voltage in. Too low may mean it stops working early, too high means you "let out the magic smoke".

All "LiPO capable" means is...... the ESC can shut down the power if you get below a level.
You can always run a LiPO alarm so you don't hurt the batteries, not the best but it WILL work.

With all your "stuff" in the rig, you may be overloading the battery, thus "browning out" the RX (everything dies) or maybe shutting down the ESC (the motor/throttle quits).

The ESC/external BEC (if plugged into the RX) powers the servos, lights, etc.
The battery pack powers the ESC (which can also power the RX).

Bad solder joints (anywhere), poor battery connectors (Tamiya mostly) can also create issues.

Not trying to be a "Richard" here, just saying.

[scalecrawler18]

Originally Posted by Charlie-III

Hi,

All your ESC cares about is the voltage in. Too low may mean it stops working early, too high means you "let out the magic smoke".

All "LiPO capable" means is...... the ESC can shut down the power if you get below a level.
You can always run a LiPO alarm so you don't hurt the batteries, not the best but it WILL work.

With all your "stuff" in the rig, you may be overloading the battery, thus "browning out" the RX (everything dies) or maybe shutting down the ESC (the motor/throttle quits).

The ESC/external BEC (if plugged into the RX) powers the servos, lights, etc.
The battery pack powers the ESC (which can also power the RX).

Bad solder joints (anywhere), poor battery connectors (Tamiya mostly) can also create issues.

Not trying to be a "Richard" here, just saying.

Nope not being a "Richard" at all! lol

Thanks for dumbing it down for me! I now understand how the electrics work.
How do I keep from running too many volts through my esc? is there a rating for the esc? When I make the switch should I just do an esc swap for one of castle creations esc's (which one should I get? lipo,nimh capable).

thanks
Ryan

[Norton]

Here's the battery.

[Charlie-III]

You avoid running too many volts into the ESC by limiting what pack you plug in.
Period.

You need to check the specs on the ESC and then use nominal voltages for your pack as a guideline.
No other "bits" involved.

Out of current brushed crawler ESC's (meaning they have reverse, LiPO LVC, drag brake) I ALWAYS go to Castle (or Castle based, like the Holmes Hobbies BR-XL, Ae-2, etc.), the FX-R is a close second.

I tend to avoid Novak and some others. While they may be great ESC's, I feel they are lacking in a crawler application.

Yes, Castle & Tekin (FX-R) have LiPO LVC's built in.
If you go Castle, the same programmer can do their BEC's as well as ESC's.

[scalecrawler18]

Which castle creations esc would be good for my set up?
So the castle link programmer can turn off the lipo lvc if Im running nimh and turn it back on if I switch to lipo? (this is a must do if running nimh with an esc that has a lvc?)

Might just upgrade the esc now... but why would you say the novak xrs doesn't lend itself to scale crawling?

Thank
Ryan

[Norton]

It appears you can run Lipo's with your speed control with a adapter.

Speed control: XRS Reversible Sport ESC

Lipo cutoff: Smart-Stop Li-Po Cut-Off Module

I would just go with a Castle though, you can get the Castle link to program it.

Check your PM's.