Installed CC BEC esc won't work if servo is plugged in

[Mudak]

Scx10 2 rtr rubicon with all stock electrics

I installed a castle bec 2.0 yesterday and now when I plug in the battery the esc beeps 3 times for 3s then it just starts flashing continuously fast. It i unplug the steering servo before I plug the lipo in then the esc works fine. I can plug the servo in after the lipo and everything works until I unplug the lipo. Then it does the same thing again and flashes fast.

I do not have a castle link. I installed the bec to get ready for a new servo in a few weeks.

I'm an electrician so I'm confident it is installed correctly and I've been soldering for 25 years.

Help!

[Greatscott]

Did you remove the red wire going from the ESC to the RX?

Where is the BEC plugged in to?

[Mudak]

Originally Posted by Greatscott

Did you remove the red wire going from the ESC to the RX?

Where is the BEC plugged in to?

Yes, red wire is disconnected I did that before starting the install


I tried different configurations:

3 wire in ch3, 2 wire in bind
2 wire in ch3, 3 wire in bind
3 wire in ch3 only
2 wire in ch3 only
3 wire in bind only
2 wire in bind only

Always the same result.

[WHITE-TRASH]

Get a Holmes bypass adapter or simply build your own.

You can also get pieces from a hobby shop to make the bec lead directly to the servo lead (male/male) and pull the signal wire out of the servo plug and plug it into the receiver directly. I do that on all of my rigs and the only time it has bit me was when using a flysky radio and a tekin fxr esc. For whatever reason the flysky freaked out without the ground from the servo lead.

[Xx Losungen xX]

The TR325 can only handle upto 6 volts. What's your Bec set at?

[Mudak]

Originally Posted by Xx Losungen xX

The TR325 can only handle upto 6 volts. What's your Bec set at?

Castle says its at 5.25v factory.

I guess I should check it with a multimeter.

I was a little suspicious because the corners of the blister package, where it appears to have been sealed, were not sealed. Maybe it was opened, but it didn't appear to have been out of the package so I installed it.

[Mudak]

Originally Posted by WHITE-TRASH

Get a Holmes bypass adapter or simply build your own.

You can also get pieces from a hobby shop to make the bec lead directly to the servo lead (male/male) and pull the signal wire out of the servo plug and plug it into the receiver directly. I do that on all of my rigs and the only time it has bit me was when using a flysky radio and a tekin fxr esc. For whatever reason the flysky freaked out without the ground from the servo lead.

I actually took an old receiver apart and used the connector where the servos plugged in to make a 2 position auxiliary port. I used this to plug the servo and one of the BEC leads.

I think I'll remake this piece into an adapter that functions like the Holmes Y adapter that powers the servo directly. In this case I'll need to reattach the red from the ae-5 esc, to the receiver, correct?

[CRAZYACE63]

Originally Posted by Mudak

I actually took an old receiver apart and used the connector where the servos plugged in to make a 2 position auxiliary port. I used this to plug the servo and one of the BEC leads.

I think I'll remake this piece into an adapter that functions like the Holmes Y adapter that powers the servo directly. In this case I'll need to reattach the red from the ae-5 esc, to the receiver, correct?

Yes if you are using the Y-adapter then you will need to reattach the power lead from the ESC. I made an adapter for my TRX-4 following Holmes diagram and it works perfectly with the Stock ESC and a Turnigy servo at 7.4V.

[HumboldtEF]

check out the diagram here so you can make a bypass adapter
https://holmeshobbies.com/electronic...s-adapter.html

[Mudak]

I just tried with a 2s and it works fine. It only does what I described in my original post with the 3s pack. Castle's page doesn't say the output voltage is based on the input voltage so I don't know if that's what's going on or not. I'm going to meter it later on.

[Mudak]

Originally Posted by CRAZYACE63

Yes if you are using the Y-adapter then you will need to reattach the power lead from the ESC. I made an adapter for my TRX-4 following Holmes diagram and it works perfectly with the Stock ESC and a Turnigy servo at 7.4V.

Thanks.
I used that diagram to confirm my plan. I have a nice little piece from an old receiver I'm using to make an adapter, it has 3 positions. I'll use two for the bec's leads and one for the steering servo. Red will connect across the 3 pins only and I'll send negative and signal via short wires and a J plug to the receiver. I'll reconnect the red from the ESC internal bec to power the receiver.

Still seems odd that the bec could cause this and searching the internet doesn't bring much up.

[whitrzac]

Verify output voltage of the BEC with a multimeter.

When they fail they send the full battery voltage to the RX.

[Xx Losungen xX]

Originally Posted by whitrzac

Verify output voltage of the BEC with a multimeter.

When they fail they send the full battery voltage to the RX.

This.

Sounds like your Bec is hooped.

[Mudak]

Originally Posted by whitrzac

Verify output voltage of the BEC with a multimeter.

When they fail they send the full battery voltage to the RX.

Originally Posted by Xx Losungen xX

This.


Sounds like your Bec is hooped.

I metered everything, using a 3s battery, here's the results:

Battery 12.51vdc
CC BEC 2.0 5.22vdc
AE-5 ESC BEC 6.01vdc

Now I'm assuming the castle bec voltage is actually too low. I'll have to purchase a castle link. I planned to get one soon anyway because I'll need it when I get a new servo.

I also metered the ae-5 lighting outputs and they are both 5vdc as well.

[nightcrawler48]

First, were you running 3s before installing the BEC? With the 3s, if you are only getting the 3 short beeps and no long beep, that indicates the ESC self calibration failed. When you connect the 2s do you get the 2 short beeps and 1 long beep? That indicates the ESC self calibration was successful and everything is ready to go.

All things being equal except 2s and 3s being the variable you would think there should be no problems. Now I'm clutching at straws here but do you have the battery jumper on the ESC plugged in to the lipo pins? These things will sometimes sort of work on the NiMh setting on 2s and lose their mind if a 3s is plugged in when the jumper is on the NiMh pins.

Just a possibility I'm throwing out there.

[Mudak]

Originally Posted by nightcrawler48

First, were you running 3s before installing the BEC? With the 3s, if you are only getting the 3 short beeps and no long beep, that indicates the ESC self calibration failed. When you connect the 2s do you get the 2 short beeps and 1 long beep? That indicates the ESC self calibration was successful and everything is ready to go.

All things being equal except 2s and 3s being the variable you would think there should be no problems. Now I'm clutching at straws here but do you have the battery jumper on the ESC plugged in to the lipo pins? These things will sometimes sort of work on the NiMh setting on 2s and lose their mind if a 3s is plugged in when the jumper is on the NiMh pins.

Just a possibility I'm throwing out there.

I had only used 2s until I installed the bec, I ordered both the 3s batteries and the bec at the same time.

When I metered everything I metered it all with both the 3s and the 2s batteries and every measurement was exactly .01vdc lower with the 2s vs the 3s. Being so close, I didn't bother to report these numbers.

When the servo was plugged into the receiver, the esc would beep 3 times and not give the long confirmation beep but rather it would blink quickly. Without the servo plugged in it worked correctly. It always worked correctly with the 2s. This is weird to me since the voltage was only .02vdc lower with 2s.

[Mudak]

I completed my adapter and have it working well right now however I'm using both the esc's bec for the receiver and the cc bec for the servo.

[nightcrawler48]

Originally Posted by Mudak

I completed my adapter and have it working well right now however I'm using both the esc's bec for the receiver and the cc bec for the servo.

Nothing wrong with that. I ALWAYS do mine that way. And I believe lots of others do as well. You have to do it that way if you have the CC BEC set over 6V for the servo as most receivers will only accept up to 6V (from the ESC, of course). When you get your new servo you'll probably want to set the Castle BEC above 6V to get maximum performance out of the new servo.