Factory ESC/RX current and motor limits?

[89redranger]

Hey guys, I'm putting together ANOTHER project. No, it's not a crawler. Long story short, I'm building a smaller RC fanboat to cruise the canal and stuff around our house with. The boat will only measure around 9" long, 4" wide, and run off a single 3" prop with a rudder. This isn't gonna be so much scale looking, just pure function. I do however plan to build a trailer for it to tow behind my Trekker.

Now, the electronics. I would like to use the ESC/RX combo out of a Trekker/Micro Crawler. I need to know if there are any actual known specs on this unit. For one, how much power can the servo side of it handle? Secondly, what are the motor limits on this board (over 55 turns only?)? And lastly, can the board handle 3s?

If the specs for this board aren't quite right I can always check out the unit in the Brushless Micro SCT/Rally (Ijust got rid of mine, of course). The brushless boards can run a brushed motor as well with an adapter, and they CAN handle 3s.


Till I find the combo to make this one run, I also have a Nano copter that I got for Christmas to tear into. I got it yesterday, flew it for two flights, crashed it into the wall, and broke the charge port. There have been many people building these into fan boats as well. They use two TINY counter-rotating motors, and with very little work they can be used for a rudder-less boat. The two motors rely on torque differentiation to make the copter yaw. Works perfect with two smaller blades on the boat.

Here's another guy's build I found-Home of "Selph-Inflicted" RC Airboats! • View topic - Micro flatty, "A little confidence"

[smuggl1n]

You can get a brushless esc and outrunner brushless motor which are made for propellers of HobbyKing RC Plane, Car, Heli, Boat and MultiRotor Hobby Store for around 20 bucks. You will just need another rx/tx

[DANALLY]

The stock esc works ok on the 34t Atomic BB motor but does get warm. If u ran a fan and a heat sink on the motor it would work. The servo problems could be solved by using a y harness and powering the servo straight from the battery. No way on the 3 cell. It'll fry. At least in stock form. I've see recently where the fet's were changed ou and theoretically 3 cell will now work.

I'd go with a 20a esc and a spectrum receiver u can link up to the losi radio.

[89redranger]

Originally Posted by smuggl1n

You can get a brushless esc and outrunner brushless motor which are made for propellers of HobbyKing RC Plane, Car, Heli, Boat and MultiRotor Hobby Store for around 20 bucks. You will just need another rx/tx

I already have a micro brushless setup for a plane. I was trying to keep the electronics all on one board except the servo/motor, and the brushed motor would be simplest with my 4 year old daughter driving part-time. I also already have a pile of old 130s to play with (various slot car/cheapo rc trucks/xmod motors). This boat isn't even getting a lipo.

[smuggl1n]

Originally Posted by 89redranger

I already have a micro brushless setup for a plane. I was trying to keep the electronics all on one board except the servo/motor, and the brushed motor would be simplest with my 4 year old daughter driving part-time. I also already have a pile of old 130s to play with (various slot car/cheapo rc trucks/xmod motors). This boat isn't even getting a lipo.

no Lipo? :(

[89redranger]

Well, been digging and digging for info on this. Looks like I'm gonna end up ordering the Hextronik 2 Gram 7700kv Outrunner. It's rated for a single cell, and can drive the prop size I'm after. Thrust ratings vary a lot by prop, but they're cheap enough to buy a few different models, and change them if needed. For the rest of the electronics, I have found a sub-micro 5 amp ESC for planes (I'm building a float plane without wings...) weighing in at around 3.5 grams. I'm still in pursuit of a micro RX though. Seems to me that my best bet for something as small and light as I need will also have to come from a micro plane. Surface RX's weigh in at over an ounce for most. The whole boat weight will be under 2 ounces so far. This thing ought to rip!

Buying a balsa block to start shaping the hull today. When it's done being shaped I will vacuum-mold 0.040" Styrene over it to form the hull. I could use 0.020", but when you go this thin it's flimsy. If I cut the material thickness in half I have to build bulkheads (the bottom of the hull will have to much flex in it if I don't). I have to figure out whether the 0.040" WITHOUT bulkheads or 0.020" WITH bulkheads will be lighter in the end.

[89redranger]

Originally Posted by smuggl1n

no Lipo? :(

As with all projects...plans have changed. With the need for such small components and electronics, I also need a small battery. I guess it IS getting a LiPo. Only a single cell, but a LiPo nonetheless.

[89redranger]

Found some places for MICRO MICRO MICRO electronics and components for all you scratch-builder types.

Plantraco-Micro planes, parts, components, and electonics-

The Best in Micro Electric RC Planes | Plantraco Microflight

MicronWings-Australian retailer for some of the same stuff, and some really neat stuff I haven't found anywhere else. I use this site for the technical specs of some of the small stuff. Their info is better than the manufacturers that built their products.

Micron Wings

Yes, they offer a micro RX that is tiny and under a gram. They use an aircraft band radio (Futaba or Hitec) though. I was hoping to find something like this for a surface 2 or 3 channel surface radio setup- Micro9 2-for-1 Special 4 Channel PlugnPlay 0.95g Receiver | Microflight.com