Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[SimonCornes]

I like Action ESC's. I have a P84 ESC/Mixer plus a Condor 20 installed in a 1/24 MTB with the ESC's controlling 4 motors. The P84 controls the wing motors and rudder mixing and the Condor 20 controls the two inner motors. All motors are 500 series brushed.


The problem is with the Condor 20. I've run with a 3S 5 amp LiPo battery for quite some time with no problems. I thought it was wise to switch to a new 3S pack. When I did the Condor 20 immediately gave the inner motors full power and moving the TX stick made no difference. I then swapped the original LiPo back in and exactly the same so what's going on? I should say that I left the boat for maybe half an hour and then tried again with the new 2S pack and everything was fine until a bit later I decided to put the boat into the lake and the Condor 20 motors went off at full power again. Back home I tried its and everything is fine again!! Okay, I have a gremlin living in my boat but if it's not that then what might it be??


I'd buy a new Condor 20 but when was the last time anyone was able to buy one from Component Shop??


Simon

[HMS Invisible]

Condensation or Rx is going into failsafe.

If it's a controller that adjusts trim each time you apply power, you have to ensure you don't skip a step.

[Akira]

Try plugging a servo into the receiver in place of the Condor 20. No need to take the 20 out of the boat, yet. If the servo works correctly in relation to the stick command, it's your receiver. otherwise it's an issue with the Condor. It is interesting that it occurred when you swapped out battery pact, which makes me suspicious.

[SimonCornes]

Interesting! You say plugging a servo into Channel 2 - the ESC channel - and the servo working normally would indicate a receiver fault? I would have thought it indicated that the receiver was okay of an ordinary servo worked fine in that channel? I'm not disputing that you're right, just not sure why you're right!


Regarding water ingress, no it's dry. and the rudder and other ESC are working properly.

[HMS Invisible]

...
Regarding water ingress, no it's dry. and the rudder and other ESC are working properly.

Then what does your Rx do on signal loss & low voltage? An aero configuration is to kill throttle. That sends a bi-directional boat esc to full throttle.
What is your esc to motor wiring like? No wire strands or suppression cap leads touching where they shouldn't?

[SimonCornes]

I can see what you mean about signal loss but the rudder channel and the other motor channel are working normally - I thought an aero failsafe chopped the throttle? - but it occurred to me that it might be a receiver fault but then I changed that ESC to another channel and got the same 'full throttle/uncontrollable result. Until maybe 30 - 45 minutes later when it was 'normal' again which makes me think ESC fault maybe?


I think the wiring is okay although there are several screw connectors involved. In between the ESC and the motors I have an Action twin fuse unit and that includes LED's which show which way the motor is going - red or green - and that didn't change irrespective of stick position. Downstream of that, via the screw terminals, are the two inboard motors which are both protected by something 'inline' to one power lead which might be another fuse - I didn't install the electrics so Im not exactly sure, its more complicated than an in line fuse holder - but everything 'usually' works and the original builder was an electrician by trade so it must have made sense to him.

[HMS Invisible]

Those are the sensible diagnostic measures that would be covered in minute one of a phone Q&A session. Over an open forum the process is dragged out. Another is  where does the Rx derive its power from?

I still very much doubt there is an internal fault in the controller. Have you got a confident and competent helper nearby who could track the problem on the stopclock?

[HMS Invisible]

Unless you can tell me otherwise, I am guessing answers to my own questions and that you are having brown-outs on a bec supply.
 A Hobbywing 1060 and several other £12 Chinese escs would remedy that, but so could a 1" square piece of aluminium glued to the bec or 220 microFarad capacitor to the 5volt line would suffice. Even an old 27MHz set can cure that by buffering the bec supply. A change in rudder servo would also fix bec brown-outs.

[SimonCornes]

Unless you can tell me otherwise, I am guessing answers to my own questions and that you are having brown-outs on a bec supply.
 A Hobbywing 1060 and several other £12 Chinese escs would remedy that, but so could a 1" square piece of aluminium glued to the bec or 220 microFarad capacitor to the 5volt line would suffice. Even an old 27MHz set can cure that by buffering the bec supply. A change in rudder servo would also fix bec brown-outs.

Many thanks for the replies. It’s a ubec hobby but if the other two items - a standard rudder servo and an Action P84 twin ESC and rudder mixer which are operating the two wing motors and rudder - and these are working fine so why would a BEC affect the old Condor 20 but not the equipment served by the P84?? In my simple head, if a BEC is faulty then everything stops working?

[HMS Invisible]

You misunderstand me. I'm getting half the pieces of a jigsaw when I'm able to solve many electrical related faults, without a wiring schematic, in seconds, in a boat that is put in front of me.
 If you had a controller that adjusts trim each time you apply power, and if you had a 1-amp linear bec somewhere, and had a highly loaded servo, that could trip a protection mechanism within the bec. That interruption in supply cuses such a controller to reset. You can tell if that's how the condor works. I can't unless someone tells me.
  The new information tells me you have an installation that allows motor current to get into the signal wiring.
If you replaced the ubec with an Rx pack, and the problem behaviour disappeared then you'd have demonstrated what the problem was all along.
 I'm still convinced the condor is not actually faulty.