RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

Hi Everyone

I am a newbee to RC, but getting long in the tooth at age 77. I am need of some technical info and a search led me to this site. I hope you are not put off by the fact that I am not building a model car. But a science experiment has led me into this field of model engineering.

I have modified a Denso auto alternator into a 3 phase motor. I had purchased a Bullistrom 60 Amp ESC to drive this motor. This motor is used as a variable speed drive test bed on the bench for various experiments. I use a servo tester as a throttle. The installation went well and I was able to program the throttle on the first try. I thought I was good to go.

However after several hours, the ESC started to fail. I realized that part of the driving pulses were being diverted into the diode bridge of the 12 DC output side of the alternator. I think this confused the ESC feedback used to control speed of this sensor-less system?

I rewired the alternator to eliminate the bridge diode and also converted to delta config instead of the wye config. This was done cut in half the length of windings the ESC would see. In other words, a better load match. I ordered a HobbyKing 120 Amp ESC and this is where my problems began.

I cannot program the throttle on this unit with the servo tester. The support of HobbyKing has been less than helpful, even though the tech said I could program it with a servo tester. No step by step guide has been provided. In messing with it, it did start up to run on its own even though I was still in program mode. That was at the low end of the dial.

Somewhere on this forum someone else with a similar programing problem was told that some ESC's work in reverse. I think that is what is happening in my case? It is at this point that my son showed me his old RC car and Magnum Sport transmitter. My gut feeling is that I think the HK unit really needs a car control to program the throttle position. It's default startup to program is Channel to reverse, 100%. How do you do that with just a servo tester?

I am hoping to revive this old Magnum setup to program my new HK ESC. But it is missing the battery pack. I can look inside and see the battery contacts. But I do not know the polarity of the pins. I am hoping someone on this forum can tell me which contact is plus and minus. I am afraid if I hook it up wrong, I will blow the unit. I live in very small town in the middle of nowhere and I don't know if I can find another RC transmitter to program the ESC.

My build setup is posted on a science forum if anyone is interested in seeing what I am doing. I don't know if providing a link to another forum is allowed? It is turning out to be a pretty good build for an old man and the thread has over 2000 views.

Any advice or expertise greatly appreciated. If I can resolve this throttle programing problem, I will be a happy camper.

Many thanks in advance,
Chris

I have that Bullistorm 60A ESC in my Barney Turbo Optima car. It's true that many of these ESCs need to have the transmitter throttle channel set to reverse, that's what I found for both my Bullistorm and Leopard 60A ESC's. Second, I found the installed fan was a piece of crap. In fact, the fan blades were making contact with the heatsink beneath and it was barely spinning at all. I replaced it with a Novak ESC fan I bought at my local hobby store. A bonus was that fan is also much quieter. Now, it works great and has very quiet operation, much quieter than a Hobbywing EZRun setup, which my buddy has on 2 of his Optimas...those are rather whiny.

That's about all I can help with; there are lots of guys more knowledgeable about the electronics side of things here, hopefully they'll chime in. Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome.
My Bullistorm fan was fine. But the new esc roars like a lion. Really loud.

My new one I am trying to configure is a HobbyKing not a HobbyWing. Obviously a clone to capitalize an established company. I did not know about Hobbywing.

Chris

HobbyWing...HobbyKing...HobbyPrettymuchthesameThing.

OK, I think I have solved the problem. Yes, this esc is in reverse program mode compared to Bullistorm. After several tries of mirroring the position of the servo tester, I got it to run. I would get a beep or two after each programing try. Funny, it would start to run even though I was still in programming mode. But when I powered off the config and rebooted, I would get no response. It seems the esc remembered where it left off in the programming. I finally got to three beeps and powered off. When powered back on, it beeped four times and now works. It is not perfect, but good enough for my test setup. I will leave as it is. I don't like to be in guesswork. Maybe if I get the magnum sport working I will try for better settings.

The Bullistorm looks like a toy compared to the size of the new esc. But, it was easy to program and ran my setup fine until it started to act up. This might have been my fault because the way I had wired the alternator. I have 2,000 views by interested people in my build. I would like to recommend the Bullistorm over the HobbyKing. The people following that forum need something a servo tester can program. Overall, does the Bullistorm seem reliable? Or, can you recommend another esc that you know would be easy to program, sensorless, in the 60 to 80 Amp range, price under $50?

Many thanks,
Chris

Welcome!!!

Never too young to have fun.