Electronic Speed Controllers

[BalmyBaldwin]

Can anyone recomend a good ESC that would be at a reasonable price, able to run low turn motors?

Hangin' on

[WillyChang]

Your best 'budget' bet is to buy something that was "top line" last year, but has dropped out of favour now. My favourite is the original Novak Cyclone - tiny, fully programmable and NO limit! The engineering in this thing is fantastic.

If you're lucky, can sometimes find them resold for less than $ of a new low-end ESC, how good is that??

[spice]

id='Comic Sans MS'>id=blue>The ESC that I like and use is the LRP F1 it has no motor limit and is very precise and reliable. I use the LRP F1 for both on road and off road cars.

Its not cheap though but well worth it.

If you want something less expensive then try the Futaba MC230 or MC330 ESC. MC230 has a motor limit of 17T while the MC330 I think is 11T, I have both and I'm fairly happy with them.

Daniel

[SJoerD]

I have a Tekin Formula 10, and I use it for all the cars in my showroom (at least the ones I drive ). The Fighter Buggy, King Blackfoot, Ferrari 360 Modena, and now the M-01 Mini (I drove some others as well). Works great, never regretted buying it!

Sjoerd

I love Sand Scorchers, but I don't have one... Please help this poor collector...id=size1>

[WillyChang]

err... isn't Tekin a little bit... Dead?

[SJoerD]

quote:

err... isn't Tekin a little bit... Dead?

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What do you mean by 'dead'? I'd didn't know they were vanished from the planet...

Well, my ESC is far from dead at least

Sjoerd

I love Sand Scorchers, but I don't have one... Please help this poor collector...id=size1>

[J3cubfan]

I personnally like the Novak Explorer II. It has no reverse, but this can only help you improve your driving ability.

J3

[RETRO R/C]

Would agree whole heartedly with spice here - the F1 is not to unreasonable in terms of cost for what you get. What you do have to consider though - is the type of car you are running - if you are going to stick an 8 double into your hotshot - then perhaps you better buy a few spare gearboxes - maybe even cars first !!

Visit my page !!

Edited by - darryn1 on 15 Oct 2002 20:06:42

[WillyChang]

Ahh, Nosram! Reeking of nostalgia, "Jamie Booth" daze.

[snollan]

Also you can send novak esc to novak in irvine. For $25.00 they will repair or trade for a refirb ESC. So the next time you get that mega-esc buy on ebay and they're all burned out -you know what to do.

In fact I got three from a buddy and set them in. Got 3 working esc's back for $75.00 plus shipping (NOT BAD EH)

-------------------------

I am so smart, I am so smart! S-M-R-T..I mean S-M-A-R-T!!

[WillyChang]

Yup - that's why I love ORANGE!

Novak offers excellent service policies (though I have never had to use them yet, managed to fix every past doodoo myself) and they've even offered to send me new ESC cases & other spareparts if I needed them; manuals all available online.

Don't know why they go so cheap on the 2nd hand market, definitely a Best Buy if you can find one. Sometimes Novak even offer "trade-up" on newer items.

[DJTheo]

Wow Willy, except mechanical stuff (MGs) you can repair also electronics?

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/

Edited by - DJTheo on 16 Oct 2002 08:15:08

[RichieRich]

I use the Novak Explorer II for my Vintage cars. It's an affordable, solid little ******. I have used Novak service before and I can say without a doubt thay they are first rate.

[WillyChang]

quote:

Wow Willy, except mechanical stuff (MGs) you can repair also electronics?

Impressive, respect!

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Haha, you know me, being an self-confessed ABSOLUTE CHEAPSKATE makes one have a go at fixing everything before calling in the "pros". Especially if there's a big "No lUser Serviceable Components Inside" sticker on the back!!!

Tip to anyone opening any tiny Novak - the PCB is a double layer, twin double sided sandwich... DON'T DRILL INTO IT!!

[DJTheo]

Have you learned electronics? Do you measure each resistor, transistor, diode, capacitor, FET etc and if it deviates from its nominal you change it, how do you do it? You made me really curious, maybe I can do it then next time myself too...

Thanks

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/

Edited by - DJTheo on 17 Oct 2002 09:17:12

[WillyChang]

Nup! Can't design a circuit to save my life...

But I know what a dry-joint is, faulty components usually have a tell-tale somehow so its not impossible to figure out what fault causes what symptoms. Easier still if you have a 2nd example that's working and you can swap parts & assembles between them. 90% of the time its a contact fault (assuming no inherent design faults of course).

Y'know what the real scary part is...?

I SUSPECT I OFTEN KNOW MORE THAN THE PROs!!

Most of it is pretty basic anyhow. Afterall, if man built it then a man should be able to fix it. Its barely rocket science, even if it is so what?? We sent man to the moon with less than 8-bit CPUs, yet I wordprocess on 128-bit P4/1700 today.

Slightly different with living creatures, as 'man' didn't make them - But yet we still try to fiddle around with them.

[WillyChang]

quote:

Do you measure each resistor, transistor, diode, capacitor, FET etc and if it deviates from its nominal you change it, how do you do it?

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To save you the trouble of finding out the hard way... there is no way of testing components "in-situ" on the PCB, measurements will ALWAYS be affected by the other items its connected to. So if you have to test anything properly, you have to pull it out.

And given that you've already pulled it out, makes sense to only put a new component back in its place - most bits only cost cents anyway.

Besides, most electronic components don't break in use anyway - there is usually some CAUSE to the failure eg plugged in wrong way, impact damage etc. Only capacitors are likely age to uselessness, the rest are pretty benign. (We're not talking valve technology here, are we?)

quote:

You made me really curious, maybe I can do it then next time myself too...

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What's stopping you?

Go ahead - if its busted anyway, you can't make it any worse, right??

After all, with that Novak:-

1) I got 'er cheap

2) I thought I'd go swap all the wires no make it look nicer.

3) I've got that fantastic Novak backup "just in case", heh heh heh!!

And I don't support today's "Disposable" society.

[DJTheo]

Correct, usually it is a so called "cold" weld?

quote: Easier still if you have a 2nd example that's working and you can swap parts & assembles between them

id=quote>id=quote>

Don't tell me you go into trouble of unsoldering/resoldering parts between the 2?

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/

[WillyChang]

quote:Correct, usually it is a so called "cold" weld?

id=quote>id=quote>

You mean "dry" joint, Theo?

Yes, that's a pretty common problem. With that, its usually quicker to resolder every joint on the board rather than inspecting each one.

If you have access to a solderbath (big vat full of molten solder oh yeah, lemme play!!) then all you do is just dip everything in for a splitsecond or so.

The other common fault is components that go funny when they get hot or cold. Armed with a can of freezer-spray and a hotair gun, faultfinding is pretty quick too.

Of course I'm not silly enough to try fix things that I haven't seen working before. It really cracks me up seeing ppl stranded on the side of the road, opening the bonnet and peering in when its bleeding obvious they haven't looked in there ever before!! What do they expect to find in there - big neon sign flashing "fix here"??

quote:Don't tell me you go into trouble of unsoldering/resoldering parts between the 2?

id=quote>id=quote>

Not as hard as you think. Just grab it with your tweezers and aim your hotairgun at the solder. Works well even with big things like i386 chips with 100s of connections.

You definitely CAN'T test individual components in situ anyway, common sense, so there's no choice.

[DJTheo]

quote: It really cracks me up seeing ppl stranded on the side of the road, opening the bonnet and peering in when its bleeding obvious they haven't looked in there ever before!! What do they expect to find in there - big neon sign flashing "fix here"??

id=quote>id=quote>

LOLOL

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/

[WillyChang]

quote:

LOLOL

So true, but even if you know from good old car mechanics you dont stand a chance with new electronics and plastic covered (hidden) modern engines...

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"Mechanics" at the new-car dealerships don't know how to FIX anything these days. All they know is how to plug your car into their diagnostic computer and then replace entire suspect assemblies.

It *might* only be a little blown 10c transistor or maybe just a dry joint, but they'll sell you an entire $1500 engine computer to 'fix' it. And charge you "Labour" too.

Sigh...

[DJTheo]

Yes unfortunatelly thats how it goes today

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/

[flyby]

quote:

Have you learned electronics? Do you measure each resistor, transistor, diode, capacitor, FET etc and if it deviates from its nominal you change it, how do you do it? You made me really curious, maybe I can do it then next time myself too...

Thanks

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id=quote>id=quote>

To measure most components you will have to either calculate the effect the circuit has on them or , remove them from the board if you don't have a circuit diagram (that is if u need one).

Michael

[WillyChang]

Haha, diagram or not - working on tiny SMT double-layer double-sided Cyclone is a nightmare. Nah, nothing too fixable there...

If anyone is actually as interested in electronics as RC, there are many "kits" available for RC ESCs. Most of them are pretty good too! I've got a couple of XENON9 ESCs which are an Ozzie design from the late 1980s. Ok, they aren't as small as the current lot, but they do the job. No computer, 1-button setup or anything fancy, obviously.

They used to be cheaper than brandnames so it actually paid to DIY, but these days you can get entry-level stuff for same $. However the kits are fully-fixable if you bust it, uses all commonly availble parts and is very satisfying if you've built it yourself.

As for their motor limit - dunno. It can be built with different number of FETs (FETs were about $20 each when new) and I've got one built with 3 fwd & 1 brake - this one is more than adequate to run stock motors. The max-house one with 6 fwd & 3 brake FETs I've run with various TechniXXXXxs etc and mild mods and it doesn't even warm up.

Check local electronics hobbyist magazines - they're a common project, as common as trainset speed controls. It'll teach you a lot about signal processing too!