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Kalameja

TBLE-02S ESC with Vintage Futaba

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So, I had my Vintage 84 Hornet out for its first trial run today. So much fun! However, I came across a problem which I'm not sure where the issues originates. 

During the rebuild I replaced the original MSC with a new TBLE-02S ESC. I kept my original Futaba transmitter and receiver. They work at a frequency of 70 MHz. 

During the run the throttle would surge at times causing the car to run away. Never fun! This is why I got rid of the MSC. It always stuck with low batteries and would take off to its potential death. 

The ESC is for sure set up correctly with both forward and reverse limits. And the radio seems to be in good shape. 

Do you think the throttle stick is a malfunction of the ESC or is it because I'm using such an old transmitter and receiver running at such a low frequency and the new ESC demands a 2.4 ghz?

any insight my fellow Tamiya enthusiast?

 

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Old RC gear has its own issues... from dry solder joints and dried/bloated capacitors to water damaged circuitry and wornout trimpots at the controls. When's the last time you opened up the TX & cleaned the trimpots? Open RX case and cleaned out the grit? :mellow:

ESCs generally stop & do nothing when they lose signal from RX... shouldn't be able to runaway. Modern ESCs do create high frequency emissions that might not be tolerated by old RX with antique filter design... so make sure RX & ESC aren't too close to one another. Space them apart, make a shield with tinfoil if you have to.

If your RX is drawing more current than ESC's BEC can supply, you'll cause brownouts. You can bypass with external gutsier BEC or bandaid it with a "stutter stopper" 

SPM1600-450.jpg

its just a large capacitor, wire it across the +Ve and -Ve lines at the RX. 

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On February 5, 2017 at 8:20 PM, WillyChang said:

Old RC gear has its own issues... from dry solder joints and dried/bloated capacitors to water damaged circuitry and wornout trimpots at the controls. When's the last time you opened up the TX & cleaned the trimpots? Open RX case and cleaned out the grit? :mellow:

ESCs generally stop & do nothing when they lose signal from RX... shouldn't be able to runaway. Modern ESCs do create high frequency emissions that might not be tolerated by old RX with antique filter design... so make sure RX & ESC aren't too close to one another. Space them apart, make a shield with tinfoil if you have to.

If your RX is drawing more current than ESC's BEC can supply, you'll cause brownouts. You can bypass with external gutsier BEC or bandaid it with a "stutter stopper" 

SPM1600-450.jpg

its just a large capacitor, wire it across the +Ve and -Ve lines at the RX. 

Hey WillyChang,

So I opened  up both the transmitter and the receiver. Both appear to be in really pretty great shape, especially considering they are 30 years old.  I did clean them up but they really look in great shape. I've also made sure the ESC is well distanced from the RX. I've not yet made a foil shield but will give it go. Do you think that there is just too much other signals bouncing around out there that could cause the interference with such a low 70mhz transmitter?  

I am going to build another Hornet and most likely a Super Champ or Sand Scorcher.  I'll  for sure purchase a 2.4ghz transmitter and receiver.  Do you have a suggestion? Model number or link? 

I also have several original Futaba servos that I could use in the new builds, but they have the old style connector. Picture attached. I found one adapter for the ESC to work with the original Futaba three pin female receiver, but can't seem to find an adapter that will let me use the old servos with the mail connector  with a new receiver. Any suggestions? New servos? Adapters? 

Thanks for helping out.  I appreciate all the suggestions. Your suggestion about wiring in a capacitor might be above my skill leave at this point. I could do the work but would need to see a step by step guide. The lingo is above my knowledge. 

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So, does it all work?? :D ESC programmed ok to the old radiogear?

Honestly I'd have concerns about the 70MHz band, I know it's US-only/mainly but not sure if it's still reserved for RC toys - might have others like rescue services using it for their CBs etc. 

As for old servos... IMHO just store them for future use with your old gear. For new RXes with Fut-J plugs, just get some new servos. Go shopping at places like HobbyKing, I buy their homebrand basic servo and it's like $3 for an equivalent to Futaba S3003... cheaper than buying any adaptor huh?!

For cheap 2.4 usual goto is FlySky, you can afford to buy a new set for every model. Or buy a dearer TX with multi-model memory, and a swag of RXes (they cost like a beer each).

If you wish to spend bigger, old names like Futaba, KO, JR & Sanwa are around whilst some younger arrivals like Hitec & Spektrum are popular too. 

Was quite surprised to find Futaba even dipping their toe into the budget/RTR side of things with something like this:

futaba__34636.1424907501.1280.1280.jpg?c

looks like zero adjustment but functional reliability for FlySky money :P

 

 

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You know what!? Surprising the tble-02 ESC is working out just fine. I did and a little foil shield which has kept interference down a tad.  Although, heading to open ball fields or less populated areas probably has been behind most of the improvement. 

I'll keep this car running on the old radio gear and build the next one with new radio TX, RX, and servos   You're right, way cheaper than an adapter! But for nostalgic reasons I'll just love using some of that old gear. Over 30 years!

I grabbed this Futaba for the new build:

Futaba FUTK3100 3PRKA 3-Channel FHSS 2.4GHz Radio w/ R203GF Receiver. 

Thanks as always for the help, 

 

 

 

 

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Not sure if R203GF has BEC built in either :mellow: just be wary about plugging in old gear.

Futaba put BEC into most of their entry level RXes eg RJ122 as they were mostly sold to ppl buying package deals with a T kit... then they went thru a phase of removing BEC without telling anyone and the LHS had a heck of the time wondering why brandnew RX did nothing when plugged into TEU101BK. (No smoke or anything, it just played Dead.)

Then they started building RXes that would work with higher volts, so ppl could use 2s lipo RX packs... but these RXes often fed the same volts to the steering servo - as by then ppl were getting into High Voltage capable steering servos.

So just watchout before plugging in old servos that can't take more than 6.0V.

Its all too complicated, haven't got enough braincells left to remember what does where so it's easiest to just test everything with voltmeter before teasing the magic smoke.

 

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But if I use the Tble-02 with a receiver that does not have a BEC, no big deal right? Since the table-02 has a built in BEC, correct? 

And then just make sure that if I use the TEU-104k to make sure I don't use it with a receiver without bridging with an inline BEC, Correct? 

Clear as mud.  Time for a beer.  

 

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Do you have a part number or manufacture for the BEC inline? I'm not having much luck with my eBay and Google searches. 

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4 minutes ago, Kalameja said:

But if I use the Tble-02 with a receiver that does not have a BEC, no big deal right? Since the table-02 has a built in BEC, correct? 

And then just make sure that if I use the TEU-104k to make sure I don't use it with a receiver without bridging with an inline BEC, Correct? 

Clear as mud.  Time for a beer.  

 

Yup! 

TBLE ok for any RX.

When u get BEC weld it to the TEU so you'll never forget it. :)

its beer o'clock here too, very soon... ^_^

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It did.  That looks so complicated! If I had a diagram I'm sure I could set it up properly. Yikes. 

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