[NSRCA-discussion] ESC Motor Combo

Thu Jul 31 04:48:08 AKDT 2014

Ron,

With few exceptions, low timing is generally the best for any large direct
drive motor.  With Castle ESCs, setting the timing to low does not put a
hard limit on the amount of timing advance the ESC may use; it could still
advance to 24 degrees IF the motor response from the ESC inputs are
favorable.

If you are using the brake in the downline, and after the brake is engaged
the chirping occurs, reduce the brake percentage to 30% or less.

Start issues with the small Hackers are pretty common with several ESCs.  I
haven't set a small Hacker up for quite some time, but, some of the older
Phoenix firmware versions worked better with the smaller Hacker outrunners.
I've not tried the latest generation of firmware (4.xx), but I know for
certain the 3.xx did not work as well as the 2.xx..I think 2.18 was pretty
solid on the small Hackers.  Low timing, medium throttle response, medium
start power.  In general use the lowest start power that consistently starts
the motor.  If the motor oscillates at startup, increase the start power.
If the motor starts with a bang, reduce the start power.

Regards,

Dave

From: Ron Hansen [mailto:rcpilot at wowway.com] 
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 7:39 AM
To: 'Dave Lockhart'; 'General pattern discussion'
Subject: RE: [NSRCA-discussion] ESC Motor Combo

Dave, 

I have a Hacker Q60 with a Castle ICE 2 HV 80.  When I first started using
this setup, I was using fixed endpoints with Standard timing.  Then I
started noticing the occasional cherping noise.  The cherping noise usually
occurs after a downline when a pull to level and begin to advance the
throttle.  To attempt to fix this I switched to High Timing.  This problem
still occurs.  Should I try low timing or is there some other setup that is
causing this?

On another note, I have noticed that the smaller phoenix ESC (e.g., 10 amp)
don't get along very well with the smaller Hacker motors.  Anyone else have
this same experience??

Thanks

Ron

From: NSRCA-discussion [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of Dave Lockhart via NSRCA-discussion
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 10:41 PM
To: 'Peter Vogel'; 'General pattern discussion'
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] ESC Motor Combo

I don't think any ESC manufacturer recommends auto calibrate for performance
applications.

Castle instructions advise to plug in at HALF throttle (generally 1.5ms),
then reduce to idle to arm.  In auto calibrate mode, the low and high values
are set at default values..there is no guessing of any kind.  To recall, the
defaults are 1.35ms for "low" and 1.7ms for "high".  The ESC will not arm
until it sees a value less than 1.35ms, and if it sees a value less than
1.35ms, it resets the "low" to match the lower value.  Most radios with
default endpoint/ATV values are in the range of 1.2ms low and 1.8ms high.
After the ESC is armed, it "sees" the throttle range from the lowest value
(likely 1.2ms) to the default high of 1.7ms.  Going to full throttle after
the ESC arms will allow the ESC to reset the high value to something greater
than 1.7ms.

Castle and many other ESC brands have default settings that allow the
broadest range of users to use the ESC without having to do any programming.
Having spent a fair bit of time with Patrick del Castillo and a number of
the Castle engineers, they would be quite amused to hear Castle is designed
for the sport fliers.  Patrick has always had the goal of making ESCs that
would provide the best performance with the best motors..he despises any
change in code to accommodate "sport" motors if there is a chance of losing
any performance on the best motors.

Regards,

Dave

From: NSRCA-discussion [mailto:nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of Peter Vogel via NSRCA-discussion
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 4:11 PM
To: Scott McHarg; General pattern discussion
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] ESC Motor Combo

Sounds like a Castle ESC in "Auto" endpoint mode.  The correct way to handle
one of those is to arm at FULL throttle and then drop to zero throttle, that
way the ESC knows the high + low end points.  If you arm at low then it
"guesses" at the top end point in the first few seconds after it gets a
signal above zero, hence a slow advance of the throttle confuses it.
(Castles are designed for sport fliers who think a takeoff is full throttle
immediately).  

Personally, I *hate* the idea of arming a system at full throttle, so with a
castle ESC (I think I'm down to 1 of those in my hangar at this point) I set
up fixed end points right away.

Peter+

On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 1:03 PM, Scott McHarg via NSRCA-discussion
<nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org> wrote:

Hi guys,

I need a little help.  My buddy has just recently bought a Mythos 125 and
has gotten frustrated with it.  The setup is the
<http://www.f3aunlimited.com/catalog/product/view/id/661/s/hacker-a60-7xs-v2
/category/53/> HACKER A60-7XS V2 and a Castle HV85 ESC.  He recently went to
this motor so that he could fly 8S packs which he is currently running.  

Recently, he brought the plane over to the house and wanted me to have a
look.  Before I dive into it (which I haven't yet) by looking at the logging
on the ESC, etc., is there anything wrong with this combination?  I've
always flown Castle ESCs myself but I remember reading on here not too long
ago about how the Q80 and the Castle controller don't really get along.  I
mainly want to make sure that this doesn't apply to this combination as
well.  

I know there are a ton of variables and again, I haven't begun to dig into
it.  Essentially, if you start at idle and bring the throttle up slowly as
if you were in the air flying transitioning from a down line to horizontal,
the RPMs only increase slightly even to full throttle.  Two takeoffs were
aborted due to this.  If you jam the throttle from idle to full throttle,
the motor comes alive and performance is spectacular and it will act fine
with smooth transitions for a period of time if not the rest of the flight.

Just mainly making sure there are no specific hangups with this combo that
y'all can think of.

Thanks,

Scott

Scott A. McHarg

VSCL / CANVASS U.A.V. Pilot Texas A&M University

PPL - ASEL

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