esc problems

[pauly.g]

HI there can anyone help. Finally I have managed to get my 450se to hover lovely. I am just getting used to it then more trouble. I have a 450se with standard 430L motor & the new 35a esc(x) with the blue heat sink. Its got a r1461 ip receiver a 401 and a s3154 digital tail servo. What happened was I ran a battery through it for 6/7 mins and she hovered fine.I gave her a couple of mins cool down attached a new battery then took off again for two mins she held the hover fine. I was in head lock mode then all of a sudden she started to slowly pirouette. I tried to use rudder and nothing. I managed to put her down with no damage (amazing for me). Put her on the bench no rudder output from the sticks then all of a sudden no cyclic. Felt the tail servo yes she was hot. I then got the feeling something else was getting hot.It was the ESC. So I disconnect it & let it cool down . I disconnected the tail servo and powered up again nothing from the cyclic again and the ESC gets hot very Quick !!
So my problem I think is the ESC but WHY ?? Is my combination of tail servo wrong can this cause the ESC to burn out ?? Will this of killed my servo if it is just the ESC at fault. Could it of killed all my other electrics like my Gyro Mr receiver ETC . All i am going to do is try my mates ESC with everything disconnected at first then plug bits in one at a time and cross my fingers . But if everything is fine I dont want to buy a new one then have the same happen again .. CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHATS GONE WRONG OR HELP !!!

MANY THANKS :dontknow :arggg: :bomb:

[vera]

I'm not into the electric helis so take my ramble with some salt... but if the built-in BEC in your ESC is powering your radio and servos it might be overloaded. Digital servos eat more juice than others. If the ESC is history, I'd suggest getting a separate BEC for the radio and servos.


I disconnected the tail servo and powered up again nothing from the cyclic again and the ESC gets hot very Quick


Good move. I think it indicates the ESC is gone. Maybe try disconnecting the motor also and see if the ESC gets hot.

Here's one way to set up a separate BEC, bypassing the one in the ESC.
http://www.helidirect.com/product_info.php?cPath=93&products_id=1157

Or maybe you just had a dose of rotten luck and got a bad ESC.

[Jermo]

You don't need a seperate BEC for a 450 even with all digital servo's.
Is this the Align ESC or someone elses? I've not seen them with blue heatshrink.
What Gyro/Tailservo and ESC, plus where did you buy your ESC/Trex kit?

Sounds like the ESC is having issues but it's being caused by perhaps the tail servo/gyro setup.

[Hughes500Bob]

The new Align RCE-BL35X 35A ESC/BEC is 6 volt output :!: Trextuning.com has evaluated it with the 3154 servos and finds it "usually" burns them out. Yeah .... the specs on the 3154 say it can handle 6 volts, but testing has shown otherwise. The 401 Futuba gyro can handle 6 volts as well as the HS56 and HS65 and Futuba 9650 and JR3400G servos. My guess is that you may have fried a few things. :bomb:

[Jermo]

good job HB...I totally missed that ;)

[pauly.g]

Hi guys thanks for all your help on further examination I have eliminated everything and found out that it is indeed the tail servo that has dead shorted and burnt out causing the esc to get hot quick !! I cant tell you how good it was to see my 401 light up into life and not be fried to death :mrgreen: !!! Do you reckon i should fit one of those drop down voltage protection things (5v) will this have any efffect on the gyro and servo operation. I still want a digital tail can any one reccomend a good cheaper tail servo than the 9650 and also a surge protection device for the 5 volt drop hopefully to protect my 401 from any harm
cheers
paul

[j bomb]

Just out of curiosity, how many flights did you have on the servo before it died? I'm asking because I'm new at this myself and I'm using the same ESC and wonderingif it's something I should look out for. I have about 10 successful flights or so on mine w/ a 3153 servo, although my skills at this point limit me to just hovering and therefore I'm probably not asking too much from it.

[Hughes500Bob]

http://www.duralitebatteries.com/images/lg-tail.jpg

http://www.duralitebatteries.com has one for $16.95 for the tail servo. The 401 GYRO can handle the 6 volts just fine. Add $16.95 to the price of a 3154 and you might as well get the 9650.

I do not know about the 3153 servo .... I do not think it is a digital servo, and it is rated for 6 volts. I've not heard or read about any burning up like I have the 3154 on 6 volts @ trextuning.com.

[Jermo]

OUCH.. just take a servo extension, a diode, and a piece of heatstrink to make your own. Total cost will be under $7.

[vera]

Jermo - I was thinking the same. A silicone diode should knock off around 0.6 volts, even 2 of them in series should leave a bit over 4.8 volts (assuming starting with 6 volts). Have you tried this? What diode did you use? I don't know what the peak current load is but seems like it would be under an amp for a tail servo.

[Jermo]

shouldnt' be much current depending on the model/ESC/BEC. In this case it's the align ESC which I believe is good up to 2A so a general purpose diode rated for 1A should be overkill. Also the Schottly (sp) diodes have a lower forward voltage drop (about .3v or so). I'd just stick with diodes that have a high switching speed. I'd feel safe with a diode running .5A in the switcing variety.

[pauly.g]

guys thanks for the tips withthe diodes I will do this . I had read somewhere that the 53 was ok my mate has ordered one with his dragonus.. I think I shoul just put some extra cash towards a 9650 .Problem is in the uk its almost twice the cost as a54 butthen when you get ten minutes of flying out of a 54 they work out more expensive. Has anyone managed to get a refund out of futaba regarding the 54 surely you must get some sort of warranty .

[pauly.g]

what about HDS577 for the tail trex tuning seems to think there ok anyone with any experience want to jump in