Phoenix 80 ESC : Low Voltage Cutoff

[Destin]

The manual for the Phoenix 80 ESC lists 6 options for low voltage cutoff:

I intend to use 6S LiPo packs - so which (if any) would apply?
I only see up to 4 cell lithium listed:

Option 1: 4.0V cutoff voltage 5 cell NiCad or NiMH packs
Option 2: 5.0V cutoff voltage* 6-8 cell NiCad or NiMH packs
Option 3: 6.0V cutoff voltage 7-10 cell NiCad or NiMH packs, or 2 cell Lithium packs
Option 4: 7.2V cutoff voltage 9-12 cell NiCad or NiMH packs
Option 5: 9.0V cutoff voltage 12-14 cell NiCad, 12-20 cell NiMH, or 3 cell Lithium packs
Option 6: 12.0V cutoff voltage 20 cell Nicad packs, or 4 cell Lithium packs


Did I order the wrong ESC? (I took the advice from espiritmodel.com for a beginner setup)

Or should I not worry about low voltage cutoff and go by a timer or an external battery monitor?

[BruceW]

From the manual, it looks like you want option 1 for auto detect to cutoff at 3V/cell.

1 - Auto-LiPo* - Automatically detects LiPo cell count, and sets 3v/cell cutoff voltage. Safe for use with any LiPo packs, but DO NOT use with NiMH/NiCad packs. The Phoenix ESC will beep the number of cells it’s detected immediately after the initialization tones, and before the arming tones. This is the FACTORY setting.

EDIT: Here is a screen shot.
http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=43716&stc=1&d=1206895377

[Destin]

That is odd.

Yours does not look like the PDF manual I downloaded for the Phoenix 80:

http://file.espritmodel.com/documents/Phoenix_80.pdf

[BruceW]

Here is the link directly from Castle Creations.

http://www.castlecreations.com/support/documents/Phoenix_User_Guide.pdf

[jamesotron99]

Personally, I always have the LVC turned off. Would you rather lose a machine or puff a pack?

[OICU812]

Personally, I always have the LVC turned off. Would you rather lose a machine or puff a pack?


I agree 100%, leave it off, use a timer and be dilligent about using one.

:)

[BruceW]

Not sure how the low voltage cutoff works on the CC ESCs but on my Align 35A ESC it starts pulsing the motor when it gets close to cutoff (one of the programmable options). Even though I fly by timer there have been times when flying my T450 that the cutoff alarm gets signaled early and that tells me when my packs are starting to deteriorate and not hold voltage. This has happened on one Align 18C pack and a TPX.

Of course, you can also tell when the punch out just isn't there anymore.

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

On my CC35 it simply loses power and you better be landing when it does. On my CC HV-85 I don't have it set. I'm not crashing my machine over a lipo.