HP03t Tail Motor.. Finally!

[SuperBee364]

Back on topic of the brushless tail...

Question for you guys that are running double brushless...

How did you do your power wires?

Right now, I have my battery leads going directly to the esc power pads. Then I run wires form the esc power pads to the front of the 3-1 board.

Throwing the tail esc into the mix, I'm not sure what the best way to power it is going to be. I was thinking of leaving the main motor esc connected the way it is now (as I described it already). Then to power the tail esc, just add in two more wires that would get direct soldered to the Micro Deans connector. So basically just have twin battery leads, both soldered to the same Micro Deans connector. One set of leads going to the main motor esc, the other to the tail esc. Thoughts? Other ideas?

[sskaug]

Originally Posted by Vizzion

Eagerly awaiting your feedback on how you go SuperBee.

I am thinking of just laying down the bucks for the flash unit and do it myself, can also offer some kind of service to others like me on this side of the ditch

The software is for free, and will be. And for all to use. I really support helping others out by offering the service of flashing, replacing fets or whatever.

[sskaug]

Originally Posted by SuperBee364

Back on topic of the brushless tail...

Question for you guys that are running double brushless...

How did you do your power wires?

Right now, I have my battery leads going directly to the esc power pads. Then I run wires form the esc power pads to the front of the 3-1 board.

Throwing the tail esc into the mix, I'm not sure what the best way to power it is going to be. I was thinking of leaving the main motor esc connected the way it is now (as I described it already). Then to power the tail esc, just add in two more wires that would get direct soldered to the Micro Deans connector. So basically just have twin battery leads, both soldered to the same Micro Deans connector. One set of leads going to the main motor esc, the other to the tail esc. Thoughts? Other ideas?

You can connect the main and tail ESC together with short (a couple of mm), fairly thick wires. Then you run one pair of thick wires from them to the battery, and you can use quite thin wires to the 3in1.

Dylan did some measurements on the HP06v2, and at 4400rpm full pitch it was 9A. And 10A at 6400rpm! The tail motor draws about 2-3A. Not sure about the 3in1, but the servos are the main consumer, should not be much more than an amp at full.

Keep us posted on what you find with the XP 7A that died. A crash should not cause it to die.

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by sskaug

You can connect the main and tail ESC together with short (a couple of mm), fairly thick wires. Then you run one pair of thick wires from them to the battery, and you can use quite thin wires to the 3in1.

Dylan did some measurements on the HP06v2, and at 4400rpm full pitch it was 9A. And 10A at 6400rpm! The tail motor draws about 2-3A. Not sure about the 3in1, but the servos are the main consumer, should not be much more than an amp at full.

Keep us posted on what you find with the XP 7A that died. A crash should not cause it to die.

Thanks for that, Steffen, that's how I'll plan on wiring it up, then.

I'm really pretty clueless about what's up with the xp-7a. It will no longer recognize a throttle signal. I still get the start up chimes.

[SuperBee364]

Just ordered the toolstick from Digi-key, and a new xp-7a from A Pro Hobbies.

Hey NCCraig, I'll have my Alienware laptop with me (with the flashing software installed on it) when I'm back in RDU in a couple weeks if you want to flash some esc's.

If anyone wants to have a look at my screwed up xp-7a, just holler and I'll send it off to ya.

[Jeff_Barrett]

Originally Posted by Dylwad

Steffan will never be done with the code I have a feeling, I put an idea into his head to add a brushed motor output with the damped feature for the 120SR tail motor using the XP-3A, might be interesting!

Dylan, I've been trying to get OverSky to manufacture a PnP version of the XP-3A w/converter for the tail. If you're interested, you should contact Jon as well and see if we can't get a run done ....

[coredump]

I can take a look at that busted xp-7a and share my finding, if any.

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by coredump

I can take a look at that busted xp-7a and share my finding, if any.

You got it!

[SuperBee364]

Just bench tested the HP03t and it ran well. Now to just get it all installed.

[tommeke]

keep us posted, I just received shipping confirmation on mine, and as soon as Dylan gets the xp-12a back in stock I'm going to add a hp06v2 and governed xp-12a, can't wait

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by tommeke

keep us posted, I just received shipping confirmation on mine, and as soon as Dylan gets the xp-12a back in stock I'm going to add a hp06v2 and governed xp-12a, can't wait

Sounds like a ton of fun.

A few pics on the bench. Just getting ready to install it all.


Tail esc ready to go. In the next picture, check out how small the bullet connectors are that Dylan sells. Shown next to a stock mCPX connector for size reference.


Here's a 3 pack of the bullet connectors, again next to the stock connector.



All of these pics were taken through a magnifying glass using the crappy zoom on my old iPhone 3GS.

Edit: Just got done mounting the tail esc to the front of the 3-1.

[tommeke]

stupid question, why do you need those bullet conectors?

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by tommeke

stupid question, why do you need those bullet conectors?

You don't, honestly. But it seems like I'm always messing around with this thing, and get tired of always having to de-solder motor wires, so I'm using micro bullet connectors on both esc's and both motors.

Edit: Dylan (and pretty much everyone else, really) recommends direct soldering the motor wires to the esc's.

[SuperBee364]

Now comes the tricky part. The xp-7a's throttle signal wire solders on to the opposite side of the board from the power leads. Doesn't sound like any big deal, right? Unfortunately, the way I have the installation planned out, it's a pretty big deal. Ah well... back at it.

[Spunjah413]

What gauge wire (blue) is that and where is it from?

[hamstar78]

what are some of the benefits to this tail? i know its lighter but does it hold better than a 120 tail? Not that my 120 tail doesnt hold just fine also you never have to replace it as apposed to the 120

[HeliSmith]

Superbee I love that you turned this into a build thread and your work looks real nice!!

hamstar you have to decide for yourself.. Here's page 7 of the thread SuperBee and I are using to build our helis.. Scroll down to where Dylwad is testing different setups.
https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...=390517&page=7

[SuperBee364]

Originally Posted by Spunjah413

What gauge wire (blue) is that and where is it from?

It's 28 AWG milspec wire that I bought from member Cartrixx

Originally Posted by HeliSmith

Superbee I love that you turned this into a build thread and your work looks real nice!!

hamstar you have to decide for yourself.. Here's page 7 of the thread SuperBee and I are using to build our helis.. Scroll down to where Dylwad is testing different setups.
https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...=390517&page=7

Thanks!

A few things aren't turning out quite as well as planned, but I guess that always happens to a certain extent.

Figure it should be done in another couple hours...

Waiting for the soldering iron to heat back up after tending my daughter for the last few hours, so I thought I'd snap a quick picture...



Notice the white wire soldered to the blue wire at the bottom of the picture? My throttle signal wire broke. So it's soldered to a jumper wire, which will need to be covered in liquid electrical tape. Bah, so much for the perfect build.

Stacking the esc's like this isn't really the way to go, IMO. It's too hard to run power wires between the two ESC's. It would be best to mount one esc on the front, the other on the back (at least I think it would be), but I'm using Dylan's frame/canopy brace which doesn't leave enough clearance between the back of the 3-1 and the frame brace to mount an esc. So I made an ESC sandwich on the front of the board.

For now, there will be two sets of battery leads, one from each esc, which will be soldered to a common Micro Deans connector. Having two sets of battery wires will increase the weight a bit, but IMO, that's no biggie; thing has more power than I know what to do with, anyway.

[NCcraig]

Mount your tail ESC on the back and modify Dylan's CF cage frame to fit. You have waaaaay to much going on up front! I hate clutter!

PM me if you need some help.

[HeliSmith]

SuperBee on your signal wire separate it again. Take heatshrink and cram it all to one end. Use a Western Union style wire splice which is 4 turns on each wire like in this picture. Then spread out your heatshrink it will look really clean.

(The third illustration is depicting a soldered finish.)