Odd - No throttle output on 5th pack, brand new 450L

[Miracle Boy]

Hey guys,

Firstly, sorry about the long winded post, BUT......

So, I built a new 450L, all stock apart from the FBL unit, using a Vortex vx1n on it. 6S 1550mAh batteries.

First 4 flights, no problems at all, just trying to dial her in.

5th pack I plugged it in and accidentally bumped the heli while the Vortex was initializing, checked and sure enough, red LED on Vortex (Failed to init properly, should be a blue LED) So I pulled the battery and plugged it back in. Vortex initialized, but I had no throttle at all. Pulled the battery connector again and re-plugged, same thing, no throttle, tried again, no throttle. Turned off DX8 and switched it back on and tried yet again, no throttle. Huh!! , WTF!!

I decided to leave it for a few minutes to see if something needed to reset and while I was waiting I wiggled the wires from the ESC to the motor.

When I pulugged the battery in again all was fine again, throttle working again. I wish I hadn't wiggled those wires now coz now I don't know if something had to reset or if wiggling the wires fixed the problem, i.e. a dry solder joint somewhere

I took her back up and flew most of the 5th flight the right way up, but everything seemed fine, so I started to do flips and rolls, inverted flight etc and all was o.k. I flew the 6th pack and did lots of half piro flips and climb outs and it was fine, so IDK what the issue was.

I'm going to swap out the stock ESC anyway, I don't like the way it spools up too fast (for my liking) and changes head speeds too quickly, it's going to strip gears!! I'll put a HW Platinum 50A in there instead.

Does anybody know what the hell happened with the no throttle thing?

I'm thinking perhaps either the Vortex or the ESC didn't like being unplugged and re-plugged quickly and it initiated some sort of fail safe condition?

Thanks

MB

[RC/DC_5000]

Did your ESC beep through the sequence and actually arm? It sounds like you may have had a switch or throttle stick that wasn't showing the ESC a 0 value.

So your ESC never armed. Next time, follow the FBL unit lights to initialize the gyro, but also understand the ESC beeps and arming sequence. They are two separate and required events for the throttle to work.

You shouldn't have the mindset of wiggling wires to make it work- the electronics are a lot more reliable than that.

[Miracle Boy]

Originally Posted by RC/DC_5000

Did your ESC beep through the sequence and actually arm? It sounds like you may have had a switch or throttle stick that wasn't showing the ESC a 0 value.

So your ESC never armed. Next time, follow the FBL unit lights to initialize the gyro, but also understand the ESC beeps and arming sequence. They are two separate and required events for the throttle to work.

You shouldn't have the mindset of wiggling wires to make it work- the electronics are a lot more reliable than that.

Hi, yes, I should have mentioned, I got no beeps from the ESC at all when powering up the heli when I was seeing this issue. The Vortex initalized just fine, but not a peep (or beep) from the ESC. Throttle hold was on, and throttle a 0. I checked and rechecked several times.

I'm just being a bit paranoid because I've never seen this sort of issue before, and certainly not a new heli, but I agree, if it was a dry joint in the wiring, and a slight nudge of the wires "fixed" it, then it would surely have fallen out of the sky at some point during my 5th or 6th flight.

Maybe it's a safety feature of the Align ESC, but I can't find anything in the documentation for the ESC, as limited as that is.

MB

[adjday]

I was having the same problems with the second battery up to about 15 min after the first flight...with the stock ESC. Would happen every flight, just after a flight. (Also using the Gpro).

I might be wrong but i felt the ESC was having problems with powering up the BEC after it gets to temp...nothing to back up that clame tho.

Changed out to a CC50 light, and it never happened again.

[dogbreath]

It does sound like overheated ESC...check temp after a flight.

[Miracle Boy]

My ESC was cool to the touch after every flight.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the ESC's BEC was the issue, that would more than likely affect the initialization of the Vortex, and it booted up fine.

I've ordered a HW 50A Platinum v3 to put in it anyway. IMO the stock ESC is pretty crap anyway, as per the reasons mentioned in my first post.

I'll report back once the HW ESC is installed.

MB

[RC/DC_5000]

The Platinum is an excellent ESC. You'll love it I'm sure. The governor is very very good. When you change it out... double check your motor wires to make sure they are not pinched down on the motor mount plate.

[Miracle Boy]

Update:-

So I now have the HW 50A V3 ESC, A set of 3.0mm bullet connectors (to mate corectly with the stock bullets on the 460MX motor, the HW ESC comes with 3.5mm connectors fitted to the motor wires) and another few XT60 connectors so I can fit one to the ESC.

Now then, I can't seem to find what the correct drive frequeny and timing should be for this 460MX motor. I know it's a 6 pole motor, and I was thinking about either 8Khz or 12Khz drive frequency, but I really don't know anything about what timing should be used.

Anybody got any idea what I should be running?

Thanks

MB

[alyon187]

Heres a write up someone did w that same motor and esc...

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...=609727&page=2

[RC/DC_5000]

There's no absolute answer to the PWM. Some Align reps have posted that Align designs their motors for 12 PWM. I think most people use this and accept it. I've tried every PWM and settled with 12. Align does state in manuals that their motors work best between 0 and 5 degrees of timing.

I used the CC Edge 50 governed, 12T pinion, 12 PWM, 5 degrees of timing and peaked 1023 watts. It was absolute 6s insanity and actually overpowered the helicopter.

Can't go wrong with trying those setttings.