ted
Flight lieutenant
Lake City, Michigan, USA
Posts: 45 
|
Post by ted on Jul 9, 2013 15:10:34 GMT 1
I was perplexed when on my third flight my motor would die anytime I went to full throttle. Fortunately, I hadn't taken off yet. I disconnected the act wires, but that didn't help. So, for my third and fourth flights I just kept my TX below full throttle and I was OK.
Last night I reread the sc manual and saw that when the battery gets low, the electronics will turn off the motor, and you might be able to get it back briefly after going to low throttle and then back up. That's how mine acted, but I was dealing with a fully charged battery.
I thought of a test. I will attached a larger battery temporarily and see if that helps. I have one from a helicopter that has about one and a half times the capacity - but the same voltage. If this works, I think what might be happening is that going to full throttle on my stock battery must bring down the voltage just enough to shut down the motor so that the control electronics will still have a little power left to enable a good landing.
I'll report what I find.
I'm new to this forum, and appreciate all the information I'm starting to find here.
Sincerely,
Ted
|
|
|
|
Post by flydiver on Jul 9, 2013 17:07:13 GMT 1
You have a heli so I assume you know at least a little about lipo use? Do you have voltmeter to check the battery to make sure it IS charged? It's possible the charger isn't doing it's job.
Your rationale for your test is sound. You either have a lame battery, charger, or lame ESC. If you didn't mess them up this should be a warranty item.
|
|
|
|
Post by kenninny on Jul 9, 2013 22:50:55 GMT 1
I agree my gut feeling tells me your battery has a dead cell
|
|
ted
Flight lieutenant
Lake City, Michigan, USA
Posts: 45
|
Post by ted on Jul 10, 2013 3:31:12 GMT 1
You have a heli so I assume you know at least a little about lipo use? Do you have voltmeter to check the battery to make sure it IS charged? It's possible the charger isn't doing it's job. Your rationale for your test is sound. You either have a lame battery, charger, or lame ESC. If you didn't mess them up this should be a warranty item. Thank you, flydiver, for your analysis. I did the battery substitution test this evening using my Blade450 heli battery which is about one and a half times larger than the SuperCub battery, but the same voltage, fully charged with a different charger. My sc motor acted the same way. When I push the throttle all the way forward, after a second or two the motor dies. Then when l lower the stick completely and then push it forward again the motor starts up again. I can get it to work if I push the throttle all the way forward and then quickly back off just a slight bit, it will keep going, with more power than I need for a take off, and definitely more power than I need for general flying. However, if you think the ESC is defective, I could check to see if I can get a replacement on warranty. It looks like the receiver and ESC are one construction together. I'll plan to call Horizon Hobby tomorrow about it. While I could probably "make do" with it as it is, some day I may forget and go full throttle at a time that I need it to work properly and then I'd be in trouble. So, thank you to both flydiver and kenninny for your help on this. I'm open to any and all help and points of view. And, if I get this solved, I'll report it all in case it can be of help to anyone else. |
|
|
|
Post by flydiver on Jul 10, 2013 3:39:59 GMT 1
Same symptoms with a new good battery indicates a bad ESC. The ESC/RX combo is not a great piece of electronics and subject to failure.
|
|
|
|
Post by toff on Jul 10, 2013 7:12:58 GMT 1
I've had this problem (Not with a supercub, but with a hobbyking bought esc.) Replacement cured the problem, so I personally would point the finger at the Esc. Hobbyzone are usually very good at replacing defective parts, but, word of warning - do NOT mention that you have flown and crashed. This invalidates your warranty. Tell them you are trying to have your first flight, but the motor keeps dying. You asked a friend to check it out, blah, blah, new RX/ esc please... Best of luck with it!
|
|
ted
Flight lieutenant
Lake City, Michigan, USA
Posts: 45
|
Post by ted on Jul 11, 2013 4:01:50 GMT 1
OK gentlemen, many thanks for your help!!!!
I phoned Horizon Hobby this morning and they are going to send me out an rx/esc combo on warranty. The person I talked to said that they have had some units with this same problem, so he knew what I was talking about.
When my part arrives, I'll try it out and post my results here.
|
|
|
|
Post by flydiver on Jul 11, 2013 5:55:37 GMT 1
Good deal. Figured it was probably the ESC.
|
|
ted
Flight lieutenant
Lake City, Michigan, USA
Posts: 45
|
Post by ted on Jul 14, 2013 3:26:20 GMT 1
Being relatively new to this forum, I started this thread in the wrong place - sorry. So now that I'm ready to give my report, I will move it over to the "Trouble Shooting" folder in the hope that it will be more helpful to others if I place my report there. Thanks for your understanding about this. I'll try to use the same name "motor dies when going to full throttle" in the "Trouble Shooting" folder.
|
|
