Fire down below

What have I done wrong?  Clyde Puffer with a small brushed motor. Futaba R202GF two channel receiver.  Jeti JES 180 ESC plugged into socket B on the Rx with the orange wire next to the B.  3 x AA cells in a battery tray and a bog standard servo.  When I switched on the servo worked but not the motor. Polarities and connections all checked.  Then the positive connection at the battery tray melted and the ESC got hot.  What’s wrong and is the ESC a write off?

if you can take a photo of your set up it will make it a bit easier. i may be wrong but you shouldnt need a seperate battery box , as most rx have bec which feed from esc so no need for battery box. just check to see if it says bec on rx. sorry i cant say much more without seeing it. some one else may see this and help.

david

Can't do a photo as I had to strip everything out.  But the battery box was connected to the ESC - no other battery.

The ESC has one pair of wires which go to the battery and another pair to the motor - both clearly marked.  (and of course the wires to the RX and on/off switch)

I think the problem was that I connected the speed controller to socket B on the RX.  Now think it should have gone to one of the two channel sockets.  Given the melting of the battery box and the heat build up in the ESC is the ESC now a write off.

And what is the difference between a Jeti JES 180 ESC and a Jeti ECO ESC?

Richard

I am not familiar with either the ESC or that Receiver. For sure it sounds as though you managed to create a short somewhere which is what melted the battery box.
The lead from the ESC should go to one of the channels on the receiver. 
In my experience two channel Rxs have maybe three sockets - 2 channels and the battery connection for use if the ESC does not have a battery eliminator circuit (BEC) to power the Rx. If this is the 'Socket B' you mean, then I can't quite see why it should have created a short.

See the sketch below. The Servo and ESC may be reversed on your Rx - its a long time since I used a 2 channel set

Barrie

thats it barrie,
i couldnt find the words to explain  it in detail the way you have drawn it . i do find typing and trying to put into words what i mean difficult. i prefer to talk not type  .


david

Many thanks  - that makes perfect sense.  What a pity manufacturers don't design plugs and sockets so you can't plug them in wrong.  So given that my mistake was to plug the ESC into the battery socket of the Rx rather than a channel socket and that it got hot is it a write off?

Only one way to tell - plug it in and try it  I don't see why it should be, but you never know  I would think it more likely to be the Rx, but you can test that with a 4.8v battery and a servo.
My plan would be to test the servo only first. That will tell you if the Rx is OK. If it is, plug everything up as my diagram and see what happens.
I did look up the JES 180 and it appears to be an aeroplane ESC and Forward Only. My preference would be to use either an Mtroniks (look for the ones they've taken off the line for testing- cheaper) if you want a BEC, or an Action Electronics one and a separate BEC or 4.8 volt battery.

Which part of the country are you? There may be someone near who could help.

Barrie

SW Wiltshire and I'd certainly welcome a mentor!

Thanks again for putting up with my ignorance.  Having tested it the Rx is driving the servo OK but the ESC does appear to be dead.  I now need to buy two ESCs.  One is to drive a small ancient and nameless brushed motor in my Puffer and I think the Mtroniks VP10 would be OK.  The other is to drive a bigger model with a Graupner Speed 600 which I think is also a brushed motor.  So perhaps for that I need an Mtroniccs VP15?  But as they are both the same price perhaps two VP 15s would be simplest?  Size is not an issue - plenty of space.

Richard,

Yes - the only advantage of the Viper 10 is its small size. In my view these would be a good solution.

Barrie

Thanks again - I've ordered two VP15s and will try to avoid wrecking them. I'll report progress.  And if anybody reading this is within range of Tisbury I'd love to hear from them.

RichardaBeattie wrote:

Thanks again for putting up with my ignorance.  

there is no ignorance shown here Richard..........I am the worlds worse at electronic gizmos and will always seak help from others

may I also just add a suggestion to Barries diagram.........put an inline fuse holder and fuse, [obtainable from any car assessor shop but not Halfords as they will rip you off and charge double or treble the cost that a small shop will for the same] and place a fuse in of lower value than the ESC. this fuse should go between the motor and esc on the positive live wire as the motor will try to draw as much as possible from the battery through the esc and the fuse will stop this and............will stop you frying future esc's.

neil.

Richard,

Neil is right - add a fuse. I didn't want to complicate things when trying to find out how you had wired your boat. I would put it where Neil says, others put it between the battery and ESC. If you want maximum protection, use both.
If I remember rightly the Vipers have a degree of inbuilt protection against excessive current, but fuses are cheap

Barrie