Anyone Into Unlimited Hydros?

[Clugh]

We all should probably start to wear safety glasses at a minimum for fast electrics with High C and capacity cells. I suppose a pair of welders groves may have given you time to get off the heat. You right though it could have been worse. Electrics at these levels come with risk. A charging bag would also give you that added protection. Now that I saw this I may finally invest in a couple. I've already started looking. This one pair could possibly be used in model if there was enough room.

[Clugh]

Thats still good for ECB but that difference is significant at almost double the resistance compared to the AMASS SH 8.0

I ordered my SMC packs with AMASS SH 8.0 already connected at the factory and went from there . All my high current stuff will use these till I die or am done in hobby (never) 😀. There are some good connectors in Germany on the Lehner website as well. Steve Neu sells the AMASS 7mm which are also great. I also have a set of EC8 anti spark ill use on some 70-80 volt projects because they have the anti spark already built in. The XLX2's have anti spark already built in so I also went with the SH 8.0 on it. I use a 100 watt iron which is more than enough heat but castle creation uses 200 watt irons! A castle 6.6 or 8 mm would probably be easiest to solder.

[Clugh]

So THIS happened.

I was trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with my setup. I had a well known man in the RC hydro community solder me a setup that should have worked. He preferred an 8mm bullet setup (I prefer connectors that plug easily together which I am used to in model aircraft like EC5, XT90 etc). I didn’t like the multiple positive and negative wires all over the place be he insisted that was normal for hydros.

So I decided in my infinite wisdom to try again on my own and plug everything together and mess with the radio settings.

I noticed there were two leads coming out of the ESC. One for throttle and the other for SBUS. Since I am a Spektrum guy, I didn’t know much about SBUS other than I heard you can program everything with just that lead into the RX.

I plugged the SBUS lead into the SBUS port and thought that would be the difference.

Whoops.

When I went to plug the final cables together for series I heard a massive POP!! Followed by this giant bright circle of light the size of a volleyball so bright it looked like a welder’s arc.

I thought it was my last moment on earth. My fiance heard it all the way upstairs and came running. I was in a momentary state of shock. My fingers were burned and blackened.

It was a scary and humbling experience.

So I have ordered new 4S 6000 batts, and the new ESC of course. I have someone who is going to solder EC8s all the way around. No more stand alone wires. Every main connection will be a EC8 connector so I literally can’t screw up the wiring.

I had to discard one brand new 4S 6000 as the explosion literally bore holes into it. The other one seems to be fine. I checked the cells and there are no irregularities.

A scary experience to be sure. I will never again put myself in a situation where I am unsure of an electrical setup. I am lucky. It could have been much much worse of an outcome.

Here’s some photos.

Man! am I glad you are okay. Lipos are pretty serious powerplants a def not the most stable. We all should really be using charging bags and probably out side somewhere away from flammables. There is alot of juice in the batteries we use for the FE boats. It honestly sounds like a reverse polarity which can happen. I feel horrible about this because you had left it alone. I was the one insisted we try to get the seal going.

I'm sorry Todd I feel like its all my fault. The connector advice your friend is valid, EC5 and XTC90 really are on the small side considering a q hydro can pull and average of around 180 amperes around an oval. It also about which connector has the lower voltage drop across it. Amass 7mm or the Castle 6.5 or 8mm. You have to be careful with the bulk connectors from china and usa distributors or china because the economic side of a cheap connector probably uses copper cladded aluminum which will have a higher resistance than pure copper every time. I set my male & female plugs up in such a way that reverse polarity has to be intentional I always make the positive hooded female and the male negative let me show you about the EC8 which is good but the AMASS is better.



Sincerely
Hubert

[Aros]

So THIS happened.

I was trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with my setup. I had a well known man in the RC hydro community solder me a setup that should have worked. He preferred an 8mm bullet setup (I prefer connectors that plug easily together which I am used to in model aircraft like EC5, XT90 etc). I didn’t like the multiple positive and negative wires all over the place be he insisted that was normal for hydros.

So I decided in my infinite wisdom to try again on my own and plug everything together and mess with the radio settings.

I noticed there were two leads coming out of the ESC. One for throttle and the other for SBUS. Since I am a Spektrum guy, I didn’t know much about SBUS other than I heard you can program everything with just that lead into the RX.

I plugged the SBUS lead into the SBUS port and thought that would be the difference.

Whoops.

When I went to plug the final cables together for series I heard a massive POP!! Followed by this giant bright circle of light the size of a volleyball so bright it looked like a welder’s arc.

I thought it was my last moment on earth. My fiance heard it all the way upstairs and came running. I was in a momentary state of shock. My fingers were burned and blackened.

It was a scary and humbling experience.

So I have ordered new 4S 6000 batts, and the new ESC of course. I have someone who is going to solder EC8s all the way around. No more stand alone wires. Every main connection will be a EC8 connector so I literally can’t screw up the wiring.

I had to discard one brand new 4S 6000 as the explosion literally bore holes into it. The other one seems to be fine. I checked the cells and there are no irregularities.

A scary experience to be sure. I will never again put myself in a situation where I am unsure of an electrical setup. I am lucky. It could have been much much worse of an outcome.

Here’s some photos.

[Aros]

I see TFH-N / Normal.

The servo wasn’t that expensive as I didn’t buy it from that website. It’s now discontinued but I heard it’s a good one.

[Clugh]

I never did find out what mode the radio is set for? I didn’t see any settings in the menu on that. Here’s the servo:

https://www.promodeler.com/DS555BLHV

Ok . But i'm talking about the channel the ESC is on. channel 2 I suppose. Hit the home button then User Menu is bottom right corner of the screen then goto page 2 and select receiver. You should be able to change it there from Digital, Analog, SR, and UR modes.

You paid over 100 dollars for that servo? WOW....

[Aros]

I never did find out what mode the radio is set for? I didn’t see any settings in the menu on that. Here’s the servo:

https://www.promodeler.com/DS555BLHV

[Clugh]

Hmm, great question! I'll have to check on that and get back to you.

Also just out of curiosity what servos are you running with the radio? It has nothing to do with the problem I'm just being nozy. LOL!!!

TIA
Hubert

[Clugh]

sold it a few years ago but it probably had a 1800kv motor on 4 s

Oh okay thought that was an 1/8th scale. Im assuming it was a 4s or LSH boat at 1800Kv

Regards
Hubert

[Aros]

Hmm, great question! I'll have to check on that and get back to you.

[Clugh]

Aros I do have a question about the futaba rx settings on your throttle. Is it set up as an analog, digital, or SR mode? Have you checked that?


TIA,
Hubert

[Ron1950]

sold it a few years ago but it probably had a 1800kv motor on 4 s

[Clugh]

Ron1950
Is this a Phil Thomas hull? What are you powering the boats with?

Thanks,
Hubert

[Aros]

We had the end points and rates to 125% and everything in between. I already have the new ESC on the way and giving the Seal to Brian for him to noodle with. If it turns out it was a missed function/feature and the new one works great, I'll just sell it.

[Clugh]

Everything seems to be connected just fine but I don't see an option to increase the throttle range on the transmitter. There's reverse, rates, end points, etc...

Is your dual rate at 100% is your brake rate at 100% is your servo reversed on the throttle channel? Are you positive you don't have a cold solder joint or something. Have you told who you purchased the combo from that you are having an issue? Id do this before I spend more money because buying the castle doesn't make what you already paid for work. If you haven't done anything but connected as instructed there's no reason for you to eat it. Just my opinion. I truly believe something is not configured correctly. The esc should be able to run that motor with no issue.


Hubert

[Hugh Wiedman]

a few more 1/8 scale hydros

Sweet Fleet!!

[Aros]

Everything seems to be connected just fine but I don't see an option to increase the throttle range on the transmitter. There's reverse, rates, end points, etc...

[Clugh]

Yep we reversed the throttle channel as well. Nothing has worked yet. Hopefully this new ESC works!

Hi Aros,

Something is not right in the setup. There's no reason the ZTW esc should not be working. You dont have any long motor mount screws or anything touching the windings or anything. Are you programming with a box or the transmitter? and is the transmitter setup for the full range of throttle?


Thank you,
Hubert

[Aros]

Nice boats!

[f4u ausie]

Some very niceboats there