Good. Both my 1/72 SKIPJACK and 1/72 GATO were glitching after a few minutes of operation (using only the ESC BEC power). But, on both boats, once I installed the big, dedicated BEC, I operate the boats for up to an hour without incident (then the battery is shot and I have to come in for a fresh pack).
David
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I just ordered the BEC from Caswell. I will let you know how it goes.
Peace,
TomLeave a comment:
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Yes, Alec. You too.
Only recently did I start having the same problem you, Tom and others were reporting from the field. And it only occurred in my GATO and 1/72 SKIPJACK. Consultation with Andy Lawrence convinced me that the MTroniks BEC was being over taxed by the load presented by the many devices and servos within those device heavy SD's.
It does not matter the battery size or capacity, Alec. The issue is how much current the little BEC within the ESC can squirt through the receiver bus. As it turns out, the ESC's BEC does not have the capacity we need; it was designed for the low load of a model boat with maybe one servo -- not the many servos and devices we employ in a SD. The ESC's BEC can only sustain a 1.5 Ampere current flow continuous, and a bit more for a short period of time. However, if over taxed (as in the GATO and 3.5 SD's) the little BEC will overheat and fail. The problem we're seeing is the BEC's inability to pass current demanded by the system, not your battery, Alec.
So, do as I recently recommended for all GATO and 3.5 SD customers: spring for the high-capacity, 5-Ampere BEC, plug that into the battery and receiver, and your glitching problems will go away.
Get this ... Now! http://www.sub-driver.com/electronic...r-circuit.html
And when you put it into your SD, disconnect the 'red' wire from the lead between ESC and receiver -- Andy warns against having two BEC working in parallel.
DavidLeave a comment:
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David I am running with a 7.2v pack @ 3600mah rather than the 11.4 Lipo packs. So should I be looking at the bec too? As I too occasionally suffer similar things with my Gato.Leave a comment:
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Simply hard wire the input red and black wires to the battery cables, and make up the BEC's output J-plug into an unused port of the receiver. Done.
Oh, and when you do that, disconnect the red wire from the ESC's lead so you don't parallel two BEC's on the receiver bus.
Sound good, Andy?
David
DavidLeave a comment:
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OK, I know the problem you're having -- something Andy has warned us about for years: we're way over-taxing the ESC's built-in BEC.
My GATO and big SKIPJACK were evidencing the same problem: Using the dinky BEC which is only rated for 1.5-Ampere service (in a system that peaks at nearly 3-Ampere) things would work fine till the ESC and it's BEC warmed up, then things would start glitching as the receiver bus failed to deliver the current demanded by the devices aboard. Just as you observed with your boat, Tom, over time, things got worse. Gremlin city!
The GATO and 3.5 SD's pull a lot of current for the many devices and (with the 1/72 SKIPJACK) larger servos they contain -- way, way over taxing the ESC's little BEC. You need a dedicated, high capacity BEC in there, pal.
The solution is to stick a dedicated, high current capable BEC into the SD, and all of the gremlins will go away. They're now available from Caswell. Here's the BEC you need: http://www.sub-driver.com/electronic...r-circuit.htmlLeave a comment:
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Got some more pool time in.
The good news after an hour or so of running her, she did not sink or rest at the bottom! The not so good news is it took some tweaking to finally get her to dive. Then it ended with her acting erratically And me breaking the barrel of the 40mm and the bow light support, grrrrr. All fixable (again).
Some of the erratic behavior is chattering servos and speed controller surging. Rear going down (very end of day). This time I think I need to re-calibrate the ADR2. All stop and the Gato was level. move forward and the aft would go down and bow up. The one other thing I noticed, when going in reverse, the rudder's click-on connector would disconnect. I may have to replace it with my connector.
Sam got some sub time in too! Did a fine job.
Last edited by trout; 10-02-2012, 04:51 AM.Leave a comment:
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I demand the price goes back I just ordered a Gato SAS SD ......... you just made me sell my 1st born... no wife... much prefer to sell her....... lol :-DLeave a comment:
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Excuse me i dont mean to hijack the thread,but...
will there be a retrofit kit to convert sub drivers to SAS?
ThanxLeave a comment:
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David, the Pam treatment is a one time treatment? just to see treatment? or a more regular thing you would do (part of the pre-mission check)? Arrrrgh, Thank you Mr. Merriman (in my best pirate voice)Leave a comment:
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