Brushless??

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  • Kim Sleep
    Commander
    • Nov 2013
    • 329

    Brushless??

    Any benefits to using a Brushless motor in subs..it seems a bit of overkill.
    A man of true Frankenstinean proportions!!
  • He Who Shall Not Be Named
    Moderator
    • Aug 2008
    • 12253

    #2
    Originally posted by Kim Sleep
    Any benefits to using a Brushless motor in subs..it seems a bit of overkill.
    I'm with you, Kim. I would stick with brushed motors but I can't find a reliable source that will provide them in bulk anymore. And the price of the brushless motors themselves have come down a bit over the decades. However the damned brushless motor ESC's are expensive, many don't have 'reverse', and you need a dedicated ESC for each motor; you can't gang brushless motors in parallel off one ESC like you can brushed motors.

    Sources of supply have forced my hand. I would rather stick with brushed motors -- where the only extra work is slapping on some spark-suppression cap's and you're good to go.

    God damned Science!













    David
    Who is John Galt?

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    • Subculture
      Admiral
      • Feb 2009
      • 2119

      #3
      Advantages- Smaller, more efficient, no brush noise, less heat, can swing large props direct drive.

      Disadvantages- Requires a bit of underpinning knowledge, huge variety of designs making selection tricky for the uninitiated.

      High quality reversible ESC's can be had for about fiver ($6), and thanks to modern mosfets have a tiny footprint. Here you can see a Hak RC Blheli_32 esc. Next to it is the standard Futaba receiver plug it comes pre-wired with . As you can see the controller isn't much bigger, yet it's rated at 35A continuous at up to 5s lipo (18.5 volts), enough for most model submariners I think. So small footprint, they lack a BEC, which is a good thing in my view as built in BEC's are rarely adequate for subs. A standalone BEC of 3A rating can be had for about pound on ebay.

      Click image for larger version

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      To set up the ESC you use a free app. A typical window looks like this. In there you can set things like throttle points, bi-directional control, PWM frequency to the motor etc. I use an Arduino nano to chat with esc. I found it pretty easy, and I'm no computer geek.

      Click image for larger version

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      • He Who Shall Not Be Named
        Moderator
        • Aug 2008
        • 12253

        #4
        THAT is good stuff, Andy! Thanks. I trust the Boss-man is looking this over right now.

        That little brushless ESC would change my whole outlook on the subject.

        And I'm with you 100% about BEC's built into the ESC -- less than worthless, they give the uninitiated a false security, that a ****-ant capable battery eliminator will drive four servos, three control devices, a receiver and a Flux-Capacitor with no problem at all. PROBLEM CITY! Yeah, stand-alone <3 Ampere BEC's are a must in most r/c submarine applications.

        Good points all. Andy …. you da man!

        David
        Hating this Science horse-****!
        Who is John Galt?

        Comment

        • Kim Sleep
          Commander
          • Nov 2013
          • 329

          #5
          Holy Crap David, is that the number of units that you normally work on at any given time????...thats truly amazing!
          A man of true Frankenstinean proportions!!

          Comment

          • Kim Sleep
            Commander
            • Nov 2013
            • 329

            #6
            I never rely on built in BECs . Ive learned this from my "Olden Days". Stand alone units are Cheap as Chips, and have excellent noise suppression, and a rock solid output.
            A man of true Frankenstinean proportions!!

            Comment

            • RCSubGuy
              Welcome to my underwater realm!
              • Aug 2009
              • 1768

              #7
              Gents, I've successfully evaluated the BLHeli32 ESC's and they're awesome. Once we get through some stock on the MTroniks units (which are awesome, but expensive and large), they will be standard issue in all new SubDrivers. .

              Comment

              • Subculture
                Admiral
                • Feb 2009
                • 2119

                #8
                The brushless motor you're using looks a brute, so I would advise going for the Blheli_32 controllers which have a current sensor. Not all Blheli_32 esc's have them, as you have to pay a bit more to get that feature, but it enables you to set current limiting, so if you get a stall condition, you're less likely to blow out the controller or feed fuse.

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