Speed Controllers - Making Sense Of It All

[firefly]

@RougeTwoRobots thanks a bunch, saved me in the nick of time!!

[TeamKnightshade]

Quick question, has anyone tried the FeatherTwo with a Spektrum receiver? I'm looking into getting one and already have an AR610 that I'd like to use

[Rapidrory]

I recently updated the firmware so now the FeatherTwos should work with pretty much any RX on the market, including the Specktrum ones.

[limpet]

I`m pretty sure it was an AR610 I had and they don`t fail safe.

[TeamKnightshade]

@Rapidrory Ok thanks for that, will definitely be considering getting one then!

@limpet Really? The tests I've done with it so far have shown the motor stopping when the transmitter is turned off. I hope when I get the main ESC it does the same.

[limpet]

I`ll have to check the number.

[Theo]

I'm going to run a couple of these in my upcoming build.
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykin...d-car-esc.html
Any thoughts? If not, any suggestions? (brushed please)

[overkill]

The description says 'Forward/Brake/Reverse' which may mean there is a significant pause between forward and reverse. There isn't enough info to be sure, so I would order one to test. The 7.4V limit is rather low; the average drill motor will be well down on power at that voltage.

[Roboteernat]

I have one of here currently sat on my test setup, single motor test running an Argos drill motor, seems ok, but not done any extensive testing.

Not sure they can handle the stall current or be able to dissipate the heat quick enough, but like I say, I haven't tested it properly and it's only 2s!

[Roboteernat]

Just posting a demo, a ROUGHH video showing it running my Argos drill motor from a 11.4v nicad,
https://youtu.be/rCl4gA-V298

Poor video made in a rush, some reason there is no sound and uploaded to my other YouTube account... but shows it running with servo tester manually speed then automatically running through max to min

[maddox10]

The 2S on those HK esc's limit is rather annoying.
Most feathers are driving 4S or higher.

If you're using normal batterydrills as a the base of the drive, you'll need BIG wheels to get any speed.

[Roboteernat]

Currently im running 3s on my design, speed so far is topend shy of 3 meters per second. I think thats good enough for my feather, add in some friction and weight, im happy with that speed. I do have some larger wheels on order too but my design means i need lower wheels.

those motors are able to go top speed 700rpm no load.
I would advise against the use of the hobbyking esc.

[Theo]

Does anyone know of a good, cheap, brushed ESC on hobbying that can run up to 12 NIMH cells and a 12ish volt discharge for a featherweight (I'm using them on a pair of Bosch 35ws)? Sorry it's so specific. I just need a decent ESC with a decent discharge voltage and can handle a decent amount of cells. Any suggestions?

[AIDAN]

Hi I took the advice which was very much appreciated and bought one from Rory mangles, I also bought the cheap one from eBay to setup with as I'm new to this and didn't want to blow a £55 esc. The eBay one only has one 3 pin cable to connect to the Rx and when I connect to ch3 of rx I get both motors turning fine when I push left thumbstick forwards however it doesn't respond to left and right inputs. If I connect to channel 4 the motors spin when I move thumbstick left and right. The Rory mangles esc has two 3 pin connectors so I guess my question is how does the eBay one tank steer with only one 3 pin cable?

[Shakey]

Hi I took the advice which was very much appreciated and bought one from Rory mangles, I also bought the cheap one from eBay to setup with as I'm new to this and didn't want to blow a £55 esc. The eBay one only has one 3 pin cable to connect to the Rx and when I connect to ch3 of rx I get both motors turning fine when I push left thumbstick forwards however it doesn't respond to left and right inputs. If I connect to channel 4 the motors spin when I move thumbstick left and right. The Rory mangles esc has two 3 pin connectors so I guess my question is how does the eBay one tank steer with only one 3 pin cable?

It sounds like the ebay one is a single channel ESC, meaning it can only listen to one command at once. Hence only having one servo wire and cannot do tank steering. Each 'channel' (Ie forwards or back on left stick is one channel. Left and right on left stick is another channel and so on) comes from a specific pin on the receiver. So the 320A ESC can only listen to 1 stick, whereas the feather two can listen to two.