Turnigy Monster 12S 200A ESC

[nieles]

i did some additional testing with my hv 100A controller

when i use the 100A controller the problem does not occur, very weird

does anybody have the same problem with the monster 200A esc?

i hope somebody can help me out!

Niels

[MitchJi]

Hi Nieles,

i have a very weird problem with this controller. i use the controller with a fechter limiter box.

i did some additional testing with my hv 100A controller

when i use the 100A controller the problem does not occur, very weird

i hope somebody can help me out!

Niels

Does your fechter limiter box allow 200A?

[Burtie]

Hi Nieles,

Did you calibrate the ESC throttle input with the limiter box first?


Burtie

[nieles]

mitchji,

yes, i have an limiter with the 200A hall sensor

burtie,

no i didnt. i feel so stupid right now
i have a programming card, and put it on auto-calibrate, so i thought i didnt need to
will go try it right now!

Thanks

Niels

[Burtie]

Niels

You have had more success than me already.
My controller appears to be completely dead. When I connect it all up, no beeps, motor doesnt move, -nothing.

Guess i will have to box it up and post it back

Burtie

[nieles]

ahh that sucks.. i had one of the hv 100A controllers die on me just one day
last time i used it, it worked perfect. next time i connected the battery. nothing

they just replaced the controller for me. very good service if you ask me. it was something like a half year old.

BUT

my problem is still not solved. i just tried to calibrate it, but it still does the same thing.
i apply the brakes, release them and the motor is spinning up with zero throttle.

[CNCAddict]

Something is confusing the ESC if that's happening. I'll contact Hifei and see if they have an idea about why the controller is doing that.

[nieles]

that would be very helpfull! Thanks

Niels

[Burtie]

Ok I have done a bit more fiddling about..... and it seems that my ESC does not like the signal from my servo tester .

I tried a different servo tester and the ESC runs the motor OK.


Edit:
The voltage levels of the throttle signals were very slightly different (only by about 0.2v). I found that by reducing the supply voltage to the original servo tester slightly, I could get the ESC to work .

[Burtie]

Well it didnt take long for the smoke to make an appearance. It went something like this:-


All wired up to the 80-85 motor on the bench I thought I would see how it worked if I changed the pwm rate from 8kHz to 12kHz. The motor with no load ran roughly for 2 of 3 seconds, having trouble keeping sync. So I disconnected the battery and programmed the 8kHz mode back in.

But the damage was already done When I ran the motor up again, it rotated erratically for a couple of seconds then the 16 guage battery leads I was using, smoked up and melted

It would seem these controllers are perhaps not as robust as they look

[liveforphysics]

Well it didnt take long for the smoke to make an appearance. It went something like this:-


All wired up to the 80-85 motor on the bench I thought I would see how it worked if I changed the pwm rate from 8kHz to 12kHz. The motor with no load ran roughly for 2 of 3 seconds, having trouble keeping sync. So I disconnected the battery and programmed the 8kHz mode back in.

But the damage was already done When I ran the motor up again, it rotated erratically for a couple of seconds then the 16 guage battery leads I was using, smoked up and melted

It would seem these controllers are perhaps not as robust as they look

Can you get a number off the FETs for us now?
Cross your fingers that they used crap FETs, and we can swap them with something better.

[Burtie]

Sorry Luke !

Since it showed no outwardly visible evidence of abuse, I thought I would try my chances of getting a repacement, so rather than butcher it about, i boxed it up to return.

[CNCAddict]

You sure it's the ESC? If the small gauge input wires started smoking then it only means there was high current on the battery side which is not uncommon during the start sequence. It could be there are some problems with your motor or ESC/motor connection. Don't give up yet

[swbluto]

You sure it's the ESC? If the small gauge input wires started smoking then it only means there was high current on the battery side which is not uncommon during the start sequence. It could be there are some problems with your motor or ESC/motor connection. Don't give up yet

I had also wondered that if it's ONLY the battery leads that started smoking and melting. The battery leads are still fine, I'm sure, you just need to find the right settings that give a good start-up sequence and synchronization. If there's no good combination, then I'd consider getting a replacement.

[Burtie]

For two days It used to startup and run fine on the bench with the 8kHz setting. Now, with the same setting it, melts the hookup leads.

Something changed/broke when I tried the 12kHz mode and the motor windings all measure out ok.


You guys have persuaded me to try it again. I will have a proper fuse in the supply this time. I cannot see any shorts between the phase outputs and power rails when I look with an ohm meter.
I am wondering if I successfully reverted it to 8kHz or not.

[CNCAddict]

Do you have a small high resistance motor you can test with? Either that or a current limiting power supply would be a good way to test the ESC.

[Burtie]

I reprogrammed it to 8kHz again and re-tested it.
It is definately buggered. It will not now spin the motor and it draws excessive current.

[MitchJi]

Hi Burtie,

Sorry Luke !

Since it showed no outwardly visible evidence of abuse, I thought I would try my chances of getting a repacement, so rather than butcher it about, i boxed it up to return.

Maybe you can send it to Luke and he could be responsible for getting you a replacement (he has a good relationship with hobbycity)?

[methods]

...it rotated erratically for a couple of seconds then the 16 guage battery leads I was using, smoked up and melted

Whenever I am doing sketchy benchtop testing I put a stand alone CA (or any current meter) between the controller and the battery.
This way you can see the big current before the magic smoke comes out.

The large format CA works well for this....

-methods

[mwkeefer]

I did that with a multimeter without a fuse... 10A max showing 18A then puff - that's what I get for using 9.00 Walmart DVM in ways it was never meant to be used. The CA or a Watt Meter would be better...

My best solution now....

I have a piece of SW which will monitor either a shunt (via Atmega32 or better 100A100V shunt) or from the output of an EagleTree logger - I can set watch / break points for the values.

I've integrated the X10 contoller (Firecracker CM17A I think off top of head) so that if a value exceeds (or falls below) a threshold value my PC will automatically send an OFF command to whatever I am testing - I have a few X10 modules I use for the power supplies I charge with (good cheap off the shelf solution to controlling them - not 100% reliable, what is?) and a few I modified which still plug into the wall but couple ISOLATED relays which can engage or disengage a main power lead (Ive used 4 60A 24V relays in parallel for testing with eBike loads).

I'm only sharing this for inspiration purposes, my code is really UGLY right now... I could however put together somthing nicer if people wanted it... since the CA has serial output that could too be used, I like the EagleTree because no manual calibration is needed (handled by the eagletree software already) which makes for very accurate readings but its limited to about 60v.

Hope this helps someone!

-Mike

[Burtie]

Today I received the repaired ESC back from Hobby City (Yes -the very same one I sent back in November ).

I tried it out with a 7 turn Astro 3220 in Wye and then in Delta configuration,both at 24v --and this time I remembered the 5 amp fuse .

3220 in Wye configuration

Wye.jpg (98.18 KiB) Viewed 872 times

3220 in Delta configuration

Delta.jpg (90.88 KiB) Viewed 871 times

Now for the suprise.....
No load current in Wye was 0.6 Amps.
No load current in Delta was 3.4 Amps

Why is there such a large difference in current between these two configurations

I would have expected the current to have maybe doubled in Delta, but a factor of six? Am I doing something silly?

Edit- While I was typing this I left the motor running about half speed in Delta with no load and it got very very hot in about 5 minutes -like water boiled off when the outside was made wet! (it is now cooling down wrapped in a wet rag ).

Burtie

[CNCAddict]

Some motors don't like Delta connections. Depends on the internal design of the motor. A Delta motor can suffer from recirculating currents, which can produce higher losses...Wye doesn't suffer from that.

[Burtie]

It sounds like a possibility that Astros don't do Delta?



Edit added later:- Dont panic! all this means is that they are less efficient in delta and this shows up worst when there is no load.

[AussieJester]

It sounds like a possibility that Astros don't do Delta?

Be might bad news for all those that ordered 6 wire Astros recently LoL ...Deec?

Upside the Turnigy ESC nw works...not that you need it haha... Going in the for sale section is it Burtie?

KiM

[12p3phPMDC]

Burtie,

Do you know what the configuration of the Astro is?
i.e. the number of slots and magnets?