Help with Lipo Programmer

[cruiser]

Fellas...

Sorry for the rookie question... I did search and found no answer.

My dad recently purchased a Blackjack 26 brushless and we are in the process of switching from NIMH to lipo's. He purchased two 3850mah 4s 25c lipo batteries and I bought him the programmer. We have raced rc cars for years and I own a supervee and love it.

We bought a sweet charger and both researched how to charge lipos... the charging went perfect.

Ok so we read the instructions and how to program the esc and honestly I CANNOT figure it out. I feel as if there is something seriously wrong with me....lol

So the instructions say to plug in the charged batteries (check), unplug the servo connection from the receiver and place it into the programmer (check), turn the switch on (check)....

Ok... here is the problem... after this it states that the esc will beep when programmed... the servo is plugged into the programmer but nothing from the esc is plugged into the programmer.... the directions don't say to plug anything else other than the servo lead to the programmer....

Fellas I am sooooooo sorry you guys are probably cracking up but can anyone tell me some step by step instructions on how to program this boat using the proboat programmer ($20).

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

[Rex R]

pardon my uninformed Q's but, is the esc plugged into the programmer or the servo? judging from what you've typed(the instructions)...I would guess that you have a couple of possible problems waiting to rear their ugly heads. 1st one is the 4s packs...unless I'm mistaken(it happens ;))and you have already changed the boat wiring the esc is seeing double the expected voltage (8s)(a pair of 2s packs would 'plug right in w/o needing any changes in wiring).
next bit, I would be surprised if they didn't mean; unplug the esc from the rx and plug the esc into the program box, or at least thats how I would interpret the instructions. hth
rex

[Rex R]

right so after reading the 'manual' I see there is one step you left out...sequence should be 1) connect boat batt.s to esc 2)connect esc to programmer, 3) set switches to the desired options(before turning on that switch) 3)switch the esc/programmer on(should hear a beep if new options accepted), turn off the programmer & disconnect batt.s, 4)reconnect esc to rx. hth
rex

[cruiser]

Thank you so much for your time! My dad will definitely appreciate it! I am wondering if he purchased the wrong batts.... he bought two 4s 3850 25c TP batteries...so yes 8 cells total. He just soldered the deans plugs on the end. Can the stock esc even with the programmer handle these two lipos? Should he have bought two 2s 25c batts instead?

I could have swore I heard the 4s 25c setup worked wonders with the stock esc once programmed. Ok one more crazy q.... if he should have bought the 2s batts instead of the 4s is there any way to use one 4s batt?

I am a total lipo rookie.... and he is not internet savvy... the guy is the man when it comes to rc cars...but the lipo route is definitely new. I love my SV27 and as of right now I am definitely holding off before switching... patience is important in this hobby and I am nervous that the poor guy bought the wrong batts with the stock esc.

Again thanks for your help... any light shed on the above questions would be awesome! This forum is great.

[cruiser]

I did just check and noticed that there were two other fellas on the net (you tube) running two 4s 25c packs with the stock esc... I feel a little bit better but before my dad bought those I should have asked the fellas on here. I just want the poor guy to be able to successfully program and switch things over. I'll repost how things go today.

He has dial up net at his house (nothing wrong with that)... so I'll jump on there and let you know if we can get it programmed....

again thanks...

[cruiser]

Well...

I called my pops and he tried programming like so:

1) connect the esc to batteries

2) disconnect the esc lead from the receiver

3) plug esc lead into programmer on the esc labeled side

4) turn the switch on and wait for beep

...no "beep"

Our only LHS does not know anything about boats, so we have to travel out of town to get hands on advice. Since my dad is retired he might take the boat out of town and see if something isn't right. One thing that is good is that he is patient and just doesn't want to hurt anything in his setup..... it's off to the lake to run my sv27......

[BOlhausen]

I just went through programing my new speed control yesterday. I had some of these issue. Make sure the speed control is plugged into the programer. Unplug both of the batteries(it helps to reset the programer) set the programer to the desired settings. Plug the batts back in and turn on the speed control. The speed control will not beep if it has been programed unless you disconnect the batteries.
it took me a little time, but i got my second control programed.

As for the batteries, make sure you time your runs to about 10 min. I just blew a capacitor off my speed control and out of the radio box after almost a 20 min run. I got the stock replacement and a castle controller is on the way.

[Rex R]

I know that its possible to arrange the wires(sv) to allow the use of 4s packs...someone else will have to answer the 'how'. a couple 'Y' connectors will let you hook a pair of 4s packs in parallel to make 4s2p.(which I do w/ my mean machine).

[cruiser]

Fellas,

Thank you so much for your responses. I will try it out. We just ran it with 2 7 cell 4500mah batts and the 642 prop and it did great.... we will retry the lipos sometime this week for sure.

I definitely need to tell him we need to check out running the two 4s lipos so we get the wiring correct....

Have a good one..... my dad did a cool mod to his ant......his boat is pretty water tight... now I have to get working on the sv.

Jim

[BOlhausen]

Well, lets discuss this watertightness...
What did he change?

[Derwood21]

You can use the 4s lipos but you will need to change the wiring to the esc to get them running parallel instead of in series. In the long run he will be better off running 2 4s lipos instead of 2s. When you run them parallel you basically will be running a 4s 7700mah lipo. In series the voltage doubles but mahs stays the same. In parallel voltage stays the same and mahs doubles.
To run them in parallel, you need both red wires from batteries going to the red wire on the esc and same for the black. I hope this makes sense!

[cruiser]

That definitely makes sense. Thank you so much man you have no idea how much time and energy you saved my pops. I will post some pics of his upgrades. He did a great job on the ant. mod.... we will GPS it the next race for sure....

Fellas thank you I am sure we will get it rewired and programmed tonight or tomorrow at the latest!

[cruiser]

Fellas,

We got the batts rewired and correct... but even after 20 years of RC experience I cannot figure out how to program the Blackjack 26.

I feel so bad, but patience always pays off and I will figure it out. Thanks for the advice... the batts are definitely ready to go... just need to figure out how to make the speed control "beep" and program it for lipos...

[cruiser]

Ok,

Wow FINALLY we got it to program and will go on our first run today.

The directions from Proboat that come with the programmer state to unplug the servo lead and plug it into the ESC end of the programmer (this will do absolutely nothing at all and makes no sense).

Here are the steps, in order, of how to program the Blackjack 26's esc for lipos:

1) Plug in two fully charged lipo batts (if you are running 4s lipos you will need to rewire everything as stated above).

2) Plug a receiver pack into one side of the programmer and disconnect the esc lead from the receiver and plug that into the esc side of the programmer.

3) Set your programmer to your desired settings.

4) Turn on the esc switch and you should here a beep.

5) After the beep is heard your esc is programmed based on your settings and you can turn off the esc and unplug the batteries.

I forgot to use step #2 and that is why it would not beep.... but all is good now and I am excited to see it run today. Again everyone thank you for your help I appreciate it I wouldn't have figured all this out without everyone's advice.

[MAXAMUS]

hi once you have re wired for 4s lipo can you still go down a notch and use 3s and 2s or would the wiring need to be changed again

thanks in advance

[jayfive]

My local hobby shop told me to program the esc with a losi quick programming card. will my esc be ok with these settings?

Running 2s 4000mah packs
cutoff for 2s
brake for low
drag brake low
vehicle speed max
reverse speed max
motor timing more speed

Thanks in advance for any help
going to try this today and will post results of cutoff voltage after my run

btw the losi programmer is half the price of the pro boat
:confused1:

[jayfive]

I ran the boat three times with three sets of batteries yesterday with 18min to 22min runs on the first charge with the following setup:

Running lipo 7.4v 2s 4000mah packs

ESC settings were as follows:

cutoff for = 2s
brake for = low
drag brake = low
vehicle speed = max
reverse speed = max
motor timing = more speed

I was more than pleased with the performance of boat right out of the box and am no longer worried about programming, bringing the boat in immediately after esc cut out the lipos tested between 7.2v to 6.0v. I will warn there was not much time return the boat after cut out so plan accordingly.

planning to race a blackjack 55 gas boat in the upcoming weeks I will report any details.

BTW can anyone report on how useful trim tabs or a "dolphin" would be?
:buttrock: