Motor spinning when radio is inactive or off

[AlanD]

After taping my hatch shut and walking to the pond, I notice my prop turning two or three turns then stopping as if the motor was energized. I thought I may have bumped the throttle so I paid no attention to it.

About 2 minutes of great running I made the mistake of not easing up enough into a head wind and the boat flipped. Quite spectacularly I might add. The boat was 20' away from me so I left the transmitter on, placed it on the grass next to me while I sat and waited for the wind to blow it back to me. I kept seeing the prop spinning two, three turns then stop every 5 or 6 seconds. This continued for about 5 minutes until I could reach in and fetch it. I disconnected the batteries, waited a minute then powered them on again. Without doing anything, the prop was "hunting" again. I turned everything off and powered on just the boat, no transmitter, same thing.

Anybody seen this?

This is on a brand new leopard 4082 with Seaking 180, fully charged batteries.

I've seen this years ago on my nitro when a bolt on a metal motor mount was lose and the touching of metals close to the antenna would cause the rudder to jitter.

[Heaving Earth]

What radio?

[AlanD]

Spektrum DX2E, stock Blackjack 29 stuff.

[JimClark]

throttle trim?

[AlanD]

Throttle trim is neutral. Ran through rebinding receiver and transmitter, still the same.

When I power up with no transmitter, there's a beep every 1 second and the motor kicks. Is this normal? Seems potentially dangerous if the motor is being energized.

See this video https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=56F70D20767772E!507&authkey=!AJ2LMRZ4wqplpXQ

[Heaving Earth]

Read the seaking instructions. I'm not sure about spectrum but sometimes the throttle channel needs to be reversed and the trim all the way up

[AlanD]

New info: if I power up with the receiver unplugged, the motor kicks every 1 second still.

I looked at the manual and there's very little info on the throttle trim. http://www.spektrumrc.com/ProdInfo/Files/SPM2300%20_Manual.pdf

The odd part is that is didn't seem to this last weekend and I have not changed anything since.

[AlanD]

Heaving Earth, I think you're onto something here. I replaced my Dynamite ESC recently with the Seaking. The Dynamite ESC has the option to reverse throttle which is enabled by default. The seaking does not have the option so I just swapped 2 motor wires but left the switch on the TX in the normal.

When using the seaking, should I put the TH TRIM all the way to one side, the TH switch in reverse and flip the 2 motor wires around?


As it now, if iadjust theTH trim just slightly then when I power everything up with the TX on, after the ESC beeps 6 times, the motor starts spinning immediately. Again, seems pretty dangerous.

This anomaly does seem tied to the throttle trim.

How do other set theirs up?

[tlandauer]

I don't think it has anything to do with your radio system if it does the strange thing with your rx unplugged.
Usually incorrect setting means with tx on, either motor starts to run ( usually throttle trim position or throttle channel needs to be "reversed" like on a Futaba system). or, if the throttle channel is set correctly, motor wires needs to swapped for correct rotation.
When powering up with tx off or rx unplugged, there should be no action on the motor. There is just faint beeps from the ESC/motor.

[kendt]

Its sounds like the trim was not set right when the esc was initially armed. Was the trim turned to full when the esc was armed?. I would try re arming with the trim turned up full. If the motor turns after it has been re armed dial the trim back to see if it stops.

[AlanD]

I'm not sure what right is. Is that the correct way to do it; turn it all the way to the right, then initialize the transmitter?

How is everyone else doing it? Also, are you setting the throttle switch on the transmitter to reverse?

[kendt]

Yes turn it clockwise fully. Hold the trigger then plug it into the battery pack. When it stops beeping release the trigger. After it beeps again it should be set. If you notice it running or twiching turn the trim count clockwise slowly till it stops.

[Brushless55]

This sometimes happens to me with my GTB3 radio and the T180 escs

[paultbg]

It looks like a failsafe settings problem.
All my Fly Sky receiver have this problem by default.
If you can reset the failsafe function to a position where the motor is not spinning, you will be fine.
On my case I need to push and hold few sec the fail safe button.
Regards

[AlanD]

The program card for the 180 only has about 5 settings, none of which is throttle reverse option. I'll try doing the TH TRIM all the way to the right procedure and see where that goes and post back here..

[Heaving Earth]

Throttle reverse is on the radio

[BHChieftain]

Hi,
Note that the "Reverse" on the stock PB ESC is to enable or disable running the boat in reverse-- ie, with brake input. That does not reverse the throttle channel.

If your TX is giving correct input when you squeeze the trigger-- ie, you are getting throttle vs. brake, then reversing that channel won't help with your bliping problem.

Normally the throttle trim should be set less than neutral-- I also think it could be your failsafe setting, which is usually established when you bind. I don't have that ESC so I'm not sure.

Chief

[srislash]

My twin Geico with SK 120's also did this yesterday(think it has been doing it all along).Any loss of signal and the motors run.IE: boat flipped

[Heaving Earth]

why is it that so many people using these spectrum stock radios seem to have so much trouble calibrating them to the seakings? this isnt the first thread ive been in where its been a nightmare getting them to work properly. with my tactic and flysky radios, my throttle channel is set to reverse and the throttle trim is turned up all the way. no problems calibrating at all. i want to say i went thru this with someone else in a thread and after about 100 posts he figured it out. throttle reversed, trim all the way up. i could be confused tho, it was a while back

[srislash]

I'll give her a try ..

[srislash]

The problem is with the arming time and the need for a secondary power source for the Speky's.You've got to disarm the BEC and have power to the RX.

A wee bit O' a pain.

[srislash]

Reversing throttle did not work at all. But trim up and recalibrate has seemed too. These 120's are the only ones I have had issue with.All my 180's no sweat. But you never know,I may have not done my calibration right from the start.Geico was a quick build.

[siberianhusky]

Not sure what you mean by "arming time and external power" I've NEVER had external power hooked up to any of my Spekky marine RX's, failsafe is set on all of them, right trim and right travel direction is all I've ever had to do. All done with the esc BEC active.

[tlandauer]

I like to know why the motor is kicking/spinning when the radio is unpluged?! Meaning that there is no power supplied to the RX. Failsafe is when there is lost of signal but the rx is still powered by the battery ( either thru a BEC on the ESC or a separate receiver pack).
I have flipped my boat with these Spektrum, never a problem.
Had calibration issues with Seaking 120, but that was user error, and was with Tactic.
Need to point out that on EARLIER Proboat , the TX was a more sophisticated one, it had FOUR dials on the front panel for END POINT ADJUSTMENTS on channel 1 and 2. . All those dials need to be cranked up all the way to max. Throttle trim is a different thing and I have never had to crank that up to max, I always left it right at middle.
The current radio is a very basic unit, with no separate End Point Adjustments for either channel 1 and 2.

[AlanD]

Turns out it was my failsafe settings. This is what I did to fix it for me. I'm not saying its right or wrong, but it works perfectly for me.

Transmitter TH switch on Spektrum DX2E in N position.
Set the STEERING TRIM, and THROTTLE TRIM in neutral (12 o'clock) position. (Page 8, paragraph 3 in the binding section of the Blackjack manual says to set the TH TRIM to lowest setting. This does not work. Setting it this way causes the motor to run as soon as I power everything up, without any throttle input. That was the problem I was trying to fix.)


With everything switched off:

1. insert BIND plug in RX
2. connect battery to ESC/RX (RX is now in BIND mode and LED is flashing)
3. press and hold BIND button on TX and switch it on. Release the BIND button on TX after 2 seconds when LED on TX flashes
4. LED on RX will turn solid when binding completes after about 8 seconds.
5. remove the BIND plug BEFORE powering off the ESC/RX
6. power off ESC/RX and TX


To test:
Leave TH TRIM in neutral position. When I power up the TX and plug the ESC/RX in, everything behaves as normal. RX beeps twice, then 6 times to indicate 6 cells. If I turn the rudder to one side and get the motor running and then power off the TX, the rudder turns straight and the motor quits as expected for a TX signal loss. Power up the TX and I regain control. Problem solved.

The only odd thing I have no fix for is if I power the ESC/RX up and leave the TX off (ie. the RX has never has a good signal from the TX) then the motor beeps and twitches every 2 seconds. I'm not worried about that behaviour though.

Thanks for all the good info guys.

[tlandauer]

Great!:thumbup:

[Brushless55]

It looks like a failsafe settings problem.
All my Fly Sky receiver have this problem by default.
If you can reset the failsafe function to a position where the motor is not spinning, you will be fine.
On my case I need to push and hold few sec the fail safe button.
Regards

I just reset my failsafe and will give it a try..
thanks

[gb tiggycat]

[QUOTE=AlanD;500371]Turns out it was my failsafe settings. This is what I did to fix it for me. I'm not saying its right or wrong, but it works perfectly for me.

Glad that you got it fixed. Failsafe settings can be quite sensitive with the T180. Like a lot of ESC's with a built in failsafe, you have to be careful with the TX settings. If the radio has a failsafe built in, it needs to be switched off on the throttle channel . If you don't do this, you effectively have two sets of settings trying to act if you lose radio contact.i.e. the ESC's settings and those programmed into the RX. I had problems with my Futaba 2.4 set until I did this