Twin seaking 180amp setup

[MidKnight]

Building a zonda with 2 180amp seaking esc, which are joined together with a y-cable to the receiver.

Both esc have a on/off switch.

Should the 2 switch wires be joined together to make a single switch or what's the best thing to do here?

If I turn 1 switch on, both esc power up, but I don't think it's working correctly because 1 of the esc cell count beeps isn't correct, unless this is normal?

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[koen]

did you cut the red wire from one of the esc, you have to do that

[MidKnight]

You mean 1 of the red power switch wires?

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[Panther6834]

1) Each ESC should be posted on separately. While it probably could be possible to wire their power switches together, I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

2) Regarding the 'red' wire, it's in reference to the Y-harness. Power from the batteries goes through the ESC (via the BEC), then to the receiver via the JR connector. The receiver, and everything else connected to the receiver (ie. steering servo, water pump, etc), received power through the red wire on the JR connector. But, of the red wires from both ESCs reaches the Rx, there's could be a "conflict"...or, worse, a power surge. So, to eliminate any possibilities of this, cut one of the red wires on the Y-harness. That way, only one of the ESCs power reaches the Rx, and other things plugged into the Rx.


~ More peace, love, and kindness would make the world a much better place

[MidKnight]

Ok I understand what your saying now.

So powering on, I would always need to first power on the esc with the red power, before 2nd power on with the esc cut red wire, correct?

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[Old School]

The ESC has an onboard BEC to power the receiver. The three wire connection between the ESC to the receiver consists of a power wire to to power the receiver plus a signal wire and a return wire. To ensure that you are not trying to power the receiver with both ESC's then on one leg of the "Y" junction cable to the receiver you need to either unpin or sever one of the red power wires between one of the ESC's and the junction of the "Y" cable. Thus only one ESC is powering the receiver with its onboard BEC.

Edit: when powering up the ESC, I would perhaps first turn on the ESC that is supplying power to the receiver and then the second ESC.

[jkflow]

All the above is correct, but suggest something more hardware friendly going forward. Do not cut wires.
Pick one wire that goes to the receiver, this little connector has plastic tabs holding in the pin. You can gently lift that plastic tab with a small blade and the pin will slide out. Yes, it's the middle pin, typically red.
That is NOT the wire going to the switch, leave those wires alone.

Just pull the pin out and isolate with heat shrink, it will make your life a lot easier in the future if you ever change your mind.

Each ESC has it's own BEC (Battery elimination circuit) and provides power, by connecting both in parallel they will now fight each other and can cause serious malfunctions up to having the ESC catch on fire. Simply do not ever do this.
Hence, you have to remove one positive to break that connection.

[MidKnight]

Thanks for the info and help. All working good now.

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[fweasel]

If these ESC's have not been programmed before, you'll need to plug each one into the receiver directly, one at a time, and set them up as if it were a single motor setup. Do a throttle calibration after you finish making your programming (timing) changes. Once each ESC is fully setup, then plug both back in to the Y harness and you're good to go, assuming the props are spinning the correct direction.

As for powering up, it doesn't matter the order, however, if you power on the ESC connected to the leg of the harness with no red wire connection, it will not arm until the other ESC is powered on and binds to the receiver.

[MidKnight]

Yep I did directly plug each one in for setup, but I had both plugged in for the throttle calibration. Should I do the calibration one at a time directly plugged in?

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[fweasel]

Yep I did directly plug each one in for setup, but I had both plugged in for the throttle calibration. Should I do the calibration one at a time directly plugged in?

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Yes. That's not to say it can't be done simultaneously, but it's safer to do it independently to ensure proper function.

[Panther6834]

Yes. That's not to say it can't be done simultaneously, but it's safer to do it independently to ensure proper function.

Agreed. Just make sure, when calibrating the throttles of each ESC, that you are 100% accurate in pulling the trigger to the exact same position. Almost all mid-range, and high-end, transmitters have a little "extra" pull (that section between "soft full" & "hard full"), and if each ESC's trigger pull isn't identical to the other, that could cause one motor to spin faster than the other.

I ran into this problem when I was initially calibrating the ESCs on my Skater X2. One I calibrated to the 100% "soft pull" position, and the other to the 100% "hard pull" position. When I got the boat in the water, it was mostly going straight, but still pulling to one side. Initially, I thought it was my steering that was off, and I adjusted the trim while the boat was still in the water. However, upon bringing the boat back in, I discovered that my "centered" rudder was, most definitely, not 'centered'. It was a local FE racing buddy of mine who reminded me about the differences between the 100% "soft pull" & "hard pull" positions on my Futaba 7PX. After resetting the trim adjustment on the steering, and recalibrating both ESC to the same 100% "soft pull"position, everything was perfect - with the steering 'wheel' centered, the boat went perfectly straight. Lastly, it's recommended to always use the 100% "soft pull" position, NOT the "hard pull" position.


~ More peace, love, and kindness would make the world a much better place

[jkflow]

Perfectly ok to calibrate both at the same time with a Y-cable.
Actually preferred as it eliminates the issue Panther is outlining. That does require the power wire mod outlined earlier (remove 1 pin).

Both methods work if you are always accurate in trigger pull.

[Panther6834]

Perfectly ok to calibrate both at the same time with a Y-cable. Actually preferred as it eliminates the issue Panther is outlining.

Honestly, I'd prefer this method, exactly for the reason you pointed out. Sometime in the very-near future, I'll be building a twin micro cat, using higher kV motors, so equal throttle calibration is even more important.

I'm assuming both ESCs would need to be powered on almost simultaneously, so that both receive the "throttle calibration command" from the Tx. When using ESCs with power switches (such as will be installed in the H&M Drifter Micro), that's easy enough to do...but, when the ESCs have no power switches (such as on the Skater X2), powering both ESCs simultaneously becomes a 2-person job (I can hold throttle with one hand, while connecting one ESC's battery work the other, but simultaneously connecting the second ESC & battery is all but impossible for me to do on my own...and, my wife certainly isn't about to help).


~ More peace, love, and kindness would make the world a much better place

[jkflow]

You can turn them on 1 at a time or even with significant delay. The ESC will stay in programming mode until you start the throttle calibration itself.
That is specific to the Seaking above. Should be ok on any model though.
Whatever is required to get both into the correct mode, and you continue from that point.

It does get tricky when you have to hold full throttle and turn on, 3rd hand is advised but you can hold trigger, plug one in, plug in the second and start.
I'm not aware of a time limit i.e. 'you must calibrate within 3s of turn-on' but read your ESC manual on that topic, in that case you would need a Y-cable.