Need sage advice on which ESC to use.

[IRON-PAWW]

Hi Guys,

Need some advice from the forum members.

Bit of a backstory to the issue. I bought a 37in TFL Ariane hull last year and put a TP 4060 motor and a SF300 ESC in it. Can't for the life of me remember what kv the TP motor was but pretty sure it was in the 1600's. A few very short trial runs with that setup. Then I ran it for only about 25-30 seconds and blew the ESC and Motor in a big cloud of smoke. Never was happy with that TP motor - was a little tight - but it was my first and I thought it maybe was just the way they were. Boat *still* smells bad after that day :-). Always ran an OSE S&B M445 on it. Always ran it 6S.

Then - I got a 1521 1577kv Neu for the boat with 8mm shaft. Tired of blowing up expensive stuff, I plugged a good old Seaking 180 V3 into that system. Did a simple cooling mod to the Seaking where you attach a brass tube to the other side of the heatsink. Got a good 20 runs out of that setup with no components getting too hot. Then it died in the middle of the lake. Got it back in, and once again nothing was hot. Warm for sure but not hot. The caps on the Seaking had popped though, so..... It'd been overloaded without a doubt. Still with the M445 prop, still always running it 6S.

So after talking with Steve about it, I'm going to try the warranty process with Hobbywing and see where I end up. Worth a try at least.

But what ESC should I look at trying next? The different Swordfish models get different opinions it seems. Is a 220 Amp Swordfish a real step up from a SK 180? Or do I really need to look at the doubly-expensive SF 240amp Pro plus? Need some honest advice on this one guys........

Would a decent cap bank have saved me perhaps?

[kfxguy]

A cap bank helps if your wires from your batteries to Esc are too long. What's too long? Well I'm not sure on that but it's ideal to keep them short as possible. I don't think the sf220 is a step up from the sk180. The 220 is a little dinky looking Esc. The 240 is twice its size and pretty robust. The 220 just looks cheap to me. Think about this....the 240 is twice the price and twice its size physically but only 20 amps more. Yea right. Lol.
I haven't had much dealings with tp motors but I've had a few. They are decent. They are just as powerful as a neu but aren't built as well and run hotter. In a boat you race, neu is absolutely a better choice. Another thing, make sure your batteries are up to the task. The higher capacity and amperage they have,the better. I don't feel 30c or 40c batteries are up to the task in your setup. 50c or higher is what I'd recommend. Also your battery and motor connectors. 6.5mm quality bullets at the least. No Chinese eBay cheapies either.

[kfxguy]

O btw, I almost always use a cap bank as insurance.

[Mxkid261]

Im in the same position after cooking my SK180 v3. I tried pulling the caps off and soldering a new one in to bench test with no luck. Nice paper weight now I guess Lol. I can't decided what to try next, I have a hard time shelling out the money for the SF240+ , Im into my whole boat so far for 30$ more than that ESC is.

[Luck as a Constant]

Im in the same position after cooking my SK180 v3. I tried pulling the caps off and soldering a new one in to bench test with no luck. Nice paper weight now I guess Lol. I can't decided what to try next, I have a hard time shelling out the money for the SF240+ , Im into my whole boat so far for 30$ more than that ESC is.

Why not just use a 220?
What's your setup?


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[Mxkid261]

I was looking at the 220 and it seemed pretty appealing. I have a TP4060 1720KV in a rivercat planning on running 4s-6s. Not looking to break speed records with this one just want something very reliable, its a first time build for me. I bought the SK180 for it but I really wanted to try it so I put it in my spartan (this was my first mistake LOL) and after about 5 sets of packs, she gone...I had a CNC 40mm 3 blade on it so that probably had something to do with it, in conjunction with the crappy amp hungry castle motor.

[ray schrauwen]

Just an FYI. Most old school guys on here have given up trying to give advice to sport runners trying to run 1500kv to 2200kv motors on 6s. Can you understand why?

[ray schrauwen]

This person has a lot of experience so, even though the 1717 castyle is amp hungry, when done right, it can push a big heavy 40 inch mono.
You can't do this without some experience though. Also, not all 1717 motors have sazme kv, they vary from 1500 to 1580 to over 1650...kv...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLE3C17CC9CF2AEED1&v=S1azvpBRH1c

[kfxguy]

This person has a lot of experience so, even though the 1717 castyle is amp hungry, when done right, it can push a big heavy 40 inch mono.
You can't do this without some experience though. Also, not all 1717 motors have sazme kv, they vary from 1500 to 1580 to over 1650...kv...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLE...&v=S1azvpBRH1c

A 1717 is a beast, but Ray, what does that have to do with the op's Esc issue? You think his motor is too small? I was thinking he really needed a 1527 but you know me, I like to over do it a lot. The 1717 is about the same power or close to it but they say it's amp hungry. I'm not sure on that. I had one in a cheetah and it ran well. If his boat is light enough the 1521 may do it (well he's using it now and seems to work).

[ray schrauwen]

The op mentioned a castle motor being an amp hog and the only one I knew of was the 1717.

Back to the esc...

Oops, very sorry. I was looking at MXkids posts and got it mixed up with the op, darn it...

The op has gone from using a Hyundai motor and a Honda race esc to a Hyundai esc and a Ferrari motor, go figure he is having trouble issues.

Couple the Honda race esc with the Ferrari motor and its case closed. Lower his kv and make it all live longer, all fixed :-)

[ray schrauwen]

There OP mentions an original motor of unknown kv and unknown wind of Y or D???

Maybe his timing was way off for the wind, we will not know.

I run a SF200 8s esc with a TP4070 (custom) 1250kv on 6s2p in my Whiplash 40 and I have beat it up and it still runs fine. I have added an Etti cap bank and my own extra water coled heat sink. I have had botyh motor and esc up to 170F least year at the Nats, still working fine after I figured out my heat issues.

Heat was coming from poor strut angle and wrong depth, too deep.

There is a 1521 1.5D in the swap shop nobody has touched yet. That motor on 5s2p, 45mm prop ran great for Mike Paganelli or his daughter at this year's MI Cup in a light Sprint cat 36. Start with a M442 in the Arian mono. I really like my 1521 1.5D neu motors, very robust and I bought both used of the swap shop.

[ray schrauwen]

Look lastly, if his 1577kv neu is still a good, why 6s? 5s2p suits that kv very weerll but, 6s mania is still alive and.... Maybe not well...

[IRON-PAWW]

Hmmm all interesting stuff. So you guys are saying that the 1521 1577kv Neu is too small for a 37in Ariane on 6S? That's cool and sure am willing to be schooled with this. Toyed with the 1527 but advice at the time of buying was that it was overkill for this hull.

So the batts I currently have are 3S 6500mah 65c hard case SPC's. I run those in series for 6S. First real foray into a hull of this size so yeah - I admit it's new territory for me. Interesting the comments about 5S as the boat was really too fast for me with the way I had it set up. So I was on the verge of propping it down but never quite got there. Steve - who's been ace with some email advice (thanks man) - has suggested running parallel 6S batts, as maybe the popped caps are the amp hungry motor not getting what it needs.

Steve also suggested a 300amp HV Swordfish purely for some headroom, I think to help cater for my inexperience, which is cool. Expensive though. Would I really need to go that far?

Now If I want to keep my 6S Batts and swap out the motor - what KV should I look at? Maybe in the 1400 range then?

So - options are.
- maybe get some 5S batts to run in Parallel for this setup.
- get a 1527 sized motor in a kv range better suited for 6S
- Either a Swordfish 240 or 300.


Thanks for the advice guys. I know some are tired of trying to advise guys who aren't willing to listen - been reading this forum for years now. :-) I just want to get this boat fitted with a good sport setup that has a sniff of speed about it. Not going to go sulk and throw a tantrum if you tear the current setup I have to shreds. I need to know where the boat is going wrong to fix it.

Thanks Travis and Ray for advise so far. Appreciate it guys.

Edit: Fairly certain the Neu is still good. Did alter the timing for the Neu's wind, that one I know about. At the office right now & can't check my notebook for what I set it to though.

[Luck as a Constant]

I ran a nue 1521 1577 kv on 6s2p in a df 35 and the thing was a missile. Plenty of power to send it airborne. And the motor never really got hot even. Just warm.

My two cents


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[kfxguy]

I like a little overkill. Like Steve told you get the sf300 lite for some headroom. I always try to play that way. I had a 1527 1500kv and a sf300 lite (same setup I'm doing in my new build too) and on 5s it ran mid 50's. On 6s it ran 65 on a x450 prop. 68-69 on a speed prop. 77-78 on 7s and on 8s it ran 84+. Now. I'm sure your not looking to go that fast of course, which would take some serious setting up of the boat anyway. If you want to sport boat, you can take those speeds from 5s and 6s into consideration. That is about where you'll be and you'll have a dang near bullet proof setup. A 1521 is no slouch either as I've pushed one to close to a 100 in my single powered cat. But in a mono I prefer a little more overhead "just in case". Lol. I'm having a custom wound 1527 being made right now but I do have a 1577kv 1521 that may go in there for some testing just to see...