Castel Hydra from OSE, set up help please!

[pmdevlin]

Hi all,
firstly thanks to Steve ar OSE, ESC arrived in 1 week to UK, very well wrapped, thats great service!!

Now I need to set it up, in a large 4 foot scale boat, heavy at 6kgs, running 6 5000mah lipo cells, prop to be decided at testing, and an align 600BL outrunner 1640kv.

I want a soft start, and whilst want fastest setup, dont want to risk blowing the esc up!

Can someone please explain the timing advance? and starting power?

Also, the instructions say cut off voltage up to 4 lipo cells, how do I set 6 cells?

Any other tips appreciated,

thanks

[Flying Scotsman]

What model of Hyrdra, I trust it is high voltage?. That may not be the best ESC for a scale boat. The link sold by Castle is the best way to program. Also your voltage with 6 Li-Po cells and motor choice is off the wall for a scale boat. What scale boat?

Douggie

[pmdevlin]

Hi Douggie

I think you might have seen this before when I was picking the motor, here is a pic anyway (sorry if you have seen it before), Its a scale model of Fairey Huntsman 28, winner of various cross channel races in the 60's, bit of a floating gym palace in its day!

Yes its a wild set up for a scale boat, but it has the potential to be great fun, its never going to be like a race boat, with 2 x 9.6v (19.2v) nimh, and a 700bb turbo, 2:1 gear ratio, it was gps'd at 15mph, pedestrian to you race guys, but a big 4 foot boat it looks fast.

Its a really nice hull, and handles really good, I would like to get 25mph as a bench mark, wih the brushless motor and lipos, and something like 15 mins run time would be great, dont like just put putting around a lake for hours!

I had a brief run with the baraccuda 80amp, but it blew up, the hydra is the 120amp running, so hopefully should do the job, hydra due to reversing feature, I want reverse, which is a bit unusual I know

[Raydee]

I replied to your thread on RC groups and asked if you are running the controller on 6s?

[Flying Scotsman]

you will blow up that 120 Hydra low voltage on 6S...4S is OK... 5S marginal, are you going to use the gear transmission or direct drive? I think 25 mph will make the hull unstable.

Douggie

[pmdevlin]

Hi Raydee,
yes its 6 cells, thanks for response, I will go over to rcg now

Douggie, gear is currently 1.5:1, which is at moment untested, the weather here is awful.
It was tested on 2:1, it went well, but you just knew it could go better and had more left. I started with a small 40mm "x" prop, and gradually worked up to the biggest I had, 52.5mm "x". everything was stone cold, but that was with 2 x 9.6v 4600mah nimhs, so running at 19.2v.

I changed to 1.5:1, thinking more umph from the packs with 2 x 3 cell lipos, start with small prop again, and do proper amp and temp tests, working up in prop size after very short runs.

Can you explain further the low voltage thing, its a bit of a mystery to me!, esc and motor both say ok for 6 cells.

As regards handling, I would agree in principal, but its only when you see the boat on the water, its so stable and turns real nice, it has no problems at all, but, I take your point and will be careful (will have the camcorder to capture the event!) here is a pic of the gearbox, its dead easy to change the ratio

[Flying Scotsman]

The Hydra LV 120 amp ESC is rated at 6S but on an aggresive setup it will go bomb on direct drive. Even though you are running a trasmission, I would be cautious. Always err on the side of caution as far as specs are concerned.

Douggie

[pmdevlin]

I get it now, thanks! also, just read Raydees post on rcg,

in your opinion (pm if you want) compared to 2 x 9.6v 4600nimhs, if I go to 4 lipo cells, say 5000mah, if everything was exactly the same, in my mind I am dropping volts, so should be slower, however, nimh to lipo, will (should!) the boat be faster, ignoring the weight difference? Sorry, lipo in boats is new to me!
Thanks

[Flying Scotsman]

Depends, yes you will drop the voltage, but Li-Po batteries will maintain their voltage output way better than NiMh and require no cycling. There is no comparison, as to the better technology. To be very frank stay with a robust brushed motor..Gaupner? and an ESC designed for scale boats. my 2 pennies and yes the voltage will be 12v

Douggie

[pmdevlin]

too late for that now Douggie! Motor and esc are already paid for, so its make the best of it now, with the least damage!