My T-180 only goes 1/2 throttle now....any help?

[JackBlack26]

It does this with or without a receiver pack(red wire removed or connected) It powers the programing box with the red wire connected so the BEC is working. I have tried binding it to my transmitter, both auto select and desired cell count, and still acts the same. It arms like normal but will not put out full power. Sometimes it does that whole music tone like when it doesnt have receiver signal.

Never been submerged, though it was splashed on a little bit 1ce. It ran flawlessly the last time I ran it in May. Connected power to it now and nothing. Could it be dead from lack of use? Doesn't make sense....

[sanyijr]

Jack,

Obvious question, but have you calibrated the full throttle end point between the Transmitter and the ESC? Or recenter your throttel trim on the transmitter.

Sean

[JackBlack26]

Yeah, I tried that. For some reason it was in "reverse", so I set my transmitter to "normal" and re calibrated. Still nothing. Really weird.

[properchopper]

Try setting the LVC to : no protection. Auto-calculate Voltage setting. Watch your runtimes. Common problem with T-180's.

[Rumdog]

I've actually never had that problem. Maybe just my luck, but I've had at least 7 T-180's now.
What's your setup? Boat, motor, cells, prop.

[JackBlack26]

Thanks, Tony. I will try that.

Rundog, this ESC was in my Geico in which I has a Castle 1800kv outrunner and I was able to prop from a 40mm prop to a 48mm prop with out any issues. All of the sudden it started doing this. Now I'm bench testing it in both my Spartan with a 1500kv 4082 on any cell count. Also tried it in my AQ UL1 with stock motor on 2 and 4S. But I want it in the Spartan now.

I wont get it wet till this weekend, if it doesn't rain.

[tiqueman]

And, check all your solder connections on your motor etc. Ive had similar things happen and after I remelted the solder and let it rebond, problems were solved. What kinda radio? Have you tried it under a load? in the water?

Noo, you couldnt just take mine lol

[JackBlack26]

Scott, lol, this one was working just fine when I shelved it. I tried it 2 weeks ago at the lake in the Geico and the boat would not get upon plane. I fuged with it for almost an hour before I damn near threw it in the lake. I tired everything I mentioned in my first post and all it would do was putt around, lol.

My radio is a Spectrum DX3R, but I have tried it with the Pro Boat spectrum RTR radio and a Tactic radio too. I'll try resoldering everything.

No big deal, if it's dead, it's dead. But weird things is that it arms, it binds to any radio, no magic smoke, the program box reads it, but doesn't seem to want to go full throttle. I'll try everything suggested and give it a go in the water soon.

Thanks all for trying to help!

[tiqueman]

Did you add caps or anything to it? Did somethign there come undone or loose? Do the caps all look good. No brownish goo or anything anywhere?

[JackBlack26]

Yes and it worked fine. Nothing seems un done, everything still soldered. Caps look solid. No brown goo, lol.

[properchopper]

The situation is caused by the low voltage spike under load which causes the LVC to kick in (often prematurely as in your case). Bench testing won't most likely cause this because there's little load when the prop spins in free air. Just try the "no protection" mode in the water, I'm confident this will solve your problem. Less than premium batteries downspike easily, btw. Couple this with the T-180 LVC circuit which reacts to spikes rather than average voltages and you have the situation you're experiencing. Just watch your runtimes or buy an outboard LVC - they're not expensive.

Be careful of full throttle bursts on the bench - thrown rotors happen !

[Alexgar]

I had one do this in auto mode 5s2p but when setting the cell count manually it fixed the problem , then I change my other 2 seeing as how it cut out prematurely it could not cut out in time also and maybe kill my lipos

[JackBlack26]

The situation is caused by the low voltage spike under load which causes the LVC to kick in (often prematurely as in your case). Bench testing won't most likely cause this because there's little load when the prop spins in free air. Just try the "no protection" mode in the water, I'm confident this will solve your problem. Less than premium batteries downspike easily, btw. Couple this with the T-180 LVC circuit which reacts to spikes rather than average voltages and you have the situation you're experiencing. Just watch your runtimes or buy an outboard LVC - they're not expensive.

Be careful of full throttle bursts on the bench - thrown rotors happen !

Thanks. Everything you explained makes perfect sense. I will run my batteries with my spare 200A ESC and time each set, 4s 2p and 6s 2p. My 200A is a Suppo "Birdie" and I don't want to risk burning a hole in the plastic Spartan hull, which is why I want to use the T-180.

[ironjaws]

thanks. im having the same problem

[properchopper]

As you become more familiar with your setup, you'll develop an internal mental sense of battery consumption timing and be able to stay in your "lipo safety zone" intuitively, rather than depending on the LVC. Oval racers rarely run more than 2-1/2 minutes (except for those pesky penalty laps) and have setups that consume just enough mAh to run hard and fast but leave the residual charge of the batteries in their safety zone. By recharging after runs with your desired setup you can monitor your consumption using the charger data to see how much you used.

My "gut feel" is that it's not a good idea to rely on the internal LVC of any speedy and actually ever run any boat 'till the LVC kicks in. In the case of the T-180 with it's inherently poor LVC circuit, disarming it to get full use of the throttle range means relying on other methods.

Method #1 : If you insist on using LVC protection, outboard LVC's are readily available and reasonably priced

Method #2 : Many Tx's have timers and can be used to time runs

Method #3 : E-Bay has wristwatch countdown timers with vocal annunciation . They are very inexpensive (but not waterproof - ask me how I know !)

Method #4 : { this, while admittedly funny, has helped me heaps} : The "Porkmaster 2000 Lipo Saver / Run Timer "

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvQbEnwjNSU

Enjoy !!

Tony