continue with rc boat hobby? or quit? need help!

[Mike Caruso]

Thanks Mike, the warden eh! my wife is more like the finance department, I have to be very creative to sneak something by her, "what did you buy today for $150.00 Rodney", I say oh just a few things at Costco dear. But why then is the fridge still empty, she says back ? I sure got a nice ECS thou.

Need a small hobby allowance. You will learn how to wheel and deal like all of us. It is one of the best parts of this hobby making friends. I wish I could thank everyone that has help me out with parts or just help over 40 years. I have to run SAW in the future so I am saving and planning how much I will be willing to let the smoke out of LOL
My Dad said always buy two of anything small it won't break you.....that has served me well over my life time. Always could help out the next guy and in this hobby no one ever forgets good or bad. You will notice that the problem people are in the hobby only a couple a years and then gone.
Get that UL-1 rocking buddy.
Mike

[Gary]

You are right Mike. I think this is a high burn out hobby and the people that get it right are older 30,40 50 60 years old and still going. I wanted to quit and smash everything in frustration many times and now that everything is all dialed in after many years and thousands of dollars later I have a 107mph boat that brings a wicked smile to my face and sets the tone for the day. Its now fun where before it was like a job I was always learning from. And two of everything?...you got that right!!! Good Times !!!

[bigkahuna]

thanks bill w, I have tried binding it about 1/2 dozen times now. still for not. I think I'm going to look for a new ESC. Thanks Rod

[tiqueman]

Hey Rod. I skimmed most of this and hadn't seen it anywhere. Another thing you could try if your trying to pinch pennies until you find that "Costco" window opportunity. Get an rx pack and plug it into the rx. Disconnect the red wire out of the esc plug. Use an exacto or something alike and lift the plastic tab slightly and the red wire will pull out. Do this as a precautionary just incase you are in fact getting bec power. And give it a power up. If it works on a RX pack then you know its the internal BEC and you can spend $25.00 or less and just put a UBEC in it and call it good to go.

(I think the wire is red like most if not all others out of the esc, but I have no AC stuff here to verify that)

[bigkahuna]

thanks tiqueman I'll give it a try, it would be like pulling a pin out of a car's weather pack main plug-in. Rod

[jjohn581]

If this is the same as that used on the Revolt & Motley Crew you can push the little bind button on the receiver for about 4 seconds and it will bind. This happened to me on first install and it worked since.

[Alexgar]

Hey Rod. I skimmed most of this and hadn't seen it anywhere. Another thing you could try if your trying to pinch pennies until you find that "Costco" window opportunity. Get an rx pack and plug it into the rx. Disconnect the red wire out of the esc plug. Use an exacto or something alike and lift the plastic tab slightly and the red wire will pull out. Do this as a precautionary just incase you are in fact getting bec power. And give it a power up. If it works on a RX pack then you know its the internal BEC and you can spend $25.00 or less and just put a UBEC in it and call it good to go.

(I think the wire is red like most if not all others out of the esc, but I have no AC stuff here to verify that)

Was going to suggest the bec also as I was reading through this yes the wire is red on the 60 amp esc and you can buy acheap bec from hobbyking of hobbypartz think I paid 5$ for mine and bought a couple extras seems bec going out is common in boat esc as I have one out in a pb,castle, and turnigy esc

[Mike Caruso]

You are right Mike. I think this is a high burn out hobby and the people that get it right are older 30,40 50 60 years old and still going. I wanted to quit and smash everything in frustration many times and now that everything is all dialed in after many years and thousands of dollars later I have a 107mph boat that brings a wicked smile to my face and sets the tone for the day. Its now fun where before it was like a job I was always learning from. And two of everything?...you got that right!!! Good Times !!!

Hi Gary,
What boat do you have that runs 100+? And I boat with a guy who started in RC Boats in 1962 and still building plus has always flown air planes.
Best,
Mike

[vtomanov]

I would always test the receiver with a battery to make sure the receiver is working but this from what Kahuna is saying the RX is not turning on due to no power from the BEC on the ESC. The motor in the UL-1 is popular as an upgrade for a boat I'm running the Stiletto. At 2030 RPM per volt the boat can handle 5S nicely and is probably ok with 6S but gonna be a handfull to keep on the water. If your going to replace a defective ESC obviously don't go with the stock one as it's only rated at 60A 4S.

Using an eagle-tree amp logger, I clocked my cat running a similar 2030 KVM motor 37mm 3 blade prop on 4S at 79.6 amps. I wouldn't push that motor past 5S.

If you only have 4S worth of batteries and don't plan on upgrading too much go minimum Hobbywing Seaking-90A. This unit can handle 5s and 6s but 5s that is about the limit of the motor and with 5S and you accidentally increase prop size the motor will get hot and the ESC may burn.

If you plan in the next few years to only keep the ESC in this boat and want to reliably go 5S (as we all want more speed) the Hobbywing Seaking-120A. This unit should be able to hold the higher cell count with the motor your using and mistakes are absorbed better.

If you plan on upgrading the motor or moving the ESC up to other bigger boats in the future and want to guaranty you have a huge buffer for safety (not to blow up your stuff) Get the Seaking 180A. It's only 10 bucks more than the 120A. I use this as my ESC Mule. It goes into most of my under 40" builds in combination with my eagle tree amp logger to test how many amps the motor is pulling with the biggest prop I plan to use. I push the boat until it too unstable to be fun then back off and buy a permanent ESC that's 20% more amps then I pulled with the motor.

The only reason I say go Seaking is I've used them, they haven't blown up and the FET"s seem to be of good quality as the 180A is 3 years old with a few hundred runs and few overheats and no melt down.

Shop around EBay has these at

90A $65

120A: $76

180A: $105
HobbyKing is selling a rebranded version called Turnigy Marine 180A for $86 plus shipping.

Hope this helps

[bigkahuna]

wow Mr. Vtomanov, does this info help? hell yea!! some awesome information and some great ideas. its has given me a few things to think about for sure. Thank you so much. Rod