First Supervee run on Lipo's and new 2.4GHz Radio- A couple of problems

[Levahj]

Just had my first run of the year up at Lake Tahoe (in 6" of frckin snow on Memorial Day weekend !)

Last year was having some reception issues with the stock Radio/receiver and also wanted more power so added the following new gear:

2 - 6000MAh 2S Turnigy Lipo's w/ LipoShield soft cutoff by Dimension Engineering

1- HobbyKing HK-310 2.4GHz FHSS radio/reciever http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=12181

This is my first go-around with 2.4Ghz Radio's. I just left the small Reciever antenna into the Radio housing and closed the lid.

Ran well for about 10min or so until I ran it out of range. I was only about 200-250 feet offshore and it lost connection with the radio. My old AM radio seemed to have MUCH more range (2-3x more? ) . I thought the 2.4GHz was supposed to at least have the same amount?

Two questions:

1. Can someone provide tips on getting more range out of the 2.4Ghz. Is the reciever antenna not supposed to be just left in the radio box? It is so short I thought it would not matter. How do I get best reception out of it?

2. It took me about 10 minutes to grab my ski boat and run out to grab the Supervee. When I got to it, the motor would not run any longer. The motor was making clicking noises when I hit the throttle and would not turn at all. What is this clicking noice a symptom of ? The motor was a bit hot to the touch but not burning hot. I did notice water coming from cooling outlet when it was running but by the time I got to it, it had been sitting for 10+ minutes or so. I have had this clicking noise with the motor not turning once or twice before after running it a bit in prior seasons but have never figured out if it is an ESC or Motor issue or heat issue or ?

I just bench tested the boat last night and the motor seems to be working fine again. Help

Thank you,

Marc

[Insaniac]

It's that Dimension Engineering LiPo cutoff. It's garbage...get rid of it. My D.E. cutoffs(2) melted on an SV-27 and they wouldn't answer any of my emails or phone calls...real a-holes. You are better off getting a good ESC with a LiPo cutoff.

[SweetAccord]

I hate to say it may be the radio also. It's been reported that even thought these are 2.4Ghz they have less range and linking issues, so it seems to match the cost. You get what you paid for. Don't get me wrong. I love HK and have their ASSAN and never a failure but to be sure you may want to do a range check before hitting the water again.

[Levahj]

Linking was quick and easy but the range issue certainly could be there with this inexpensive Tx/Rx. How about the Rx Antenna. It was basically stuffed in the radio box. Could that hinder range? I just dont know much about 2.4GHz.

[Rumdog]

10 minutes? Yep you drained the packs.
I'd bet the tx/rx are fine.

[Levahj]

Is the Lipo cutoff made to just kill the motor then? It thought it only slowed it down.
I beleive the lipo's only charged up about 6000ma in total for the two of them which would mean only dicharging about 1/2 of their combined 12000. Would that be enough to set off the Lipo sheild?

[Levahj]

How about the antenna issue as well guys. do I need to have the rx antenna sticking up or does having it jammed into the radio box hinder range?

[SweetAccord]

How about the antenna issue as well guys. do I need to have the rx antenna sticking up or does having it jammed into the radio box hinder range?

The great thing about 2.4 is that it can penetrate the hull without needing the antenna being exposed. The receiver sure has a long antenna for a 2.4 so it can be inside the hull but don't cross over itself, extend it straight if you can.

There have been reports on these lower priced radios having range issues or the fail safe working correctly. The antenna inside is fine, but do a range and fail safe check . I will be getting the Frysky hack and I will post results on it. If the radio is the cause you can upgrade it. The lip cut off is only to keep the lipo from discharging too far and you are right that it should slow down but not loose range or control.

I hope its the lipo cut off as its a easy replacement.

Do a range test. Hope that helps.

[Levahj]

Thanks for all the info SweetAccord.

Need to do some tests on the boat for sure to test for range. Will definately pull the antenna out of the radio box to make it as straight as possible.

[johnmaclean]

I switched over to an inexpensive HK radio (H2) last summer for my sv27. I found that it works best outside the box on the top. When I first installed it, I attached it along the side of the radio box with a couple of small sticky back ty wrap hold downs. It performed okay but noticed a couple of little glitches. My buddy suggested I get it as high as I can inside the hull so I relocated it using the same hold-downs on the top of the radio box and haven't had any issues since.

[SweetAccord]

That is where I don't get 2.4 technology. Some RX 's have such short antennas that you can't do anything but just mount the RX and you are done. Look at the ASSAN RX's on HK. They hardly have an antenna and that is why I went with that system and it was and is rock solid. When I read and hear about these other RX systems and people trying to get range or loose range or have to extend antenna here of there I have to think its back to the days of old with AM and FM. I've learned that if a RX had a short antenna there is a reason to why. I have noticed a lot of lower end radios that are 2.4 have lengths almost as much as an FM RX, what's the point in that? A true high output 2.4 has (I've noticed) a short antenna case it does not need to be long as the power output is high. Look at Spectrum, Futaba, etc. If these lower cost radios are really putting out the same power of higher costing 2.4's I'm unclear why they need longer antennas as 2.4 is 2.4 right? Makes you think something is missing and is different and cost may, not always, reflect it.

[Levahj]

I'm going to do a dry test of the radio range with the boat in a very large open field and will advise back on this thread. I will try the antenna two ways.
1. Inside the radio box with the 2" of the antenna at the end without insulation vertically taped to the inside of the box. (I have heard, but am not certain, that this is really the only part of the antenna that matters)
2. Horizontally taped to the top of the radio box as the post from John Maclean suggests.

JohnMaclean - how much range do you have with the antenna running on the top of the radio box? I go houseboating in the summer at Oroville and Shasta here in NorCal . It is a blast to have the boat sit a hundred yards from the houseboat and chase all the real boats as they go by. Need a lot of range for that! The old AM radio did fairly well . I just Google Earthed Lake Oroville and the arm of the lake we park at is 600ft wide and that is generally the range I did get with the AM radio before I lost the boat. I hope the 2.4Ghz is at least that much.

[Levahj]

Tested the HK 2.4Ghz radio on land the other day. Was probably at least 150 yards away from the boat and the radio worked fine. It was far enough away the boat was almost impossible to really see well enough to drive it. Figured out my original problem was a faulty motor so going up to Tahoe to try out the new motor.

[Stinger9D9]

Is the Lipo cutoff made to just kill the motor then? It thought it only slowed it down.
I beleive the lipo's only charged up about 6000ma in total for the two of them which would mean only dicharging about 1/2 of their combined 12000. Would that be enough to set off the Lipo sheild?

A pair of 2s 6000mah lipo packs running in series don't have a combined 12000mah. They have a combined capacity of 6000mah.

When running packs in series - where you "combine" or "double" the voltage - the way the SV does (adding 7.4v from one pack to 7.4v from the other pack to get 14.8v total) the capacity - 6000mah in this case, stays the same.

The only way you double the capacity is to run the packs in parallel (think side by side with both positive wires and both negative wires connected, then running into the ESC). This will get you 12000mah, but only 7.4 volts (which would be similar to running the boat on a single 6 cell nimh pack).

It sounds like you drained the lipos down to nothing and may have damaged them. For longevity sake, you generally shouldn't drain more than 2/3 of the capacity on a regular basis.