Seaking 180 esc issue

Hi, I am having issues with a brand new seaking 180 amp esc. Everything is fine if I accelerate up down as long as I don't go to full throttle. I can hold 7/8 throttle and everything is fine, but as soon as I squeeze the trigger to full throttle, it acts like the power is instanly cut to 1/4 power. Then 1/4 power is the best I get out of the throttle range accelerating back up to full throttle again.

Then if I disconnect the battery and reconnect it, everything is fine until I hit full throttle again. Then drops instantly to 1/4 power until disconnect batteries again.

I have found the cutoff only engages under load. In the water it takes a split second at full throttle to kick in. Just to see, I did spike it for short burst to full throttle on the bench and that doesn't trip the cutoff.

I have more than one of these seaking 180's and swaped out a good working one from my Miss Geico and put it into my Osprey. Everything works perfect with it. I then took the problem esc and stuck it in my Geico and it does the exact same power cutting at full throttle.

So, I am confident it is something with the esc but I have never had a esc act this way and no idea what is going on or how to fix it.

Any help would be appreciated



Also, I was using the same futaba 3pm transmitter/ reciever swapping between the boats for now. I tried adjusting epa, trims, couldn't find anything that made a differance.

did you calibrate it?

is it programmed for the lipo count?

lipos may be running below voltage thershold under hard accelaration, how new are the lipos, i had the exact thing happen with a 25c battery and a cc1515, couldnt provide the amperage nessasary so lvc engaged

Whats the low voltage cutoff set for? If the batts are "on the edge" of providing amperage the motor needs they will drop below the LVC setting quickly and the ESC will stay in cutoff mode. Set it to 3.0, or disable it even for a test of this theory on a short run. If it doesnt cut to 1/4 power then its the batts(most likely) or your lvc is too high. Mine did the same thing as the batts were just not up to snuff...............new batts in 2p config. fixed it.

I have the exact same issue. I have a pair of new Venom 6400 20c 3s2p running as 6s - these.

The ESC is calibrated. I have left it at default (3.2v per cell), one and two steps down (3.0 and 2.8v) but the only thing I have been able to do to keep this issue from happening is to remove the low voltage cutoff altogether. When this happens, it has nothing to do with the voltage left in the batteries, as it usually has 3.84 volts/cell when I bring it back in, regardless of the cutoff setting.

After this cutoff occurs, I can drive the boat around for another ten minutes and there is no other change in ESC behavior. It's just slow as Christmas. None of the electronics get hot.

I've jacked with this damned thing enough to think it's a problematic ESC. I'm willing to listen to other input though, I have a lot to learn.

Here's a video showing what I see; it is obvious where the cutoff happens at about 8.5 seconds in. Any help is appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jM7X2iVSeg

Hi Guys, To double check if you mean "calibrate it" for the transmitter throttle movement, then yes I did.

I have lipo count set to manual. I tried a couple fresh sets 2s2p batteries, then set lipo count for 6s and tried a couple charged sets of 3s2p and it does the exact same thing with every set of batteries I have tried. All my packs are 40c.

"but the only thing I have been able to do to keep this issue from happening is to remove the low voltage cutoff altogether"

57burb, 20c in a boat isnt gonna cut it...................the batts are dumping if it hits lvc with it on but runs fine without the lvc on.

JSicam............what is your lvc at? What size boat amd motor?

57burb, I see you know my pain........

I have lipo cutoff set at 3v. I will try disabling it tomorrow and report what happens.

I am skeptical of my batteries being the issue since they are all new or almost new and my other seaking 180 can be swaped in a moments notice with everything else being the exact same (as far as I can tell) and the problem is gone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Make-a-Wake

"but the only thing I have been able to do to keep this issue from happening is to remove the low voltage cutoff altogether"

57burb, 20c in a boat isnt gonna cut it...................the batts are dumping if it hits lvc with it on but runs fine without the lvc on.

JSicam............what is your lvc at? What size boat amd motor?

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I have tried it in 2 different boats with same results. LVC always has been at 3.0v

42" Osprey w/ leopard 4074 2200kv on 4s

29" Miss Geico w/ leopard 4082 1250kv on 4s and 6s

"I have tried it in 2 different boats with same results. LVC always has been at 3.0v"

"42" Osprey w/ leopard 4074 2200kv on 4s"

You run a 4074 2200kv on 4s in a 42inch mono:huh:

Love to see a video of this boat!

could it be over propped, maybe thermal stage 1 cutoff or something??

I had the same issue turn off the low voltage cut and program the correct cell count bud

Their have been reports with the hobbywing seaking 180 & 120 esc with the lvc kicking in pre-mature causing issues. Dis-able the lvc and timing the runs has fixed those issues before. Try it out and see if it works.

As far as your Osprey with the leopard 4074 2200kv, I would guess you bought that from HK and run stock, Please note that is not a good/recommended motor for that boat. Yes the leopard is one hell of a motor, but that hull is too big even for that motor. You need some serious power for that hull. To add that leopard 2200kv can pull some serious amps and 4s2p should be used on that motor. I have that same motor in a Pursuit (DF33 copy) and run 4s2p, and it runs wonderfully. I would suggest a different motor for your osprey before you damage a great motor.

If you guys are running 2s2p I think you want your cell count set to 2 cells not 4. Same with 3s2p I would say it should be set at 3 cells not 6 cells. By going parallel you are upping the mha or capacity of the batteries not the voltage. The cell count is actually telling the esc how many volts input it should be seeing. Make sense?

Mark

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marko500

If you guys are running 2s2p I think you want your cell count set to 2 cells not 4. Same with 3s2p I would say it should be set at 3 cells not 6 cells. By going parallel you are upping the mha or capacity of the batteries not the voltage. The cell count is actually telling the esc how many volts input it should be seeing. Make sense?

Mark

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They are in series, not parallel

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Originally Posted by Diesel6401

Their have been reports with the hobbywing seaking 180 & 120 esc with the lvc kicking in pre-mature causing issues. Dis-able the lvc and timing the runs has fixed those issues before. Try it out and see if it works.

As far as your Osprey with the leopard 4074 2200kv, I would guess you bought that from HK and run stock, Please note that is not a good/recommended motor for that boat. Yes the leopard is one hell of a motor, but that hull is too big even for that motor. You need some serious power for that hull. To add that leopard 2200kv can pull some serious amps and 4s2p should be used on that motor. I have that same motor in a Pursuit (DF33 copy) and run 4s2p, and it runs wonderfully. I would suggest a different motor for your osprey before you damage a great motor.

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Thanks Diesel, disabling the cutoff seems to be the popular recommendation. Luckily I do time my runs also. I can't wait for daylight to test the LVC disabled.

As for the Osprey, I had a feeling comments were coming after someone asked what motor was in it. You are correct its an HK, but what I didn't mention is I am impaintent and can't let new toys sit more than 5 minutes when they arrive!!!!! You see my Leopard 56-92 custom motor mount that Punisher 67 made me hasn't arrived in the mail yet. So ran what I had:biggrin:

I am glad though to work out some bugs before the real build with the boat takes place.... Also, Have a Suppo 200a to do some R&D with, hopping to run it with the 56-92 on 7s, but don't know how great the suppo is. Planning on the seaking to be extra for my Geico.....

Josh,

I set all my Hobbywing 180 LVC to 2.8v per cell.

When LVC kicks in, My lipo pack will have 25% remaining.

Hope this helps.

Hi Rob, I am Stll waiting on the esc to arrive. I already have the program card.
When i get it back in the boat i will call you to run through the set up.
Chris.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JSicam11

Thanks Diesel, disabling the cutoff seems to be the popular recommendation. Luckily I do time my runs also. I can't wait for daylight to test the LVC disabled.

As for the Osprey, I had a feeling comments were coming after someone asked what motor was in it. You are correct its an HK, but what I didn't mention is I am impaintent and can't let new toys sit more than 5 minutes when they arrive!!!!! You see my Leopard 56-92 custom motor mount that Punisher 67 made me hasn't arrived in the mail yet. So ran what I had:biggrin:

I am glad though to work out some bugs before the real build with the boat takes place.... Also, Have a Suppo 200a to do some R&D with, hopping to run it with the 56-92 on 7s, but don't know how great the suppo is. Planning on the seaking to be extra for my Geico.....

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Got ya and good choice with the 5692, I'd change that suppo 200 to a swordfish 240hv though. Just me lol. Make sure your dump that 4mm drive system and get a flex that can handle the load like a .187 3/16. That leopard is BAD-A$$ and is gonna put out some serious torque! Good luck with build! Peter Z mount NICE!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arrowskartax9

Hi Rob, I am Stll waiting on the esc to arrive. I already have the program card.
When i get it back in the boat i will call you to run through the set up.
Chris.

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Hi Chris,

No problem.:beerchug:

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Originally Posted by JSicam11

They are in series, not parallel

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Then you are running 6s1p and NOT 3s2p as you said.

... id run an external BEC and see if you get any problems at all....

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Originally Posted by iamandrew

... id run an external BEC and see if you get any problems at all....

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Internal BEC won't cause thes problems. Do as others say about the lvc and your problems should be fine. It's also a good idea to run in 2p.

Hey Guys, thanks for all your help... Today, I intitially ran it with the LVC cutoff at 3.0v, it cut the power like expected. So, I did turn off the LVC like you said and it worked without a glitch. Great!!!!!!!!!! I turned the lvc back on to 2.8v cutoff as some of you recommended and that worked also. Great again!!!!!

The only wierd thing was that just for fun I changed the lvc back to 3.0v. I checked the battery packs before going out again and now they were drained to 11.25v (running 6s). At 3.0v cutoff it now works out of the blue with no issues too. I thought for sure it would hit the cutoff right away as my packs were down to 11.25 volts each. Then I stuck a fresh charged set in it to simulate the original scenario I posted for you guys needing help, but now it works just fine on 3.0v cutoff for now.

I guess some of these seaking do have wierd glitchy issues with the LVCs, but thanks to you all, I know have a better understanding of whats going on and what to do if I encounter the problem again.........

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Team FFRB

"I have tried it in 2 different boats with same results. LVC always has been at 3.0v"

"42" Osprey w/ leopard 4074 2200kv on 4s"

You run a 4074 2200kv on 4s in a 42inch mono:huh:

Love to see a video of this boat!

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Oh! I tried that once! :ohmy:

Great new!! Josh

I still have the same issues with lvc off cell count set etc and running an external bec with an additional 35v 6000uh cap bank ontop of the preinstalled one.
The external bec helped heaps as well as an additional cap bank. But as soon as the water is good enough to run full throttle for any amount of time it still cuts out. When there is a bit of chop in a race and the throttle isnt flat the problem doesnt occur. Racing i still come in at 35-40% battery life. Normally i run 6s but today running 4s was the same issue on the flat water.