** New Zelos 48 Brushless Large Scale Cat From Pro Boat**

[Rafael_Lopez]

The best I can advise is to check the motor alignment. If the Teflon is worn now and there is no longer friction where there used to be, the issue is definitely alignment.

Because it sounds like your boat came this way, call our Product Support line and have them send you anther flex shaft with liner. Unfortunately they come in a pair, but I'm sure you wont mind having an extra flex shaft.

Once you install the new liner, make sure to align the motor properly. Please let me know if the misalignment is in the stuffing tube, which would prevent you from possibly aligning the drive line via the motor mount. Pictures help, so if you find this to be the case, post some pictures of the issue.

[Xtremespeed]

Thank you very much for the reply. I wish I would have taken pictures when it happened, but at least it does sound like I'm on the right track. There was no longer any liner showing and the flex shaft was against the tube. I first aligned the motor to see if the shaft would center in the tube which it did. Then I removed the shaft to find only small pieces of liner, some which seemed to be melted to the shaft. The tube is now hogged out slightly from the shaft rubbing against it at the motor end. It bothers me a little that there were no signs of a problem and the boat seemed to be running great. I'd hate to damage it by running it too long with an issue like this. Thankfully I shut it down at about 3.85v a cell. Had I ran it much longer I'm afraid to guess how bad the damage may have been. There was a lot of smoke and the sealant around the stuffing tube is golden brown from the heat. I will call the product support line today and see what they can do. Thanks again.

[Rafael_Lopez]

The best I can advise is to check the motor alignment. If the Teflon is worn now and there is no longer friction where there used to be, the issue is definitely alignment.

Because it sounds like your boat came this way, call our Product Support line and have them send you anther flex shaft with liner. Unfortunately they come in a pair, but I'm sure you wont mind having an extra flex shaft.

Once you install the new liner, make sure to align the motor properly. Please let me know if the misalignment is in the stuffing tube, which would prevent you from possibly aligning the drive line via the motor mount. Pictures help, so if you find this to be the case, post some pictures of the issue.

[Xtremespeed]

Small update. I talked to Bill in product support and he is sending me a new flex shaft and liner. He was a pleasure to deal with. Excellent support. Hopefully this will get me going. I'm going to have to figure out a way to clean the inside of the tube to remove any remnants of the melted liner.

[98Corvette]

Problems running 7s
I was wondering if anyone here can help me out. I have decided to run a 7s setup in my Zelos 48". As the manual states, there is an auto-detect for the amount of cells and it states that it should have 7 short beeps followed by a longer beep. I did a test with a 3s and got 3 beeps, 4s and got 4 beeps, 6s and got 6, 8s and got 8 beeps, BUT,,, when I did 7s I am getting 8 beeps.
If there is anyone on here with a Zelos 48 and if you have the capabilities of hooking up a 7s setup (4s+3s in series) or (5s+2s in series) laying around, would you mind hooking it up to see if you get 7 short quick beeps then the longer beep and green light.... Thanks in advance.

[Xtremespeed]

Just tried it on mine. It is the same. I get 8 short beeps followed by one long beep just like I do when running 8s.

[Rafael_Lopez]

Hey guys, sorry for the delay on this info regarding the ESC on 7s.

The manufacture specs say the ESC will work between 4-8s, but they don't consider 7s a common option so they did not include it in the ESCs programming.

We need to update the information for this ESC, but unfortunately it won't work with 7s.

[Xtremespeed]

Thanks for info Rafael.

[IRON-PAWW]

So the Australian Proboat Importer has issued me with a replacement hull. They agree that the incorrectly bent stuffing tube is a clear defect that warrants a replacement. It is currently sitting with my local hobby store. With work it'll be the weekend before I get my hands on it. Exactly what they've sent remains to be seen. What hardware did I get with it? Hatch? Electronics? I assume though that it will pretty much be a bare hull. Watch this space. It's good though that they came through in full agreeance on this. I admit I didn't know what their response would be.

So I think if your stuffing tube is bent this way out of the box - you should be able to get your hull replaced as well. Though it appears so far that I'm the single lucky person who's had this defect.

You can see the stuffing tube has no curve whatsoever. Rather - just a single nasty bend half way along. You can even see in the third pic the way the tube has begun to crimp underneath.

Once the new hull is up and running - I'll post some speed results to see what sort of difference this makes.

[Xtremespeed]

Glad to see they are replacing it for you. I'm still waiting on a flex shaft and liner to fix mine but so far the support has been great.

[Rafael_Lopez]

They are replacing the bare hull, which includes only what is glued down to it. The only aluminum parts included are the antenna tube an the thumb screw bases. You are not getting a canopy because that is sold separately.

You will have to disassemble everything screwed down to your hull and transfer it to the new one.

The bare hull is pictured here, so you can reference what is included.
http://www.horizonhobby.com/hull-and...48-p-prb281030

[IRON-PAWW]

OK thanks Rafael. That's what I thought would happen. Hobby store was a little light on the details. So basically just the bare hull with stuffing tube in place? Can't see underneath in the link - But I assume I will need to pull the strut off the old hull too? Just so I know and can get busy with stripping the old hull before picking up the new.

[Rafael_Lopez]

Yes, nothing else bolted on other than the antenna tube and thumb screw bases are included. The inside tray unscrews, so you can remove the entire thing without a need to remove the motor, servo, and ESC. The battery trays and electronics tray rails come glued in place.

[Xtremespeed]

Got my new flex shaft and liner yesterday. The new one is a little longer than the original, so when I cut it, how much space should I leave between the strut and the drive dog with the shaft fully seated in the collet? 3-4mm?

[Rafael_Lopez]

Leave enough space for the teflon washers plus an additional 2.5-3mm to allow for shrinking under load. I don't have one here to measure the thickness of the teflon washers. If you choose not to run the washers then at least 3mm.

I'll find out why these are coming longer than specified.

[Xtremespeed]

Sounds good. Yeah I'm not real excited about cutting it but I assume it's not a big deal with a Dremel.

[IRON-PAWW]

All Right. I think these results speak for themselves.

I received my replacement hull. I swapped over the running gear and set things up as close as I could to what I had before. Instant 10Km/h (6.21 mph) difference.

I got a top speed of 91.9km/h (57.1mph) this time.

No differences or changes except for a replacement hull with a properly curved stuffing tube. CnC 4814 prop.

Now - ESC and its caps got a little hot. That didn't happen last time. No temp gun sorry. But on the limit of how hot I'm comfortable with electronics getting. Motor was fine. Wiring had no heat, and my batteries were warm. No heat in the collet or driveline.

Question: Just so I'm sure. The ESC has over volt protetction right? Does it also have thermal cutout?

Spent ages checking the motor alignment was good in the swapover - so I'm happy there.


Details of swapover coming up next - I found a few things out which I think people might be interested in. Plus I added a cap bank to see if that might help with the capacitor heat I got.


Garmin Foretrex Reading


Lake Conditions

[Xtremespeed]

Glad you got it going again. Looks like that stuffing tube was really causing some issues according to that new speed. I put mine back together but haven't had a chance to get it on the water yet. Had to cut about 4mm off the replacement flex shaft but didn't have any issues.

[Brushless55]

All Right. I think these results speak for themselves.

I received my replacement hull. I swapped over the running gear and set things up as close as I could to what I had before. Instant 10Km/h (6.21 mph) difference.

I got a top speed of 91.9km/h (57.1mph) this time.

No differences or changes except for a replacement hull with a properly curved stuffing tube. CnC 4814 prop.

Now - ESC and its caps got a little hot. That didn't happen last time. No temp gun sorry. But on the limit of how hot I'm comfortable with electronics getting. Motor was fine. Wiring had no heat, and my batteries were warm. No heat in the collet or driveline.

Question: Just so I'm sure. The ESC has over volt protetction right? Does it also have thermal cutout?

Spent ages checking the motor alignment was good in the swapover - so I'm happy there.


Details of swapover coming up next - I found a few things out which I think people might be interested in. Plus I added a cap bank to see if that might help with the capacitor heat I got.

with out a temp gun, there is no way to truly tell if the esc was to hot or not ?
how long was your run ?
how low were your lipos after the run ?

[IRON-PAWW]

Too True. I hear you. Temp gun is next on the list. Just trying to find something decent in Aus that isn't too expensive.

Run was around the 5 minute mark, certainly no more. Lipo's are fairly new as well - only about 4 runs on them. But the same I used previously. Cell voltage was 3.7v per cell when I tested about 10min after the run.

Ran it 8S with 4 x 4S 5000mah batts. 2 x 4S in series each side - and each side paralleled.


Xtremespeed: Thanks man! My replacement flex was a shade long too. Dremel cutting disc soon sorted that out. Will be interesting to see how yours goes for a comparison.

[IRON-PAWW]

Details of the hull swapout.

Big post sorry all. Keep scrollin' if you aren't interested and I won't take it personally.


To recap. My original hull had a defect in the way its stuffing tube was bent. Scroll up to see those pics. That hull was replaced under warranty. The new hull's stuffing tube has a much gentler bend in it as you can see in the pic below. Now *that* is the way it's supposed to be.

New Stuffing Tube





In my case - I was allowed to keep the old hull - so I've ended up with 2. Thoughts about what to do with the old hull & whether I'll build it up are beginning to gel. For now though - into storage it goes.... seeing as I have 2 massive boxes to put it in.

Old and New





The same build quality is clearly evident in the new hull, which makes shelving the old one all the more a shame. So you get all the glued-in components - the stuffing tube of course, and it's teflon liner, and the battery trays. You get the antenna mount with it's small length of clear tube fitted - but not the black antenna tube itself. I also got a rubber control-arm boot for the steering, and, I also got the main black mounting tray that screws down onto the hull with the motor mount etc etc attached - so not a completely bare hull at all in my case. I also got a new flexshaft and liner with the hull. So really - more than reasonable as far as I'm concerned - and I certainly feel looked after because of it.

New Hull





New hull with the mounting tray removed. So, look - this is what I mean by plenty of glue used where it's needed (post on previous page). Those rails are what the mounting tray screws into - and plenty of glue has been used to attach them to the hull. They aren't coming loose anytime soon. The stuffing tube has been given similar treatment.

New Hull - Tray Removed





So here's the old hull with the mounting tray just removed & put aside. Very clever, and solid design. All you need to do is unscrew the mounting tray and screw it back into the new hull. BUT - then you *need* to go through the process of aligning the motor so that the flex cable feeds into the collet nice and smoothly. You don't want any misalignment between the motor and flex at all. So long as the flex feeds down into the stuffing tube dead-centre then you're good. Don't forget vertical angles as well. The mounting tray itself has sideways adjustment.

Old Hull - Removing Mounting Tray





The front motor mount gives your up and down adjustment. So - don't just think you can pull the mounting tray from one boat, then stick it in another and Boom you're done. I'd have probably killed my boat if I did that - The mounting adjustments were quite different from one hull to the next. I actually took this photo to show the bearing that needs oiling with a decent bearing oil with each few runs. You'll need a bottle with a nice pointed tip to get at it.

Front Motor Mount Showing Bearing

[IRON-PAWW]

While I'm on the motor - I took these photos to show the screws on the motor that go rusty - pretty quicksmart it seems. First few runs I think I had water come through the stuffing tube and get sprayed around inside the hull a little. Small length of silicone tube over the end of the stuffing tube has stopped that happening. Short as you can get it because it *does* cause friction of course. So - like with any boat - not all your hardware is stainless steel. These screws on the motor, and I also found a grub screw on the rudder pin, that are not stainless steel will rust. I put a good dose of WD40 on here as you can see. I also filled the hex-head caps in the first pic with a stiff grease - we'll see how long that stays there.

Screws that rust






Now - while I'm on the water damage thing, I also had some - corrosion I guess - on these three ESC connectors the motor plugs into. Bit wily these days, so with a little water splashed around I checked all my electric connectors. Lucky I did because I had this whitish buildup in these beginning to form. Cool - some WD40 and clean rag cleaned them no prob. But - the gold coating on the connectors also came off. Kid you not - that gold coating is micron thin - and susceptible to WD40 it appears. You can see in the 2nd pic it also wiped straight off the bullet connector as well. So I have silver connectors now on both the ESC and bullets instead of gold. Hmmmmmmmnnnnnnn. Watch also the pins for connecting the program box to the ESC. These go a nice bright green when they corrode, as do the pins on the receiver, and also the balance plugs on your lipos. WD40 the lot to stop this.
Motor - ESC Connectors


Motor - ESC Bullet





Might as well continue with other things I found in this process. If you ever need to pull out your SR310 receiver - careful - mine was glued in place. The antenna wire was glued into the antenna fitting and the box itself was glued down to the mounting tray. So don't go yanking on things too much until you have all that sorted. I used a small jewellers screwdriver and hammer to tap down through the antenna fitting to dislodge the glue.

I think I found why the reciever box was glued down - because the retaining bracket screws had been overtightened to the point where they had broken through the plastic. Some washers were needed to fix this little issue. No biggie - but something to be aware of.

SR310 Receiver Mounting

[IRON-PAWW]

Swapping the hardware was a non issue. No need to really explain it. Except to say that I couldn't see any waterproofing measures in place - like a silicone etc etc to seal around the screws etc etc. Possible the removal of the screws killed it though. On the mounting faces of the strut and rudder assembly, I smeared a thin layer of silicone. I then smeared silicone around the undersides of the screw cap heads, the idea being that when all is in place, I should get a complete seal. Make sure you get the rudder mounted as square as possible - you don't want to fasten that down on an angle. I found I had a fair bit of angle movement when I re-mounted mine. Plenty of room to work as you can see with this pic of the strut mounting screws from inside the hull.

Strut Mount Screws





Next thing of note is the under-hull water pickup. With both hulls this was fairly constricted with paint, so using a dremel tool I bored the paint from the inlet and also carefully ground out a teardrop shape. This had quite a marked effect on the amount of water flow I got between this hull and the old one. Definitely worth doing - it makes a big difference. Still not as good as a rudder pickup but certainly serviceable.

Under Hull Pickup





AAAnd last pic. With today's run I got some heat in the ESC and its capacitors. So I added this cap bank I had spare. Whether it's really needed or not I'll let others decide. As Brushless55 said, I really need a temp gun reading on the ESC before I can judge properly how 'overhot' it might or might not be getting. So be your own judge on that. Will look at temp guns now and see what I can do, and whether there's really an issue with heat or not.

Added Cap Bank






Lastly - big thanks must go to Rafael Lopez for picking up the defect in the first place, and then advising me through the warranty process. Like I said - I feel Like I was taken care of by Proboat / Horizon Hobby and then the Australian Proboat importer. Almost 92Km/h (57.16mph). That's what I'm talking about.

[slr30ate]

Good to see you got it all sorted out, where is that lake

[Rafael_Lopez]

When we replace a part, we usually never ask for the old one in return. Doesn't make sense to spend money and time on something we'd just throw away anyways.

As far as the temps on the caps, caps don't do anything than store power and release when necessary. Their temp is directly affected by loading and unloading of the prop. Depending on how you are running and water conditions, they may be hotter some runs/days than others.

I've put that ESC through a lot. Trust me when I tell you it will shut down before it burns up, unless you go high on timing; over 17*. But with the stock 6 pole D wind motor, you should be going down on timing if you decide to load it up more than stock.

[Xtremespeed]

Had a chance to get the Zelos in the water today. No smoke in the hull this time. I did get a little water, but I'm not sure exactly where it came from. Might try some silicone tubing over the teflon liner to see if that helps. Anyways, the boat seemed to run much smoother and I'm confident that it was just a motor alignment issue. Snapped a few pics while I was there.
image1.jpgimage2.jpgimage3.jpg

[racerr73]

Quick question for IRON PAWW, can you weigh the first hull with the wrong stuffing tube in it and let me know what the weight is please.

Thanks
Trev

[IRON-PAWW]

Trev: Will do, if I can find a way to weigh it properly. Rafael may know the weight of a bare hull too though

Rafael: Will procure a temp gun and I'll get some solid measurements into the conversation. But I feel a little better knowing the cutout works decently.

Have not changed the timing as yet. Did I hear that the seaking program cards work on these Esc's? Will do a few more runs stock to make sure things are right before I go more aggressive.

[buckman]

Howdy Rafael and gang I be Buckman from the Gulf islands, been following the Zelos forum for ever lol,so bought one and damn if the 48" be sitting or should say docked in a box at the LHS on another island so off to get her in the morn and give her a new home. I have ordered the Reaction 50c but not here yet so can I use my multi rotor TBS 4S 30C gently till the 50c get here.
Tons of video when she hits the chuck.
Thankx
Buckman

[Rafael_Lopez]

Hey Buckman. Your're on the right path with the reaction packs. Use your packs with caution until you get a feel for how they will put up to the boats amperage demand. I'd say stop to check after 1-2 minutes for the first few runs. If they are at an acceptable temp, not starting to expand, don't feel squishy, they more than likely will hold up just fine.