Soldering/Wiring/Ice ESC/Bullets PROBLEMS & QUERIES
 

Hi guys...

Im approaching the end of my build and need to work out the electrics...

NEED SoME HELP AND ADVICE

Firstly.
I was trying to solder my ESC Bullets but ran into a prob straight away...
The bullets castle creation 6.5mm bullets are too small for the tinned ends of the ESC! So i cant connect to my motor wires!

Even my 5.5mm bullets do not fit onto the tinned ends to connect to my lipos

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-19114554.jpg

What do i do???
I donot want to cut the wires? as that will cause a bottle neck of power and result in heating up the end?
Do i drill the bullet out?



Second Query.... Regards to my BEC, My Twin Servo, ESC etc and my RX...
How does this all connect up??? Mainly in relation to the BEC

Obviously my ESC wire goes into ch2 of the RX and my steering goes into CH1

But with the BEC.... how does that connect to the servos? I use two servos... one for steering and one for my mech brakes

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-19115511.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-19115610.jpg

Also... in order to power my BEC, should i solder the power wires directly into the ESC 5.5mm bullets?http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-19115557.jpg


THANKS A LOT!

Large Wires can be a pain in the butt.

There are two things you can do to make the over sized wires fit your bullet connectors:

#1. Heat up the soldered end and crimp it while it's still hot. I use a crimp tool that produces a rounded crimp. This reduces the overall diameter of the soldered end.

#2. Sand it down to size. I don't like to do this. But it will work.

Your BEC will plug into the receiver just like the servos do.

I would power the BEC at the ESC bullets.

I hope this helps. Good Luck with your build.

I assumed you had already squashed the ends with a pair of pliers when you called earlier, but if you hadnt, try it ;)

Bec plugs into the BATT port on the receiver, as long as its set to 6V or less your golden :)

BEC wires, yup, just solder them to the batt wires at the point they enter the bullet, then route them as you fancy :)

Sike, i wound wanna sand down the ends either... but te crimp tool sounds awesome! got a link? ;)

The BEC does not connect directly to the servos, you simply plug the BEC into channel 3 on the receiver and the servos pull power from the power rail in the receiver.

Dremel the tinned ends until they fit. You only have to remove solder, once down to the wires it will fit. I just did this with my Mamba XL, with no problems whatsoever. Don't worry about bottle necking.

Made a video to help out another with the same CC connectors... It's 2parts.http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_u...?v=O9WL05jYa2A

Just cut off the end bits that castle had pre tinned for you. When they tinned the ends they don't twist the wire strands and that causes them to expand. Just chop them above the tinned area, strip back the insulation, twist the ends with your fingers and then tin them with solder. Be careful not to press too hard with the soldering iron as it will cause all the strands to unravel again. After you do this you should be able to fit them into the bullets relatively easy. Its how I do it and works a treat every time.

As for the bec do like others said unless you are using large scale servos. When using large scale servos I like to run a Y-harness with the big servos so that the receiver doesn't have to carry all the current. This isn't necessary if you are going to just use standard size servos.

Have to agree with Big-Block, I listen to a weekly podcast of flight stuff (I know, not cars), and a guy, Lucien Miller (?), a very wide distributor of Scorpion Motors, and the owner of http://www.innov8tivedesigns.com

He ALWAYS recommends cutting the pre-tinned part off, and re-doing it, because you really don't know what solder CC used.

It could be a high, or low temp solder, and it would be better off to use the same constant solder all around, then having your own, let's say low temp solder mixed with high temp solder, the bond between the two wouldn't be as solid, as it would be with a constant low temp solder..

Temp is just a variable, could be anything, really.

You'll want to plug your pistix into the y-harness to ch. 2 and then your esc into the pistix. You'll also want the pistix accessible so you can unplug the esc and plug it into your Castle Link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9WL0...e_gdata_player

Seems the link I posted may not be functional...

Is that a 6v servo, or a HV servo though? If it's HV ( 2s lipo or ~7v ) then the wiring will be somewhat different ( only the signal wire will go to the rx and the power wires will go to the BEC ).

I don't think you need to worry about this if you trim the exposed wires a little to make them fit. The current will not only flow out of the end of the wire into the connector, but also through its exposed sides.

THANK YOU ALL FOR CHIMING IN...but

Im a little confused with all your replies... Let me just get this right first...

Is this how it should be set up? i have included my pistix adaptor.
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...ingdiagram.jpg

I have chopped the original tinned ends and made my own smaller ends, YET THEY STILL DONT FIT. It is as if the place for the tinned end is much too small!

Everyone with ICE HV use 6.5mm bullets for the motor connectors and 5.5mm bullets for their lipos right?

Its 0.75mm too small in diameter and the wire cannot compress any smaller...
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-19114339.jpg

Get some 8mm connectors... :yes:

For the BEC...any particular reason you can't just plug it into the Rx? The BEC power leads are soldered to their respective (+) and (-) leads on the ESC. Normally you can strip back the insulation on the ESC power lead and wrap/solder the BEC wire around it. The BEC output can just plug into an empty slot in the Rx, or, if you don't have one and need to direct-wire the servos, remove the red/black wires from the servo leads and connect them in parallel to their respective outputs on the BEC. Then just plug the servo lead with the white wire into the Rx channel.

If the connectors are getting hot enough to melt even "low temp" solder then you have bigger problems to address. If the bonds aren't strong then that's what you call a "cold joint", meaning the connector/wire wasn't hot enough for the solder to stick to it. The only solders I've ever used for electronics are 60/40 Tin/Lead and 62/36/2 Tin/Lead/Silver. Even when mixed they perform fine.

Well yes.

But how about lead vs. lead free?

Many manufacturers are using more lead free, to get some stamp of approval, and mixing with lead solder wouldn't be too fun.

It's just another variable...

I believe they use Bismuth and/or Indium as a lead substitute. Either way, the metals all mix together when you solder them and, honestly, it isn't something to be concerned about. :yes:

Oh...well, you suck. :no:

Yeah, my apologies for being knowledgeable. :neutral:

What does the motor come with if any? I drilled my 5.5's out a little. I'll be surprised if you see 120amps at 50v.

Jayhay your diagram is wrong. The PiStix goes between the ICE and the receiver.

Plug the steering servo into channel 1.
Plug the PiStix into channel 2.
Plug the brake servo into channel 3.
Plug the CC BEC into the "batt" port on the receiver.
Plug the ICE into the PiStix.
The power to the BEC is correct in your diagram.

I believe he wants to run both the esc (through the pistix) and the brake servo through the y-harness that he has shown in the picture to channel 2 (that's how I have mine wired) so he doesn't need a third channel - but I could be wrong.

I revised the drawing... This is one way to hook it up.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4...ngdiagram2.jpg

Good call, I have used the Y cable before but my Futaba has a fully proportional 3rd channel I can use for brakes.

I've actually been using the ICE motor brake. It's not proportional but you can adjust the strength and attack rate. I found that I'm always going full brake anyway so it works for me. I just set the ICE brake to match the available traction and slow the attack so I can adjust the attitude while jumping, immediate full brake causes a severe nose dive, but a slow attack gives me adjustability during air time.

WhatsNitro - Thank you for the diagram bud!!! Appreciate it.... Duh i knew it was set up like that... i used to run bloody mech brakes on my old MMM! lost my head at the moment!!!

Anyway, at least that is sorted....

BUT i went and took measurements of my bullets and my ESC Cables!

I think i need larger bullets!

Internal Diameter of my 5.5mm bullet is 4.13mm
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-20003941.jpg

Diameter of ESC Wire which connects to lipos is 4.59mm
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-20003823.jpg

So that wont work! That is the ESC Wire lightly tinned and squashed as tight as possible!



ESC/Motor Wires
6.5mm Bullet Internal Diameter is only 4.44mm! WHATS UP WITH THAT?
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-20003855.jpg

Diameter of ESC Wire is 5.05mm!!!
http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...4-20004021.jpg

NO WAY can these wires fit in these bullets!!! The gauge of wire is obviously too large.


I cant even fit the ESC to Lipo Wire in the 6mm bullet!!!!!

What bullets do you run brian as i know you have the same ESC... I dont know why the gauge of wire is so large as i should defintely be pulling less amps with more cells!

I run 6mm bullets to my batteries (on all my escs, including the hv160) and 6.5mm bullets to the motor wires. I simply trim the ends of the wires to make them fit (as I posted above, this should not really be a problem, since the current flows into the connector through all surfaces that are in contact with it, not just the end of the wire).

For my application, the 8 gauge wire is definitely overkill - because as you say, running higher voltage will mean lower current. If I hit 110-120amps, that's for a fraction of a second, and most of the time it's well under 100amps.

brian... thanks again bud

Ill trim as least as posssible so i can get the ESC/Motor wires to fit.

I really want to maintain my 5.5mm bullets. THey should be plenty as they are rated to 150amps anyway. I may make a 6mm to 5.5mm bullet adaptor. Also if i run out of lipos, all the guys i run with use 5.5mm bullets.

Would this be ok running this sort of adaptor?

dremel them until they fit. I assure you they will still pass plenty of current, and you wont have a "bottleneck".

You are right to be concerned about proper hardware, but it isn't that serious of an issue.

You are being overly cautious.

well we all know how expensive a blown esc can be, and for it to be down to negligence is just stupid.

But i guess i am being overly cautious. I doubt the wires will even get that hot with the increased voltage.

I will dremel the ESC/Motor Wires to fit the 6.5mm bullets and the ESC/Lipo Wires to fit the 5.5mm bullets. I may even slightly drill out the bullets if possible.

It is possible to drill them out. Just don't deform them doing it.

Drknow65, What about the Bec pro being rated for no brakes at 50v? I guess it's fine?

Bruce, I wasn't aware the BEC pro was rated like that :oops:

I'm using my Phoenix ICE HV 80A in a short course truck with a Neu 1515 and have gone with a 2S 800mah lipo for the receiver and servo (HV), so the BEC is not in the equation for me...

Most of the time I've been running 8S at the track and only run 12S while bashing around town.

Jayhay, I wasn't able to drill out any bullets. You just can't hold the connector well enough for when the bit bites in... Use a dremel, or use a dremel bit in your drill. You have to grind out material vs. drilling it.