Good ESC for R/C Control

[Anonymous]

If you are looking to run a R/C Car based system in your train (we put the stuff in trailing box cars or tenders), check out the 217D ESC from Astroflight. Small, cheap (towerhobbies) and in two years of service for us, very reliable. One note though, you'll need to run a small 5V regulator circuit as this ESC does not have BEC.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

Our knowledge of r/c, battery power and electronics is strictly plug and play. You need to give a little more detail and perhaps some diagrams. What is ESC? BEC?

jnjmatchett

[Anonymous]

Sorry bout that, this is all plug and play and a little soldering of course.

ESC - Electronic Speed Control (www.astroflight.com in this case)
BEC - Battery Eliminating Circuitry, in the R/C car racing world we dont want to run around with the extra weight of the 4-AA Cell battery pack running the reciever and servo. In the R/C Plane world, they dont want to loose radio power when the 'main' motor batteries run out for obvious reasons. Like I said above, unfortunatly this ESC does not include BEC, so you can either run the 4-AA cell pack that comes with the radio or just build a simple 5V regulator circuit that steps the batteries ~18V down to 5V. (this is exactly what I run, http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/psu_5v.html) (~$5 in parts)

For reversing we run a ON-OFF-ON DPDT Switch between the esc and motor.

Make SURE to use a fuse (3 to 4 Amp seems to work well) between the ESC and the Locomotives motor, yes I have rewired entire locomotives. Also, the Locomotive must be rewired with at least a switch so that the power from the batteries is not backfed into the rails. Most of our engines have been converted to strictly battery, so I just take one set of the brushed (in most cases) from one side of the engine out and save them if at some point someone wanted the engine to go back to track power.

If there is interest in a schematic, I could draw something up... let me know.

[Anonymous]

Couple other Items I thought of, if any one is interested...

Radios - We are currently running 7 of these systems, so we have cheap ($30) radios, Tower Hobbies 2TS to be exact, this is a simple surface AM stick radio. I take out the throttle return spring and the throttle can be set and left at any position. On this subject, glitching, it happens, FM is better but much more expensive (~$75-100). I have not done this yet, but I plan on experimenting with a few small ceramic capacitors on the motor leads to see if that help a bit. I have one futaba and one airtronics radio in the group, both are superior to the tower hobbies radio, but both are $25 more.

Batteries - I am still using NiCad as I had TONS of packs from the R/C Car days laying around, they are in rough shape for R/C racing, but work fine for trains, 2+ hours of run time...

Connectors - I run Deans Ultra Plugs (Again R/C Days) for my battery connection and Deans 2-Pin Micro plugs between the cars. Black with black wires looks kinda like air hoses, kinda...

I have been experimenting with this for 2 years now ever since my family built a large outdoor steam/battery only railroad, so let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for that matter!

[TonyWalsham]

Any prospective LS'er battery R/C modellers might like to consider the ACTION R/C range.
http://www.rcs-rc.com/Actionindex.htm
The EVO series throttles can use any low cost 2 stick R/C such as the US$28 Tower Hobbies 2TS. Add the US$69 ESC and have full forward/ reverse speed control with momentum. Directional lighting outputs are built in. All this without having to modify the TX to get "Cruise Control". Let the stick go at the desired speed and the loco remembers what it is supposed to do.
All models have a built in BEC for the RX.
Unlike some manufacturers we even supply the servo leads.
Some models have built in accessory functions for sound system triggers.

Best wishes,

Tony Walsham (RCS).

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dblount

Sorry bout that, this is all plug and play and a little soldering of course.

ESC - Electronic Speed Control (www.astroflight.com in this case)
BEC - Battery Eliminating Circuitry, in the R/C car racing world we dont want to run around with the extra weight of the 4-AA Cell battery pack running the reciever and servo. In the R/C Plane world, they dont want to loose radio power when the 'main' motor batteries run out for obvious reasons. Like I said above, unfortunatly this ESC does not include BEC, so you can either run the 4-AA cell pack that comes with the radio or just build a simple 5V regulator circuit that steps the batteries ~18V down to 5V. (this is exactly what I run, http://www.hut.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/psu_5v.html) (~$5 in parts)

For reversing we run a ON-OFF-ON DPDT Switch between the esc and motor.

Make SURE to use a fuse (3 to 4 Amp seems to work well) between the ESC and the Locomotives motor, yes I have rewired entire locomotives. Also, the Locomotive must be rewired with at least a switch so that the power from the batteries is not backfed into the rails. Most of our engines have been converted to strictly battery, so I just take one set of the brushed (in most cases) from one side of the engine out and save them if at some point someone wanted the engine to go back to track power.

If there is interest in a schematic, I could draw something up... let me know.

[Anonymous]

How do I wire the on-off-on dpdt switch for reversing? I have everything else wired up using the 217d and the engine starts running when I hit the throttle but I need to wire in forward/reverse capability. Also, I have a 3amp fuse between the battery+ and the ESC. Do I need another between the ESC and the motor?

[Anonymous]

Drawings would be of great help, at least for some. Will have to check out that ESC.
Will advise soonest.