Electric motor Idle Up

Thanks for the info chaps. I have a safety related question:

At the moment I have a motor master enable/disable switch with the throttle providing an arming function ie until the master switch is enabled and the throttle stick has been moved fully down the motor wont start.

I haven't tried this yet but, if I move to an offset throttle arrangement there is a possibility that without some additional TX programming, arming the motor will start the motor turning at low idle at the same time. Do you consider this to be acceptable or should I add some additional safety switchery bearing in mind that this is a Futaba TX and the programming manual has been written by someone with a masters in obfuscation.




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If the throttle does not go low enough you might find the ESC never arms. You will need to be able to switch the idle up function off in order to arm the ESC. Even if it does arm itself, I think you will need different flight modes where normal has the idle up and takeoff/landing has it switched out.

Interesting point Ron. I assumed that the ESC would be armed when you switch on with the motor switch disabled ie 0 throttle. I don't know if this is the case. I would have to disable the TX safety locks to find out.

Alan

I have a switch which activates idle up and starts the timer, I have it switched to timer off/motor off when I connect the battery and turn the model on, then switch to timer on/idle up to fly.

Thanks for that Jon, I can assign a switch to throttle trim which will give me switchable idle up. If I can get the same switch arrangement as the petrol models then I'll be happy.

All modern ESCs are setup so that they will not arm until they see a low throttle signal. If you connect your battery when the switch is in 'tickover' mode the ESC will not arm. You would have to switch to 'motor off' mode to arm the ESC and then back to 'tickover' before the motor will spin.

Can I add to Mike's comment - ESC needs to know the low and high signal of your throttle initially. So, with TX on throttle trim centre (neutral) and throttle high plug in power pack. At first two bleeps pull throttle back to low. you should get then the bleeps counting number of cells in pack and then long beep confirming and that is it. Now you can set up an idle trim or whatever. For safety if prop is mounted though then usual safety procedures "just in case" ESC has funny turn

Slightly off subject: I have found most ESC's have a nice linear throttle response and have not had to add a throttle curve. Until my Aerostar 120 amp Opto I found out recently.....

Mike: That's a reasonable safety feature. I haven't tried connecting the battery with the motor lock disabled and the throttle active and I don't intend to

Phil: The airboss esc seems to be self learning I haven't calibrated the throttle at all yet and it's all working fine.

AlanF wrote: Mike: That's a reasonable safety feature. I haven't tried connecting the battery with the motor lock disabled and the throttle active and I don't intend to

You should try it just to reassure yourself that the feature is there.

AlanF wrote: Phil: The airboss esc seems to be self learning I haven't calibrated the throttle at all yet and it's all working fine.

It is not possible for it to learn where your top end is. If you have not set a curve or travel limits on your transmitter you are probably moving the stick a few clicks at the bottom end before the motor starts and you are probably reaching full throttle a few clicks from full stick movement. Many would be perfectly happy flying this way, but you are potentially losing a lot of finesse this way.

Useful video on how to set up the motor and ESC that you have

vimeo.com/155295341