I've had it before where the ESC's Bec only produced a few miliamps and wasn't enough to power the whole system. I don't know how the Multi B works, if it needs a 5v input or not, but I've had instances where the model will be running fine till I draw too much on the BEC and things start cutting out or acting really flaky. May or may not be your issue but I thought I'd put it out there.
Well I really appreciate it. I'll see if I can rustle up a testing meter and give her a whirl. without that tested, I think that I'll just leave that sleeping dog until I get PPB to have a look. or just ask Charley about it this week. I think it might just be a matter of the ESC taking priority and robbing all the aux systems of power if they're unregulated. if so, easy fix, I'll just figure out how to put in a pump ESC by looking at a bunch of build threads.
Have you checked the voltage on the batteries? Does it work with the boat on the bench? Did you end up getting a current meter?
Well if you have a receiver battery you can pull the center wire on the ESC's receiver and power the RX with the battery. If you have no more issue then that could be your problem.
I have not checked the voltage on the batteries, and do intend to get a voltage master. funny, I was actually in the middle of doing testing to see what is going on. so, the pump runs fine when it is the only thing running on the system. but the following is happening: the pitch of the motor changes when I activate any of the guns. when I put ANY level of power to the drive motors, the pump stops. when I turn on the pump, the lights on the drive motor ESC flicker ever so slightly and go back to normal. I did a little test to see if it was low power to the receiver like Beaver was saying. when the power to the receiver dips too low, the led on the receiver changes from green to a flashing red. The ESC lights will also sparkle flash when that happens. Additionally, the servo will respond, but often stick in place. Neither was happening when under normal operation. I am going to take a look at your gin palace build and see how you did your pump wiring, then see if I can duplicate that.
I went back through the thread. He is apparently using a Mtroniks Viper series ESC. Those have a 1.2A BEC if I remember right. Pretty sure.
I think the issue might be the batteries (these were the ones that were run down to nothing, right?) Sounds like when the current draw gets too much, the voltage falls off, so things stop working. Under routine operations you should not be reaching that current value (nominal is 40A for those batteries in good condition). Do you have another set of batteries? Have you tried it with the lead acid you had before?
When trouble shooting isolate components and test functionality with other components that are known to be good. Fully charged lifepo4 cells should be 3.6v per cell at rest. Under normal use they should quickly drop to 3.2-3.3v per cell at rest. They should plateau there for the majority of the battery life. Then drop off at the end. If a two cell lifepo4 system isn’t 6.4v +-.2v it isn’t in its normal range.
other set (brand new, full charge, never run down) is doing the same thing. the SLAs are.... man, I think they're in Minnesota at my ex's house.
no volt meter here. hardware store closed forty minutes ago. I will swing by tomorrow to grab one. I'm starting to think that my pump is basically drawing ALL of the power from the batteries through the board, and that something in the board shuts it down when another major power draw hits the system. I have a feeling I should look closely at Kevin's setup. I am thinking that an ESC in there running the pump would stop this nonsense
And it does all this without any of the components under load, right? (i.e. boat on the bench, free spinning props, no water in pump). With no load on the components there should not be a current shortage, not even close. Electrical stuff is hard to troubleshoot via forum. Charley might be your best potential resource, might be tied up with final Nats preps You shouldn't need an ESC for the pump. My pump control setup is kinda complicated relative to the board. I use an electronic switch to control power to a 40A relay, relay directs power to pump If you did want to use an ESC for the pump, there should be an extra 'power out' connector on the board that is a direct connection to your power-in. You could plug the ESC into that connection, and replace the servo lead for pump control that goes from the board to the receiver with the other ESC lead, but be sure to pull the red wire. Might be best to try to walk through everything with PBB guys in person, there could be something obvious that would stick out in person. They mainly use old tech, but could get you through identification of the problem
Thanks Kevin. I was looking at your gin palace build and couldn't find any pictures of the wiring running from your board to the pumps. I'll check the Missouri build too though, so if you have pics on there, no worries. looking at the circuit diagram, sure enough there's two aux power output ports (and they're even speeled out exactly for how you said to use them in the manual). If I go that route with the ESC, I will do exactly as you said. But yeah. I'll hold off on any of this until Charley/PPB get their two cents in.
Kinda shows everything in those two posts. Positive goes directly to relay coil. Positive big wire gets interrupted by relay (NO and COM). Negative for the coil goes to the board, and then from board to negative terminal for battery. Negative main line power goes directly to pump motor https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/seydlitz-build-ircwcc.445029/page-2#post-514144 https://rcwarshipcombat.com/threads/seydlitz-build-ircwcc.445029/page-3#post-514386
awesome. thanks! Also, if this isn't hilarious... I took my pump and plugged it into the AUX output plug you mentioned. of course, every time there is power in the system (ie: whenever the battery is plugged in), it's running. BUT now it is completely unaffected by the drive motors running, the guns firing, everything. so I will just leave it back on the pump plug until PPB gets ahold of it. then, if I want to battle and, you know, have the pump work, I'll just plug it into the aux and roll with that til I get home and fix it. no pondside fixing required. I'll keep you guys posted as to what happens. I'm really curious to see what Charley has to say
The only difference on the board, is that the pump output is switched. You can see on the bottom of the board all the connector outputs except for the pump are all bused together. It sounds like everything works from your description when you use the Aux port? But when the pump output is used the pump loads everything else down? Could be the switch fet, if it has high resistance when closed, instead of a virtual short, it could cause what you are describing. Till you can get a meter and measure the voltage across the battery with the pump off, then measure it again with the pump on plugged into the pump port. The voltage should not drop much, if you see a couple of volts drop the board has some kind of internal problem, either the fet, or a short on the board. Disconnect the negative wire to the pump motor. Turn the pump on with your radio, put the meter on the Ohms scale, and measure from the battery negative, to the negative side you have disconnected from the pump, reverse the meter leads, and measure again. Should be very low resistance, like .3 ohms to .5 ohms in both directions. If its higher the fet is bad. Also measure for voltage, if you see any that means you have a short somewhere. Can you post a picture of the board with the wiring?
I can definitely try. the board looks good. gimme about five to ten minutes to finagle that thing out
