General Newby Help

Loopy

Active Member
:newhere: Hi everyone!! Nice to be here. I like the name RC Help. That really caught my eye because I'm always in need of help. I've been away from RC for many years and just got back in with the purchase of an Eflite Timber X 1.2, (against the advice of the hobby shop salesman. He was probably right, should have bought the Apprentice or Carbon Cub.) My only experience is with my old HZ Super Cub 3 channel.
I purchased a RadioLink AT9S TX and RCVR for the Timber X. Again, I probably should have bought a RTF Timber X with the Spektrum TX and RCV. On my 1st try, I had a crash on take off:crushed: and quickly came to the conclusion that I needed lots of practice.
I dusted off my old Super Cub and found that everything worked!!! After a few successful practice flights, I had a problem. I didn't back off the throttle soon enough after a premature landing in very tall grass that wrapped up the prop and stalled the motor. The motor was very hot and had a burnt smell. After that all controls failed to work. No motor, rudder or elevator. I therefore came to the conclusion that I had fried the RCVR.
I decided to buy another RadioLink RCVR to use in the Cub as it is much cheaper that a new Cub RCVR. The only problem is that the connections from the motor to the RCVR do not match with the RCVR.
My questions are, Do you think my diagnosis is correct re: the RCVR and if so what would you suggest to connect to the RadioLink RCVR?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!:thankyou:
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Motor's don't connect to a receiver ... they connect to an ESC ( electronic speed controller ) which is the item that is connected to the receiver on the throttle channel. Some RC vehicles have an all-in-one board where the receiver and ESC is combined but I don't think that applies to the Timber X.

The recommendation that we use on the forum here the most... is to practice using a Sim on your computer first before trying to fly a real RC vehicle. This can save a lot of money on broken parts.

With electronics failures, the damage is usually limited to just a single component or two but if one of those shorted out and wasn't turned off or disconnected quickly enough, other components could also be affected.

So, to play it safe look at your battery first to make sure it looks ok and isn't puffed out or has other potential damage. If there is any question about the battery's condition, use a different one. A damaged Lipo battery can start a fire long after a crash, so it's best to quarantine them in a fireproof container that can vent if something does happen and is kept away from anything flammable just to play it safe and to keep from burning down anything. I personally know one person whom lost their house due to a lipo fire and another lost part of their garage... so don't take any chances.

Next, disconnect the ESC and motor from the receiver since those are suspects at this time. Power up the transmitter and then the receiver to test the other servos. If your receiver used power from the ESC to operate, you may need to get and use a separate battery pack to provide temporary power for the rest of the components. If they don't work, disconnect one servo at a time and retest. Since you got a new receiver, you can use it to test with as long as you have bound it to the transmitter first.

Once those are all tested, if found ok... then disconnect the motor from the ESC and plug it into the receiver... test that the servos still work once the ESC is connected ( disconnect the test battery pack if using a battery plugged into the ESC ).

Assuming everything else still works... remove the prop from the motor and hook it back up to the ESC to test the motor.
 

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
I knew you would be the right man to help this gentleman out Randy. Awesome information, I learned something :)
 

Loopy

Active Member
Motor's don't connect to a receiver ... they connect to an ESC ( electronic speed controller ) which is the item that is connected to the receiver on the throttle channel. Some RC vehicles have an all-in-one board where the receiver and ESC is combined but I don't think that applies to the Timber X.

The recommendation that we use on the forum here the most... is to practice using a Sim on your computer first before trying to fly a real RC vehicle. This can save a lot of money on broken parts.

With electronics failures, the damage is usually limited to just a single component or two but if one of those shorted out and wasn't turned off or disconnected quickly enough, other components could also be affected.

So, to play it safe look at your battery first to make sure it looks ok and isn't puffed out or has other potential damage. If there is any question about the battery's condition, use a different one. A damaged Lipo battery can start a fire long after a crash, so it's best to quarantine them in a fireproof container that can vent if something does happen and is kept away from anything flammable just to play it safe and to keep from burning down anything. I personally know one person whom lost their house due to a lipo fire and another lost part of their garage... so don't take any chances.

Next, disconnect the ESC and motor from the receiver since those are suspects at this time. Power up the transmitter and then the receiver to test the other servos. If your receiver used power from the ESC to operate, you may need to get and use a separate battery pack to provide temporary power for the rest of the components. If they don't work, disconnect one servo at a time and retest. Since you got a new receiver, you can use it to test with as long as you have bound it to the transmitter first.

Once those are all tested, if found ok... then disconnect the motor from the ESC and plug it into the receiver... test that the servos still work once the ESC is connected ( disconnect the test battery pack if using a battery plugged into the ESC ).

Assuming everything else still works... remove the prop from the motor and hook it back up to the ESC to test the motor.
Thanks for the info, but it's not the Timber X that has the problem, it's the Cub that has old school electronics. The ESC and RCVR are in one unit. I have, since posting, checked the motor, and it's OK. My question was how to connect the red and black motor wires with male bayonet plugs to the new RadioLink receiver that uses the new style very tiny connectors. It may be that what I want to do is not possible and I will just have to get a new RCVR/servo for the Cub. They are getting very hard to find. Mine is a channel 2 (P/N HBZ7357-2). I was hoping to utilize my new RadioLink TX on both planes. Perhaps there is a connector (pig tale) available to tie the two together.
Thanks for your input,
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
What I mentioned before... were the troubleshooting steps you should take to check your equipment... it really wasn't brand make or model specific. In short because I had no way to tell if you really had troubleshot the problem correctly or not... I provided the steps you needed to do it and didn't judge what you did or didn't do.

Ok... If the Cub has an all-in-one receiver/ESC .... then you will probably need to replace it with an all-in-one unit since most of these are in vehicles that are too small to have separate components. If there is additional room... What you need to know is most receivers do not have an included ESC built in, they only have servo connections which are typically 3 connector plugs ( with 3 wires on them )... they can not power a motor directly. On these typical ( aka standard type ) receivers, you would then connect a separate ESC to operate your motor with IF you have room to mount one somewhere in the airframe. The servo connectors can come in different sizes so you have to be careful to get the right ones for both your servos and receivers that you have.

To get the right size ESC you would need to know how many volts, amps or watts the motor pulls and if it is a brushed or brushless motor. You said your motor has 2 wires, so that would mean it's a brushed motor. In this case, you would need a separate brushed ESC that can supply enough volts and amps / watts that your motor requires. The ESC would then plug into the throttle channel on the receiver.
 

Loopy

Active Member
Well, finally , I had my DUH :duh::banghead::stupid:moment. I need to add an ESC to the Cub. Thanks for your response. I knew I had found the right forum!!!!:yahoo:

Anyone have a useable HBZ7357 CH2 RCVR FOR SALE??
 
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Loopy

Active Member
Update!!! I solved my immediate problem by scrounging through my "save it for later, it may come in handy some day box", but did find through extensive searching that there is a company in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by the name of Eliminator RC that has all the antique ESC/RCVR for the HBZ Super Cub. Also, HiModel has Eagle 20A and 30A ESC and The Castle Pixie 20P programable ESC for brushed 480 motors will work for the Super Cub. The Pixie is much more expensive than the Eagle, but probably would be better. Both available from Amazon. (Isn't everything?)
 
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