General solo pro 229 help please

[RandyDSok]

hi thinking ahead if the new balanced charger does not fix the problem and I have to get a ESC any suggestions on what I need to look for please ?

I have a BL speed controller 20A for the main motor and a 5A for the tail , having no experience of ESC I am presuming there are 2 of these not one with both built in ?
Both motors are brushless and I have both of the Nine Eagles part numbers but these are impossible to find .

NE252426 MAIN 20A

NE252427 TAIL 5A

Any advice would be really appreciated as I really haven't a clue with the ESC .

I can physically change the parts but will I need to set them up or are they plug and play ?

thanks again for your help.

Look for potential binding that can cause an increase in your power load first as it is the more likely cause. I'd probably suggest the main rotor first since it will have the linkages. I also mentioned to look at the tail if it also has linkages but I didn't think it would.

I can't directly answer your replacement ESC question. Your heli has parts I'm unfamiliar with as will most people on this forum since we tend to use hobbyist grade equipment most of the time.

Toy grade RC equipment often have proprietary components and often can not just be switch out with more common ones. As I mentioned, the one you have is in the upper tier of what I call toy grade and it actually has replacement parts available which many of the cheaper toy grade stuff doesn't have. Still, I'm not sure if the more common parts will work in your heli but I can mention a couple of things.

ESC's come in two types... One type for brushed motors and one for brushless motors. Brushed types will have two power leads going to the motors, brushless types will have 3 power leads. Brushed motors are polarity sensitive so you must put the black ( negative ) and red ( positive ) wires to the proper wires on the motor or it will run backwards. Brushless types do not have standard colors for the wires, if you hook them up and the motor spins backwards, you just switch any two wires around to make them spin in the right direction. Most of the toy grade equipment will use a brushed motor since they are cheaper to make.

I would do a google search for the exact make and model of the ESC's your heli has. Being an older one, availability is going to be an issue. They may have also updated the ESC with a newer model if they made that model for any length of time. So if you find replacement parts, they may be a different model number if they got an update. I did a search earlier and I think I saw some available but I didn't "vet" my results. I also didn't worry about what country they were available in when I searched.

 

[D.O.G.]

Hey tricky1400. If you have the money and can find another Heli like the one you have, I would purchase one. Nothing wrong with have spare parts. Just my

 

[tricky1400]

Good idea to buy another one as would have lots of spare parts but it is over 10 years old now , I have been online trying to find parts or whole helicopters but not much luck .
I have no experience with the ESC but have been trying to learn what sort to buy that may work with my helicopter.
it's annoying that the basic user manual supplied with it doesn't give much info about things going wrong and how to change parts .
I have found some sellers who have similar spec ESC and I will buy one and see how I get on .
Thanks for all your help .

 

[RandyDSok]

As I mentioned already ... there are two types of ESC's brushed and brushless. My previous post about it already described the differences enough you should be able to determine which type to get. Next, you need one that supports the voltage and amperage you need. After that, size is the last part you need to worry about so it fits in the area it has available.

 

[tricky1400]

hi I have stripped the heli down now and have photographed what ends etc are on my main brushless motor .The ESC is a 20A and the thing I noticed is there is a power lead coming from the main motor ESC going to the tail rotor ESC .
The ESC that I have found doesnt have this extra power lead to give the tail rotor ESC power.
Would it be ok to cut into the main motor wire from the battery to the ESC to get power for the tail rotor ESC ?
Not sure about this or maybe the receiver does this as both the main motor and tail motor have separate connections into the receiver .
Sorry for my ignorance but I dont have any experience of ESC only what I have learned from Google !

Thanks

 

[RandyDSok]

3 wires to motor is brushless ... 2 wires to motor is brushed ... as I said before

The wires from the battery are Y'd ( split ) to each ESC, one for the main and one for the tail.

The white, red and brown are the wires on the main rotor's ESC are going to the throttle channel from the receiver. I'm uncertain what the white black and red wires on the tail rotor ESC is but I suspect it's also a throttle connection that also goes to the receiver possibly a secondary channel or from a splitter that you aren't showing.

 

[tricky1400]

My main concern is the power cable for the tail motor ESC .

I understand its split ( Y d ) but is it ok when I buy another ESC without this second power cable to cut into the single power cable and make it into two power supplies from the battery without it having to go through the main motors ESC ?

I have updated my photo

 

[RandyDSok]

Splitting the power should be fine, I'd probably split it at the deans connector side instead of at the ESC side personally, both methods are fine.

The power going to the tail ESC is not going through the main ESC, it is just soldered to where the battery leads are located and splits off from there.

Typically the larger RC hobby grade heli's only have one motor driving both the main rotor and the tail rotor using a transmission to split the power between them. Dual motors started showing up when the heli's started getting smaller and adding an additional motor worked better than making a transmission to split the power mechanically between the rotors. Switching to dual motors means they also needed dual ESC's but it makes more sense to take the power from a single battery pack instead of two. So the manufacturers had custom ones made so they could split the power from the battery to two ESC's. So to find one like what you see on your model, you'd need to find one that was made to be on your model since it is customized somewhat. Since you said you couldn't find one like that ( made for your heli specifically ), you'll have to do the customization yourself.

 

[tricky1400]

Thanks, I will be able to do that myself with a bit of soldering.
I wasn't sure if as the second power leads for the tail motor coming from under the plastic covering on the main motor had to go through the main motor ESC first before going into the tail ESC .
I will buy a 20A brushless ESC for the main motor and add a second set of power leads for the tail ESC and see how I get on .
Thanks for all of your help and patience with me

 

[tricky1400]

Hi could you tell me if it will be ok to fit a 30A ESC ? Mine is a 20A but not sure if the 30A will still be ok ? thanks

 

[RandyDSok]

Hi could you tell me if it will be ok to fit a 30A ESC ? Mine is a 20A but not sure if the 30A will still be ok ? thanks

It depends on if there is enough room for the 30A ESC ... if it fits, that is fine if it also supports the required voltage.

Electronics ( ie the motor ) pull the amount of power they need... as long as the power supply ( the ESC in this case ) can provide enough power it is good.

 

[tricky1400]

hi the new ESC arrived and started to fit it , I made a split for the tail rotor ESC so that's sorted . Plugging in the new main motor ESC for the first time I am aware that I need to calibrate the throttle . Turn on the transmitter , press to full throttle , plug the battery in , drop the throttle to zero job done , but as expected not job done . I cant seem to calibrate the ESC as when I try the throttle range from zero to 100% the main and tail rotors don't start until I reach between 25 and 30% throttle so by the time I reach 100% the main rotor blades are still not spinning enough to take off !

I have tried to calibrate several times but with no luck . Thanks for any help .

 

[RandyDSok]

The steps you outlined are the typical ones I see in manuals but some vary. So double check your manual that they are the correct steps for your make/model ESC.

Disconnect the tail rotor ESC and it's signal line and then try again. I think the most common reason some people have this trouble is their transmitter isn't actually zero'd and you have to use the trim tabs to get it to zero also. Since most trims are digital, count the times you press the up/down buttons and which direction you are using so you always have a known reference location.