Cars Maclan Motor Won’t Move?

[mudbogger]

I’ve been getting ready to try out a new build - DR10M with a Maclan DRK 6600kv motor (4-pole / 3.5 Turn) and 160A DRK ESC. I opted to put a 4 channel airplane receiver in it. So the throttle is setup to run on the elevator channel (mode 2 airplane transmitter), and the steering is running on the aileron channel (for now at least)…That way the car would still have a neutral position (50% - center stick) available to keep it sitting still when needed.

That all being said, here’s my problem…The esc turns on and initializes with the battery plugged in (2S HV lipo hard case, 8800Mah) with 8mm direct bullet connectors. Theres 2 little lights on the esc that come on: solid red and solid blue, after the initialization. When I pull up on the elevator
(applying full brake), the blue light turns solid orange / yelllow and the red light stays solid.

I checked the manuals I could find for the esc, but they wouldn’t tell me too much. There is a manual listed on maclan’s website for the ESC I have (model: mcl2015), but I couldn’t get it to open. I did find a note for the solid red and solid blue lights saying “power on / open race mode” - but I have no idea what that means? Plus, with everything turning on, the car is getting power and steering is working as it should. I checked for esc updates and did those too. Once the esc was updated, I attempted programming it again, with no success. The car won’t move going forward or reverse?
Any ideas / help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[RandyDSok]

Look at your ESC's manual to calibrate it for the throttle ... ESC's have a safety feature that keeps them from arming when the throttle throw is not within their specs, so you must calibrate them. How this is done can differ between brands which is why I'm pointing you back to the manual for instructions.

While technically you can use any RC transmitter/receiver for any type of craft ( ground, air, water etc )... the FCC restricts their use to the type they are made for... ie an air trans/rec only for flying craft... ground for ground vehicles etc. This has nothing to do with your problem ... I'm just mentioning the legal use of them, not whether they technically can or can't work.

 

[mudbogger]

RandyDSok - I appreciate your reply, thank you!

I did some more research, and I believe I found my own oversight. Apparently the motor requires a sensor wire to be run between itself and the esc. With the way I have things laid out in / on the chassis I did not notice the ports. I also do not recall seeing the wire coming with either the motor or esc when I had bought them initially…I discovered the wire via a YouTube video I came across. Anyways, I’m hoping getting a sensor wire in place fixes the issues I’m having.

 

[RandyDSok]

I believe you will still need to do the calibration. I think the sensor wire is just for systems that have the remote data link and isn't required but a nice feature if your trans/rec support it... it'll provide something like a speed/rpm or power/amp data that you can look at from your transmitter if supported by everything. My radio doesn't support that feature, so I've just read about it.

 

[mudbogger]

This post is a little later than I was hoping, but I got a Maclan sensor wire ordered and installed in the car - problem solved! The throttle calibrated accordingly, and went thru the full startup tone sequence as it should. I did turn the power down overall until I get more used to the car. I also put expo on the steering servo to keep it softer and less jittery feeling. Thanks again for the help!