I have a clown with a Turnigy C3530-1400Kv motor and Exceed RC 30a ESC.  The Motor pulls about 21amps static with a 8X4. I have been using an e-flite timer and have never had any problem. I am pretty sure the last time I flew I used the same ESC. Today however the esc-timer combo didn't work.

When the system is armed instead of beeping as usual to indicate a 3s battery, it went into a continuous beep and would not start. I tried my U/Tronics controller and it worked fine. The timer worked with an different Exceed RC 18A esc.

I was wondering if anyone has run into a similar esc-timer problem

Kieth you are probably right, what gets me it that it still works with a R/C or U/Tronics controller. Buy cheap get cheap I guess.

Mike,
I tried a different brand of timer, same result. I also have another esc of the same brand that works with the timers, so I think it is this particular esc. It just seems odd that it works with a transmitter and U/Tronics controller. Wish I had a scope so I could see what each unit is putting out. I am ready to throw in the towel, but I just hate to leave a mystery unsolved.
John

I have an E-Flite C/L timer that came with an E-Flite PT-19. It puts out a 1.024 ms pulse width at about 48 Hz, which should be fine. But perhaps the recalcitrant ESC wants something else. You might try using the throttle trim to see if the ESC wants an off (arming) pulse width close to, or further from, the neutral position, Mike.

You're right that it may not be worth the time and effort to figure out what the bad ESC is thinking, Mike -- but we hate an unsolved mystery!

It seems that whatever the timers are currently putting out doesn't satisfy this ESC. These microcontrollers are stable enough that I wouldn't expect it to change its arming pulse width significantly over time--and it didn't work with other timers, either.

That does point to the ESC as suddenly wanting something different. Since the throttle trim does affect the width of the arming pulse (throttle off), the only in situ experiment (for John!) that I can think of is to see if throttle trim affects the ability of the radio to arm the ESC.

If you wants to pursue the matter, perhaps just for the sake of science, John, you could send the ESC to Mike or me, and we could use a throttle emulator to try to make it run a motor.

You can build a pulse width test fixture by using an old servo.  What I have done is bolt the servo to a 2" x 4" board.  I then mount a a pointer to the servo arm that swings over the board.  I then drove this servo with a know good source and marked, on the board points of interest such as full off and full throttle.  You can then plug up the problem source and see where it drives the "calibrated servo pointer" with respect to the known good source.  I have been doing this for years and as it turns out it is very repeatable and accurate.  I do have an O-scope to verify this fact.  If anyone builds such a device I will be glad to calibrate for you. Just remember the servo needs a separate battery, 4.5 to 6 volts, whereas a speedcontroller does not. I use a home made Y harness to connect the battery.  Most any Y harness will work.  I use a 4 cell AAA battery holder with servo connector added for the power source.  Just be careful not to wire the battery backwards.  Reverse voltage will blow up the servo.

Here is the one I built - it also has a pulse generator to use for programming
ESC's (none of my transmitters work anymore).  You can either hook it up
as a pulse generator or just as a pulse width meter.

John,
Thanks, I'll put one together, probably not until after Thanksgiving
John V

Igor,
I am aware of the 0-100% programming issue. I programmed the esc with my U/Tronics, it still didn't work on the timers. But like I said my other (Exceed RC same a Hobbywing I think) ESC's work and this one doesn't. It seems fine as a RC unit though. I don't think I would trust it in a RC plane, but for a sport CL throttle control it seems OK.
I'll look into the Jeti, but John's no cost unit would probably cover most of my needs.
JV

eBay has a servo tester that looks pretty good,

http://cg.eBay.com/-000537-EK2-0939-308-/170566658256?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27b690a8d0

Or search for Esky Servo Tester
Shipping and all it is $20.  I actually think I have one somewares, new still in the box. It was so cheep I couldn't resists.  I will dig it out and give it test run.  I will report on the results.

Well I fired it up and here is what I know.  It looks really good and comes with 3 cables.  One for power, one for servos and one for receivers.  The default mode is pulse output (servo testing mode).  In this mode you connect a servo, crank the pulse width pot and read the pulse width on the digital display.  The display proved to be quite accurate when compaired to all of my standards.  The only problem I found was that the unit did not want to provide power to the servo.  With the red (+5V) servo lead connected the unit becomes unstable and the servo oscillates.  By disconnecting the red lead for the tester and feeding the servo power through a separate battery it worked great.  I am sure that it will work fine on an electronic speed controller because a speed controller does not draw power from the tester.  In fact I would leave the red lead disconnected when testing a speed controller.

Now for the Pulse Input side of the tester.  This side of the tester is auto detect to activate.  It is designed to plug into a RC receiver servo channel connector.  It looks for +5V on the red lead and a signal on the signal lead.  When fed these two signals it goes into the monitor mode and displays the pulse width of the incoming signal.  Once again it proved to be quite accurate.  The only problem is that most control line signal sources (timers and or electronic throttles) do not put out +5V on the red lead.  So at first I couldn't get the Esky to read my controll handles pulse width.  By connecting an external battery to the red lead of the pulse input terminal it started to work.

So the bottom line this unit is designed to work with RC receivers making it a little cumberson to hook up. However once working it seem to do a good job.  Is it worth $20 - Probably.