What ESC to use?

[reddog69]

:confused: Hello all. I'm building a 45" model tug boat based on the shelly foss fibreglass hull. I'd like to use a small car or garden tractor battery but I'm not sure what speed control to use. Is there some one who makes a esc that could handel the load from such a battery? Any help is greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance, happy boating.

[martin richards]

http://www.rc-hydros.com/

[Climate]

For your application, the best speed controls would be from here.
http://www.modelcontrol.com/

FYI: your motor choice, driveline and prop pitch and diameter, determine what load your speed control will see, not the size of the battery.

Peter R.
www.climatemodels.com

[George Pfeifer]

Reddog;
For boats my personal favorite has always been Tekin Titan units, but alas Tekin went out of business. You may be able to find used Titans out there though, or check some of the hobby shops for old stock. Also it is rumored that Tekin is about to be resurrected under new ownership.
Other good choices are:
Model Control Devices (MCD) out of Canada
Vantec
Do searches on web for both companies. Both offer high quality ESC's.

As to Martin Richards suggestion of RCHydros, unfortunately Andy Kunz while he makes one of the best boat ESC's on the market, they do not have reverse. I have been bugging Andy for years to make a reverseable unit but he claims there is not enough of a market. Your bugging Andy would greatly be appreciated. If enough of us created a demand, then maybe he would jump in.

George

[reaper]

george,tekins back in buisness
www.teamtekin.com
Cheers!

[reddog69]

Thanks all for the responses. My boat will have dual 3 1/2 inch raboesch props, not sure of the pitch, and the drives are also from raboesch. Brass with ball bearings and the like. Would I need to run two seperate Esc's with a v-mixer or on two different channels of my radio. If these questions are kind of vauge its because this is the first time that I'm attempting someting this large and my local hobbie shops cater 99.9% to the car and plane guys. I dont mind spending the money but I'd like to get it right without blowing things up 2 or 3 times. I forgot to mention the motors. They are some very large 12volt motors that I won on ebay. The power is amazing with a gell cell battery and I think with 2 of these I would be able to pull or push a row boat with no problem, thats my goal. Thanks again and ANY input is appreciated, Frank.

[martin richards]

You could also look at:
http://www.astecmodels.co.uk/products.php?posted=1&selection=electronics
2nd item on the page. it's in the UK, but I know Alan does ship to the US.

[George Pfeifer]

Reddog;
With those size props, and motors you are probably going to be seeing some pretty high AMP draws especially at start up. 5-6 years ago I built a river tow boat with twin 800 Mabuchi motors, direct drive to 3 1/2 inch Dumas 4 bladed props. The intial AMP draw was measured at about 80 AMPs on each motor, but only for a few mili-seconds. But that is enough to fry a lot of the ESC's on the market. (I know from experience) Tekin Titan was the only one I found that could handle it.
I ran 2 Titans in the boat, one for each motor. I had a Nautical Commander radio with dual throttles, one for each motor. Today the boat is still operable however I converted down to a single motor, ESC & prop with a 3:1 gear reduction. (more controllable) It still can outpush any other boat on the pond. With an 80 AMP Hour gell cell, run time is in excess of 4 hours. I currently use a Futaba 9 Channel radio.
I think that you really need to determine the AMP draw of those motors & props (in the water) then talk to some of the Mfg'ers and find out who can handle the load. Don't believe what the sales literature says. Example: The Novak Rooster ESC is claimed to handle 320 AMPs..that number is reached by adding the rating of each FET together. The actual rating is closer to 32 AMPS - maximum.
From the limited description of the motors you have I am willing to bet that they are Mabuchi 800 series motors. These are commonly used in the cordless power tools. Hope you didn't overpay for them...I buy surplus 800's from my local surplus dealer, brand new, for $4.50 each.
George