# Which esc?



## skypup (Apr 15, 2008)

I am thinking of building a Porter from a kit. I have a 2.4 Ghz transmitter and receiver I can use for glitch free and long distance performance. Which esc have others used for a conversion? I want forward and reverse Thanks for the help.


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

What's an esc?


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## Road Foreman (Jan 2, 2008)

Mike, 

It is a "electronic speed control".. 

BulletBob


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## Road Foreman (Jan 2, 2008)

skypup, 

Go to RCS & look @ some of there systems.. Tony will tell you that you are over radioed.. But go for it, then you can tell all of us how well it works!! 

BulletBob


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

And here I was banging on the ESC key on my keyboard trying to get a loco to move! /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif 
Greg


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

Jees....esc is a RC car term....but I knew it as ESC.....dah


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Skypup, 
Not many of us have tried an esc - I bought one but discovered it didn't support reverse [long time ago, before r/c SUVs.] 
Most of our r/c esc's are called 'throttles' and they support other attributes, such as on/off for lighting, smoke, bell, etc. As Bulletbob (what is wrong with ordinary names, I ask again...) says, check out the RCS website www.rcs-rc.com for some ideas. 
No reason why it shouldn't work - this topic came up recently and I found a whole page of reversible esc's at one of the big stores. [Do a search in this forum and you should find it.]


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## Dave Ottney (Jan 2, 2008)

Skypup, 
I strarted fussing with an airplane ESC and a servo operated reversing switch. I worked ok but did take up a lot of room in a scratch built little tender for my Porter. The I picked up a boat ESC which has forward and reserve capabilities. It works fine but its very sensitive on the inputs from the transmitter. I still putter around with it, putting it into a critter, but its just a bit too sensitive when tryijng to do low speed moves. These ESC's also have a low switching rate so you'll probably get a whine from the motor which can be annoying. Here's a vendor who offers forward/reverse ESC's which a very high switching rate so that they won't generate motor whine- http://www.dimensionengineering.com/- try their SyRen 10. 
I have since started using RCS's EVO B3 speed controls. I'm also using an Aristocraft 27mhz Train Engineer crammed into a small tender. You sound like you're coming from an RC background (planes or surface). You have to realise that RC RR'ing speed controls operate differently in that you "ramp" up to a speed then you stop inputing via the throttle stick and the speed control maintains the speed you at which you left it until you make another speed input. The RR dedicated speed controls are considerably more expensive than "conventional" ESC's but have additional features. The RCS units are very easy to install and work exceptional well. 
Your choice of 2.4 ghz is a great idea. You still have to try to keep motors and ESC's isolated from each other to limit emf. Chokes help. 
Hope this is useful to you, 
Dave


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## skypup (Apr 15, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies 

I have been in r/c since 1964.....mostly planes and helis. I have owned 3 live steamers. I have used the rcs system. I am trying to use what I have including a boat controller with reverse. I did this with a big hauler once. My controller can input up to 12 volts.........is this enough voltage to power the loco ok? Thanks for the help. 

PS Anyone ever built a northeast model products loco? I can't find any info on that and was thinking of the porter or maybe a Bachman loco. Where do you get replacement motors for a Bachman if you need them? Thanks again.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I did this with a big hauler once. My controller can input up to 12 volts.........is this enough voltage to power the loco ok? Thanks for the help.


Most 'large scale' trains run on 18-24V. Bachmann's seem to prefer 18V - I run them on 2 x 7.2V race car NiMH packs. 

Anyone ever built a northeast model products loco?


If you search the archives you'll find a couple of threads on their products. My recollection is that they are OK but not super-detailed.


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

The kits are OK as Pete said and need a lot of extra stuff to make them look good. I built their Porter a long time ago. Their drive train sucks. It consists of a small, inadequate motor conected to a axle-mounted gearbox via a piece of plastic tubing. There is also a set of pulleys connected with a rubber O-ring. The whole mechanism slips with any kind of load. 

Doc


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