| If I remember correctly I have a Futaba MC-8B in my Blackfoot.
I have had it for about a year and have had no problems. The thing
I like about it is that it has BOTH proportional braking and
proportional reverse. There is an adjust you make determine how
much brake vs. reverse you want. You can have all of each or a
combination (slighty crude) of the two. The thing handles about
40 amps 6-cell and a little less with 7-cells. And yes I use 7-cells
now exclusively, the ESC has auto-thermal shutdown, but I have'nt
been able to overheat it yet.
Give me a call at DTN 445-6577 and I will glad relate my RC car/racing
experience/etc...
Chris Spohr
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| Thanks Chris, I got an MC-108B (FM model of yours) today, and it's
quite nice. Looks like I'll be building something custom for my
next vehicle, though, unless it has a computer on board....
Willie
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| I like it a lot, because I don't want or need any braking (the vehicle
moves very slowly and comes to a halt as soon as I release the
throttle), and this one allows me to turn the braking completely
off and get the maximum flexibility of response in reverse.
Many thanks for the pointer!
Willie
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| Well, after the usual aggravating runaround (*) I finally got the
Vantec speed controller, and I am muchly impressed! The physical
size is a bit larger than the usual ones, but the smoothness of
the speed control is beyond belief. It chops the motor current
at 5 times the normal rate (of 50 Hz?) and is equally smooth in
forward as reverse. In fact I've got forward and reverse swapped
and the transmitter reversed and I can't tell the difference. It's
also optically isolated from the receiver so it's impossible for
interference from the motor to get back to the receiver thru the
servo connector. [One minus here is that there's no builtin BEC,
but since I had to have a 5 volt regulator for the on-board DVM,
I just use that for the receiver power as well.] The ratings are
a bit low for bigger cars and trucks (12 amps continuous, 25 amps
surge) but it deals with a large voltage range (4.8 to 16 volts).
I really can't reccomend this speed controller highly enough!
Willie
(*) I guess I have to get used to the R/C industry in general.
They have been advertising the RET-44 since at least January, but
they moved and the phone company didn't have a forwarding number
for a while, then they tried to refuse to sell me the controller
for use with a Clod Buster [even after my explanation that _my_
Clod Buster only draws 6 amps peak at 12 volts]. I finally put
in my order, only to be told that they hadn't yet _built_ any of
the RET-44s, but the RET-41 was functionally equivalent (and twice
the size). OK, twist my arm, I'll take the RET-41. I called almost
a month later only to find that my order had been delayed, but it
would be definately be shipped "tomorrow". It only took them 8
days to finally send it out... When I called the last time to
find out about it, I asked about the RET-44 and was told that they
didn't have PC boards for it yet. Sigh. Well, they did send me
a coupon good for 10 percent off my next purchase, and I'm sufficiently
enamoured of the RET-41 that I'll probably spring for the RET-44
when/if it becomes available, but a 6 month vaporware phase for
the RET-44 is a bit excessive. The construction of the RET-41 wasn't
too bad (typical garage shop operation, no labels on the case,
documentation _still_ labeled 'preliminary'), and there was only
one chip (an LM339 quad comparator) and a bunch of transistors (and
of course the FET bridge) in it, but for $70 it's far better than
the Futaba speed controllers I've owned...
If anyone is interested, their new phone number is (805) 929-5055.
Willie
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