Hobbywing Max 5 ESC settings (motor timing)

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Bryan K.

Bryan K.

Well-Known Member
Messages
268
Location
Richmond Hill, Ontario
Hey guys, I'm having an issue with my HPI Baja flux. I've added a lot of weight to it with a metal roll cage and with all the motor handing the braking and acceleration from the heavy beast it's really heating up my motor. I have the Hobbywing Max5 ESC and it has 11/12 of the programming options from the programming card. It's missing the most important one which is Motor timing! I want to lower the timing in order to reduce motor temps, but I can't. Is motor timing the same as punch control? I'm guessing not. Is there a firmware update that can change this? I find it pretty stupid that one of the most expensive Hobbywing ESC's don't even have this basic setting that almost all ESC's have. The rest of my 1/5 scales with motor timing settings don't get anywhere near as hot as my Baja. It's on a 740kv motor and 17T pinion. It's really peaky and I like the top speed, so I don't want to gear down. I wouldn't mind having a lower motor timing setting.

thanks,
 
I'm assuming you don't or cant get computer software for it? Most of my electric stuff I can use the castle link program to set the esc. This includes my Holmes esc's. Also do you have a cooling fan on your motor. There was just a post from another member that adding cooling fans helped out with his temps big time.
 
That's my setup. I have the castle dual fans on the motor. The king motor is just a rebranded max5 but my friend has the hobbywing version and confirmed it didn't have the timing settings either. Not sure what else i can do? Water cooling? Lol
51847
 
Seandonato73 said:
Sounds like it's time to drop a pinion tooth or two...
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So this weekend i dropped from a 17t pinion to 14t and nada.. the motor can still runs too hot. If i really concentrate maybe i can feel a bit of difference. Not enough to warrant the massive reduction in gear teeth. Time to get a temp gun. I thought hobbywing was the best esc in the industry. I can't Beleive there are no timing settings.
 
Yeah if you don't have a temp gun your kinda shooting in the dark for what's going on imo. I am really surprised it doesn't have timing settings. Have you tried contacting them directly? Most rc companies are pretty good at helping out.
You should have noticed a temp reduction going from the 17 to 14t pinion.
 
Bryan K. said:
So this weekend i dropped from a 17t pinion to 14t and nada.. the motor can still runs too hot. If i really concentrate maybe i can feel a bit of difference. Not enough to warrant the massive reduction in gear teeth. Time to get a temp gun. I thought hobbywing was the best esc in the industry. I can't Beleive there are no timing settings.
Click to expand...
maybe u have a dodgy motor then if its still hot after dropping 3 teeth....?......were/what surfaces r u running on??
 
Seandonato73 said:
Yeah if you don't have a temp gun your kinda shooting in the dark for what's going on imo. I am really surprised it doesn't have timing settings. Have you tried contacting them directly? Most rc companies are pretty good at helping out.
You should have noticed a temp reduction going from the 17 to 14t pinion.
Click to expand...

I just received a very smug reply from Hobbywing asking why I would want to change timing settings if I wanted to lower motor temps. They said raising timing would only make motor temps worse. Typical tech support assuming everyone who contacts them is a moron. I replied saying that my intention was to lower timing and that I knew raising timing would increase motor temps. I also told them that I've seen programmable hobbywing timing on different ESC's default at medium motor timing settings. In the original email to them I also asked them why this expensive ESC has no timing settings or if there was a firmware update or something? I wasn't happy with their response and they didn't even answer any of my questions. Makes me want to dump this ESC and go back to using the Toro/SkyRC stuff. They had loads of settings and never had issues with them. Only crappy thing was that they weren't waterproof.
 
evssv said:
maybe u have a dodgy motor then if its still hot after dropping 3 teeth....?......were/what surfaces r u running on??
Click to expand...

I've considered this as well. I was doing a lot of research on symptoms of a overheated motor thinking I may have over heated it at one time and the KV shot up as a result. However, I haven't been suffering from the typical symptoms like loss of torque or power loss. Still feels the same as when I first installed it.

Running in grass is out of the question. I did this once in short burst and I swear I could fry on egg on the surface of that motor can. I only run on tarmac now avoiding full throttle runs and stopping to cool down the motor every minute or so. Something really doesn't seem right.
 
evssv said:
hhhmm?..i run a max5 on my x maxx ..and max6 on my savvy flux.....and a few older h.wings in my other 1/8th 's....?...the older blue xeruns
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Im not sure what you're trying to say, but in all my rc's combined i must have over 20 hobbywing escs. They've all been reliable but im complaining about the lack of timing options in their 1/5 esc. Also the xmaxx is much lighter as its mostly plastic at only 19lbs. Some of my 1/8 truggies weigh that. My baja weighs in at 35lbs. Cant compare the 2.
 
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yeah well aware of there weights dude..?..this is y imo brushless 1/5th's need to b atleast 10s to fun......my dbxl was brushless when i bought it..?..then my baja 5b ss went brushless..but in all honesty they both disappointed me so borh went bak petrol (y)(y)
but yeah strange they left off timing on the max5 ??
i was running the castle xl2 2028 780kv combo as it came with the db.....?...
 
evssv said:
yeah well aware of there weights dude..?..this is y imo brushless 1/5th's need to b atleast 10s to fun......my dbxl was brushless when i bought it..?..then my baja 5b ss went brushless..but in all honesty they both disappointed me so borh went bak petrol (y)(y)
but yeah strange they left off timing on the max5 ??
i was running the castle xl2 2028 780kv combo as it came with the db.....?...
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Agree 100%. So far brushless 1/5 scale isn't living up to my expectations. It's more a novelty more than anything. I was actually contemplating going back to gas at least on my Baja. Oddly enough, I have the same setup on my brushless converted DBXL (but using Toro ESC instead of HW) and I'm pretty happy with it. It also weighs in about the same as the baja but the motor doesn't get as hot. Maybe the 4wd is more efficient? That's why I wanted to play with timing settings as my DBXL runs well with low timing set on the Toro ESC. I sold the gas motor and threw out all the related components for the Baja gasser. Sourcing all the parts again should be interesting. Any idea where I should start if I want to convert my Baja electric back to gas? I'm sure people rarely do it this way and go the other way around, lol. Maybe more cost effective to buy a Rovan gasser and swap the parts over.

I actually found 8S to be more than enough power. When I run against my friend's gasser bajas they don't pull as much torque off the line but they can run taller gearing and have a much higher top speed as they don't overheat. The brushless has 2 major issues, motor heat and battery capacity. There's really no point in getting larger capacity batteries because with more run time the motor just gets too hot, so what's the point?
 
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That's really sad to hear they treated you so poorly. The few times I had to reach out to manufacturers went really quite well. All my electric stuff is castle esc other that my crawler has a Holmes esc In it. But that uses castel link to program as well. I don't have anything that heavy running brushless. Closest u have is my savage xl running brushless and it goes a wile before I have to swap batteries or worry about the motor getting hot.
 
I was surprised at their level of service too. I was actually a big fan of Hobbywing and for the longest time would use nothing else but their ESC's. I'll continue to use their stuff on the smaller scales, but never using their stuff on the larger scales anymore. The built in BEC is crap and obviously missing critical programming options.
evssv said:
i found tbe baja a better platform for brushless as it only has 1x diff to turn v's the db's 3x......so u get more power going to the wheels on tbe baj...?.the bit what killed it for me was the 15-20min run times.....???
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I would be happy with 10min run time TBH. I have my spektrum radio with my timer on which logs actual on-throttle times and I get 5 min MAX on dual 5000mah 4S 60C lipos. I've seen posts where people say they get up to 30min run time on the same lipos but I call BS. Either they pause a lot inbetween or they're just really bad at calculating time. Maybe they run their lipos down below 3.7V per cell, who knows. If you log actual on throttle data I think most people will find it to be much less than 10 min of actual run time. I've had 3min on grass. I take breaks every minute or so to cool the motor, so maybe that adds up to 10-15min?
 
yeah i only run hobwing now ?after killing a good few hobbyking cheapo ones....?...?....tbh i highly doubt I'll b buying anymore brushless 1/8th 's....got my 5x here atm so they'll last me.....cant justify there asking prices now.....500-600+ quid for a rtr 1/8th ☹☹
 
Just a thought 6s is less amperage from The higher voltage may be worth giving it a try to see what your temps and run time are.
Oh and I've never had an issue running down to 3.2volts per cell.
 
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