Victor 883 problem, please help.

[DBFIU]

Hello,

I have 2 x victor 883s that I bought 10 years ago that were used with my lightweight. They have since been collecting dust, but I will be re-using them for an RC car project.

I have a working futaba 6XAS converted to ground use. This radio and reciever work perfectly fine because I've used them on my car.

I am getting the blinking orange light with the victor 883, both of them in fact. I switched the PWM cables and it still happens. I connected the leads correctly, everything is hooked up solid.

I tried to recalibrate the victor but it is still blinking orange.

Sometimes the motor blips for a split second, as if it gets a signal for a short time and then breaks up.

I don't know what to do, I really want to use these ESCs. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks,

[Ether]

Did you check the PWM connector?

[Gdeaver]

Also note that some RC systems can not drive a victor. They make a signal l driver for them - 14.95$.

[DBFIU]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

Also note that some RC systems can not drive a victor. They make a signal l driver for them - 14.95$.

I used this same exact system a few years ago and it worked perfect. Nothing has changed except time.

In any case, what is that driver you talk about? Can you show me where to get one?


Ether how do I check the PWM connector? What do I need to look for and at which end? I have the cable with the little microchip shrink wrapped in the middle of it PWM connector, it is the right one because I've used it before many times on this setup.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by DBFIU

Ether how do I check the PWM connector?

Check to see if the connector is properly seated into the Victor.

Go to the link I posted, and click the link in the upper-right corner to see the whole thread.

Read post #4 of that thread.

[DBFIU]

Originally Posted by Ether

Check to see if the connector is properly seated into the Victor.

Go to the link I posted, and click the link in the upper-right corner to see the whole thread.

Read post #4.

Oh you mean post # 2

I see I have to do this jiggle thing... I REALLY hope that is my only problem, if you solved it I will get you some cheap beer.

Gdeaver that is exactly the cable I have.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by DBFIU

Oh you mean post # 2

No, post#4 of the thread I referenced:

Originally Posted by baronep

...I would venture to say that more likely though, the PWM is the problem. The PWM connections on the Victors are kind of finicky. I find myself needing to unplug and replug the PWM several times to get it to work. Also, make sure that the PWM is pushed in all the way and not resting on a pin that is out of alignment. All of these would cause the victor to not receive a signal...

[DBFIU]

Oh I thought you mean post 4 of this thread. Nevermind I got the idea though.

I will try this.

Thanks for the help!

[DBFIU]

Hi again,


I tried wiggling around the PWM cable in the victor, while it was on and look for signs of the orange blinking light to go away. It wouldnt, I had my reciever on and my radio on while doing this, victor 7.2v power supplied to it.

It wont show signs of PWM pick up. I am not really sure what else could be causing the victor to not see the signal.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by DBFIU

I tried wiggling around the PWM cable in the victor, while it was on and look for signs of the orange blinking light to go away. It wouldnt

Did you try removing the connector and inspecting the pins, as suggested here?

I am not really sure what else could be causing the victor to not see the signal.

Did you measure the voltage at the connector to make sure there really is a signal?

[DBFIU]

I have two PWM connectors and two victors. No matter how I swap them, the same thing happens.

How should I measure voltage at the connector? Straight from black pin to red pin with a voltmeter? Should I be looking for the 6V my reciever is getting as an output voltage on the red/black of the PWM connector?

I thought the red wire on the PWM connector is unused?

Thanks for the help Ether!!!!


EDIT: forgot to add, why dont I just check continuity between ends of each pin? Will that work or is the PWM filter in the wire going to mess up any type of continuity reading?

I did it anyway, showing continuity at the black pin ends, zero continuity at the red pin ends and 1950 ohms at the signal white wire ends. I am not sure if this is how this cable is supposed to function, something tells me the red wire should show continuity but it isnt?

EDIT AGAIN:

I checked both of my PWM cables, they both are showing identical characteristics. 1950 ohms at the white signal wire, zero continuity at the red and continuity at black ends... So I think that is supposed to be that way.


Heres what I just discovered... If I plug the PWM cable into the victor and then into the reciever, it blinks orange...

But, if I take the end of the PWM cable that goes into the reciever and I just slightly nudge it such that the pins are barely touching, the motor spins and the light turns green for a split second. If i push it in further than that, blinking orange and motor off. Its just at that precise location where the reciever end of the PWM cable is touching the reciever pins that the motor freaks out, mind you the radio does not affect the throttle at this point and it happens for 1 - 2 seconds.

If I attempt to play around with the cable by wiggling it, it flicks the motor on and off through the ESC but other than that, no control via radio.

[Gdeaver]

http://www.vexrobotics.com/victor-speed-controller.html
Under add-ons.

[slijin]

Originally Posted by DBFIU

I tried to recalibrate the victor but it is still blinking orange.

To toss out another idea, the Victors themselves have been damaged in some fashion. Hopefully this isn't the case, but did you recalibrate the Victor successfully, or did it fail (that is, did the LED change colors appropriately?) You can check the procedure and the colors that you should see here.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Thanks, Mark.