Victor 883 problem, please help.

Technical Electrical
1

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,

2

Did you check the PWM connector?

3

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

4

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.

5

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.

6

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

7

Oh you mean post # 2 :slight_smile:

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.

8

No, post#4 of the thread I referenced:

9

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

I will try this.

Thanks for the help!

10

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.

11

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?

12

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.

13

DB,
The 883 in particular, will show some difficulty in fully inserting the PWM cable into the input connector on the 883. Considering the age, it is also possible for the input sockets to be sufficiently spread so as to prevent a good connection. From the 883 sheet…

Indication: No ORANGE indicator on power up.
Problem: Input power issue or joystick trim tab off
center.
Ed. *Please note that the safety feature of this device prevents operation if the controller powers up with a PWM signal demanding movement. The PWM signal must be at a neutral value during power up.

Indication: Flashing ORANGE indicator on power up.
Problem: No PWM signal.
Indication: Flashing RED indicator after calibration.
Problem: Calibration Failed.

LED Indicator Status
· Green = Full Forward
· Orange = Neutral / Brake
· Red = Full Reverse
· Flashing Orange = no PWM

If you are using a multimeter to measure end to end continuity, you should not have 1950 ohms on any wire. There should be continuity from end to end on all three wires and no reading from any wire to any other wire. This test is performed with the cable disconnected at both ends.

14

Al is this the case if he is using the PWM Signal Driver? I can’t find a data sheet for it but there is some kind of circuitry inline which would explain the lack of continuity he is seeing.

15

No this is for a straight PWM cable.
The VEX PWM Signal driver requires 5 volts but as I remember some R/C controllers do not put out a PWM at 5 volts P-P. The signal driver simply brings that signal up to the point where the Victor input circuitry can then reliably read the signal. I have never measured a Signal Driver, so I don’t know if 1950 ohms series resistance would be valid.

16

Thanks for the reply Al.

I checked cont in both PWM cables and they are showing identical properties as I described.

I am pretty sure the victor side of the PWM cable is seated, because when I plugged my reciever end into the reciever the motor would flick on for a second. If I wiggled the reciever end, it would flicker again.

Get this, I happened to be resting my futaba radio on the table next to me and my arm bumped into the antenna and then everything started to work.

Once I moved my arm away from the antenna it went back into orange LED mode.

So I unscrewed the back case of my Futaba 6XAS to see if anything was loose. Nothing that I could see. I tried to turn my radio on and nothing. Dead radio, wont turn on.

So I know my ESCs work, but for some reason my Futaba died. Just great!

17

DB,
I would not conclude that the controllers are working. If the PWM cables are just straight wires there should be no (read zero) series resistance on all three. It may be you have two bad cables. Happens all the time.

What is the model of the receiver you are using to drive the Victors?

18

Al, see below:

Post#4:

Posts 6&7:

[/quote]

19

I am using a Futaba 6XAS stock receiver system for any RC car or airplane.

It could very well be i have two bad cables. But i find it odd the resistances of both are almost within 0.1% of eachother at the signal wire.

20

With everything set up and turned on, and a full-speed command being issued, unplug the PWM connecter from the Vic and use a voltmeter set for 15VDC to measure the signal voltage between the two outer pins (black and white) of the connector.