bmcgrady
Senior Heliman
Location: Sylacauga, AL
| I've seen a few questions on here from folks that need help setting up their Align 35 ESC. The instructions that comes with the ESC are a bit difficult to decipher. Some purchase ESC's used, and have no instructions. I've looked online, and found a couple of guides, but they do not include the newer options found on the version G and X of the ESC. So, I've put together the following, hoping it might help someone. Please, if you see an error in this guide, feel free to point it out so that I may revise the original guide.
USE THIS GUIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK! Make SURE to use all due caution!
Programming the Align 35 ESC, Option settings
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Option 1, Brake setting. Low stick indicates no brake, (which is what you want for a heli), mid stick indicates soft brake, and high stick indicates hard brake.
Option 2, Motor timing. Low stick indicates low timing, mid stick indicates mid timing, and high stick indicates high timing. Generally, lower pole motors use lower timing while higher poles to use higher timing. Higher timing gives more power at the expense of efficiency. For the Align motor, low or mid is fine. Personally, I use mid with my Align 430L.
Option 3, Battery protection. Low stick is high protection, or cutoff at 70% of pack voltage. Mid stick is mid protection (default), or cutoff at 65% of pack voltage. High stick is low protection, or cutoff at 60% of pack voltage. I prefer high protection, to prevent over-discharging the pack.
Option 4, Aircraft mode. Low stick is "normal airplane" mode, mid stick is for soft start, high stick is governor mode. Note that this option may not be available in earlier versions of this ESC. I prefer soft start personally.
Option 5. Throttle response. Low stick is low response, mid stick is mid response (default), high is for quick throttle response. Note that this option may not be available in earlier versions of this ESC.
Programming the Align 35 ESC, actual programming
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Many of these sets involve moving the throttle stick to various positions. Please note that it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you remove the pinion gear from the motor before attempting ANY of the following. This will ensure that if the motor were to accidentally spool up, the blades will not engage. As I understand it, you'll need to leave the motor hooked up so that you can hear the beep codes. This is why you want the pinion gear removed! Regardless, ALWAYS use extreme caution!
-Make sure your throttle curve is setup in the default 0, 25, 50, 75, 100 curve. Also make sure your endpoints are set to the default 0 and 100 settings. The ESC uses the stick position to sense what settings you want during the programming phase. You can reset it later to the desired curve.
-Make sure your throttle direction is setup correctly, so that at low stick, the motor is not running at all, but engages as the throttle stick is advanced. If yours is backwards, you need to reverse your throttle direction in your transmitter!
-Unplug the battery from the ESC.
-With your transmitter on, put the throttle stick at full throttle. This tells the ESC that you want to enter programming mode.
-Plug the battery back into the ESC. The ESC will power up, will sense that your throttle stick is in the high position, and will enter programming mode.
The ESC will emit a succession of tones indicating that setup mode is being entered, followed by a series of beeps indicating what the options are currently set at.
-Put the stick at low throttle and the setup sequence begins.
At this point, the ESC will emit a beep (or beeps) indicating which option you are setting. To begin with, it will emit a single beep, repeating slowly, indicating you are setting option 1. Simply place your throttle stick either in the low, mid, or high position, based on the desired setting for the option. Keep your stick in this position until you hear a quick succession of "up down up down" beeps. This quick succession indicates that the previous option has been set. The programming will continue in the same manner... 2 slowly repeating beeps for option 2, 3 slowly repeating beeps for option 3, 4 for option 4, and so on. Simply continue the programming by placing your throttle stick in the desired position, based on which option is being set.
After a preset period of time you will hear a scale of notes in quick succession, followed by the ESC playing back your settings using beep codes for options 1, 2, or 3 (low stick, mid stick, high stick). Listen carefully to verify they are correct.
For example, on my own heli, I set the following options:
Option 1, no brake
Option 2, mid motor timing
Option 3, battery protection high
Option 4, soft start
Option 5, high response
So, when listening to my options play back, here is what I would hear:
beep
beep beep
beep
beep beep
beep beep beep
Once you have verified your settings, unplug the battery, put your throttle stick to low, then plug your battery back in to verify that all is as you'd expect.
That's it! This was compiled using various resources, as well as my own personal experience. My settings are here only as an example. Use this guide at your own risk! |
Very informative! Thanks guys!
