Tech help needed

[Snowman3725]

So I just picked up a brand new DX-1300 hydraulic excavator made by DS Tech. My first impressions were pretty good. All metal, well built for the most part, I was pretty excited. Then came the operation. First couple of minutes it ran smoothly, good power, good controls. Then it all went south. I noticed the hydraulic cylinder on top of the boom that moves the arm wasn't working. It was fully extended and only would retract about an inch. Then the hydraulic pump stopped working. I have no idea why. All the servos work fine, but the hydraulic pump just does not turn on. I'm fairly new to this hobby, but I am absolutely clueless when it comes to electronics and diagnosing what could be wrong. I have way too much money invested in this to just put it on the shelf. Is there anyone willing out there who can take a peek at it and address these issues? I like the machine and really want to get it working. Anyone reputable out there who has dealt with electric hydraulic machines? Thanks in advance.

[bigford]

where are you located?

[thebigo]

I am probably like you not very familiar with hydraulics and electronics, after pulling stuff apart I am figuring it out though, but what i would do is check your servos on the valves see if they operate, make sure that you didn't accidentally flip a switch on the transmitter that may have turned the pump off. Turn the pump Motor off on your transmitter and move the sticks for each cylinder see if the valve servos activate. Check the electrical connections because they often come loose. Make sure your battery is properly charged. Just check all the simple things first, then we will look at transmitter adjustments, and see if (ESC's, electronic speed control is working. You could have a mix on the transmitter for your different valve openings and on your pump that could be screwed up? Alot of differnt things as i have mentioned but don't be upset, there are alot of great people on the site and we will help yopu through.
David

[Snowman3725]

where are you located?

Littleton MA. 45 mins out of Boston. Thanks David, I checked all the little things. It is brand spanking new so I dont even know. The servos work fine on the valves, I can hear them operating. The pump would turn on when you moved a the lever, and there was also a switch on the transmitter that would turn the pump on and keep it running. Everything else is good. There's a couple electrical boxes that flash a red LED light, don't know if that means anything.

[RCP57]

It sounds like the pump ESC has gone up in smoke. Maybe...

[thebigo]

So you should have Four little boxes (ESC's), Two that operate the Drive motor Tracks, One that operates the excavator turntable, and One that will probably look different from the other three (wrapped in shrink wrap), it will operate the pump/servo's. This ESC that runs the pump/valve servo's make sure that the wire's are all solidly hooked up.

there will be a reciever for the transmitter. All the esc's will be plugged into it, make sure that each of those plugs are secured in each plug in. The Red lights you see are the ESC's lighting up, they will change as you operate the different controls on your transmitter. I have had ESC's go out on my drive motors, but I have also run into loose wires alot. So make sure everything is hooked up good. Possibility the ESC needs to be reset also.

I will get back to you shortly after Christmas to see how you are doing, we will figure it out.

[thebigo]

Make sure you have plenty, at least half of a tank, of hydraulic fluid in your tank.

[Snowman3725]

Hydraulic fluid is filled to the top. I noticed the hydraulic lines have quite a bit of air in them. Maybe the bleeder valve is stuck shut? I Took a video and I'm going to try and post it. I only see 2 esc's right now but I'm gonna dig deeper

[Snowman3725]

http://youtu.be/aombro5DA8Y That's the video.

And I think I found the problem. I found 2 positive red wires pulled out of 2 connectors on the receiver. Things brand new and this happens >:-(
I'll try to post pics. The wire harness has red white and black wires with a small 3 tab connector, I think for the power supply. Anyone know where I can get a couple of these, preferably with pigtails? Thanks for the help fellas once I can get new connectors in there I'll try it again

[Snowman3725]

What type of connector is this?

[Snowman3725]

Broken wires

[mavrick0]

More then likely the red wires are pulled on purpose. ESC's are designed to apply power to the RX and the servo's. When in a situation where more then one ESC is being used you can only have one ESC supply power to the RX so the other have to have the red wire pulled.

[Snowman3725]

Hmmm interesting. I can see the end of the red wire inside the connector. It's on channels 8 and 9 I'll have to check the manual to see what those functions are

[thebigo]

Couldn't see you pictures but I watched your video. Mavric is right only one wire for powering one ESC is or should be connected to the reciever, allthe other poer wire's should be disconnected. I would probably guess that the ESC with the hot wire is the ESC that runs the pump. The ESC that is in the heat shrink sittting on top of whatever, is the pump ESC. When you turned the pump on I heard nothing, tell's me that the ESC is not workin or the Motor is not working? So you need to test that ESC first and see if it is delivering power to the motor.

On the Esc for the pump you have a black wire (ground), a red wire (to battery or Hot), and two wires to the motor (different Colors). need to disconnect the wire's running to the pump motor from the ESC, and turn the pump on, then hook a volt meter up the wires see if you get any kind of reading when you move the sticks on the transmitter.

If anyone else on this post see's i am leading him wrong please help!

[thebigo]

Have any luck on your excavator?

David

[Snowman3725]

Have any luck on your excavator?

David

No luck yet, I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I hate digging into it as there are many wires, I'd probably mess it up even more. Hoping someone could lead me in the right direction or even take it on as there own project.

[Snowman3725]

Just an update for those following, I checked all wire connections, it all looks good. I got a couple pissed off esc's beeping and flashing at me, and now it appears the tracks do not work. Could it be the wrong type of battery? It's an 11.1v 25c. I think the seller recommended a 3S1P. Could it be toasting the electronics?

Almost 300 views now, no one else can help??

[Stuart]

Just an update for those following, I checked all wire connections, it all looks good. I got a couple pissed off esc's beeping and flashing at me, and now it appears the tracks do not work. Could it be the wrong type of battery? It's an 11.1v 25c. I think the seller recommended a 3S1P. Could it be toasting the electronics?

Almost 300 views now, no one else can help??

Sounds like you have the right battery but could be low on voltage which is why the esc's are not working:

a) is it fully charged?
b) is it balanced?
or
c) is it straight out of the packet?

Stu

[Snowman3725]

Battery is fully charged right out of the box, I checked it on a balanced charger too. I see the turntable esc working fine, the red led changes when I push the lever. The other esc's blink a rapid led flash and are constantly beeping. Like I said this machine is brand new so I'd be hard pressed to believe something failed after 2 minutes of use, unless something was wired incorrectly

[RCP57]

It almost sounds to me like the ESC's have lost their programing. I had a Hobby King ESC on the pump in my excavator temporarily and it would do this once and a while. I would plug in the battery and it would go into programming mode and just sit there and beep. If I touched a function the servos would move the valves and the tracks would work but no pump. Sometimes, if I unplugged the battery, plugged it back in and waited a bit before touching anything on the TX it would stop beeping and work properly. I tossed it and bought a good ESC(Jeti spin 33) and now have no problems.

[thebigo]

It really is what makes this hobby fun is diggin into it!! Don't get discourged, this hobby is not like buying a new car and expecting everything to work perfectly right off the bat, especially with the Chinese stuff. I would be inclined to believe that you have a twenty dollar or thirty dollar ESC thats out.. Have you tried to contact the seller and explain your situation?

[Snowman3725]

That's exactly what it's doing Reg, I'm dumbfounded. I'm trying to work with the seller who lives in Korea, so there's a bit of a language barrier. They say it was properly tested and has no issues. I beg to differ. Hopefully they will take it back and fix it up. I noticed the hydros were pretty spongy and air bound. Could it have some type of safety switch that disables the pump or something?

[Snowman3725]

It really is what makes this hobby fun is diggin into it!! Don't get discourged, this hobby is not like buying a new car and expecting everything to work perfectly right off the bat, especially with the Chinese stuff. I would be inclined to believe that you have a twenty dollar or thirty dollar ESC thats out.. Have you tried to contact the seller and explain your situation?

I'd expect it to function after paying what I did for it! Almost 10 grand

[Steve1503]

I had some pump esc problems with my bucket loader. If the power was disconnected, the esc may just need to be reprogrammed. See if you can find the esc setup online, and follow the instructions. After I found the instructions for my esc, it has worked great. Good luck.

[pyrosrock]

Battery is fully charged right out of the box, I checked it on a balanced charger too. I see the turntable esc working fine, the red led changes when I push the lever. The other esc's blink a rapid led flash and are constantly beeping. Like I said this machine is brand new so I'd be hard pressed to believe something failed after 2 minutes of use, unless something was wired incorrectly

i haven't (yet) had experience with a excavator but, on my rock crawler when i switch it on the escs will always do nothing, to get it to work you have to hold the controller at dead zero for a second or two before the esc will prime (its a saftey feature) so the pump not starting up could be as simple as setting the pump to off and playing with the trim. if it is a brushed motor on the pump then checking the output voltage on the esc can rule out the motor being dead or the pump seized if there is no voltage. or if there is voltage then you will have to check the motor/pump. can you turn it by hand/can you hear it trying to turn? if there is no voltage then you will know it is the esc causing the misery.
If the esc/pump is brushless (3 wires) then testing is much harder unless you have a spare motor you can plug in for testing.

I have the A9 its a nice radio, go to the monitor window and check that the pump trim is set to dead centre (i would assume) so that the esc can arm

[Snowman3725]

Thanks Steve, it is a brushless motor. I checked all the trims on the radio and they were all set to neutral. It's kind of a funky design, there's a battle switch to turn the pump on, but when it worked it would also turn on apon pressing a stick on the controller, so the pump isn't running all the time. With the battle switch on, it would run all the time. I'd like to check the voltage coming out of the pump esc, but you mentioned it's difficult? I'm pretty handy with a voltmeter, what are the steps involved?

[apfubar]

Make sure you turn the radio on before the model... It may be that the failsafes are triggering, and the esc's are defaulting to the failsafe rather than zero point.

Cheers,
Ap

[pyrosrock]

Thanks Steve, it is a brushless motor. I checked all the trims on the radio and they were all set to neutral. It's kind of a funky design, there's a battle switch to turn the pump on, but when it worked it would also turn on apon pressing a stick on the controller, so the pump isn't running all the time. With the battle switch on, it would run all the time. I'd like to check the voltage coming out of the pump esc, but you mentioned it's difficult? I'm pretty handy with a voltmeter, what are the steps involved?

to be honest im not sure how to check it as with a brushless esc it is essentially outputing a 3 phase ac current i beleve, you might be able to tell on a multimeter but its above me, i think you might need a CRO