Connecting the Main Motor Wiring to Controller

I've progressed in the construction of my Pro Piccolo (my first helicopter) to the point of connecting the motor to the controller board. The instruction booklet describes soldering the blue wire from the controller board to the motor terminal. The actual controller board that I received has a blue/red pair of wires terminated by a modular connector. There is no corresponding mating connector supplied in the kit. Am I missing something or is it really the correct thing to do to cut the modular connector off of the controller board? The instructions definitely don't match the parts that I received but wanted to double check with others before I attack with the cutters.

Thanks.

HEHE... I am seeing a mirror image of the thoughts that I went through when putting this together ( haven't flown yet [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img], but have lots of experience ripping it apart and reassembling [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ),

I would verify that you have all connectors needed to make connections. But when I did mine, I remember cutting off the ends on the batts and charger. But after my first, shall we say incident [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img], I decided that I wanted to make everything easier to work with so I basically put connectors at most points so that any component could be removed by itself ( not sure of the weight added by connectors )... Sorry for rambling.. Any ways, make sure you have enough connectors ( that came with the kit ) to make all connections before cutting any ends off [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]..

While I'm at it, I will mention a couple of other things I ran into that slowed my progress. When testing picobord make sure you make neccesary connections for the power up ( I did not plug in the connectors that gave power and it would not work, stupid me [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] ). Depending on the radio, if you don't have a 5/6 channel radio, one that can mix the pitching servo, you will need the y connector ( I purchased the 6 channel radio that came with the kit, to find out it could only perform like that of a 4 channel ). After my last incident just yesterday [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] ( burned up the board..), when making adjustments to your radio/piccolo, power down the blades when ever possible, which should be most of the time..I believe.. still a newbie, but my opinion after seeing the smoke rise [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] )...

If you have any more newbie questions, feel free... I probably have most answers since I just went through this over the last month [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

The addiction has begun... Can't resist... must not..give in..TOOOOOOOOOOOO LATEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Johnny

[JJ]

Aaron it sounds to me like you have the kit (Fun) which needs soldering, but with the board normally supplied for the ECO.
Apart from the connectors the boards are compatible, you may also find tiny connectors on the tail motor wires from the controller, if you want to retain those they are compatible with the inserts in computer "D" connectors.

I have a Pro Piccolo "everything you need" kit from HobbyLobby. It came with a Piccoboard Plus w/o Receiver (IK67300i), the Pro Piccolo bird (IK001EZ), a Laser 4 channel radio, and the Y-connector harness.

The Piccoboard Plus came with plastic modular connectors or pins/jacks on all wires. The Pro Piccolo bird came with a couple lengths of plain wire and some bare pins and sockets (plug-n-go).

Thanks for the tip about them matching up with D-Connector pins. I have some of those lying about. I think I'll add mating connectors for convenience instead of hard wiring -- even if it adds a bit of weight.

Thanks.

[JJ]

Ok Aaron, understand a bit more now, The tail control connectors are a bit smaller than the main, I'd suggest some bigger contacts for the main motor, similar in size to the battery connector as this will account for most of the current.

[pgoelz]

Whoa, careful. If you really do have the Piccolo Pro, the Piccoboard Plus is not adequate for the Pro motor and will burn up. I would call Hobby Lobby immediately and verify.

The Pro is intended for use with the Piccoboard Pro, which has a higher output current rating on the main motor output and also has a higer BEC output capacity.

The Piccolo Pro is a collective pitch machine with a S400 class motor.... is that what you have?

[JJ]

Well spotted Paul [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] need..more..coffee..

The motor supplied with the kit is labeled "G-410 Pro".
Is that too much motor for the Piccoboard plus?

Thanks for the advice, I will call Hobby Lobby to verify that they sent the correct Piccoboard. Fortunately, I have not yet applied power to anything.

The URL below shows the contents of the kit from Hobby Lobby.

They list the "Pro Piccolo" collective pitch bird along with the "Piccoboard Plus" controller. Are they selling stuff that doesn't work properly together?

http://www.hobby-lobby.com/piccolo_pro.htm

From what I've gathered from Paul Goelz, only the Piccoboard Pro can safely power the 410 motor - it sucks too much current to be safely used on the Piccoboard Plus.

Not the kinda news you wanted to hear probably ... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] - at least you haven't powered anything up yet! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]