Novak Kinetic
12-17-2010, 06:57 AM
#1216
12-17-2010, 07:15 AM
#1217
Tech Adept
...
12-17-2010, 12:24 PM
#1220
I'd use the default settings for 17.5/2s for the base and then adjust the following. FDR of 7.5 (temp check). Change the timing set point to 5500, start with timing at 30* and boost on, set the delay to 375ms. use 0 for minimum drive but if you need more punch up this to 1 or 2. Go to the modify setting for a custom curve and select default curve 3. The brake settings are something you'll have to play with a bit, personal preference, but this should get you going.......just watch those temps and if to aggressive out of corners, try to soften the throttle curve and min drive.
12-17-2010, 12:51 PM
#1221
The firmware update for the NovaLink is only for the link itself (the brians of the link board) and should not effect the speed control. I would try a couple of things first, there is another program available on the Novak download section thats called a link tester program, it tells you if you have continuity from the USB port to the Novalink, then it confirms the NovaLink and then it will test to the ESC, giving you a good or bad test and what version of software is loaded to your ESC. Now there are a couple of things to watch out for. Its absolutely necessary that you delete the older .rdd file, and ONLY have the most current one in your folder. You can have older versions as long as they're not unzipped, the only unzipped one has to be the one your going to use, (the newest is the 1.4beta) Now some of this is magic to me, but you can have 1.4beta (forK1S) loaded and still flash your K2S and it won't be effected by the new batch file. Something to take note is when you do the update on your K1S with the 1.4beta, and then do a link test, it will still tell you that your on 1.3 version.
If your speed control is new it should come flashed with the 1.3 version, so you really only have to link up and change your settings as required, no re-flashing should be needed.
12-17-2010, 03:28 PM
#1222
Here goes, #1 is a vast majority of upgrade and download problems can be fixed by building the inline switch deal as described by Novak2 a couple of posts back, that alone really helps.
The firmware update for the NovaLink is only for the link itself (the brians of the link board) and should not effect the speed control. I would try a couple of things first, there is another program available on the Novak download section thats called a link tester program, it tells you if you have continuity from the USB port to the Novalink, then it confirms the NovaLink and then it will test to the ESC, giving you a good or bad test and what version of software is loaded to your ESC. Now there are a couple of things to watch out for. Its absolutely necessary that you delete the older .rdd file, and ONLY have the most current one in your folder. You can have older versions as long as they're not unzipped, the only unzipped one has to be the one your going to use, (the newest is the 1.4beta) Now some of this is magic to me, but you can have 1.4beta (forK1S) loaded and still flash your K2S and it won't be effected by the new batch file. Something to take note is when you do the update on your K1S with the 1.4beta, and then do a link test, it will still tell you that your on 1.3 version.
If your speed control is new it should come flashed with the 1.3 version, so you really only have to link up and change your settings as required, no re-flashing should be needed.
The firmware update for the NovaLink is only for the link itself (the brians of the link board) and should not effect the speed control. I would try a couple of things first, there is another program available on the Novak download section thats called a link tester program, it tells you if you have continuity from the USB port to the Novalink, then it confirms the NovaLink and then it will test to the ESC, giving you a good or bad test and what version of software is loaded to your ESC. Now there are a couple of things to watch out for. Its absolutely necessary that you delete the older .rdd file, and ONLY have the most current one in your folder. You can have older versions as long as they're not unzipped, the only unzipped one has to be the one your going to use, (the newest is the 1.4beta) Now some of this is magic to me, but you can have 1.4beta (forK1S) loaded and still flash your K2S and it won't be effected by the new batch file. Something to take note is when you do the update on your K1S with the 1.4beta, and then do a link test, it will still tell you that your on 1.3 version.
If your speed control is new it should come flashed with the 1.3 version, so you really only have to link up and change your settings as required, no re-flashing should be needed.
Im literally at novak now...Brent helped me and took even my laptop with their engineer ..in short story, it got fixed ...one diode failed...great customer service... thanks
12-21-2010, 08:56 AM
#1224
Kinetic fun and games continues...
Sooo I'm, on my second Kinetic 2s replacement and I must say things really haven't gotten much better. Short version is that the esc went from connecting and giving the impression it was updating the profile configuration, but when you'd disconnect from the Novalink software and connect it to my truck's electronics and a battery they LEDs didn't indicate my changes had been applied. So, I would take it out and put it back on the Novalink, using the recommended on/off switch modded esc harness, and allow the ESC to connect/initialize and check the settings again. Low and behold it would not reflect the settings were as they should be. I had written down all my settings so I could confirm them if needed and for some reason the ESC seems miss at least one if not more of the settings when it "allegedly" saves the config and there doesn't appear to be a pattern regarding which of the settings it'll miss. Aside from being frustrating it could potentially dangerous when you consider that on more than one occasion it turned off the temp "ESC Temp Protection" and the "Voltage Cut-Off". But wait it gets better...
Now new aforementioned replacement ESC has degraded to the point that when you plug it into the novalink (which was also replaced), all the lights on the ESC will turn on for a second or two and then they go out, during which it never shows a connection to the Novalink software. <Sigh> Anybody have any suggestions?
Now new aforementioned replacement ESC has degraded to the point that when you plug it into the novalink (which was also replaced), all the lights on the ESC will turn on for a second or two and then they go out, during which it never shows a connection to the Novalink software. <Sigh> Anybody have any suggestions?
12-21-2010, 10:11 AM
#1225
Sooo I'm, on my second Kinetic 2s replacement and I must say things really haven't gotten much better. Short version is that the esc went from connecting and giving the impression it was updating the profile configuration, but when you'd disconnect from the Novalink software and connect it to my truck's electronics and a battery they LEDs didn't indicate my changes had been applied. So, I would take it out and put it back on the Novalink, using the recommended on/off switch modded esc harness, and allow the ESC to connect/initialize and check the settings again. Low and behold it would not reflect the settings were as they should be. I had written down all my settings so I could confirm them if needed and for some reason the ESC seems miss at least one if not more of the settings when it "allegedly" saves the config and there doesn't appear to be a pattern regarding which of the settings it'll miss. Aside from being frustrating it could potentially dangerous when you consider that on more than one occasion it turned off the temp "ESC Temp Protection" and the "Voltage Cut-Off". But wait it gets better...
Now new aforementioned replacement ESC has degraded to the point that when you plug it into the novalink (which was also replaced), all the lights on the ESC will turn on for a second or two and then they go out, during which it never shows a connection to the Novalink software. <Sigh> Anybody have any suggestions?
Now new aforementioned replacement ESC has degraded to the point that when you plug it into the novalink (which was also replaced), all the lights on the ESC will turn on for a second or two and then they go out, during which it never shows a connection to the Novalink software. <Sigh> Anybody have any suggestions?
Now in order for the changes that you make with the NL one of the most important things to remember is that when you do a change in one of the drop down boxes, once selected, you have to tab to another box, or it won't take that setting, even if you hit the enter key. Its just one of those things to make the setting take.
When your saying that your checking to see if your settings took via the leds, what indicator are you looking for? I only ask because, other than boost on or off, without using the setup button, there is no way to really confirm settings made via the NL, as a matter of fact, if you go to use the setup button via the switch, the speed control defaults back to the factory settings. The only things you can check with the switch is to change from profile 1 to 2 and back, and the sensor cable check. My rule of thumb is if your programing via the NL, don't bother with the switch setup button cause it will overwrite everything you just did with the NL. (The switch settings are a more course setting than the NL and not everything is there anyways).
Hope that helps you out a bit and hopefully you didn't pop the diode first off or your trying to talk to a deaf device.
12-21-2010, 10:42 AM
#1226
Bad Karma or just bad luck...
This won't be in order of your posted questions, but, first and for most, 2 things to be very consious of always doing when connecting your NL to your K2S, ALWAYS have the battery disconnected, AND have the fan disconnected. Not sating you did this, but its something people forget. I believe that if the power is plugged in, there is a on board diode that has the potential to blow, then your going to be sol. The bad part is no LEDs makes me think this may have happened, lets hope not though.
Now in order for the changes that you make with the NL one of the most important things to remember is that when you do a change in one of the drop down boxes, once selected, you have to tab to another box, or it won't take that setting, even if you hit the enter key. Its just one of those things to make the setting take.
When your saying that your checking to see if your settings took via the LEDs, what indicator are you looking for? I only ask because, other than boost on or off, without using the setup button, there is no way to really confirm settings made via the NL, as a matter of fact, if you go to use the setup button via the switch, the speed control defaults back to the factory settings. The only things you can check with the switch is to change from profile 1 to 2 and back, and the sensor cable check. My rule of thumb is if your programing via the NL, don't bother with the switch setup button cause it will overwrite everything you just did with the NL. (The switch settings are a more course setting than the NL and not everything is there anyways).
Hope that helps you out a bit and hopefully you didn't pop the diode first off or your trying to talk to a deaf device.
Now in order for the changes that you make with the NL one of the most important things to remember is that when you do a change in one of the drop down boxes, once selected, you have to tab to another box, or it won't take that setting, even if you hit the enter key. Its just one of those things to make the setting take.
When your saying that your checking to see if your settings took via the LEDs, what indicator are you looking for? I only ask because, other than boost on or off, without using the setup button, there is no way to really confirm settings made via the NL, as a matter of fact, if you go to use the setup button via the switch, the speed control defaults back to the factory settings. The only things you can check with the switch is to change from profile 1 to 2 and back, and the sensor cable check. My rule of thumb is if your programing via the NL, don't bother with the switch setup button cause it will overwrite everything you just did with the NL. (The switch settings are a more course setting than the NL and not everything is there anyways).
Hope that helps you out a bit and hopefully you didn't pop the diode first off or your trying to talk to a deaf device.
1).After having as many issues as I have I've become a little OCD about making sure I didn't contribute to them by leaving the battery or the fan connected. I sware I must check all the connections and what not about 10 times JUST before I flip the toggle to "ON" on newly (recommended) modified ESC harness as I cross my fingers...
2). As for the LEDs while using the NL to program, when I flip that little switch and apply power to the red lead of the device I should get a consistently illuminated set of lights, and at one point I did, however now I will only get them for about a second or two and then they go out. The previous unit's lights came on fine until I decided to update the firmware, after which I got no lights at all. I was told this was a glitch in the firmware update process and they were looking to resolve with the upcoming 1.4 firmware release, which to my knowledge has not been released. Although I don't know if that would help at this point anyway.
3). As for the ESC indicator LEDs, once you've got it all back in your ride and all hooked up, you should be able to flip the power switch on and after it cycles through the start up you should end up with a few illuminated LEDs. For example if you have timing advance on you you should a white one or blue if you have drag brake activated.
4). I wasn't aware of the TAB vs. Enter situation regarding profile configuration entries but once I can get this one (or anothe...sigh) to communicate I'll give that a try.
Last edited by Redbeard; 12-21-2010 at 10:45 AM. Reason: Proof reading after posting...haha
12-21-2010, 11:23 AM
#1227
Assuming I've read the directions, posts, and technical recommendations from Novak correctly:
1).After having as many issues as I have I've become a little OCD about making sure I didn't contribute to them by leaving the battery or the fan connected. I sware I must check all the connections and what not about 10 times JUST before I flip the toggle to "ON" on newly (recommended) modified ESC harness as I cross my fingers...
2). As for the LEDs while using the NL to program, when I flip that little switch and apply power to the red lead of the device I should get a consistently illuminated set of lights, and at one point I did, however now I will only get them for about a second or two and then they go out. The previous unit's lights came on fine until I decided to update the firmware, after which I got no lights at all. I was told this was a glitch in the firmware update process and they were looking to resolve with the upcoming 1.4 firmware release, which to my knowledge has not been released. Although I don't know if that would help at this point anyway.
3). As for the ESC indicator LEDs, once you've got it all back in your ride and all hooked up, you should be able to flip the power switch on and after it cycles through the start up you should end up with a few illuminated LEDs. For example if you have timing advance on you you should a white one or blue if you have drag brake activated.
4). I wasn't aware of the TAB vs. Enter situation regarding profile configuration entries but once I can get this one (or anothe...sigh) to communicate I'll give that a try.
Have you tried to run the connection tester, there is a download for that on the Novak site. I find it helps just to confirm you have link from your pc to the esc.
#2 I'm not sure I understand your power application and switch configuration. My harness is made up of the long included 3 lead wire that you would run between the rxr and the sc. The red wire is cut midway on the harness and the on/off switch is put inline there. Not sure where the power? your applying is coming from but you should not have to do this at all. Any power is being supplied via the link from the pc usb cable to the NL and then the wire harness to the speed control. ****Things to check, make sure the harness is correct polarity to the NL, black wire should be lined up with black mark on NL. Also make sure you have not connected to speed control port with wrong polarity, white wire to the right of socket, and make sure you didn't miss a pin when putting the harness to the port.
If everything is done correctly, you should get 2 leds lit on the K2S. The firmware update, even the 1.4 beta if used will not effect your K2S, again do the link test and if successful, it will tell you what version you have on the speed control. If the K2S is newer, it will already have 1.3 on it so no upgrade will be necessary, just set your pick and go. Even if you manage to get 1.4 to load the link test will still tell you its 1.3, but its written so it won't do a K2S right now.
#3 If everything is good, you should have 3 or 4 leds lit, (white is for boost on/off).
#4 Yes that can throw you for a loop.
Good luck
12-21-2010, 12:16 PM
#1228
LOL, OCD. First off please don't take anything I'm saying as an insult, don't think you did, I'm just trying to cover everything that I managed to do wrong so far, and not knowing what level your at.... well you have to start from scratch. The power and fan stuff is just a reminder, as I'm as gun shy as you about it.
Have you tried to run the connection tester, there is a download for that on the Novak site. I find it helps just to confirm you have link from your pc to the esc.
#2 I'm not sure I understand your power application and switch configuration. My harness is made up of the long included 3 lead wire that you would run between the rxr and the sc. The red wire is cut midway on the harness and the on/off switch is put inline there. Not sure where the power? your applying is coming from but you should not have to do this at all. Any power is being supplied via the link from the pc usb cable to the NL and then the wire harness to the speed control. ****Things to check, make sure the harness is correct polarity to the NL, black wire should be lined up with black mark on NL. Also make sure you have not connected to speed control port with wrong polarity, white wire to the right of socket, and make sure you didn't miss a pin when putting the harness to the port.
If everything is done correctly, you should get 2 leds lit on the K2S. The firmware update, even the 1.4 beta if used will not effect your K2S, again do the link test and if successful, it will tell you what version you have on the speed control. If the K2S is newer, it will already have 1.3 on it so no upgrade will be necessary, just set your pick and go. Even if you manage to get 1.4 to load the link test will still tell you its 1.3, but its written so it won't do a K2S right now.
#3 If everything is good, you should have 3 or 4 leds lit, (white is for boost on/off).
#4 Yes that can throw you for a loop.
Good luck
Have you tried to run the connection tester, there is a download for that on the Novak site. I find it helps just to confirm you have link from your pc to the esc.
#2 I'm not sure I understand your power application and switch configuration. My harness is made up of the long included 3 lead wire that you would run between the rxr and the sc. The red wire is cut midway on the harness and the on/off switch is put inline there. Not sure where the power? your applying is coming from but you should not have to do this at all. Any power is being supplied via the link from the pc usb cable to the NL and then the wire harness to the speed control. ****Things to check, make sure the harness is correct polarity to the NL, black wire should be lined up with black mark on NL. Also make sure you have not connected to speed control port with wrong polarity, white wire to the right of socket, and make sure you didn't miss a pin when putting the harness to the port.
If everything is done correctly, you should get 2 leds lit on the K2S. The firmware update, even the 1.4 beta if used will not effect your K2S, again do the link test and if successful, it will tell you what version you have on the speed control. If the K2S is newer, it will already have 1.3 on it so no upgrade will be necessary, just set your pick and go. Even if you manage to get 1.4 to load the link test will still tell you its 1.3, but its written so it won't do a K2S right now.
#3 If everything is good, you should have 3 or 4 leds lit, (white is for boost on/off).
#4 Yes that can throw you for a loop.
Good luck
I have run the connection tester and confirmed that the 2nd NL they sent is properly communicating but the ESC is not. ESC Firmware showed 1.3 when it did.
2). All the connectivity recommendations are certainly something to pay attention to, since it would be easy to get one of them wrong, however that falls under my previously mentioned "OCD" connectivity check
In fact, despite checking it several times, I thought maybe I'd gotten it wrong but I've confirmed that I have so far managed to avoid miss-connections or inappropriately connected gear (batteries or fans). I'm so paranoid about it I try to eliminate any other distractions (AKA the wife --- ha ha, she better not read this) while I'm doing this procedure. Lol, Learned to check a few times before flipping the switch on anything back when I worked on what were refereed to as "special weapons" in the USAF. As for the ESC harness - I may not have clarified that correctly. Basically I'm using a harness pretty much as you described. No other power source besides the USB connection when I've the esc plugged into the ESC. 3). Yea got the timing and boost mixed up but at this point none of them stay lit.
On the other hand my HAVOC has never given me any trouble...but I want the damn Kinetic to work!
Thanks for your input.
12-21-2010, 01:16 PM
#1229
No offense taken. I just didn't think using the Kinetic was going to be such an adventure. Not that they (Novak) haven't been trying to help but one thing or another seems to keep happening. Customer service has never been my complaint.
I have run the connection tester and confirmed that the 2nd NL they sent is properly communicating but the ESC is not. ESC Firmware showed 1.3 when it did.
2). All the connectivity recommendations are certainly something to pay attention to, since it would be easy to get one of them wrong, however that falls under my previously mentioned "OCD" connectivity check In fact, despite checking it several times, I thought maybe I'd gotten it wrong but I've confirmed that I have so far managed to avoid miss-connections or inappropriately connected gear (batteries or fans). I'm so paranoid about it I try to eliminate any other distractions (AKA the wife --- ha ha, she better not read this) while I'm doing this procedure. Lol, Learned to check a few times before flipping the switch on anything back when I worked on what were refereed to as "special weapons" in the USAF. As for the ESC harness - I may not have clarified that correctly. Basically I'm using a harness pretty much as you described. No other power source besides the USB connection when I've the esc plugged into the ESC.
3). Yea got the timing and boost mixed up but at this point none of them stay lit.
On the other hand my HAVOC has never given me any trouble...but I want the damn Kinetic to work!
Thanks for your input.
I have run the connection tester and confirmed that the 2nd NL they sent is properly communicating but the ESC is not. ESC Firmware showed 1.3 when it did.
2). All the connectivity recommendations are certainly something to pay attention to, since it would be easy to get one of them wrong, however that falls under my previously mentioned "OCD" connectivity check
In fact, despite checking it several times, I thought maybe I'd gotten it wrong but I've confirmed that I have so far managed to avoid miss-connections or inappropriately connected gear (batteries or fans). I'm so paranoid about it I try to eliminate any other distractions (AKA the wife --- ha ha, she better not read this) while I'm doing this procedure. Lol, Learned to check a few times before flipping the switch on anything back when I worked on what were refereed to as "special weapons" in the USAF. As for the ESC harness - I may not have clarified that correctly. Basically I'm using a harness pretty much as you described. No other power source besides the USB connection when I've the esc plugged into the ESC. 3). Yea got the timing and boost mixed up but at this point none of them stay lit.
On the other hand my HAVOC has never given me any trouble...but I want the damn Kinetic to work!
Thanks for your input.
Disconnect your sensor from the speed control, the fan (if your using one), only have the on/off switch and the Novalink harness plugged into the appropriate ports, with correct polarity.
Don't have your NL link switch turned on yet, and fire up your pc and the NL operating system. I'm hoping you have a profile of some sort saved, open that up and your main page NL operating system should change from the cover page to the settings page. Now in that state, turn the NL link switch and turn it on, you should get a change of state showing you the option to disconnect X, you may have to toggle the switch a couple of times to get the state change. Just trying to see if we can jump ahead and try and get the link working some how. When you toggle the switch to on, you may have to wait a couple seconds for it to see the link. Do you get any leds lit on the NL itself.
The same thing applies to when your trying the link tester run, you may have to exit the program a couple of times and toggle the switch a few times before you get a link test successful. Its not a instant thing, quick but not instant.
Did you do a link download upgrade? Maybe try that again. BUT make sure it actually goes, there are some security settings that block the down load and that really screws things up. Just follow the instructions to a tee, and it should be pretty straight forward.
What are you using for a PC? Just curious.
The K2S really shouldn't be causing you all this grief, mine seem to work pretty darn good, there are some quirks, but nothing that just starting over has never been able to fix.
12-22-2010, 05:34 PM
#1230
Connection test = Had to connect and disconnect the NL usb device several times to enable step 2 of connection test to pass but the ESC doesn't connect. All LEDs on the ESC come on for a second and then go out.
Following the process you suggested for connecting to the NL ends with the same results as above, despite giving the ESC extra time to connect, trying the switch multiple times, and ensuring all connections are correct.
When I received the current replacement ESC I went to the Novak downloads page to ensure there weren't any updates I needed and updated my NL to version 1.4 , as the page suggested ("Please update your NovaLink device to be compatible with NovaLink 1.4"). I was later told by Novak that this update is actually only intended to for those who are beta testing the 1.4 firmware and is not compatible with the 1.3 firmware which was loaded in the ESC. I was sent another which did allow me to communicate with the ESC as I described earlier. So I don't know that anybody who isn't beta testing should be updating their gear.
I'm using a Dell XFRD630 Latitude Laptop running Win 7 (64 bit) with all Novak software being run as Admin and in Win xp sp3 compatibility mode.
Incidentally I've tried following the same process on a laptop using Win 7 starter (32 bit) and a PC running native Win XP sp3. Neither of which provided an a different result than I'm getting with the D630 running Win 7 (64 bit) so I don't think it's an OS issue.
I agree. This shouldn't be such an issue. I don't know if there's a benefit to it but, I may as well be a beta tester at this point.
Following the process you suggested for connecting to the NL ends with the same results as above, despite giving the ESC extra time to connect, trying the switch multiple times, and ensuring all connections are correct.
When I received the current replacement ESC I went to the Novak downloads page to ensure there weren't any updates I needed and updated my NL to version 1.4 , as the page suggested ("Please update your NovaLink device to be compatible with NovaLink 1.4"). I was later told by Novak that this update is actually only intended to for those who are beta testing the 1.4 firmware and is not compatible with the 1.3 firmware which was loaded in the ESC. I was sent another which did allow me to communicate with the ESC as I described earlier. So I don't know that anybody who isn't beta testing should be updating their gear.
I'm using a Dell XFRD630 Latitude Laptop running Win 7 (64 bit) with all Novak software being run as Admin and in Win xp sp3 compatibility mode.
Incidentally I've tried following the same process on a laptop using Win 7 starter (32 bit) and a PC running native Win XP sp3. Neither of which provided an a different result than I'm getting with the D630 running Win 7 (64 bit) so I don't think it's an OS issue.
I agree. This shouldn't be such an issue. I don't know if there's a benefit to it but, I may as well be a beta tester at this point.