Cyclone Profile Help Needed - ?? about Diode & Capacitor
 

Profiles:
I am trying to understand the difference in the profiles for my Cyclone ESC. The instructions give the specs for the different profiles, but I have no idea what the specs are telling me...
There is a Stock, Drag Brake, and Modified profile built in (I don't have a Pit Wizard to program the 4th profile.
What is "Dead Band"? - options are 6.0% or 7.0%
What is "Drive Frequency"? - options are 5.86kHz, 7.80kHz, 15.60khz
What is "Minimum Drive"? - options are 6.0% or 1.5%
What is "Brake Frequency"? - options are 3.90kHz, 5.86kHz
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Capacitor:
I bought the ESC used, so I don't have the Cap. - what size cap should it be, and is it really necessary? What does it do?
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Schottky Diode:
I do have a Schottky diode, but it is a pain to install/remove it every time I do a motor change - is it necessary? What does it do?

You should solder the Schottky Diode on the esc, with the silver band on the positive (red) side. that way, you can change out motor without changing removing the Diode!


I used a 4700 micro farad capacitor, it was better than the kit supplied capacitors, gave me longer run times, too.


Clay, Al. hmmmm............ how fars it it away from Elba, Al.? or how about Dothan, Al.?

I wondered about putting the diode somewhere other than straight on the motor - I didn't know if that made a difference.

Clay Alabama is on the outskirts of Birmingham - in North Central Alabama.

I think the cap and diode are not necessary. My old cyclone worked fine without them. Are you sure you have the complete instructions? Mine explain what "Dead Band" "Drive Frequency" "Minimum Drive" and "Brake Frequency" are.

"Dead Band" - Neutral "zone" of the trigger.
"Drive Frequency" - Higher = smoother = less punch.
"Minimum Drive" - Minimum speed.
"Brake Frequency" - Higher = smoother brakes.

Original Cyclone & TC (not C2/TC2) have a small Schottky diode built in inside the case, the external one is "optional".

However it is highly recommended for hot mods and I'd put them on rebuildable stockers too. I usually don't bother (too lazy) for 540s and SportTuned.

These days Novak recommends their Schottky-on-a-PCB module.




Power cap is highly recommended, at least one.

I have got everything from 680uF to 3000uF on my Cyclones.

Well if you are planning to swap motors a lot, I guess you'll have to buy a lot of diodes, like one for each motor. Like I said before, I installed mines on the ESC, I can change motors all day without worring about the Diode. I need another capacitor though, hooked it up wrong after cleaning the car, whent to charge the batteries and POW!!!!! There went the cap!!! Does anyone know how to say "capacitor" in German? :D

My wife is from Elba, Al. in what I call L.A., "Lower Alabama"!!!!!:lol:

I use the Stock profile for stock, I have tried all it works best.

I run a 4700 uF cap, 16 volt. The cap helps with glitching for me quite a bit.

I run 2 cylcones one is a TC2. They work great without a shotkey diode, but I also never use brakes. I only run stock pan car or off road truck so no huge load on my motor, ESC or batteries.