Setting up the Novak ESC and Futaba 3PM

The servos and motors are now fitted. I haven't connected the motors yet but the Novak crawler ESC setup is done.


In fact it does itself, you just connect the battery and switch it on WHILST holding the setting button down. The red LED goes on in under two seconds - release the button and apply full throttle and the green LED comes on - apply full brake and the green one flashes. That's it - done.


I've found the instructions for setting up the 3PM on a RCCrawler.com Bulletin Board. Here they are - with many thanks to and by courtesy of poster bbeaty:

Setting up Futaba 3PM for 4ws

For 4ws the front wheels turn opposite the rear (the same as if you had a reversing y-harness). When the SW2 button on the radio is moved the truck will steer only with the front (mixing turned off), and when the SW1 button is pressed the front wheels will turn the same as the rear enabling crab steering.

Setup Procedure:

To set this up you will need to have a servo plugged into the CH1 and CH3 positions on the radio. For now I’ll assume you have the front servo plugged into CH1 and the rear servo into CH3.

In the system menu setup a new model name in the radio, also while in the system menu, setup SW2 to be MX (programmable mixing) see pg 54 in manual if you do not know how to do this, and SW1 to Conditions 2 selection (pg 56).

Turn the radio on normally; I assume you know how to setup the front steering using the sub trims and EPA. If you need to reverse the front steering do this as well. In order to have the rear steer opposite from the front, the value for CH3 in the reversing menu needs to be opposite that of the steering. For example, if you need to reverse the front steering CH3 should not be reversed, and by the same measure if the front steering does not need to be reversed then you will need to reverse CH3.

To adjust the mixing settings see (pg 41). For a base value set both the right and left side values to +75. You will need to fine-tune them later using the same idea as setting the steering EPA. The master and slave settings are correct by default and then set PMX-MD to ON.

To test the settings try steering the truck, only the front tires should turn. Now if you move the SW2 switch the truck should steer normally with 4ws.

The rear steering will most likely need to be trimmed. The preferred method to trim the rear wheels is to use the sub trim menu and select CH3, then use the + / - buttons to align the rear wheels. Another method is to select CH3 in the main menu and again use the + / - buttons to align the rear wheels.

Here is where the Conditions 2 button you setup earlier comes into play. The conditions 2 button is setup as SW1 (button on the handgrip). When you press the button you will notice the LED will flash, verifying you are in the Condition 2. Now scroll though the menu and setup the mixing function again, however this time instead of setting the right and left values to +75 set them to –75. Now when you have the SW2 moved to activate mixing and have the SW1 button pressed, the front and rear wheels will turn the same direction and the truck will crab steer.

When mixing is turned off via SW2, you can set if you want only the front or rear wheels to steer by switching how the servos are plugged into the receiver (front on CH3, rear on CH1). Keep in mind when you physically switch the front and rear servos on the receiver you will need to readjust the trims, channel reversing, etc.

I'll try this all out tomorrow. X fingers...