Parachute on XO1

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

Ok, so I'm bound and determined to put a parachute on this thing. I figure due to my complete lack of driving skills this may help save the car when doing top speed runs. Seeing how fast I can get this thing is really all that I'm interested in and I seem to wreck more on deceleration than at speed anyways. Plus, well, a parachute would be just flat out cool anyways so why not?

Anywhoo, I don't know anything about rc electronics so any help would be appreciated. I've already figured out how to mount the chute to the chassis. Just need to know how to activate this thing. If I could get it to pop with brake activation that would be great. Any ideas??

[phildogg]

I would mount a servo somewhere on the chassis, then run a y harness from the receiver to servo for chute and esc, then will deploy when braking. Will also need to fab up some linkage from servo to chute.

[Strykeviper]

Might be better to get a 3 channel tx. That way you don't deploy it accidently at slow speed.

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

I would mount a servo somewhere on the chassis, then run a y harness from the receiver to servo for chute and esc, then will deploy when braking. Will also need to fab up some linkage from servo to chute.

This won't interfere with ESC performance??

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

Might be better to get a 3 channel tx. That way you don't deploy it accidently at slow speed.

You might be right but I would like to try and keep the stock electronics so I can still have my telemetry stuff working.

[ttThree]

If you have a hard time, invest in a gyro, it keeps the car in a straight line. For braking, well, brake slowly, and make sure you have a long straight. If you slam the brakes, you are gone man. Better, why buy a xo1 when lacking driving skills?

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

If you have a hard time, invest in a gyro, it keeps the car in a straight line. For braking, well, brake slowly, and make sure you have a long straight. If you slam the brakes, you are gone man. Better, why buy a xo1 when lacking driving skills?

Because I wanted something to bolt a parachute to.

[phildogg]

no it won't effect the esc, alotof people who have converted a nitro to electric keep the mechanical brakes,and wire like i said above. But yeah might want to add a switch to the chute to keep it from accidently deploying at slow speeds.

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

no it won't effect the esc, alotof people who have converted a nitro to electric keep the mechanical brakes,and wire like i said above. But yeah might want to add a switch to the chute to keep it from accidently deploying at slow speeds.

Ok, I gotcha. But how would this "switch" know how fast the car was going??

And I see you're in North Carolina. Where at? I'm in the Asheboro area. I'm actually a racing engine builder but I don't know squat about electronics.

[phildogg]

I live in hickory. I mean to put a switch to turn off chute when not planning speed runs, or disable the linkage unless planning to speed run.

[ttThree]

There are no guarantes that the car wont flip over badly while pulling the chute. Real life chutes on 1:1 cars, does have a different impact than on a 1:7 scale car. I mean, 100 mph isnt that extreamly fast, people have been speedrunning and braking cars from that speed for some years, and thats on 1:10 scale cars.

[BL-Bob]

You might be right but I would like to try and keep the stock electronics so I can still have my telemetry stuff working.

That's why I run two rx in my x1. One for telemetery and one for my three channel tx. I turn on the tqi occasionally to check the motor temp.

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

I live in hickory. I mean to put a switch to turn off chute when not planning speed runs, or disable the linkage unless planning to speed run.

Ok, I gotcha. Thanks. I planned on having the chute bag velcroed to the car so I can just pop it off if need be.

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

That's why I run two rx in my x1. One for telemetery and one for my three channel tx. I turn on the tqi occasionally to check the motor temp.

Interesting. Can you post some details of your setup?

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

There are no guarantes that the car wont flip over badly while pulling the chute. Real life chutes on 1:1 cars, does have a different impact than on a 1:7 scale car. I mean, 100 mph isnt that extreamly fast, people have been speedrunning and braking cars from that speed for some years, and thats on 1:10 scale cars.

Yeah, with full scale stuff the attachment point is what matters. Too low and it will try and lift rear tires, too high and it will try to lift the front. Gotta get in the middle. Lots of cord between the car and chute should help too.

[AngryEVO8]

Electrically you cant make it deploy with an automatic speed detection

The easiest way would be to get a 3ch or 4ch TQi radio of ebay, use your existing receiver (should be 5ch anyway) Have steering as Ch1, ESC as CH2, and the servo that deploys the shoot as CH3 or CH4. Ideally CH3 or CH4 should be a push button activation. By that i mean you need to push the button on the radio to get it to deploy. This way when you are just bashing and have the chute on the car you can use the normal brakes without the shoot popping out but when you do a speed run and it comes time to slow down just push the CH3 button which activates the servo and opens the shoot, as well as having normal brakes.

Just like a drag brake, they all have conventional brakes, the system that activates the chute is seperate and the only thing that says when the chute is deployed is when the driver decides to pull the lever.

Hope this helps.

[BL-Bob]

Interesting. Can you post some details of your setup?

No. I'll pm to ya.

[FOXX]

Just a thought, if you run a parachute, maybe deploy it while under full throttle to keep the stability. Then after it inflates slowly decel...

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

OK, so the y harness didn't work for some reason. The ESC still seems to work fine but the servo just immediately goes all the way to one side and then vibrates. Doesn't respond to throttle input. I just used an old servo out of an obsolete car I had laying around. Any ideas what went wrong??

[AngryEVO8]

What channel did you plug it into, channel 2??

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

Yeah, channel 2.

[AngryEVO8]

how many channels is the TQi you got with the XO-1? You will need at least a 3 channel radio. If you plug another servo into CH2 with a y lead than it will move back and forward as you move the trigger from forward to reverse or brake. Like a nitro car. This means on CH2 every time you tap the brakes or go into reverse it will deploy the chute. By setting it up on a third channel you can still have all your normal running functions, brakes and' reverse, and only have the chute deploy when you need it.

Does that make sense

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

how many channels is the TQi you got with the XO-1? You will need at least a 3 channel radio. If you plug another servo into CH2 with a y lead than it will move back and forward as you move the trigger from forward to reverse or brake. Like a nitro car. This means on CH2 every time you tap the brakes or go into reverse it will deploy the chute. By setting it up on a third channel you can still have all your normal running functions, brakes and' reverse, and only have the chute deploy when you need it.

Does that make sense

Yeah, it makes sense but that isn't what happens when I use the y splitter. It just runs all the way to one side and stays there regardless of throttle input. Maybe a 3 channel radio is my only option. Thought about taking this radio apart and seeing if the internals are already 5 channel. Maybe I could rig up some kind of switch.

[AngryEVO8]

Perhaps the servo horn on the servo you plugged in is in the wrong spot and the servo was just centering and looked as though it was at the end of its travel. is there a part number on the radio or a registration sticker might be easier than pulling it apart.

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

It's an old servo.(prolly 15 years) Maybe I will just try another one.

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

Tried a new traxxas servo. This idea DOES NOT work. Just goes to one side and vibrates. Fail.

[AngryEVO8]

Do you have a different radio and receiver you could try, 3 channel, did you find out how many channel your tqi is, if it hs 3 or more channels did you check the settings of the channel you plugged the servo into.

[TheStenchOfSpeed]

Do you have a different radio and receiver you could try, 3 channel, did you find out how many channel your tqi is, if it hs 3 or more channels did you check the settings of the channel you plugged the servo into.

I think for now I'm going to just stack an extra separate reciever in the car and have a buddy deploy it until I can get a radio with more channels.

I did get the parachute done though. Took it out in the street and it is definitely effective. Made a chute out of a checkered flag bandana. Looks pretty cool. So far it doesn't try and pick the car up or do anything stupid but a real speed run is the only way to tell. I have other attachment options if it causes problems.

Now onto the bag and release system.