Phantom FTS Electric Supercharger Owners Thread

[stevo585]

Wouldn't the big cranks be better than the PC680's? They do have a higher CCA rating 170 vs 325 A

[Sojhinn]

Originally Posted by stevo585

Wouldn't the big cranks be better than the PC680's? They do have a higher CCA rating 170 vs 325 A

CCA amps doesnt necessarily mean that it actually helps keep charge up. Especially since CCA is for a short burst of starting the car. What matters more is how long it can prolong voltage as you press the gas pedal.

I haven't tried the new batteries yet but once they are in I'll give you an honest opinion.


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[Sojhinn]

On other news. I'm going to be redoing the install video again, and I was curious if anyone had the stock air box with the resonator still attached or just the resonator.

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[l0aded]

Interesting... when I unplug the dump cable so that there is no connection to the dump batteries my voltmeter reads ~28.7 and is able to barely power the ESC motor.
Is this normal behavior? What voltage is it reading from and where is it pulling the energy to spool?

vid (no dump batteries connected):

Also sanded down and re-connected everything but problem still persists. Gonna bring my cables into work and see if I can figure out if there is a connection problem internal to the cables.
vid (both batteries connected, car off):

[WNDSRFR]

Have you talked to Rob about this? So after a year and a half this problem popped up all by itself? Now you have all new batteries, all the connections are right and tight? And for some reason it looks like the dump batteries aren't charging.
This might be worth trying: Turn the system off and charge the dump batteries with an external battery charger. Charge the batteries one at a time (12V). When the batteries are fully charged engage the system and see how long the boost lasts. It should last for quite a while. If this works, then you know the problem is the batteries are not getting charged.

Which would point to the Charger/Controller. Maybe the problem lies there.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by Sojhinn

On other news. I'm going to be redoing the install video again, and I was curious if anyone had the stock air box with the resonator still attached or just the resonator.

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I have a resonator, but it's been detached. I think though I saw one for sale in the SoCal thread not long ago. Will look for it.

[l0aded]

Originally Posted by WNDSRFR

Have you talked to Rob about this? So after a year and a half this problem popped up all by itself? Now you have all new batteries, all the connections are right and tight? And for some reason it looks like the dump batteries aren't charging.
This might be worth trying: Turn the system off and charge the dump batteries with an external battery charger. Charge the batteries one at a time (12V). When the batteries are fully charged engage the system and see how long the boost lasts. It should last for quite a while. If this works, then you know the problem is the batteries are not getting charged.

Which would point to the Charger/Controller. Maybe the problem lies there.

Pretty much. Started happening one day, swapped the batteries and it seemed OK for awhile and came back. I have spoken to Rob about this and he says most likely Bad Dump Connection or Bad Dump batteries.

I have tried trickle charging with a battery tender but problem surprisingly persists. When I put them on the trickle charger they are at 80%+ from the start, even though the voltage on the ESC drops to 17s when on WOT.

I'm pretty sure the problem lies in the dump cables or the charger/controller but need to figure out which since a new dump cable is expensive.

[Gums]

Originally Posted by l0aded

I'm pretty sure the problem lies in the dump cables or the charger/controller but need to figure out which since a new dump cable is expensive.

An auto electrician/battery place should be able to test your existing cables and make you up a new set.

As I'm RHD had them increase the dump cable gauge as well.

Red Anderson plugs are on ebay (grey ones won't fit, must be red)

[tzbang]

Wish I knew where I was as on the list for one of these. I PM'd Rob October last year and never had confirmation. Also PM'd Shiv. Someone put up a list at one point a while back and my name was there. But then a month later a new list went up and my name was gone. The lack of communication is frustrating to say the least.

[zc06_kisstherain]

Originally Posted by l0aded

Pretty much. Started happening one day, swapped the batteries and it seemed OK for awhile and came back. I have spoken to Rob about this and he says most likely Bad Dump Connection or Bad Dump batteries.

I have tried trickle charging with a battery tender but problem surprisingly persists. When I put them on the trickle charger they are at 80%+ from the start, even though the voltage on the ESC drops to 17s when on WOT.

I'm pretty sure the problem lies in the dump cables or the charger/controller but need to figure out which since a new dump cable is expensive.

i am guessing dump cables.
please keep us updated

[l0aded]

Originally Posted by zc06_kisstherain

i am guessing dump cables.
please keep us updated

Solved it with Rob's help. Not sure whether something is up with my system or just have incredibly bad luck but one of my new batteries that replaced my old bad batteries ended up being a dead battery (or dying within a month).. So to sum it up, I've had 2 to 3 BAD Big Crank ETX16 batteries now on my dump setup... not a fan of these.

The process to diagnose the issue was actually very straightforward with a multimeter. Hope this helps someone in the future.
1) Watch the voltage at the dump batteries (positive and negative) with the multimeter and hit the WOT switch.
2) If the voltage drops low on the multimeter then the problem is in your batteries. if the voltage doesn't drop low on the multimeter but does on the voltbox then your dump cables or controller might be the issue.

For me, it was the battery and a quick voltage check revealed it was not holding a charge at all anymore.

I took a page from @Sojhinn and decided to go with two PC680s as my dump batteries since I had an extra one from when I assumed it was one of root causes and swapped out my last good ETX16 for my starter battery. So far it has been good and voltages are staying above 20 but I'm monitoring it very closely after all the issues I've been having. The WOT pulls seems about the same or close to what I remember getting from using two ETX16s.

BTW setting up two PC680s was not very difficult but there is some work involved. I had to mill out a copper bar and drill two .040" holes since you need a longer bar to connect them and had to made some new wood barriers to protect the dump connections from the starter negative terminal.

I'm going to attempt to RMA my bad ETX16 since it was only used for 1 month and can't hold a voltage above 11.92V. If they accept it I'll likely swap it out for another PC680 MJ since I've had better luck with these.

All said and done I'm glad to have the ESC back. Going back to NA temporarily was kinda fun as it feels more linear/smooth but the power just cuts out way too early.

[Sojhinn]

Originally Posted by l0aded

Solved it with Rob's help. Not sure whether something is up with my system or just have incredibly bad luck but one of my new batteries that replaced my old bad batteries ended up being a dead battery (or dying within a month).. So to sum it up, I've had 2 to 3 BAD Big Crank ETX16 batteries now on my dump setup... not a fan of these.



I took a page from @Sojhinn and decided to go with two PC680s as my dump batteries since I had an extra one from when I assumed it was one of root causes. I swapped out my last good ETX16 as my starter. So far it has been good and voltages are staying above 20 but I'm monitoring it very closely after all the issues I've been having. The WOT pulls seems about the same or close to what I remember getting from using two ETX16s.



BTW setting up two PC680s was not very difficult but there is some work involved. I had to mill out a copper bar and drill two .040" holes since you need a longer bar to connect them and had to made some new wood barriers to protect the dump connections from the starter negative terminal.



I'm going to attempt to RMA my bad ETX16 since it was only used for 1 month and can't hold a voltage above 11.92V. If they accept it I'll likely swap it out for another PC680 MJ since I've had better luck with these.

Nice!

Im liking the pc680s. I love that the battery posts are not right on top of each other.




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[l0aded]

Originally Posted by Sojhinn

Nice!

Im liking the pc680s. I love that the battery posts are not right on to of each other.




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Yeah the positioning is a lot more ideal. On the ETX16's, the gap is a bit too small and I created a small explosion once when I accidentally touched my wrench on the two terminals. The spacing on the PC680s makes it very unlikely for this to happen.

Is there a reason Rob didn't choose to use 3x PC680s (2x dump and 1x starter) from the start?

[Sojhinn]

Originally Posted by l0aded

Yeah the positioning is a lot more ideal. On the ETX16's, the gap is a bit too small and I created a small explosion once when I accidentally touched my wrench on the two terminals. The spacing on the PC680s makes it very unlikely for this to happen.



Is there a reason Rob didn't choose to use 3x PC680s (2x dump and 1x starter) from the start?

I think he was trying to save people some money since the etx 16s are a little bit cheaper.



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