How to Install a Montana Design ESC

          You can use any of the connectors that fit your application. We suggest Deans Ultra Connectors because of their low resistance, but others are available.

          Start by figuring out where your ESC is going to be placed. Keep in mind when deciding this, the length of the radio wire to make sure its long enough to reach your receiver. The shorter the power wires the less resistance in the system. Also keep in mind if your going to water cool your ESC, your going to have to run some tubing. The neater everything is the less maintenance you will have & when things need to be fixed it will be easier to do so.

          Next cut the power and motor wires to length. Here's were my Grandfathers old saying comes into effect "MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE!" When everything's cut to length, cut off about 3/16" of insulation off the ends of the wire, then tin them with solder. Tinning is a process of heating the wire with your soldering iron and then apply the solder while stick keeping the iron of the wire. The solder should flow right into the iron and make if stiff. Don't apply to much or your wire will lose its flexibility. Its also important during the soldering process to keep the tip of the iron very clean. Use an old sponge that is wet and drag the tip across the sponge. The tip should look like new. After your done tinning the wire should look similar to this.

          Connect either of the Red (positive) wire and the Black (negative) wire to the battery connector of your choice. Always double and triple check to make sure these are connected correctly. If backwards your ESC will be damaged!

          Before you connect the motor wire to the motor YOU MUST INSTALL A SCHOTTKY DIODE! This diode keeps the electricity back flowing into the ESC and blowing it up.

           To install the diode, start by measuring between the motor power tabs and bending the leads on the diode to that length. Then cut the remaining unneeded part of the lead. Here's a before and after picture.

          Once cut to length its time to solder to the tabs. Solder the diode to the inside of the tabs. This leaves the outside of the tabs for the ESC wires. It very important to make sure when you solder the diode, that the grey stripe on it is closest to the positive on the motor.

          Now its time to connect the power wires to the motor. There are two ways to do this. Either with a connector in between the motor and ESC or without. The pro's and con's are with the connector in place you can easily switch ESC's between boats and motors, the con's are  higher resistance. Without the connector you will gain some performance because of less resistance in the system and less places for things to break. The blue wire is soldered to the negative tab on the motor. The red wire is soldered to the positive tab on the motor.

          Now  Velcro the ESC in place and connect the radio wire.  You may or may not have a BEC (battery eliminator switch) depending of the ESC you purchased. If you have the BEC,  you will not have an on/off switch. This is sometimes good thing. The stock switches are a cause of problems because of water damage. Just make sure to connect your battery pack right before the boat goes in the water and disconnect the pack for safety,  when the boat comes out of the water.

          This is an easy install. All that's left is to bench test your boat. Make sure that the propeller spins in the correct direction. You may have to flip the throttle reversing switch on some radios and adjust to neutral using your radio trims. Make sure you get full throttle. Remember faster is better :)

          Take care to wear safety glasses and never get to close to the propeller! If its spinning in the wrong direction you crossed the motor wires. To correct this just reverse the diode and motor wires and retest.

          These ECS's  have no reverse feature. This is a "designed in" feature. Reverse can cause lots of problems in a fast boat. Some problems that may happen while at high speed if reverse was pushed intentionally or from a radio glitch are the boat would have a massive amount of water come into it and maybe sink it. Or it would cause a major electrical load on the system burning up the speed control. Or may spin your propeller right off the back of your boat.
           
          While at first being without reverse may seem like a nuisance, in the long run you will be happier with a long lasting piece of equipment.