Hi Eric,

I have used Sea King ESC on all my Classic Model Power Boats for many years.

You do not need a program card - all Sea King ESC are performance units for forward use only - they do not have a reverse function.

I have 10 - 12 of them in various sizes and none of them have a reverse function.

They are strong, powerful and reliable, and highly suitable for racing and fast running, but they do not have any reverse function so a program card would not help you in any way.

Running on a small model boating lake has recently caused me to consider the use of alternative ESC that do have a reverse function, although most of my favourite power boats run with a "forwards only" Sea King ESC - including my Rapier 1 that has now clocked-up over 100 running hours - exclusively with a Sea King ESC.

Those of us that used to run with glow plug, diesel or petrol engines have no problems with running a forwards only ESC, because our IC engines never had a reverse option.

Most of the 100 hours of running Rapier 1 has been on our small model boat club lake, and it has never caused me any problems whatsoever. I have never needed to reverse because I have driven the boat being fully aware that I did not have that function.

If you were to buy any of the RTR fast powerboats, the chances are that it would not have a reverse either - none of mine have ever had a reverse function - even the most expensive types!

Scale boats such as a tug do have a use for a reverse (my TID Tug had a reverse and I made good use of it) but for running a model power boat you can certainly learn to live without it.

If after running your boat you find that you cannot live without a reverse function then you will need to change your ESC for one that does come with a reverse function.

Some ESC these can be programmed for "forwards only" or "forwards and reverse" and is why it may have been suggested that a program card may be helpful, but some performance ESC (such as the Sea King models) do not come with this function as an option and it is not something that can be influenced by the use of a program card.

Bob.

Eric - First off, are you confident this transmitter is fault free?

The ESC you have is an earlier version being V2 with the latest being V3.1 and I know with some ESCS i.e. Mtronic that if they develop a fault they can lose reverse.

But assuming your ESC is Ok I'll give my usual recommendation of getting a program card for just over a tenner which makes setting up a doddle and reliable compared with counting bleeps etc.

Hi all,
Thanks for the help with my Spektrum DX6i, now having trouble programming the Seaking hobbywing 60A brushless ESC that came with the boat, it’s running in forward only mode and I can’t change it. Followed the instructions I found online but it won’t stay in forward/reverse mode.. any suggestions? Video shows the procedure I’m following.