ESC ESC fried

Glenn Sefton

New Member
Hey guys,

I'm a bit of a Noob, been flying for a couple months.

I have a Parkzone P47D. I recently installed Flaps and Retracts. The first flight went great. I brought her in perfectly and disconnected the battery. I let her sit for a while while I ate lunch. I changed out the battery, and attempted another takeoff.

I didn't quite get the lift I had expected and brought the throttle up to max. But, she nosed over, and I cut power right away. As I walked over, I saw smoke billowing out of the canopy. I quickly disconnected and removed the battery. The ESC was just toasted! Not sure yet if the motor was damaged, but I don't think so.

My question is, what kinds of things would cause the ESC to burn up like this? And, would it be safer to use a higher amp ESC? I wouldn't expect that to change the electrical characteristics of the motor- it's going to draw the power it needs. Rather, I was thinking an ESC rated for a higher current would essentially not have to "work as hard" at delivering power to the motor. Am I wrong in this thinking?

Everything on this plane is stock (except the servos added for flaps and retracts.) Until today, it's had 20 or so good flights.

Parkzone P47D
EFLA1030 ESC
EFlite 15BL 950Kv Outrunner Motor
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
The ESC is rated at 30A ... the motor's max amps it pulls is 34A with up to 42A for 15 seconds...

You adding more devices ( flaps and retracts ) would have also caused a jump in the amperage being used... combine that with the fact you went full throttle makes it likely you overloaded your ESC
 

Glenn Sefton

New Member
Thank you for the input, Taildragger. So, does this mean in order to add additional servos for flaps and retracts, I would need to change to a higher amperage ESC? Also, if the motor can potentially pull more amps than the speed controller was designed for, would this not be a poor product design? Seems to me that one should be able to apply full throttle without worrying that they will overdrive and destroy the ESC. I called Horizon who told me that I would not gain any benefit from a higher amperage ESC, and recommended replacing the ESC with the same product. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to replace the fuselage, too, as the burning ESC pretty much melted the ESC mount area.

Thanks again!
 

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
"Taildragger" and "AMA Member" are groups found here on RCH of which I'm a member... the user nickname is the first line ... in my case RDSOK.. not that it matters and I've certainly been called worse :D


Typically full throttle isn't used except in certain cases... a good setup will probably usually only need about 3/4 throttle on take off. Pushing your motor and electronics to the max will shorten their lifespan. So this is more a matter of you re-adjusting your thinking... you wouldn't drive your car at full throttle ( hopefully ) and if you did... you'd end up seeing the pushrods "dancing on the hood". With an airplane you should only use full throttle for a short time ( less than 10-15 seconds ) for certain maneuvers such as maybe some loops and hard aerobatics.

Personally, I do prefer to use an ESC with a higher amp output than what the motor and electronics are expected to pull... but most companies will use smaller lighter components in order to save a little money and weight. So the proper answer is going to be more subjective and will depend more on how you use your aircraft.

More than likely... the plane you have here doesn't really need the flaps much if at all... so on takeoff, if your making a fast one, I'd leave them off to save a little power during that portion of the flight and save them primarily for landings when you don't need a lot of power anyway. On the otherhand, if you are planning a slow take off... this would be the time for flaps then and of course you wouldn't be at the higher throttle settings either. I'd also not pull up the retracts until later in the flight after I've got the plane well off of the ground and have pull the throttle back from the take off power it may need... again just making proper use of the available power that can be provided.

Applying full throttle on take off has other drawbacks depending on the model you are flying... many will "ground loop" if you give it too much too soon. A good take off will typically start off with a low throttle and work up until you reach a proper speed after the tail lifts and then smoothly lift off a little later.
 

Glenn Sefton

New Member
Oops. Sorry rdsok, thank you for pointing out the nickname.

Again, great information. Much appreciated. Just so I don't sound like too much of a doofus, I did power up slowly but was not getting the airspeed I needed for takeoff (probably because I had the flaps down.) Also, I was taking off on grass, which had not been much of an issue until then. I'll know next time.

In the meantime, I called Horizon to get a better understanding of why the ESC might of failed. They graciously offered to replace the damaged fuselage and ESC as a one-time courtesy. (Great customer service, guys! I'll be buying more product from you!)
 

Tony

Staff member
If you had the flaps down, then you should have been creating more lift and able to get it off the ground with a lower air speed. If it's not getting off the ground, and your ESC is getting hot, then you need a larger ESC. Or, you may need a new motor.
 

pvolcko

Well-Known Member
Make sure you didn't put a mounting screw into the winding wire inside the motor. Can cause shorts and fry things.
 
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