General Sparks flying!!

concodd

concodd

Member
Hi People,
wired up the ESC and fixed up battery tray and cables, plugged it in sparks to the point of melting the tips of the gold EC5 plugs, what did I do wrong? battery cables to the harness all match up colour wise and to the ESC power cables also match up, the only cables that do not match up are to the cables from the the ESC to the motor as they are all blue so I do not know which is which. I know you do get a spark when you connect the battery cables up normally but is it that severe?
 
concodd

concodd

Member
Things just got worse, I fixed what I thought the problem was but got a bigger bang the burnt the anti spark connection on my ESC. My harness must be wired up wrong just anyone have a picture on a wire harness set up.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
That looks wired correctly to me although I can't see the plug on the helicopter. But the batteries are wired correctly.

You are wanting to run a 12s setup right? 44.4 volts? And your ESC and BEC can handle that voltage?
 
RandyDSok

RandyDSok

Well-Known Member
Just some specs and things to consider...

As Tony mentioned, a spark is normal but it shouldn't be enough to melt anything if everything was properly soldered and wired up. The spark comes from the capacitors and circuits on the ESC getting charged up when the connection is made, the larger the capacitance the bigger the spark you can expect ( with any type of connector )

The Horizon Hobby brand ( the original maker ) EC5's are rated to carry over 120a using 10ga wire if properly soldered. A clone, copy or a fake brand may ( or may not ) be rated similarly... in otherwords if they used inferior components for the banana plugs ( ie the actual metal part ) it may not carry the same amount of current.

If any of the solder joints were cold joints... that would increase the resistance ( how much would depend on how poorly the connection was done ) which would also cause an increase in the amount of spark you'd see. The pic of the ESC where the wires were soldered does appear to have been a poor solder joint just because of the failure being at that location.


Some added info... The 3 wires going to the brushless motor don't required color coding ( though many are for convenience )... If the motor rotates backwards of the direction you need... just switch any two of the three wires to reverse the direction of spin.
 
concodd

concodd

Member
Morning
Yes, I am running 2x 6 lipo batteries, the BEC I have not connected up yet as it has not arrived but the ESC is the opto150 so one would think that could handle the current.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
If THIS is the ESC you have, then you have likely fried the ESC by supplying that much voltage to it. THIS ESC is only rated for 6s, or 22.2 volts. The batteries you have with them wired in series, is rated at 44.4 volts
 
concodd

concodd

Member
it is a hobby wing platinum, have not linked before.

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Can you suggest what ESC i need then,
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
You can run that ESC, but you will have to run the batteries in parallel, not in series. But this also depends on your motor that you are using. You must use a 12s motor with a 12s battery, or a 6s motor with a 6s battery.

As for HV (High Voltage) ESC's, you are going to be looking at $150-$250 for a good one. There are no cheap ESC's that I would suggest at these kind of voltages. Just not safe.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
What motor are you running in this helicopter? A better question, what size is this helicopter?
 
concodd

concodd

Member
Sab700 with a Scorpion HK4525-520KV

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I think I picked a good motor in the Scorpion range, you just give me a good ESC brand to buy and I will get it, gotta get this off the ground some how. Also are we going with series or parallel?
 
murankar

murankar

Staff member
Yes go with the castle etc of you decide on not using that brand you should be looking at a Kontronic.

When it comes to this setup there is no room for cheap parts.

Sent from my LG-E980 using Forum Runner
 
concodd

concodd

Member
It is a Hobby Wing Platinum Pro 150, I thought because of the high amps it would do the job, not sure how to link Tony. I am running a Scorpion Motor HK 4525-520KV which I understand is a very good motor. If you can suggest what type of ESC to get and if I should be running in series or parallel that would be great. I gotta get this bird off the ground sooner or later

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Sorry, looks like you answered my question, my system must be running slow, only just filtering through.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
No worries bro, we are here to help. Any time you are running a 12s setup, things get expensive FAST. But, this thing will have an immense amount of power when you are done.
 
murankar

murankar

Staff member
BTW the just in case the Amp rating on the ESC is how many the amps the esc can push through it sustained. When you look at the esc you also have to look at how volts on the input side it can handle.

Code: 
[B]Phoenix Edge HV 160 Specs:[/B] 

 
[LIST]
[*][B]Applications:[/B]
[LIST]
[*][B]Helis:[/B] 700 or 800 Class
[*][B]Fixed wing: [/B]Giant scale
[/LIST]

[*][B]Technical Specs:[/B]
[LIST]
[*][COLOR=#ff0000][B]Input voltage:[/B] MIN: 3S LiPo MAX: 12S LiPo[/COLOR]
[*][B]Max continuous amperage at full throttle: [/B]160 amps[B]*[/B]
[/LIST]

[*][B]Size and Weight:[/B]
[LIST]
[*][B]Width: [/B]2.0" (50.8mm)
[*][B]Length:[/B] 4.3" (108.4mm)
[*][B]Height: [/B]1.2" (31.5mm)
[*][B]Weight w/wires: [/B]8.2 oz (232.8g)
[*][B]Weight w/o wires:[/B] 5.3 oz (150.6g)
[/LIST]

[*][B]Connectors:[/B] Battery and motor connectors sold separately
[*][B]Tools needed for installation:[/B] Soldering iron and solder to attach bullets to motor wires and battery connector to power wires.
[/LIST]

Here the input voltage on this esc is list by the S count of the battery. So when you start hunting for an esc Look at the amp draw then look at the input voltage. If both meet your needs then you could consider that esc.
 
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