That's a possibility I suppose. I still don't like the whole shunting protection scheme, but that's just me. Leaves too much room for high enough currents to sizzle a wire, which may cause collateral damage depending on how bad it is.

I'm not saying my idea is better per se, but it is more elegant. The best thing would be to have some type of protection built into the BEC itself IMO.

The zener wouldn't be a shunt with my method, it would conduct into one terminal of the relay. Once the fuse blew, nothing would be conducting. This doesn't change the fact that some type of protection should be built in. My CC BEC has been working flawlessly. Let's hope it continues to do so.

Hey guys... I haven't kept up with this issue. Is it common that the CCBEC lets full voltage pass through if it fails?

Does it seem like there are quite a few going bad?

I was getting concerned a while back when there were a couple reports.

yea im running one in my buggy, its been goin a long time now, no issues, now i jynxed myself

I'm not sure what the failure rate is.It doesn't seem to be highly reported,but 2 out of 2 of mine failed in 2 different vehicles.

I dont think it happens a lot but if it fails it can fry your Rx and servos......that can be over $200 for a failed $25 componenet...I guess a Rx pack is the only way to be 100% sure it wont happen

j3110 try ebay bro otherwise you may not even be able to give it away. Ive never had one fail because ive been smart enough not to own one. I only run western robotics hecules bec or dimension engineering bec's they rule.......sorry sammus.

:lol: dont be.

j3110: you can give it away to me :P

You can increase the power handling of a zener by adding a power transistor. I think this is what what'snitro was saying except with a transistor. The transistor should be able to dissipate the power, but if you are afraid of melting wires, you could add a fuse. The nice thing about the zener shunt is that it is completely passive until needed.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...na_dog/ckt.jpg

its been a while since I saw a schematic....

Watching this thread......i dont want to waste an expensive RX/Servo

Hmmm...
I'm going to feel kinda guilty if any of my buddies has one take a dump and they lose $200 worth of rx/servo.

"Friends Don't Let Friends Use a CCBEC"

LOL!!!

wow this post scares me, i thought that the 3 ccbec's i bought were helping keep my stuff safe not putting it at risk.

since i race and weight is very important whould i remove them all?

if a ccbec smokes my stuff what is castle going to do about it?

Yup, that should work. Once the output voltage exceeds the zener voltage, there will be enough current flow through the resistor to bias the transistor, which will dump the voltage to ground, which will then blow the fuse.

Yeah that was what I meant. Sorry, I was too lazy to draw up a schematic, upload it to photobucket, and post it here. :mdr: One small difference is that I would put the circuit across the power leads, but have it triggered from the output. Although you see full voltage either way, attaching it straight across the batteries (input) instead of the output of the BEC would allow for faster current rise and the fuse would blow sooner...

I'm gonna hang onto it for a little while as a backup, but you definitely have dibs. :)