Smoking ESC
 

I’m starting a new thread about Lutach’s 6S since his thread is already 40+ pages long.

Well, I just ran the truck a few hours ago and it came to a smoking stop on the third video. Total runtime was probably 6 minutes. I apologize for the crappy video since my son wasn't too keen on filming the truck.

My settings:
LVC cutoff - 19.2V (default is 0)
Brake Force - 100% (default)
Drag brake - 0% (Default)
Run mode - Two2 (default)
Start force - 30% (default)
Timing - Low (default is middle)
Neutral range - 8% (default)
Initial Brake – 30% (5% Default)
Reverse Brake force - 50% (default)

Initial brake force - 30% instead of 5%
Neutral range - 8% instead of 6%


After opening the ESC, I saw that the capacitor prong was broken and shorted either the caps or the ESC itself. I tried averting this by shrink-wrapping the base of the caps to prevent them from moving but to no avail. I think that the flip I made at the end of the 2nd video led to the broken capacitor prongs which eventually shorted and smoked the ESC.

Here are some videos and picture.

First video:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...h_Video046.jpg

Second one:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...h_Video047.jpg

Third:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...h_Video048.jpg

Pic: It's hard to see the broken capacitor prong/s on the picture.
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Picture146.jpg

Edit- by the way, it was cool(70*F) and windy today. The ESC temp after I disconnected the batteries were 160*F.

that sucks george, that BEC coil looks odly familiar ;)

Lito,

I already told the factory about the caps being too close to the PCB and it's causing some problems. Please post this in the ESCs thread so other can see it. See if it was just the caps that went bad and if possible take pictures of the heat sink off to see if any of the MOSFETs fried. That way we can see if it was the caps or the MOSFET(s). Also, if it's just the caps and after you change them and the ESC works fine, set the timing to middle. The low timing is more for 2 pole motors and 4 pole motors works good in the middle timing. Let me know what you want to do, I'll help you the most I can. I feel really bad for this to have happened.

Regards,

Luciano.

It's not the BEC Ben. That's there to power the Fan or the program box. It definitely looks like the caps are to blame here. They are too close to the PCB and you can see any hard bounce they do will break the leads off.

:oops:

i stand corrected

Give me about 10 minutes to open it up and take some pictures.

Here are some pictures of the ESC. I don't think it can be salvaged. The middle row of FETs looks burnt beyond repair. The white stuff on top of them is thermal paste that came off from the heatsink.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Picture147.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Picture148.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Picture149.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Picture150.jpg

Heatsink;
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Picture152.jpg

Yep, that's fried. That has happened to me with a few ESC and the cause was bad timing set on them. The latest one was a 60A ESC from Hobbywing and I was using it with a 6 pole Mega. I made a mistake of changing the timing instead of another setting so one phase burned out. With the 4 pole Neu Y motors the timing should be at middle. Please send the unit back Lito.

Thanks Luciano. Check your pm.

I didn't see anything for 4 pole motors on the instructions so I decided to set it to low instead of leaving it on the middle setting :oops::neutral:.

Sent you an e-mail with my address. I posted what the timing should be with a 4 pole motor in the thread. Low timing is basically for 2 pole motors. All my 4 pole Y winding motors I run middle timing on them. The Neu D winds motor would be ok with low timing. Outrunners and most of the 6 pole inrunners do ok with high timing. I usually run low Kv 6 pole motors with middle timing without any problems. What usually happens, is the MCU doesn't process the data fast enough with the 4 and higher pole motor with low timing and you get a phase that burns like that.

this an expensive hobby!....i am sticking with my overprice Schulze 18.97esc!....i made 20 minute video at local golf course last night but cant seem to get it on the WEB!....did it fry due to user error(wrong settings)?

Lito, sad to hear about this....

Yes, it is an expensive hobby, but when your Shculze burns be ready to get a fire extinguisher, because it won't do like mine did. Only a little smoke and the Schulze catch on fire. It'll happen to you sooner or later. I was loving my Schulze in my truggy pulling around 60A spike, but then my truck was rolling slowly backwards and I applied a little throttle.....FIRE.... and I mean fire. Then try asking Schulze for a replacement or your money back. If it did fry due to user error, it's still ok as it's under a good lutach warranty. See if Schulze can beat that one. When your Schulze does catch on fire, please post it here. I hope it doesn't and you can enjoy the hobby for a long time.

Man, I feel really bad about it, but if it does happens, I'm going to stand behind the product and help as much as I can. I'm not like Castle, but I can assure you I'll be better then Schulze.

Dont feel bad I think you are doing a great job here....I think those cap support really needs to be looked at....

Ohhh and dont remove my name I will still get this just not now :whistle: