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BrianG · 11.27.2006, 01:28 AM

I've heard most manufacturers of caps underrate their working voltages somewhat as a safety margin. So I wonder if higher voltage caps would do anything at all??

Most circuit designers tend to use caps up to 50% higher that the working voltage. However, higher voltage and/or higher capacitance caps are physically bigger and may not fit in the small spaces found in an ESC. You could add caps outside the ESC, but at high switching frequencies, you want the caps as close to the circuit as possible so that's a limiting factor as well.

The next time someone has their Quark apart to repair the thermal material, they should try installing some higher voltage and higher capacity low ESR caps as a test. IIRC, smhertzog has his 125B circuits exposed so he could install gargantuan heatsinks. Maybe he'll be the guinea pig? :)

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BrianG RC-Monster Admin Offline Posts: 14,609 Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Des Moines, IA	11.27.2006, 01:28 AM I've heard most manufacturers of caps underrate their working voltages somewhat as a safety margin. So I wonder if higher voltage caps would do anything at all?? Most circuit designers tend to use caps up to 50% higher that the working voltage. However, higher voltage and/or higher capacitance caps are physically bigger and may not fit in the small spaces found in an ESC. You could add caps outside the ESC, but at high switching frequencies, you want the caps as close to the circuit as possible so that's a limiting factor as well. The next time someone has their Quark apart to repair the thermal material, they should try installing some higher voltage and higher capacity low ESR caps as a test. IIRC, smhertzog has his 125B circuits exposed so he could install gargantuan heatsinks. Maybe he'll be the guinea pig? :)