Inside the Quark 125, pics. - Page 4 - RC-Monster Forums

smhertzog · 09.28.2006, 07:03 PM

I see the pee baybee, Rock On:027:

smhertzog · 09.29.2006, 02:20 PM

I didnt get my shrink wrap in yet so I just used some zips for now. The nice part about this mod is it can be converted back to stock in about 15 minutes incase I need any repairs.

Serum · 09.29.2006, 02:57 PM

It's redicilous you need those heatsinks.. (not saying you did a bad job Mate!)

time for castle to get their monster-maxx up and running.. This is hilarious..

BrianG · 09.29.2006, 03:34 PM

Lol, it is pretty funny.

I don't know if I'd leave them on there when running. That's a lot of weight to be bouncing on those sensitive FETs! BTW: why do you have a sink on the caps?? Caps should never get warm unless you are constantly charging and shorting them out, and that is simply from the current flow. The majority of the heat is most likely due to the FETs heating up, which heats the traces, which then travels to surrounding components (caps). Besides, caps, being round, don't have much surface area touching the sinks.

Like Serum said; it's not a bad job. If those don't keep it cool, the it's time to give up! :)

Serum · 09.29.2006, 03:36 PM

I thought about not mentioning that Brian..

smhertzog · 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serum

It's redicilous you need those heatsinks.. (not saying you did a bad job Mate!)

time for castle to get their monster-maxx up and running.. This is hilarious..

Its only been what two years and counting?

The fets and boards wont be supporting the heat sinks the flat part of the angle will be the mounting base. The third picture is how it will sit in the truck.

BrianG · 09.29.2006, 03:41 PM

Oops, oh well. I hope he doesn't take offense.

Serum · 09.29.2006, 03:42 PM

LOL!

yeah, only two years.. The computers are tripled in mhz value..

smhertzog · 09.29.2006, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianG

Oops, oh well. I hope he doesn't take offense.

Well funny and hillarious are kind of harsh but I've got thick skin. I put the sink on the caps so I had something to put the zips over without spreading them apart. When I get the heatshrink I'm removing them.

BrianG · 09.29.2006, 04:01 PM

That's good. I don't think I've ever seen anyone intentionally being rude (OK, maybe once or twice) on this forum. It's all fun! I'm sure you'll get a chance to poke fun at me at some point.

neweuser · 09.29.2006, 04:03 PM

I'm sure he will Brain! LOL :)

BrianG · 10:23 PM

Well, yesterday evening I got bored (since the site seemed to be down), so I took apart my Quark to replace the thermal pads with epoxy like others have done. I used the regular AS epoxy though - I just took care none of it landed on the board or any electrical contact.

The pads connecting the slab to the heatsink and the FETs to the slab were about 1/2mm thick, so if you take them off, you can't simply epoxy the existing aluminum slab because then the caps are too high and it won't sit flush. The existing slab is ~2mm so I cut a piece of 3mm aluminum instead. It fit perfectly.

I didn't replace the middle slab though. The two boards come part easily enough if you simply desolder the 4 pins holding them together on the motor lead side. The other connector simply slides apart. However, there are a few surface mount device pretty close to that area and didn't want to take the chance ruining them from excessive heat. And anyway, unless you find a way to couple that piece to the external heatsink, it is just functioning as a heat spreader and epoxying it won't help all that much IMO.

Once I got it all together again, I tried it out and now the heatsink acts different. Before, the heatsink took a while to heat up, got warm, and then took a while to cool off. Now, the heatsink heats quickly, gets hotter, and cools off quicker. This tells me there is less thermal insulation between the FETs and the heatsink so there is a more efficient transfer of heat.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results and think it's a worthwhile and fairly easy modification providing you don't mind voiding the warranty. Once the epoxy is on there and dries, it's not coming off.

Serum · 10.01.2006, 03:00 AM

Brian, i enjoyed reading your post.

But a few pictures of the on going progress wouldn't have hurt. LOL

You did nothing to the 'middle' piece of aluminum?

What was it that you glued? not the fets to the housing, right?

10.01.2006, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianG

Well, yesterday evening I got bored (since the site seemed to be down), so I took apart my Quark to replace the thermal pads with epoxy like others have done. I used the regular AS epoxy though - I just took care none of it landed on the board or any electrical contact.

The pads connecting the slab to the heatsink and the FETs to the slab were about 1/2mm thick, so if you take them off, you can't simply epoxy the existing aluminum slab because then the caps are too high and it won't sit flush. The existing slab is ~2mm so I cut a piece of 3mm aluminum instead. It fit perfectly.

I didn't replace the middle slab though. The two boards come part easily enough if you simply desolder the 4 pins holding them together on the motor lead side. The other connector simply slides apart. However, there are a few surface mount device pretty close to that area and didn't want to take the chance ruining them from excessive heat. And anyway, unless you find a way to couple that piece to the external heatsink, it is just functioning as a heat spreader and epoxying it won't help all that much IMO.

Once I got it all together again, I tried it out and now the heatsink acts different. Before, the heatsink took a while to heat up, got warm, and then took a while to cool off. Now, the heatsink heats quickly, gets hotter, and cools off quicker. This tells me there is less thermal insulation between the FETs and the heatsink so there is a more efficient transfer of heat.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results and think it's a worthwhile and fairly easy modification providing you don't mind voiding the warranty. Once the epoxy is on there and dries, it's not coming off.

Looks Like you are getting the same results as me. I'm glad it's working for you too. I really think it makes a difference too. I think if I bought another one of these controllers I would make this change right away. It would be nice if they put them together like this at the factory. We wouldn't be able to pull them apart but, we wouldn't need to then either.

Serum · 10.01.2006, 10:37 AM

Thermal connection is the key to success with controllers.

The warrior controllers are not using the aluminum plate in between. i think that's a lack of design. But not using a good thermal connection isn't too keen either..