fried speed controller, please help

[loker]

hello, I just fried a spped controller as soon as a plugged in the battery as I usually do, then I tried it with another receiver, and different speed control, and different motor, and the speed control was damages. The first time the negative wire melted on the controller, the second time the body itself melted on the second controller. if anybody can tell me why this happened, I would greatly appreciate it!

[CHELLIE]

hello, I just fried a spped controller as soon as a plugged in the battery as I usually do, then I tried it with another receiver, and different speed control, and different motor, and the speed control was damages. The first time the negative wire melted on the controller, the second time the body itself melted on the second controller. if anybody can tell me why this happened, I would greatly appreciate it!

Hi :) are you using a brush motors or brushless, check your motors that they are not shorted out, also make sure that the color code is correct at your receiver, here is a chart, so you can check for proper polarity at the receiver, dont use a brushless esc with a brush motor, here is a great place to get some brushless motor, esc & props combos, at give away prices, also use a ESC thats almost, twice as big as you need, its cheap insurance :) take care, chellie

http://www.fatlion.com/sailplanes/servos.html

https://www.unitedhobbies.com/UNITEDHOBBIES/store/comersus_listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?idCategory= 179&ParentCat=192

[loker]

I was using all brushless. what's weird is ive been doing this several years. I've useed the motor before, and the speeed control, and the receiver. I'm at a loss. how could the motor be shorted out, I mean how do I check for that?
thanx for your help.

[jmsgtf@aol.com]

I am having the same problem, how do we check the motor???? Thanks in advance.

[jdb000001]

Were you using a new battery? I've heard of at least one case of a battery being wired wrong from the factory. The battery had a separate charge lead, which was wired correctly, but the lead for the ESC was wired backwards.

As for checking the motor itself, first check the resistance from each lead to the motor case - the windings should all be insulated from the case.
You could try measuring resistance between pairs of motor leads, but probably too small to really measure. The best way I can think of would be to drive the motor shaft at a constant speed, and measure how much AC voltage you were getting between pairs of motor leads. The windings are wired in a triangular configuration, with the motor leads at the corners of the triangle, and the windings as the sides of the triangle. (called a delta configuration in 3-phase motors). You should see the same voltage across any two motor leads.

[loker]

I was using a different battery, different speed control, different receiver, different motor for each occurence, the only thing that both occurences had in common was the transmitter which couldn't have caused this. I'm at a loss, it shall remain a mystery I think, but thank you for your help.

[CHELLIE]

I was using all brushless. what's weird is ive been doing this several years. I've useed the motor before, and the speeed control, and the receiver. I'm at a loss. how could the motor be shorted out, I mean how do I check for that?
thanx for your help.


Hi Loker :) On checking the motor, buy yourself a cheapy volt/ohm meter at radio shack, harbor freight tools, about $10.00, and disconnect the motor from the esc, set to ohms, check two wires at a time, should have about the same resistance on all wires, then check every wire to the metal case, should not show anything, it that checks out ok, set the meter to voltage, about 20v on the meter and check your battery, see how much voltage you have and if the red wire is pos. and the black is neg. I do electrical testing at work, so I know a little about it :) and check to see if the color coded wires are correct at the receiver, from the esc ,servos, hope that helps, Take care, Chellie

[jmsgtf@aol.com]

Chellie, thanks for the great info, not all of us know everything about electrical stuff so we really appreciate your help. Joe


Hi Loker :) On checking the motor, buy yourself a cheapy volt/ohm meter at radio shack, harbor freight tools, about $10.00, and disconnect the motor from the esc, set to ohms, check two wires at a time, should have about the same resistance on all wires, then check every wire to the metal case, should not show anything, it that checks out ok, set the meter to voltage, about 20v on the meter and check your battery, see how much voltage you have and if the red wire is pos. and the black is neg. I do electrical testing at work, so I know a little about it :) and check to see if the color coded wires are correct at the receiver, from the esc ,servos, hope that helps, Take care, Chellie

[metaglypto]

Something I discoverd about these motors is their penchant for sucking anything magnetic into them if you leave them just lying around. Even close to the ground, if that motor gets very close to a small nut or whatever.

I have found these both inside and outside the motor housing. If the motor has ever come in contact with the ground, the ground is full of magnetic iron bits, much of it from particles of meteorites. Just drag a magnet through the dirt and you will get my point.