WHATS a UBEC ? and Who Needs Them ?

[aero_k]

Ok, thanks Bill. I'm not usually pulling more than 18-25 amps, so I should be okay for now. Once I've got a few pay checks in the bank I'll pick one up, but not right now.

[firemanbill]

Originally Posted by aero_k

Ok, thanks Bill. I'm not usually pulling more than 18-25 amps, so I should be okay for now. Once I've got a few pay checks in the bank I'll pick one up, but not right now.

Yeah you should be fine.

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by aero_k

This thread is a bit old, but I wanted to clarify something.
I have planes with 4 or 5 servos, but they are all 9g micro servos. Do I need a UBEC in this case?

A Lot depends on your ESC, if you have a switching bec with 3 amps, you may not need a ubec, if your useing 2.4, yes , use a ubec, that will prevent a Brown out, from a bec getting hot, and not delivering enough volts, due to volt/amp draw of 4 or more servos, the HEX / Tower pro 9 gram servos are a very powerful servo, I use them on a 40 size plane with no problems, but they are amp hungry, if your using these servos, use a ubec of 3 amps or more, i like the Castle creation 10 amp ubec, its small but powerful, Take care, Chellie

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by Gohmer

It is a poor substitute for a receiver battery and possible source of glitches if you are using 72mhz.

I've purchased both the Castle Creations and the Common Sense uBEC's, and have checked the output voltage on both of them on my 100 mHz Tektronix oscilloscope.

The CC unit has a noticeable amount of electrical noise present directly at the battery plug that connects to the receiver.

The Common Sense unit under the same exact test is absolutely clean, no noise what so ever. The CC unit uses the output of the switching converter directly to drive the receiver. The Common Sense unit looks to have a switching regulator that drops the voltage to a lower level, then uses a common 5 volt regulator chip through a torid choke to drive the receiver.

Both work well on my 2.4 Ghz stuff, but I'd be a little leary of using the CC units on 72 Mhz. I'm certain that CC has run a lot of tests on their uBEC on 72 Mhz, (but just my opinion ), the noise level at the DC output of the CC units was just to high.

[celticflyer]

Chellie/firemanbill
My setup is a 450 class motor from HDSUP and a 32 amp esc. (4) 9gram TWRPRO servos
1700 mah 25c and using an ar6100 receiver. I'm putting all this on a Multiplex Parkmaster. Do I need a ubec??

[jkaven]

I decided to use a UBEC even on my ESCs with switching BECs. My reasoning is, if the ESC explodes, I won't have throttle but I'll have servos. In the right situation I think this can be the difference between a hole in the ground or an emergency landing.

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by celticflyer

Chellie/firemanbill
My setup is a 450 class motor from HDSUP and a 32 amp esc. (4) 9gram TWRPRO servos
1700 mah 25c and using an ar6100 receiver. I'm putting all this on a Multiplex Parkmaster. Do I need a ubec??

yes you need to use a ubec, the TP & HEX 9 gram servos are amp hungry, they are a very powerful servo, i like them alot, but they consume a lot of electricty, use a UBEC to be safe, the AR6100 RX is a park flyer RX and has about a 200 yard range, so keep the plane close to you, better yet use a AR6200 RX much better with better range to it, Hope that helps, Chellie

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by jkaven

I decided to use a UBEC even on my ESCs with switching BECs. My reasoning is, if the ESC explodes, I won't have throttle but I'll have servos. In the right situation I think this can be the difference between a hole in the ground or an emergency landing.

SMART Great Cheap Insurance

[Numbthumbs]

Just a quick question here too )

I am just about to add a Turnigy SK 35-42 motor to my Trojan
35-42
Along with this ESC:
60A Senty

And this battery:
30C 3000Mah

Various props will be tested with a WATTsUP before flying to ensure non-overloading of motor and ESC, and the servos will be T-28 stocks.
Do I need a separate UBEC here? Or is the switching one in the ESC ok?

Thanks in advance,
//Numb

EDIT- Thanks Chellie for the info! You earned yourself a thanks, very cool...

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Numbthumbs

Just a quick question here too )

I am just about to add a Turnigy SK 35-42 motor to my Trojan
35-42
Along with this ESC:
60A Senty

And this battery:
30C 3000Mah

Various props will be tested with a WATTsUP before flying to ensure non-overloading of motor and ESC, and the servos will be T-28 stocks.
Do I need a separate UBEC here? Or is the switching one in the ESC ok?

Thanks in advance,
//Numb

EDIT- Thanks Chellie for the info! You earned yourself a thanks, very cool...

Thats a Darn Nice ESC with a switching bec, you dont need a ubec here, keep your amps down to about 50 and you should be ok, to keep the heat down, using that ESC, i love the turnigy ESC, they work great, make sure you have a lot of cooling air going around your ESC and lipo too, take care, Chellie

PS if you can, use some high heat epoxy and glue the magenets in some more in the motor, its just cheap insurance, also using a ubec will be cheap insurance too, its up to you, a switching bec is great to have, a ubec is even better

[Numbthumbs]

Originally Posted by CHELLIE

Thats a Darn Nice ESC with a switching bec, you dont need a ubec here, keep your amps down to about 50 and you should be ok, to keep the heat down, using that ESC, i love the turnigy ESC, they work great, make sure you have a lot of cooling air going around your ESC and lipo too, take care, Chellie

PS if you can, use some high heat epoxy and glue the magenets in some more in the motor, its just cheap insurance, also using a ubec will be cheap insurance too, its up to you, a switching bec is great to have, a ubec is even better

Great! Is 150°C enough for the epoxy? I found only one glue at the hardware mart here and that was the hottest glue temp range they had.

[gyrocptr]

150C => 302F
Electrical (60-40) solder melts at ~375F; so your epoxy should be OK.

FYI: JB Weld is good up to ~500F; a bit of overkill since your solder will melt first.
http://www.jbweld.net/products/jbweld.php

[Numbthumbs]

Thanks Gyro, I will look for that stuff here in Germany.

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Numbthumbs

Great! Is 150°C enough for the epoxy? I found only one glue at the hardware mart here and that was the hottest glue temp range they had.

perfect on the epoxy

[Gohmer]

Originally Posted by CHELLIE

Thats a Darn Nice ESC with a switching bec, you dont need a ubec here, keep your amps down to about 50 and you should be ok, to keep the heat down, using that ESC, i love the turnigy ESC, they work great, make sure you have a lot of cooling air going around your ESC and lipo too, take care, Chellie

PS if you can, use some high heat epoxy and glue the magenets in some more in the motor, its just cheap insurance, also using a ubec will be cheap insurance too, its up to you, a switching bec is great to have, a ubec is even better

Great idea about the motor magnets! Do you pry yours out and glue them back in or just smear some epoxy over them?

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by Gohmer

Great idea about the motor magnets! Do you pry yours out and glue them back in or just smear some epoxy over them?

if you have space between the magnets, add some extra epoxy to help to hold them in, leave the magnets glued in with the original CA, hope that helps, Chellie

[ByxnPlanes]

Hey guys (and gals)! I bought an ESC from hobbyking that was over-rated(40-50A) for my brushless setup, just for future plans, but it turns out that it DOESN'T come with a BEC. I am assuming that I need to buy a BEC, but would a switching BEC be OK or what else should I look for? I see that BEC's seem to peel off the right amount of voltage to power the servos, but otherwise, I don't really know much about them. Do I really need one if I am only running 2-3 micro servos? Any info would be greatly appreciated

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by ByxnPlanes

Hey guys (and gals)! I bought an ESC from hobbyking that was over-rated(40-50A) for my brushless setup, just for future plans, but it turns out that it DOESN'T come with a BEC. I am assuming that I need to buy a BEC, but would a switching BEC be OK or what else should I look for? I see that BEC's seem to peel off the right amount of voltage to power the servos, but otherwise, I don't really know much about them. Do I really need one if I am only running 2-3 micro servos? Any info would be greatly appreciated

Hi ByxnPlanes, some larger esc dont have a bec built into them, and you have to use a seperate bec to power up everything, a 3 amp ubec should be all that you need, they dont cost that much, here is a ubec from heads up rc, take care, Chellie

http://www.headsuprc.com/servlet/the...-3-Amp-/Detail

[ByxnPlanes]

Thanks alot Chellie! You are an awesome resource. I really appreciate it. Keep it in the air!

[TheSelf]

Hi- I know this is an old thread- pretty new to Rc and understanding UBECs- how do I determine which Amp rated UBEC to get- eg. 3 A, 5A , 10A etc? thank you for any feedback

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by TheSelf

Hi- I know this is an old thread- pretty new to Rc and understanding UBECs- how do I determine which Amp rated UBEC to get- eg. 3 A, 5A , 10A etc? thank you for any feedback

Fairly easy to answer this one - Pick up a Castle Creations 10 Amp uBEC (Switching Power Supply Battery Elimination Circuit). It only weighs an ounce or so, and is good for any model under a kilowatt power or so.

I've got four of them, all have been flawless. They are powered by 6S2P A123 batteries, which have a maximum voltage input to the uBEC of about 21.6 Volts DC. I've checked them under load, their output voltage is solid at 10 Amps. One of mine is on a giant scale 78 inch 1200 square inch model with seven servos. My on board voltage monitor indicates that this uBEC has never dropped below 6.0 volts, from the programmed 6.6 VDC during some 30 flights. That's on a 19 pound model.

If you want to adjust the CC uBEC output voltage, you'll need the CC interface cable, same one used to program the various CC ESC's.

Or, if you're buying a new power system, check out the Castle Creations ICE series of ESC's. These units include a switching power supply, and data recording to! But these ICE series are for the larger models, with 50 amp motors, or larger.

[TheSelf]

Originally Posted by kyleservicetech

Fairly easy to answer this one - Pick up a Castle Creations 10 Amp uBEC (Switching Power Supply Battery Elimination Circuit). It only weighs an ounce or so, and is good for any model under a kilowatt power or so.

I've got four of them, all have been flawless. They are powered by 6S2P A123 batteries, which have a maximum voltage input to the uBEC of about 21.6 Volts DC. I've checked them under load, their output voltage is solid at 10 Amps. One of mine is on a giant scale 78 inch 1200 square inch model with seven servos. My on board voltage monitor indicates that this uBEC has never dropped below 6.0 volts, from the programmed 6.6 VDC during some 30 flights. That's on a 19 pound model.

If you want to adjust the CC uBEC output voltage, you'll need the CC interface cable, same one used to program the various CC ESC's.

Or, if you're buying a new power system, check out the Castle Creations ICE series of ESC's. These units include a switching power supply, and data recording to! But these ICE series are for the larger models, with 50 amp motors, or larger.

thanks for your reply and suggestion- i was looking at hobbyking uBECs- pretty inexpensive-

I'm really looking for a guide on how to determine the amp rating in general- as I do not want to get too big a UBEC if 'overkill' and spend more than necessary- I have a wattmeter if that helps in determining the Amp rating..

More specifically, I just received my P-51D Mustang 1.2m EPO with Auto Canopy (PNP) from Hobbyzone

stock specs include:
4 x 9g servo (pre-installed)
Servoless electric retracts (pre-installed)
800kv motor (pre-installed)
30A ESC (Pre-installed)

it is made to run off of 3S lipos, yet it has 6 channels- it doesn't come with an external BEC with the stock set up and on contacting them they say it doesn't need one, yet I read in another thread someone had their ESC burnout - so not sure now...was thinking of getting a UBEC as extra insurance but also with the possible intention of upgrading the ESC in the future and possibly motor and running 4S lipos, I'm certain it would need one then..it's just how do I determine what amp /volt rated UBEC I should get..I think you said 10Amp rated UBECs to covers all bases, but just want to save money if unnecessary..

[gyrocptr]

Originally Posted by TheSelf

Hi- I know this is an old thread- pretty new to Rc and understanding UBECs- how do I determine which Amp rated UBEC to get- eg. 3 A, 5A , 10A etc? thank you for any feedback

Another option: use an electronic-speed-control (ESC) that has a "switch-mode" or "switching-mode" battery-eliminator-circuit (BEC).
FWIW: A conventional servo, when jammed or stalled (maximum load) will draw a maximum current of about 500 ma. So for 4, conventional servos, a 2A uBEC is adequate, but marginal in heavy duty use. A "digital" servo, when jammed or stalled can draw a max current of 1A or more. So for 4, digital servos, you'd want a 5A uBEC.

[TheSelf]

Originally Posted by gyrocptr

Another option: use an electronic-speed-control (ESC) that has a "switch-mode" or "switching-mode" battery-eliminator-circuit (BEC).
FWIW: A conventional servo, when jammed or stalled (maximum load) will draw a maximum current of about 500 ma. So for 4, conventional servos, a 2A uBEC is adequate, but marginal in heavy duty use. A "digital" servo, when jammed or stalled can draw a max current of 1A or more. So for 4, digital servos, you'd want a 5A uBEC.

thank you for your reply gyrocptr-how can I tell if my servos are conventional or digital? so a 5A UBEC for 4 digital servos- what about the fact the P51 also has electric servoless retracts and on the 6th channel, a sliding canopy- will a 5A UBEC still be enough, as the 5th and 6th channels are powered but not using servos or would I need 7, 8, 10+ Amps..?

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by TheSelf

thanks for your reply and suggestion- i was looking at hobbyking uBECs- pretty inexpensive-

I'm really looking for a guide on how to determine the amp rating in general- as I do not want to get too big a UBEC if 'overkill' and spend more than necessary- I have a wattmeter if that helps in determining the Amp rating..

More specifically, I just received my P-51D Mustang 1.2m EPO with Auto Canopy (PNP) from Hobbyzone

stock specs include:
4 x 9g servo (pre-installed)
Servoless electric retracts (pre-installed)
800kv motor (pre-installed)
30A ESC (Pre-installed)

it is made to run off of 3S lipos, yet it has 6 channels- it doesn't come with an external BEC with the stock set up and on contacting them they say it doesn't need one, yet I read in another thread someone had their ESC burnout - so not sure now...was thinking of getting a UBEC as extra insurance but also with the possible intention of upgrading the ESC in the future and possibly motor and running 4S lipos, I'm certain it would need one then..it's just how do I determine what amp /volt rated UBEC I should get..I think you said 10Amp rated UBECs to covers all bases, but just want to save money if unnecessary..

Just looked at the CC uBEC's. They weigh about 1/2 ounce, less than the Hobby King units, but cost about twice as much. About $25, or less than the cost of a good receiver battery and quite a bit less weight than a four cell AA sized battery. Take a look: http://www.castlecreations.com/products/ccbec.html

Trade offs - trade offs.