Burned Things Up

[chixter57]

Hello to all, first time post on this informative board. I'm just getting back into the hobby after a 2 decade hiatus. Not wanting to bother with nitro engines and fuel and such, I was amazed at the progression of electronic airplane flight. So my adventure begins. I'm putting together an AXN per Bruces build videos. In the vids he advises to test the servos prior to installing them. And here is where I think I messed up. I COULD have used my already built Dynam Mustang, fired it up and plug the new servos in one at a time into say the 'elevator' terminal of the rx to ensure that they work. But in my clouded judgement I did the following instead:

I removed the Rx from the mustang and put it on my bench. I plugged the small plug from a new HK 25/30 3BEC ESC into the 'Throttle' terminal of the Rx. I connected 1 new HK 9g servo into the 'elevator' terminal of the Rx. All wiring/polarity etc was double checked....keep in ming the ESC was NOT wired to anything...just sitting on the bench. I plugged my Zippy 2200 20c Lipo into the ESC plug and......Instant SMOKE.

I def fried the ESC and as the Rx now does not function in the Mustang I believe I damaged it as well. Both the Rx and the ESC have that nice 'toasted electronics' smell to them.

1. What did I do wrong?
2. I have since ordered a servo testing gizmo. Did my setup not having the ESC wired to a motor cause my problem?

chixter
Posts: 1 Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:04 pm

[earthsciteach]

Is it possible that the connector on either the battery or esc was reversed?

[chixter57]

No I checked and checked both before and after. XT-60 connectors wired correctly.

[firemanbill]

Usually instant smoke like that is a reversed polarity connection. I did that on my Demon and it immediately went up.

Not being wired to the motor would not have been an issue unless the motor wires were touching each other maybe


Sorry to hear this happened to you. And welcome to Wattflyer!

[chixter57]

Hmm. What would happen if I had the ESC plugged into the 'BATTERY' terminal on the Rx? After checking my forensics..(polarity and such, shorts in the connectors) I'm ruling these out..If I connected the ESC to Rx battery terminal instead of "Throttle". That may have done it. Or mabey a bad ESC.

[chixter57]

would not have been an issue unless the motor wires were touching each other maybe

Posible scenario. All it would take is a touch of a second or 2 of the motor wires...

[firemanbill]

Originally Posted by chixter57

Hmm. What would happen if I had the ESC plugged into the 'BATTERY' terminal on the Rx? After checking my forensics..(polarity and such, shorts in the connectors) I'm ruling these out..If I connected the ESC to Rx battery terminal instead of "Throttle". That may have done it. Or mabey a bad ESC.

doesn't matter, unless it was reversed. you can power the Rx through any available channel, well you can on JR/Spektrum gear anyway.

Originally Posted by chixter57

would not have been an issue unless the motor wires were touching each other maybe

Posible scenario. All it would take is a touch of a second or 2 of the motor wires...

Yeah it wouldn't take long if you had power going to them.

[CHELLIE]

Sometimes you get a bad ESC and the first time you hook it up to a battery, it will fry up, Normally that happens on the Cheapy ESC, HK Brand ESC are not the Best ESC on the market IMHO, Use Turnigy ESC, the plush or the sentry, they have been Bullet proof for me, and they dont cost that much more, all of my ESC are Turnigy ESC and i have never had any issues with them. for the money, they are the best of the best.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...ontroller.html

[chixter57]

A close look at the ESC shows what I believe to be very sloppy soldering on the bottom side of the board as shown in red circled areas. Could this be a problem? Pity these things are covered with a heat shrink and you cant inspect them.

[CHELLIE]

Originally Posted by chixter57

A close look at the ESC shows what I believe to be very sloppy soldering on the bottom side of the board as shown in red circled areas. Could this be a problem? Pity these things are covered with a heat shrink and you cant inspect them.

I Think you Are Right Just toss it in the Trash Can and get some Turnigy ESC, problem Solved use a ESC thats 20 to 25% Bigger than whats needed, because it will last longer and stay cooler, Take care, Chellie

[kyleservicetech]

Originally Posted by chixter57

A close look at the ESC shows what I believe to be very sloppy soldering on the bottom side of the board as shown in red circled areas. Could this be a problem? Pity these things are covered with a heat shrink and you cant inspect them.

Nope, that is normal soldering. One problem with these very high current rated Fets is supplying heavy duty connections to the silicon chip. One way to do that is use several parallel connections. The mfg of this ESC used Fets with four parallel wire connections. There would be a matching three parallel wire connections plus the gate control on the other end of the FET under the heatsink.

To give an idea of just how big these things can get, you can now buy a silicon diode rated at over 9000 Amperes, and 5000 Volts. (That is not a misprint) These things look like a big hockey puck.
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...2feHlyKiEpo%3d