ESC scrambled or poached?

[Ucsdmutt]

So I fried my first ESC! It was a Reedy 600Z so not too expensive of a lesson learned. I guess I didn't realize how bad it is to plug the wrong leads into the battery. I literally heard a loud spark, scrambled eggs sounds coming from the ESC and poof, smoke. Anyhow, I was wonder if the more expensive ESCs have some kind circuit breaker to prevent this from happening to a $200 ESC or is it the same? I guess I was spoiled with Dean connectors and now that I'm using bullet connectors I need to pay more attention to what I'm doing. My excuse was my wife was trying to talk to me while I was plugging it in so I could get a few laps around the backyard before the sun went down.

On a side note, what are the differnt makes and models of brushless sensored ESCs that you guys would recommend?

[jwscab]

I don't think many esc's these days will have reverse polarity protection, but it depends on the manufacturer.

[GoMachV]

You could paint the positive end/side of the battery red. I see that a lot.

[XLR8]

I did precisely the same thing recently. So, for my packs that are not pre-wired, I made pigtails with bullets to Deans and soldered Deans on my ESC's. The pigtail stays connected to the pack so it's easier to connect to my charger. Not as clean and simple as before but it prevents me from smoking another esc. Anyway, it works me.

[NomadRacer]

You could paint the positive end/side of the battery red. I see that a lot.

+1 on the paint. I do that with all my lipo batteries. Another tip has to do with the leads/wires from the ESC to the battery. I make the positive wire just long enough to reach it's socket. That way, it can't reach the negative side of the battery.

[Ucsdmutt]

See if you can spot the difference in the two Gens Ace batteries I use...




Otherwise, the shortening the one wire would have worked

[Ucsdmutt]

So what ESCs do you all have on your modern buggies/truggies???

[GoMachV]

Wow that’s pretty annoying especially since they could have just flipped one of em over haha!

[RC10th]

I run a Hobbywing V3.1 ESC. I also ran a Hobbywing 10.5T V10 Motor in a 10.5 blinky class and everyone thought I was cheating.

The new Hobbywing XR10's look good but I haven't had to buy a new ESC for a while.

[NomadRacer]

Some of the newer shorty, 5mm post lipo's have tubes that go all the way through the case. This let's you use both sides, putting the positive where you want. Something to keep in mind, and pay particular attention too.

[NomadRacer]

I have a couple of the HobbyWing X10 Justock ESC's with an LCD program box. I couldn't get used to watching for lights to flash or listening to beeps. The box takes all the frustration out of programming.

[GoMachV]

Some of the newer shorty, 5mm post lipo's have tubes that go all the way through the case. This let's you use both sides, putting the positive where you want. Something to keep in mind, and pay particular attention too.

That’s how one of mine is and I like that idea

[dldiaz]

In all my 39 years of playing with, building, racing R/C cars - I had never blown an ESC by pure stupidity...
- Yes I have melted ESCs by abusing them or by trying run a shorted-out brushed motor back in the day, etc.

Well, I made up for this by blowing TWO, yes TWO ESCs this weekend.
- I am utterly disappointed.
- The first one on Saturday had me baffled that I could actually ruin an expensive ESC so quickly.
- Then I did it AGAIN on Sunday?!??@#!

- First was a Tekin RSX Pro.
- It smoked and popped, then I plugged it in correctly and it would not operate the motor...
-
- Second was an Orion Vortex R10
- It didn't do anything at first - i.e. right after I touched the backward poles.
- But then when I plugged it in correctly the capacitors started smoking.
- I did not try to operate it further.


In both cases I was using bullet connectors and the battery brace was covering the +/- symbols on the battery.
- But I have been using setups like that for years...
- I just don't know how to explain what happened...

Anyhow, is the consensus still that the ESCs are trash?? Unable to be repaired??

[mikea96]

Do those batteries have bullet receptacles on both sides so you could just flip it so the positive and negative would be on the same side? Hobbywing esc's have reverse polarity protection.

[JosephS]

In all my 39 years of playing with, building, racing R/C cars - I had never blown an ESC by pure stupidity...
- Yes I have melted ESCs by abusing them or by trying run a shorted-out brushed motor back in the day, etc.

Well, I made up for this by blowing TWO, yes TWO ESCs this weekend.
- I am utterly disappointed.
- The first one on Saturday had me baffled that I could actually ruin an expensive ESC so quickly.
- Then I did it AGAIN on Sunday?!??@#!

- First was a Tekin RSX Pro.
- It smoked and popped, then I plugged it in correctly and it would not operate the motor...
-
- Second was an Orion Vortex R10
- It didn't do anything at first - i.e. right after I touched the backward poles.
- But then when I plugged it in correctly the capacitors started smoking.
- I did not try to operate it further.


In both cases I was using bullet connectors and the battery brace was covering the +/- symbols on the battery.
- But I have been using setups like that for years...
- I just don't know how to explain what happened...

Anyhow, is the consensus still that the ESCs are trash?? Unable to be repaired??

from the sounds of it the Orion may be in ok shape. The capacitors could have blown, leaving the esc in ok shape. You can de-solder the caps and see if it powers up.
I recently blew-up the caps on one of my hobbywings esc's that didn't have reverse polarity protection.