ESC scrambled or poached?

[dldiaz]

I had the same thought about the Orion - I will try that.

** So the capacitors are really just for extra 'punch' to the motor, right?
- In other words the ESC should still have proper basic functions without the caps?


As far as the batteries and their receptacles - yes they do have receptacles on both sides.
- I do not have need to flip them, this was al just user error - 100% my fault...

What I have done is paint around all the Positive battery terminals with red paint.
Also painted the tops of all my Positive ESC male bullet connectors with red paint.
Hopefully this will help - but mainly I will just be much more careful about polarity.



Yes I have seen that some Hobbywing ESCs are advertising reverse polarity protection.
- I guess they found a way around the old issue of that protection circuit sapping a lot of power that would otherwise go to the motor??

[JosephS]

I had the same thought about the Orion - I will try that.

** So the capacitors are really just for extra 'punch' to the motor, right?
- In other words the ESC should still have proper basic functions without the caps?


As far as the batteries and their receptacles - yes they do have receptacles on both sides.
- I do not have need to flip them, this was al just user error - 100% my fault...

What I have done is paint around all the Positive battery terminals with red paint.
Also painted the tops of all my Positive ESC male bullet connectors with red paint.
Hopefully this will help - but mainly I will just be much more careful about polarity.



Yes I have seen that some Hobbywing ESCs are advertising reverse polarity protection.
- I guess they found a way around the old issue of that protection circuit sapping a lot of power that would otherwise go to the motor??

The caps help handle the need for inrush current when accelerating in a brush-less system. Depending on the motor you have it could cause a low voltage situation when you accelerate. On my 17 turn system that is modestly geared it hasn't caused an any issue. I only have one pack though it afterwards.

I am not sure how the hobbywing protection circuit works. I think I big part of it is in the capacitors which are typically just soldered to battery leads.

https://components101.com/articles/design-guide-pmos-mosfet-for-reverse-voltage-polarity-protection

[jwscab]

Right, the bulk caps are for smoothing current spikes that happen to provide stable voltage for the control chips.

You will always get loss from a reverse voltage protection however with the fets used today, you can get a pretty low voltage drop and still have protection.

[dldiaz]

Well, my Orion ESC actually does work after reverse polarity smoked the capacitors!
- I just snipped off the old capacitors to give it a try, all seemed fine.
- So I soldered on one of those Hobbywing non-polarity capacitors that I happen to have in my toolbox.

I have run it around and all seems good!
Very happy about this as this is a smooth, great running ESC that is kinda hard to find at a good price.


I figured why not try this with the Tekin RSX Pro I smoked, but no such luck - even without the capacitor it does not work right at all...

[juicedcoupe]

I'd contact Tekin. They may repair it for a moderate price.

[dldiaz]

I had emailed Tekin last week, described as best I could what happened and what the ESC was doing - they said more often than not they cannot repair reverse polarity damage...

They do have an exchange program though - trade-in for a new RSX Pro is $167, plus $12.50 shipping - as well as shipping cost to send my old one to them...
- Cheaper than a new one form Amain, but not by much...


Orion also replied by email that they could not repair reverse-polarity damage.
(luckily that ESC still works though)