Castle Creations BEC problem

[jacobfreeman]

Well after hooking up my BEC for direct power to my servo.. I went to plug in my BEC after the second time of running it and "POOF" it caught on fire.. I have no idea how this happened.. Has anyone experienced this problem or have any suggestions on what I should do?




I was running stock axial ESC
Stock axial rx
HiTec 7955TG Servo
CC BEC

[roksloski]

3.....2......1...........

and a reply from Charlie-III.....

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by roksloski

3.....2......1...........

and a reply from Charlie-III.....

I have searched and couldn't find much information.

[Duuuuuuuude]

How did you have it wired? Either you did something wrong or it somehow took some physical damage and burned up. I somehow managed to whack one on a rock an it knocked a solder joint loose...out came the smoke...


edit: if I had to guess...I'd say you didn't pull the red wire from the esc to the rx.

Originally Posted by roksloski

3.....2......1...........

and a reply from Charlie-III.....

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

How did you have it wired? Either you did something wrong or it somehow took some physical damage and burned up. I somehow managed to whack one on a rock an it knocked a solder joint loose...out came the smoke...


edit: if I had to guess...I'd say you didn't pull the red wire from the esc to the rx.

I went by Josh's guide on AR Crawlers.. Directly putting the power from the servo straight to the bec and putting the yellow cord into the RX.

Here are some photos:

[Duuuuuuuude]

Well that looks right. The solder connections on the Dean's looks a bit scary, and it may just be the camera angle but it looks like there is a pretty good potential for a short between the two leads there.

Have you tried connecting the servo back into the rx to see if it still works?

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Well that looks right. The solder connections on the Dean's looks a bit scary, and it may just be the camera angle but it looks like there is a pretty good potential for a short between the two leads there.

Have you tried connecting the servo back into the rx to see if it still works?

I haven't tried yet.. With the paper clips.. I have to solder the paper clips in because they wouldn't stay.. how do you purpose that I see if it still works??

[Duuuuuuuude]

I don't know...that kind of complicates things.

The paper clip deal kinda seems like a bad idea...there is no "out" if you decide to do something different. Certainly not something I would do anyway.

If you've got a junk servo laying around you could cut the pigtail off of it and splice it onto the pigtail of the 7955, essentially giving you a clean plug to work with.

With a lot of work and time you could maybe get all the solder out of the existing plugs. I don't know if it would be worth the effort though.

Most of the time you can get by with running the bec to the rx instead of going directly to the servo. Its certainly the simplest way to do it. I wouldn't even consider a direct wire unless I knew that there would be a problem if I didn't.

[jacobfreeman]

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

I don't know...that kind of complicates things.

The paper clip deal kinda seems like a bad idea...there is no "out" if you decide to do something different. Certainly not something I would do anyway.

If you've got a junk servo laying around you could cut the pigtail off of it and splice it onto the pigtail of the 7955, essentially giving you a clean plug to work with.

With a lot of work and time you could maybe get all the solder out of the existing plugs. I don't know if it would be worth the effort though.

Most of the time you can get by with running the bec to the rx instead of going directly to the servo. Its certainly the simplest way to do it. I wouldn't even consider a direct wire unless I knew that there would be a problem if I didn't.

I have a spare servo that I will use the existing plug off of tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the help!

[Duuuuuuuude]

Not a problem. Keep us updated on what you find.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Looking at the pics again...I noticed the shrink wrap on each wire is pushed down out of the way. What are the chances that they may have slipped and let the two wires touch?

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Looking at the pics again...I noticed the shrink wrap on each wire is pushed down out of the way. What are the chances that they may have slipped and let the two wires touch?

I pulled down the shrink to take the photos..
Also just tried plugging my battery into my ESC and nothing came on..

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by jacobfreeman

I pulled down the shrink to take the photos..
Also just tried plugging my battery into my ESC and nothing came on..

What kind of battery? Do you have a voltmeter?

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

What kind of battery? Do you have a voltmeter?

Venom 5000mah 7.4v 20c battery
and I don't have a voltmeter where I am at...

I might just run it by the hobby shop tomorrow and see if they can diagnose anything.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Some lipo's have a circuit board that is used to connect the individual cells together. If they take a big enough hit (direct short or too big of a load) you can fry those traces. Kinda like a fuse. Only they're not replaceable.

Don't ask how I know.

Before you plug in another battery I would take a really hard look at your connections and make sure you don't have anything even coming close to touching something it shouldn't.

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

Some lipo's have a circuit board that is used to connect the individual cells together. If they take a big enough hit (direct short or too big of a load) you can fry those traces. Kinda like a fuse. Only they're not replaceable.

Don't ask how I know.

Before you plug in another battery I would take a really hard look at your connections and make sure you don't have anything even coming close to touching something it shouldn't.

All of my wires are and should be fine.. I'll re solder everything tomorrow or this weekend better and make sure.. My battery shows to still be good though because it is currently charging.
I'll take a better look at it tomorrow.. I am just hoping that my servo isn't fried.. everything else will just be a reason for me to upgrade electronics.. but I will be severely sad if I just bought this 100 dollar servo and it is fried..

[Duuuuuuuude]

If the battery is good and you've got the esc plugged into the rx and nothing is happening, then you've most likely fried the esc too, because its supposed to be the power source for all the other stuff.

And yeah, hopefully you didn't stuff the servo as well.

[jacobfreeman]

Originally Posted by Duuuuuuuude

If the battery is good and you've got the esc plugged into the rx and nothing is happening, then you've most likely fried the esc too, because its supposed to be the power source for all the other stuff.

And yeah, hopefully you didn't stuff the servo as well.

I should be able to hook a voltmeter to the servo pos/neg wires and it should get current.. right?

[Duuuuuuuude]

Originally Posted by jacobfreeman

I should be able to hook a voltmeter to the servo pos/neg wires and it should get current.. right?

You should be able to measure current at those wires if the esc is supplying it. Roughly 4.8v, give or take.

You can also check for power right on the pins in the rx if you're careful.

But if the esc isn't lighting up at all when a battery is connected, its dead.