Bec ????

[riz]

What exactly does a BEC do? I just got a Castle Creations Sidewinder ESC and would like to know if a Castle BEC is needed and/or if there are any pros and cons to either having a BEC or not. Thanks in advance.

RIZ

[Narly1]

Originally Posted by riz

What exactly does a BEC do? I just got a Castle Creations Sidewinder ESC and would like to know if a Castle BEC is needed and/or if there are any pros and cons to either having a BEC or not. Thanks in advance.

RIZ

What does it do?

Think of the Castle BEC as an external regulator circuit which takes raw battery power and outputs a high current/regulated voltage supply.

What is the advantage?

It replaces the wimpy low amperage supply circuit built into your ESC. A necessity when you're running current hogging high torque servos. It also allows you to run a higher supply voltage to certain components (such as a high voltage servo). Taking the current load off of the ESC's BEC circuit allows the ESC to run cooler and averts ESC-related problems such as glitching, random shutdowns, etc.

Narly1

[enips443]

im a noob,and was wondering the same thing,thanks!

[riz]

So is it a must have if you're only going to run a normal setup without all the high draw goodies? At what point would you say you'd HAVE to have it vs saying nice to have it?

RIZ

[ib99rt]

Its a must have if your servo is considered a high torque servo.

[JeepersCreepers]

Originally Posted by riz

So is it a must have if you're only going to run a normal setup without all the high draw goodies? At what point would you say you'd HAVE to have it vs saying nice to have it?

RIZ

if your rig stalls out when trying to turn, its a must have- if i could i would run one on every rc i have, it puts less strain on the esc which means less heat too

[mpmackenna]

Originally Posted by riz

So is it a must have if you're only going to run a normal setup without all the high draw goodies? At what point would you say you'd HAVE to have it vs saying nice to have it?
RIZ

I see a lot of posts saying don't worry about it unless you go LiPo. I think the quality of your ESC has a lot to do with it too. I run the Tekin FXR and the BEC in it is supposed to be good enough so long as you are running standard NiMH stick packs. At least that is what I am hearing else where on the forum. I would say if your rig is working correctly and stuff isn't overheating or twitching, and you aren't pushing or pulling a lot of amps you are probably OK. Most of the stories I hear are people melting ESCs because their high torque servo is drawing too much current through the ESC from their 3S LiPo.

[bonks]

I'm a newb too, my idea is you let us know what electronics you're planning on running. Then someone could say yes or no according to the rest of the electronics.

Also, think this is right, if you're servo is high torque, then when you steet it would rob power from your forward reverse speed. So having an esc that helps to even the current out between everything is a good idea. Also know ahead of time how much room you have on your chassis so you don't buy an esc that may not fit.....some are too big for fittment, for example some won't fit in the scx10's electronics box because they are too tall.