Hi!
I started to rebuild my Dualsky Hornet 460 with the goal to replace the traditional flight controller (FC450) and exchange it to a APM 2.6. This is my first build with APM, so bare with me. I've connected the APM to my ESCs and receiver and gone through the setup in Mission Planner (wizard + calibration). Everything works fine, but I'm concerned about my ESCs getting hot without putting any load on them what so ever. When I connect my battery (3S) to the power module (no motors running) it takes about 5-10 minutes before the ESCs reaches a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees F). Still no load / no motors running at this point.
I've choosed to disconnect the battery after 10-15 minutes since I'm not sure if this might harm my ESCs. I don't have any temperature readings of the ESCs with the original Dualsky FC, but I remember them not getting noticeable hot with motors running.
Also noticed that all the ESCs don't get equally hot. Three of them are warmer than the fourth. There is about 8-10 degrees Celsius in difference.
The specs of my ESCs are:
Dualsky XC-22-MR (22A)
-> http://www.dualsky.com/pro_list_for.asp?sid=119&nid=127&id=703
Resistance(Ri)(Ohm): 0.0082
Max Cont. Current & Max Cont.Output: 22A, 244W
Max Burst Current & Max Burst Output: 30A, 333W
BEC / Dissipative Power: 5.2V/2A (Linear)
Support up to 400Hz control frequency
The APM outputs are connected to the ESCs through the Hornets pre-made bottom board. Each ESC has one signal cable each, except for one of them which has all three wires (signal, pwr, gnd). I presume this was used to power the original FC. I disconnected the power( red/+) wire from this ESCs connection, but kept the ground (black/-). Since the APM is powered through the power module.
Besides the hot/warm ESCs everything seams to work just fine. Motor test running fine, no problems arming and running the motors. But I'm afraid the ESCs will burn if I put some load on them.
Any thoughts is highly appreciated!
Regards,
Fredrik.
Replies
Thanks for the reply. There are no red wires going into the APM from the ESCs/BECs. But on this model the cables are not running directly from the ESCs to the FC, they run through the bottom board which makes it hard to tell exactly how they are connected. But there are pre-installed LED-lights on this model. Could it be these that runs through the power of the BECs from the ESCs and makes them go hot? I might try to disconnect them tomorrow. Maybe this is a non issue after all, since the ESCs should be getting cooling from the props, not just sit there and idle...
That heat is from the BECs. If you're using the APM Power Module, you don't need the BECs connected and can disconnect/cut their red wires.