Discussions

Finished my Arducopter (3DR) and was setting up the configuration in the mission planner. I got it talking then loaded the firmware and checked out the sensor operation in the mission planner. Then went to the radio input page and saw no input, it was then I remmembered the flight battery needs to be connected to power the ESC's to distribute power for the RX.

Instantly there was allot of smoke from the motor 1 esc and wiring, I quickly disconnected the battery and looked for a wiring problem. I couldn't find a short anywhere. Then I removed the heat shrink from the motor 1 esc  and saw the linear 5v regulator looked ok, but the inner layers of the pcb  were blistered underneath the regulator and then I noticed the electrolytic capacitor was bulged at the top.

So I replaced the servo wiring to the esc and decided to test it not connected to anything but a motor on the output and Li-po(3s 2200mAh), thats when the capacitor blew very violently.

I moved the ESC from motor #2 into motor#1 and connected to the power distribution board and left off connecting the 5v BEC to the APM and checked the voltage @5v.......Good!

I then connected up the APM and other motors and all seems fine, but I'm missing an ESC for #2 motor and the DIY Drones store is out of stock :>(

What are my options, I'm so close to do a maiden flight.