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Post by Dillzio on May 15, 2011 13:40:30 GMT 1
Went up the river today, and took the plane with me. Just as I was landing the battery cut out (again), and my plane clipped a tree. When I walked over to retrieve it, this was the sight that awaited me:  I had to wade out to get it, and it turned out that the plane was floating there, it wasn't resting on anything. It was still beeping OK when I switched off the transmitter (which helped me find the plane), but when I got it back to the campsite and hooked up a battery, it beeped a few times, made a funny sizzling noise and now the ESC seems to be dead. Everything else seems OK, servos, navlights, motor mount, cowl, but the motor/ESC seems to be no more. I'll wait for it to dry out then see if it still doesn't work. |
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Post by renard80 on May 15, 2011 18:04:05 GMT 1
Hard luck, Dylan. Hope everything dries out OK.
How deep is that mucky water? My brother, who has lived in Oz for 40 years, boasts that "it's only stupid Poms who wade into pools etc in the bush - that's how they get bitten by snakes or crocs . . . "
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Post by pauliepilot on May 15, 2011 18:32:45 GMT 1
Gd point,maybe get some floats :-)
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Post by flydiver on May 16, 2011 4:47:20 GMT 1
Fresh or salt water?
General rules:
1. Get the battery out ASAP
2. If the water is clean and fresh put electronics in a warm spot for at least 3 days to dry out. You may even want to cut the shrink off the ESC.
3. If salt water or 'icky' stuff > rinse EVERYTHING with fresh water. Then rinse with alcohol. Then see #2.
Motor- do as above. Then blow dry and oil bearings. Water is NOT a big issue for motors, only the bearings. There is iron and steel in there and prolonged wetness will create rust.
Don't put a battery in until you are SURE it is all dry. Battery + wet electronics = fried electronics.
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Post by Dillzio on May 16, 2011 8:33:58 GMT 1
cheers fly. It was fresh water, but very mucky. The ESC and motor gave me impression they were working after the crash, because the motor was beeping when I turned off the transmitter. After I collected it I took the battery out, but after about an hour of drip drying I put another battery in to test it, that was when i heard the sizzling noise just before everything died. Perhaps I have fried the electronics... I'll let them all dry out properly before I test it out again... better give them a wash and relube the bearings too... I can't say we get too many snakes and crocks down here, particularly in the cold-season. Crocks don't inhabit the Murry river as far as I'm aware, reptiles are dependent on the environment for their body heat, so the south end of australia is a bit too cold for them. We do get snakes around these parts, brown snakes are very deadly and quite common, I had my eye out for them all day, but again, too cold for them to be out and about at the moment, we've had a bit of an early start to our winter this year. EDIT: Followed ur advice fly, I took the heat shrink off the ESC and good thing too, inside was soaked with muddy water. I took off the aluminium heat sinks too, where were held on with some strange white padded things, I think they're for heat transfer between the components and the heat sink - you can see em in the pics. When I took the motor out I found that the circlip had come off it's notch on the shaft, so taking the motor apart was easy. I've given them all a good rinse in hot soapy water, and they're now drying in front of the heater. Fingers crossed they'll be OK - if not chances are the motor will still be fine, and a 30A Plush ESC from hobbyking is only about $12+postage.   |
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Post by john66 on May 16, 2011 11:52:24 GMT 1
I can see the problem Dill. You have no battery connectors on your ESC.
John
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Post by Dillzio on May 16, 2011 12:28:43 GMT 1
Thank you john for your revelationary insight. All seeing and all knowing, you truly are a god amongst men.
Actually, the ESC was basically part of the plane, I had to cut the wires to remove it. I plan to reattach it using Deans connectors. Installing Deans connectors to make the ESC removable has been on my to do list for a while, but I haven't had a reason to do it until just now... I hope my LHS can sell me a short length of heat shrink for my ESC, I'd rather not have to purchase a meter of the stuff.
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Post by john66 on May 16, 2011 13:12:50 GMT 1
No probs Dill, anytime! ;D
Surely even a local electrical store should sell heatshrink, mine do.
John
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Post by Dillzio on May 16, 2011 13:41:32 GMT 1
yeah, I can probably get it somewhere if I look hard enough, but I suspect that heat shrink that large will be about 10 dollars a metre, and that's IF they stock it; i just looked on some online catalogues and they only stock it in sizes up to 20mm.
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Post by john66 on May 16, 2011 15:32:02 GMT 1
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Post by flydiver on May 16, 2011 15:49:35 GMT 1
The ESC is electronically the most critical component and the one hardest to dry out without opening it up. It'll dry quickly with the shrink off and can be tested that way as long as you pay some attention to not shorting things.
That white stuff is some kind of thermal compound stuff I guess. I've mostly seen stuff like thin black rubber. As you've probably seen some ESC will use a finned HS and leave it open to air for better cooling. You can increase their capacity a bit that way.
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Post by Dillzio on May 17, 2011 9:59:12 GMT 1
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