Capacitors?
 

I have just started racing carpet and I have been told that I should put on a larger cap on my esc, and was told of the one that TOP makes, and it's $40, is this really necessary? I mean cant you just get a larger cap from an electronics store?

Run the cap recommended by your ESC manufacturer. No need for anything more than that, don't take a risk on anything less than that.

what they are talking about are low esr capacitors. they help smooth the current ripple. Also keep esc cooler. you can get them off ebay and solder it on the esc close to where the main power wires enter. search ebay for low esr capacitor 2000uf 25v is good for most.people say to use 2-3 to make the 2000uf rating. the singles usually are hotter than 2-3. search rc-monster for capacitor bank and you will see what I talking about.

Also can soak up spikes/hash.
Had to put one on my RX when I changed servos, go figure.

$40 for a $1 part is a bit of a rip... I stuck a 4700uF on the RX(was what I had handy)
Easy to DIY, keep the leads as short as reasonably possible.

The one u mentioned is a receiver capacitor used to reduce glitches... The one originally posted was about power capacitors which is installed at the battery wires going into the esc to reduce voltage ripple and to prevent unstable voltage from the battery during hard acceleration...:nod:

If it's not broke, don't fix it. - Is there any reason why you are considering doing it? Is the car glitching under heavy load etc etc)...

Or is it something you simply want to try?

In any case though, the first step is to use what is suggested by the manufacturer.

Would a busted capacitor cause the turbo on a Tekin RS to not kick in every time? some laps it clearly kicks in, and other times it wont...i've checked my leads and reconfigured it to my controller but it still does it.

I am getting pulled down the back straight, and others seem to have a little more through the infield as well. I am currently running a tekin motor, but have been sponsored by Team Epic for 2010, so I will have an EPIC motor soon, everyone that is pulling me I believe is running a Duo2, so hopefully it's just that. I believe that my driving is pretty much on par, but I don't have the ponies at the moment that my main competition does. One of the guys has that TOP capacitor and told me that I should get one, it just seems for a capacitor that $40 is a little steep.

i'd be very suprised if the cap was the winning edge tbh... What esc do they have? overall timing and gearing is most important over a cap, any day. gearing from a redline motor to a duo will be different, so if for example you think your gearing is good to go because you're running your rivals gearing, think again... :sneaky: each motor has its own powerband.

my understanding is the cap is just like a little battery for reserve power under heavy load to smooth the load out, our caps should handle pretty much any setup, except maybe mod where I might have heard 2 could be needed for excessive current flow.

Double D- i'd have a play with your boost delay, i've heard sometimes that can stop the turbo kicking in.

I am running a Tekin RS pro, I know the one guy is running a LRP SPX. I am new to touring so I had the resident Tekin expert set up everything for me, so I'm not really sure what timing or setup it has. I will have a Team EPIC motor by the next time I race, do you know what kind of gearing/timing changes I will have to look forward to? Thanks

It sounds like radio drift and not capacitor isssue. Recalibrate your speedo and have your throttle EPA on your controller set at 90%. After calibration set your EPA back to 100%. Just remember to do this everytime after a calibration. This should solve the not kicking in from time to time.

+1 on that.

There's only a handful of manufacturers out there that makes Electrolytic capacitors (the ones we use on our ESC), there's only a handful because these things are as cheap as they get ($1).

Go to:

www.digikey.com

For all your passive stuff. However, if you feel more comfortable buying one from say, Novak, more power to you, Novak re-packages it so there's pig-tail wires and stuff for easy hookup. I think one of the Novak one also comes with some surge supressors (special TVS diode)...

Sorry to interrupt. I know you are talking about capacitors for the esc. I was wondering what size capacitor would you run in the rx to stop glitches. When i went looking the guy at the electronic shop gave me the biggest capacitor they had. I thought it was a bit of an over kill. But i am interested in setting one up in my rx. so what capacity would you recommend and what resistance.

$6.00 new


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