ESC with no on/off switch
 

I recently (today) went out and bought the RTR HPI Sprint 2 Flux and when I got it home I had to do a small mod so the battery case would let me hook in my Hobby People battery. That's all fine and dandy, no issues there.

One thing I noticed though is the ESC doesn't have an on/off switch to it. So the first time I had plugged in the battery The car had instantly been on. Which, to say the least, suprised me.

The one thing that is bugging me is since the battery has a charge to it, and the car is, I guess, always considered on..It will spark between the male and female Deans connector when I first put them together..which obviously since I've always had an on/off switch, has never happened to me before.

What I ended up doing to comfort myself is taking one of the 3 bullet connectors going into the ESC out of the ESC before I plug the battery Deans into the ESC Deans. The ESC still turns on but it doesn't spark like how it did the first time I had connected it. Then I plug the last ESC wire back in and I'm good to go.

My question is... is this harming it in anyway? Am I supposed to hook up the car in a different manner? any help would be appreciated, as I've never dealt with an ESC that didn't have an on/off switch.

Thanks in advance.

it be awesome to figure that out. I recently got one of these too and i was trying to configure it for a lipo battery and change some of the braking characteristics. All of which, according to the manual with it, require an esc on/off switch with some type of mode button. Before anyone says anything though i am new to the rc world so my knowledge of the proper names and all is still in the baby phase....too used to working on the real thing.

A lot of the racers cut the switches off their speedos to free up valuable real estate. In doing so, there will be a small arc when connecting the battery. The arcing is of no concern.

If you really want an on/off switch, you can buy one and put it in the receiver.

I run a Black Diamond ESC which by default doesn't come with a switch. I have been running them for 3years.
I also get the spark when I connect it up but it doesn't matter, it's usually the power rushing in a filling up the capacitor.

When you get a switch on an ESC it is normally just turning the controller section (that receives it's signal from the receiver) of the ESC off, not the main power.

Skiddins

I dont know the OP's ESC personally, but yes, some people cut the on off switch off and you might see a small pair of wires just outside of the esc joined together if you got the ESC used, this would usually be where the previous owner has bypassed the switch.

Just a guess though, hope it helps somewhat :)