Hobbywing ESC Capacitors
 

I own several Hobbywing ESC's and very pleased with their performance. I have noticed that the attached capacitors have very long leads going to the battery posts and was wondering if there is any problem with making these shorter. Tekin recommends soldering the capacitor right to the posts and keeping the connection as short as possible. It makes sense that keeping the connection as short as possible will decrease the resistance and have a quicker response of the capacitor.
Has anyone else tried this and did it have any effect?

There will be no effect. The wires would have to be meters long and shortened to mm's and the benefit would be very little.... not enough to notice and barely enough to measure.

You can shorten them for the sake of saving space or making things neater but visual appearance is the only benefit your going to see.

As per SOuthernFRIED, if the leads are too long then it will have some losses. Make the lead as per your convenience to look neat and save the space which should be closer to the board.

Long leads on the capacitor will increase inductance a lot more than resistance, and the extra inductance will make a capacitor less effective.

Yea.. If the leads are about 50ft long.. I would think we are discussing leads of maybe 12 inches long and possibly shortening them to lets say 4 inches.. Net affect Zip, Zero, Nada... don't believe me? Test it out and see for yourself. Post back the results!

Shorter wires are fine, are theoretically better even, but I suspect it would be very difficult to measure any real difference.

The only way toget inductance with a wire is if it forms a coil. The resistance is very minor as well. I shorten the leads on my hobbywing for a better fit. That is all.

What happens if u take them off?!

Given any throttle, it would create a black hole between the two leads :lol: On most brushless escs the capacitor is vital. I had one of the first novak ss systems. A cap eventually gave out and I tested it out (before replacement came in) but it quickly got warm.

Yes, the power capacitors are important, they help control the switching noise the ESC generates, reduce temperatures and help the ESC survive. Also can improve braking performance and feel. Some offer upgraded capacitors even. Upgrade is probably not needed or noticeable for most setups, but it is highly recommended to at least use the stock cap, it is provided for good reason.

Speed Passion Optional High Power Capacitor

Novak ESC Super-PowerCap Module

Granted there is some inductance even in a straight wire, but at the relatively short length involved it’s what, perhaps somewhere around 100 nano Henry at most? Given the relatively low switching frequencies is that really enough to be a significant addition to the impedance of the wire and cap? (Is the as supplied wiring that poorly designed?)

Do the opposing pos/neg wires reduce the inductance some if ran close together?