Cutting Wire on ESC

Hey All, looking to upgrade the ESC on my belt. Just on RC Super Sales looking at a 30A Hobbywing Pentium Brushless ESC with a separate 2A 5V/6V UBEC. Included in the description was a diagram for the connections. On that diagram they showed the RED wire or the middle wire going from the ESC to the RX was to be cut! Now, I've never heard of this before and was wondering if this is common practice and is done every time you run a separate BEC ?

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Thanks Guys for any and all input.

it will keep your esc cooler i don't have an external bec but my next esc with be with an extrernal bec

That's the way you defeat the ESC's BEC. Cutting the Red center wire. Some BEC's have you plug in the ESC BEC wires to the BEC and then the red wire connection is just deadheaded on the BEC circuit board, instead of having to cut the wire. That's the way my Sportbecs are connected.

http://www.helidirect.com/sportbec-switchmode-bec-p-4550.hdx

I am running these on both of my 450s. Hope this helps.

cgetman02 wrote:

That's the way you defeat the ESC's BEC. Cutting the Red center wire. Some BEC's have you plug in the ESC BEC wires to the BEC and then the red wire connection is just deadheaded on the BEC circuit board, instead of having to cut the wire. That's the way my Sportbecs are connected.

http://www.helidirect.com/sportbec-switchmode-bec-p-4550.hdx

I am running these on both of my 450s. Hope this helps.

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Thanks Cgetman, I clicked on the Heli-Direct link and down loaded the instructions for the Sportbec. That helped a lot in understanding what's going on.

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Very cool switchable BEC and for a good price. I thing I'm going to get me one or two!

I use these $18 MaxPro ESc's on my 2 ES600's and ES500. They are the kind that require you to cut the red wire coming from the ESC.

http://www.helidirect.com/maxpro-high-voltage-210s-lipo-switchable-bec-p-8149.hdx

in this video you might be able to see what I did but just from the inital pic you can see the wire I cut (right next to the program card) thats the red wire coming from the ESC

OK Marc what I'm getting from this is the only time you cut the red wire is when your using a external bec and the esc your using already has one built-in.

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Have I got that right?

coptercrazy wrote:

OK Marc what I'm getting from this is the only time you cut the red wire is when your using a external bec and the esc your using already has one built-in.

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Have I got that right?

The red wire is the low voltage supply wire from the ESC that supplies the power for the receiver and servos etc. When you are running a separate BEC you will be supplying the low voltage power from the separate BEC. That BEC will either get its supply voltage from the same battery as the motor power or you can run a separate battery that will be supplying the low voltage to the system. The advantage of the separate battery is that if you have any faliure of the main battery, ESC, and motor you will still retain control of the cyclic and tail. You will be autorotating but at least you will have a level of control to try and save the situation.

Hope this makes things clearer instead of more confusing!

cgetman02 wrote:

coptercrazy wrote:

OK Marc what I'm getting from this is the only time you cut the red wire is when your using a external bec and the esc your using already has one built-in.

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Have I got that right?

The red wire is the low voltage supply wire from the ESC that supplies the power for the receiver and servos etc. When you are running a separate BEC you will be supplying the low voltage power from the separate BEC. That BEC will either get its supply voltage from the same battery as the motor power or you can run a separate battery that will be supplying the low voltage to the system. The advantage of the separate battery is that if you have any faliure of the main battery, ESC, and motor you will still retain control of the cyclic and tail. You will be autorotating but at least you will have a level of control to try and save the situation.

Hope this makes things clearer instead of more confusing!

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Thanks Cgetman for explaining it all out so even an old man like me can understand it. I'm basicly lazy so I think I'll stay with a single battery and take my chances, besides, it's cheaper until something happens and you can't autorotate out of it!

coptercrazy wrote:

OK Marc what I'm getting from this is the only time you cut the red wire is when your using a external bec and the esc your using already has one built-in.

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Have I got that right?

exactly

Copter,

There's still hope for us old guys! As most of my favorite tshirts say "Old Guys Rule"