Align ESC mod page

[Plane Hazza]

Hi guys, Ive just completed this mod. How to I keep the ESC water tight or does it not need to be?

[BarnOwl]

Only if you go flying in the rain......... :wink:
You can supply a new shrinkwrap around the ESC and cut out the cooling ribs.

[Icenum]

Another fliers had modded his ESC on his BL Tribute, not sure how heat transfer would be using metallic type JB Weld..? :shock: Run cooler than before on Eflite 400 B/L.

[Pinecone]

Here is the same stuff, at a cheaper price if you want a bunch:

http://shop.willyselectronics.com/browse.cfm/4,350.html

It is speced at a thermal conductivity of 0.682 W/m*K

The Artic Silver adhesive can be found for between $10 - $15 for 26 grams and is speced at 7.5 W/m*K

[Pinecone]

A few things. Thanks Blake. :)

A couple of questions. I guess that a bit on the pins of the stuff that Balke ships is OK?

Second, do you also glue the Al plate to the transistors? I would think so, my plate had a bit of stickum attching it to the transistors.

Do be careful if you buy the thermal epoxy elsewhere. I was at a local electronics supplier and saw thermal conductive epoxy, glad I read the package, it is also ELECTRICALLY conductive. NOT good.

Looking around aArtic has two products. Artic Silver and Artic Alumina. I saw that the Alumina version is non-conductive, but slightly capacitive. Not sure about the Silver version.

Lastly, good thing I ordered two pieces of shrink from Blake. Fisrt thing I did today was to cut teh shirnk off the ESC< and while wondering why it didn't look like the ones in th pictures (no EME shield) realized I had just opened up my E-Flite 40A ESC for my Mini Ultra Stick. Oops. No big deal, it is re-heat shrinked (shrunk?) with my "extra" piece.

[xStatiCa]

Using tape and epoxy might be the best solution so that things are removable later...

I opened up my Jazz 40-6-18 ESC to troubleshoot it and try and find out why it was not working after dry it out (pond and helis dont mix) and when perparing to remove the heat sink I noticed that there was a little epoxy on the edge of the heatsink. I thought for sure there was no chance of getting it off. I heated the heatsink with a hair dryer and to my surprise with a little force I was able to get the heat sink off! I then noticed that they used thermal tape on the heat sink side and then they used a thermal epoxy on the mosfet side (ESC) to bond the mosfets to the thermal tape. The mosfets have a much smaller surface area than the heatsink so it is much more important to have a better bond to them I think. This combination allows a good bond to the tape without any air pockets between the tape and mosfets and makes it easy to remove the heat sink later. All it took was a little exacto knife work to cleanup the epoxy from the mosfets so that you can reattach the heatsink. If you only use epoxy there is no chance of taking the heat sink off to troubleshoot or repair the components under the heatsink without probably damaging the circuit board. I don't want anything permanant on this $$$ ESC.

[xStatiCa]

I did the heatsink mod to an Align 35G using the cheap CompUSA thermal pads ($3) which are not really meant for this type of application. It was hard to work with and it is not a true sticky tape when first putting it on but seems that the substance is sticky enough to work IF you are VERY careful when working with it(there is a trick with the freezer when pulling the white paper off the back after the other side is attached to the device). The heat shrink that you put on helps as an extra safety to keep things held together too. I was going to put a wire tie across the center of the heat sink just to make sure nothing moves but it looks like the heatsink is pretty darn secure as it is and it is supposed to hold even more when the heatsink heats up the pads after first use.

I noticed a huge difference in the temperature of the inside of the ESC and the outside heat sink. All parts of the ESC are much cooler now (barely warm).

If I could find some decent thermal pads that are stickier I would definitely use them instead of epoxy just because pads are not permanent and it appears that even the inefficient thermal pads works great at transfering heat for this use. I don't recommend using these CompUSA thermal pads though because they are not as sticky as I would have liked and are tricky to get the white paper off the pad.

Anyone find any better thermal tape/pads that might be stickier by default?

[BlakeMcBrayer]

Due to some extended family health issues and a VERY busy summer/fall at work I have not been posting much, nor flying much either.

Anyway, I'm still selling the epoxy and heat shrink kits. I have actually just order more of the epoxy since my orginal batch is almost gone. I other words, I have shipped close to 450ml of the thermal epoxy :shock: .

I figured I had better put up a post letting everyone know that the kits were still avaiable. It seems that most all request start out by asking if I was still doing it.



The kit includes the thermal epoxy and a single piece of heat shrink for $7.50. This price includes shipping in the Con US. A second piece of heat shrink can be added for $1.00 making a total of $8.50.

When you order, make sure you tell me in your PayPal what color of heat shrink you want black, clear or blue.

My Payal is: blakemcbrayer@bellsouth.net

[WillJames]

Glad to hear you are still around Blake!! hope to see you at another event soon!!

[byhsu]

Will this "ARCTIC SILVER 5 HIGH DENSITY THERMAL COMPOUND" work for the ESC modification?

Product description
Not Electrically Conductive:
Arctic Silver 5 was formulated to conduct heat, not electricity.

[Finless]

Yes if it is NOT electrically conductive then it should work JUST fine.

Bob

[byhsu]

OK, I got the thermal adhesive. Now where do I get the shrink wrap? I went to Home depot and the ones they had were too small. Or can I just mount it on the frame by using velcro and tape it on the exposed side of the ESC?

[xStatiCa]

Shrink wrap is a must. You don't want to accidentally short the ESC and make your lipo turn into a torch. Try a local hobby shop for shrink wrap or go to any online hobby shop that carries heli accessories. I don't remember what size to use but I can find out what I used if you need.

[byhsu]

Shrink wrap is a must. You don't want to accidentally short the ESC and make your lipo turn into a torch. Try a local hobby shop for shrink wrap or go to any online hobby shop that carries heli accessories. I don't remember what size to use but I can find out what I used if you need.

Yes Please, Thanks so much.

[byhsu]

I just came back from Home Depot and I found out that the 3/4 inch shrink wrap will work. I wish they had 1 inch, so the ESC would be easier to slip inside the wrap, but I was able to do it and it turned out great.

[skunkworx]

Hey guys, I got an idea from a friend. Instead of using the aluminum plate to sit on the transistors, I was going to try using copper instead. Seeing that copper has a higher heat exchange than alu we figured this would help even more for the heat transfer. I have already made the plates because I had the material sittin around. See my gallery. My other idea was to get a piece of copper heatsink from a computer board and machine it to fit and eliminate the 'sandwich' altogether.
Sound good to anyone else?

[Finless]

Yep... sounds like a good idea if you have the material!

Bob

[skunkworx]

Thanks finless. I finished with the mod kit from, but haven't had a chance to really run it up. I had it hooked up to power supply on the bench for a while and it didn't get warm at all.
I have a question though, When I first hooked up the power, the tones were at normal level. After a couple times unplugging it in and re-energizing it, the tones got real quiet. It still operates normal and the blades spin up fine. Any known cause for this?

[Finless]

The motor makes the beeps. Turn the motor a little and plug in and you will see they will get loud again. Sometimes the motor can be in a position such that the tones are really low volume.

Bob

[whattheheli]

has anyone seen a mod for the helimax 25amp esc like this ???

[HeliDan]

has anyone seen a mod for the helimax 25amp esc like this ???

I have not, but are you sure it is necessary? Take a photo and post it. Someone will be able to tell if anything looks hinky!

[whattheheli]

has anyone seen a mod for the helimax 25amp esc like this ???

I have not, but are you sure it is necessary? Take a photo and post it. Someone will be able to tell if anything looks hinky!

well here is a pic of the esc ! it doesnt have a heat sink on it that is what i was asking was if it was something that could be done ? and from what i here is would be a good idea ! i here that with the bec this esc heats up rather bad !

[HeliDan]

has anyone seen a mod for the helimax 25amp esc like this ???

I have not, but are you sure it is necessary? Take a photo and post it. Someone will be able to tell if anything looks hinky!

well here is a pic of the esc ! it doesnt have a heat sink on it that is what i was asking was if it was something that could be done ? and from what i here is would be a good idea ! i here that with the bec this esc heats up rather bad !

Well, theres no heatsink. So my thought would be to run it a little and see if it heats up too much. Also, go to the Helimax forum and make the post. Maybe someone that surfs the forum knows.

[Tumbleweed]

Does this ESC mod need to be done on the new generation ESC's from Align? I just got a RCE-BL35G in my 450SE kit?

[TripHammer]

Depends, the new Align ESC's have the heatsink under the heatshrink, if this is the case your good to go, if its just stuck on the top of the plastic, then you need to do the mod.

Trip