Gaui 50A ESC- has it a BEC or not?

[curriemart]

I'm getting a bit confused about the Gaui ESC - does anyone have the definitive answer as to which ones, if any, have a BEC fitted.
I was always of the opinion that they did not have a BEC fitted , now I read some threads that say that some DO have one fitted. Is there any way of knowing by looking at the ESC?
Can you tell whether the one in the attached picture has a BEC or not?
I am using a Sportbec BEC connected in parallel with the ESC to the batteries, is there a difference in the way the ESC will be connected depending on whether or not it has an inbuilt BEC?
Thanks for any help!

[mysticmead]

no.. it doesn't have a BEC built in..very few ESC's have a BEC once you start using 22.2 volts

for connecting, I just turn on the TX.. then my Voltage regulator (Gaui calls it a BEC), then plug in Lipos... the Voltage regulator connects to an open channel (in my case the battery slot)

[curriemart]

One of the reasons I'm confused was I found this post from 'Finless' dated 29 July 07 in reply to someone who had fried a Gaui ESC-

"Sounds like you had a Gaui that still had the BEC enabled thus your flight pack and the BEC in the ESC argued with each other and the BEC in the Gaui ESC lost.

As a tip to anyone since many of us have never been able to tell the difference between the Gaui ESC with BEC and the Gaui ESC without BEC is to remove the red wire from the ESC radio connector. This disables the BEC (should yours have one) from trying to apply power or get shorted from the stand alone BEC provided in the kit.

Bob"

My initial understanding was that none of the Gaui ESC's had a built in BEC! Am I right in thinking that if the Gaui ESC does not have a BEC built in (whihc appears to be the case) then you do not disconnect the red wire from the RX lead: in fact to do so will mean the ESC will not work.

[worldofmaya]

Your Esc looks really different from what I saw so far... I would be carefully. Easiest way would be to just plug-in your flight lipos and test if your RC components get power. If so, you could use the BEC, disable the BEC like Bob wrote and/or use another BECand/or use a NiMH or NiCD (4-cell) as puffer parallel to your internal (Esc) BEC. You can't use two BEC side by side without a circuit that protects one BEC from another... but something like that wouldn't be that hard too!
-klaus

[Graeme67]

I'm with worldofmaya on this one. Your ESC does not look like my 50A ESC. I know for sure mine does not have a built in bec. I run the dimension engineering Sport Bec - A lot better than running an rx pack.

Do what Worldofmaya suggested and hook up your flight pack to the ESC & check with a voltmeter if there is voltage available to the throttle channel wiring loom that runs to the receiver. If no voltage, hook up your Sport Bec. I suspect that this will be the case but it pays to check.


BTW when hooking up your sport bec solder a deans connector in the wiring coming from your flight pack. That way if you want to work on / set up your heli you can break the deans connector and plug a battery directly in to the bec thus isolating the ESC - Safety First!

Cheers
Graeme

[ChuckC]

If you still have the box it came in you will see it says on the upper right corner "ESC W/O BEC. I just received my second Hurricane and it came, just like the first, without the BEC included. I emailed K-Kopters (where I bought it and by the way, these people are great) and sure enough they had to send the BEC to me again. Just like they had to do with the first Hurricane I bought from them. So you do need it. For some reason Gaui is failing to include it in the kits when they should be including it.

[Mikej]

I'm getting a bit confused about the Gaui ESC - does anyone have the definitive answer as to which ones, if any, have a BEC fitted.
I was always of the opinion that they did not have a BEC fitted , now I read some threads that say that some DO have one fitted. Is there any way of knowing by looking at the ESC?
Can you tell whether the one in the attached picture has a BEC or not?
I am using a Sportbec BEC connected in parallel with the ESC to the batteries, is there a difference in the way the ESC will be connected depending on whether or not it has an inbuilt BEC?
Thanks for any help!

That's not the one that I have - they were originally made by SAE (Soaring Arrow something) - unless yours is the same as my second one, but that has the label inside as it has a big heatshield on it that I have facing outwards.

[curriemart]

Thanks for advice so far. Looks like Gaui have used several different manufacturers for their ESC's!

I've got another ESC ordered as that one in the photo has gone faulty and has stopped working. I'll just have to check when it arrives.
Thanks for the replies.

[mysticmead]

correct... disconnect the red wire and life will be good

[Mikej]

MM,

I don't thik it's quite as black and white as that - I have the red connected on both of mine - I tried without and it won't work at all.

Mike.

[curriemart]

This is what is SO confusing about all of this! The other thing to worry about is that with the wrong connections you can easily fry the ESC in a fraction of a second (speaking from experience).

A check of the Dimension Engineering website reveals that you should just connect the Sportbec BEC and the ESC to the radio receiver without disconnecting any red wires. In fact, they say that an ESC that does not have a built-in BEC requires the red wire so that the ESC internal electronics can receive power (from the RX). This advice appears to be contrary to the Finless post I read earlier and also what others are thinking!

My last ESC was connected using the Dimension Engineering advice (ie red wire connected) and the ESC has gone faulty (it did work for a few flights). Now, this may be just co-incidence and the ESC may have had an internal unknown fault anyway, but before I attach my new ESC I was just wanting some views and advice on the BEC/ESC issues.

[Mikej]

it probably doesn't help much as it does seem to be BEC / ESC specific, but I use SportsBEC's and Gaui ESC's on both of my 550's with the red wire intact - but your Gaui ESC looks different to mine

[Pinecone]

Relax, you are making this WAY to complicated.

1) Hook up ESC with the red wire connected and a BEC/Rx pack. If the doesn't work, reattach the red wire.

2) With SportBEC, hook up as per the instruction (ESC to SportBEC, SportBEC to Rx), if the ESC doesn't work, hook the ESC directly to the Throttle channel and the SportBEC to the Batt channel.

or

3) Hook up ESC directly to Rx with NO BEC or Rx pack and power and see if things work.

The concept is to start with a configuration that will not damage anything. The worst case then becomes the ESC won't get power and therefore won't work.

[mjdee14]

also keep in mind if you don't get any intializing tones from the motor..the throttle channel could be reversed....

Just be VERY CAREFUL, and until you KNOW you have it all hooked up correctly it would be wise to leave the main blades off...maybe even the tail blades.

[curriemart]

Thanks for replies.
One of the problems is that some people post items which state that some Gaui ESC's have a BEC; others state that it will almost certainly NOT have one fitted. (Is there a definitive answer- I don't know!)
Some people say remove the red wire all the time from the lead to the RX; Dimension Engineering and others say don't as the ESC without a BEC will not work.
I was a little concerned, although I have been flying the Hurricane for most of this year, I got a new Gaui ESC which appears to have gone faulty after several flights; I had attached it (with the red wire connected) to the RX and I am presuming it wasn't my fault it went faulty! Before I fit the replacement (which should arrive in a few days) and I was just trying to get some good replies and advice.
Pinecone - thanks for your advice - I shall take it on board - what I thought should be a short, easy, confusion-free thread seems to have expanded a little -I don't think I am the only one confused or getting conflicting replies!

[Pinecone]

Simple. :)

If the ESC has NO BEC, it won't work with the red wire disconnected.

If the ESC works with the red wire disconnected, it HAS a BEC, and should not have the red wire connected,

EVERY manufacturer changes things, so what is correct today, is not the same as a year ago, or a year from now.

[mjdee14]

Curriemart..

the reason no one can give a difinitive answer is because Gaui has changed things so many times that we have all been proven wrong when anyone states "absolutely" something is a certain way....gaui had two different programmings on the esc one was 3 beeps for gov...the other was 4 beeps for gov....that thread went on for pages !!

The picture you posted is like no other ESC we have seen to date...the originals were made by the SAE company....

If you have your insructions.....what do they tell you...(even those have been mis-printed) for certain items....

If you have a BEC built in...then you get power when you hook up main batteries...even though the motor might not initialize... If you get no power then you ned an external bec and you do not need to cut any wires (I never cut them...just slip them out and tape, that way you can put it back in if needed later)... the only time you need to remove the wire is IF you have a built in BEC and wish to use an external one.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is......