My capacitor came off my trex 500 esc

[eseerk]

Well, I have less than 10 flights on my new 500e and I find one of my capacitors on the ground I am not happy I can't figure out why this happened. I have only hovered and done some lazy eights so far. Looking at the capacitor and the esc it appears they are poorly soldered on and there does not appear to be much to solder to. Have any of you guys ever had this problem before? Is it common? How good is align about replacing these? Or, should I just get a different esc all together? Help

Thanks!

Ken

[flerpie]

Take advantage of any warranty you may have. You might also just want
to get another ESC and cut the wait time. Then when your stock ESC gets
replaced you'll have a spare. But poor solder is fairly common in alot
of places, not just esc capacitors.

[eseerk]

Originally Posted by flerpie

Take advantage of any warranty you may have. You might also just want
to get another ESC and cut the wait time. Then when your stock ESC gets
replaced you'll have a spare.

Yeah...I was thinking that too. Is there another esc comparably priced that you would recommend?

[flerpie]

Not really, other than Castle Creations 100Amp. There's been recalls
on CC products too but I think the bugs have been worked out now.
I've got a cheaper Turnigy 85A ESC on the way but I can't say I'd
recommend it, it's just cheaper is all.

[flerpie]

Maybe someone @ your flying field can resolder it for you if you're
not comfortable doing that. Might be easier than dealing with an
offshore warranty situation...if that's what it is. I'd solder it for you
but you're on the right coast...I'm in Alaska...so that's a waste...LOL.

[eseerk]

Originally Posted by flerpie

Maybe someone @ your flying field can resolder it for you if you're
not comfortable doing that. Might be easier than dealing with an
offshore warranty situation...if that's what it is. I'd solder it for you
but you're on the right coast...I'm in Alaska...so that's a waste...LOL.

Thanks flerpie for the offer Yeah..that would be too far to drive. I may just do the solder thing depending on what the people say tomorrow. Looking at the cc forum makes me have concerns about their product as well. I am thinking I might just get another align....I don't know.

[Deet]

The CC issues are really just with the HV line, the 75/100A ICE ESC's are fine

[jcflyer]

Originally Posted by eseerk

Well, I have less than 10 flights on my new 500e and I find one of my capacitors on the ground I am not happy I can't figure out why this happened. I have only hovered and done some lazy eights so far. Looking at the capacitor and the esc it appears they are poorly soldered on and there does not appear to be much to solder to. Have any of you guys ever had this problem before? Is it common? How good is align about replacing these? Or, should I just get a different esc all together? Help

Thanks!

Ken

I found the same thing on one of my Align ESC's, you can just solder the cap back on. Or you can get another ESC, if you choose to put it back on make sure you get it on correctly, there is a positive and a negitive side. PM me for more info.

Jay

[Steve Evans]

Not sure why the soldering is bad on these ESCs, but anything with a RoHS sticker on it means lead free solder has been used which gives rise to a host of problems such as brittle joints, metallurgy issues with PCB plating. Somebody in Align QA will be in a sweat about this!

Steve

[eseerk]

i kinda stretched my favor with the wife to even get this 500 so she is not ready to let me buy another esc So, now comes the delayed gratification I guess unless I can make something happen with this esc. I am not very confident that sending it back to the manufacturer is going to be the solution seeing the guys at my lhs thought it appeared to be knocked off. How...I do not know. I have been very cautious with this NEW heli. The leads on the capacitor and the esc itself is sooo short that there appears to be nothing to solder to. Have any of you guys been successful at soldering these things back on?

[jcflyer]

Originally Posted by eseerk

i kinda stretched my favor with the wife to even get this 500 so she is not ready to let me buy another esc So, now comes the delayed gratification I guess unless I can make something happen with this esc. I am not very confident that sending it back to the manufacturer is going to be the solution seeing the guys at my lhs thought it appeared to be knocked off. How...I do not know. I have been very cautious with this NEW heli. The leads on the capacitor and the esc itself is sooo short that there appears to be nothing to solder to. Have any of you guys been successful at soldering these things back on?

PM sent.

jay

[eseerk]

So, I spoke with Assurance Rc and they gave me a return number and address. It appears to be good news for me since I am within the 90 day window. I will keep you all posted. Thx!

[Blayd]

Originally Posted by flerpie

Not really, other than Castle Creations 100Amp. There's been recalls
on CC products too but I think the bugs have been worked out now.
I've got a cheaper Turnigy 85A ESC on the way but I can't say I'd
recommend it, it's just cheaper is all.

I have two of these as spares....( the Turnigy 85A ESC's) Since my Castle 100A had to go in for repairs, ( 3 months old..) the Turnigy has been in its place. So far its working fine aside from the non existent soft start.. it seems to be holding well. The on / off switch makes me alittle nervous though. I use mine with a Castle 10A BEC.
Excuse my lack of knowledge here..but, I was under the impression the capacitors ( the large ones?) were for RF noise reduction only?

[jcflyer]

Originally Posted by Blayd

I have two of these as spares....( the Turnigy 85A ESC's) Since my Castle 100A had to go in for repairs, ( 3 months old..) the Turnigy has been in its place. So far its working fine aside from the non existent soft start.. it seems to be holding well. The on / off switch makes me alittle nervous though. I use mine with a Castle 10A BEC.
Excuse my lack of knowledge here..but, I was under the impression the capacitors ( the large ones?) were for RF noise reduction only?

They are caps for the power supply which regulates switching.

Jay

[AlphaCharlie]

I was thinking I had seen this mentioned somewhere before. Could some hot melt glue around the caps perhaps provide some stress relief (as a preventative measure for those who's caps are still intact)?

Cheers,

AC

[flerpie]

Originally Posted by Blayd

I have two of these as spares....( the Turnigy 85A ESC's) Since my Castle 100A had to go in for repairs, ( 3 months old..) the Turnigy has been in its place. So far its working fine aside from the non existent soft start.. it seems to be holding well. The on / off switch makes me alittle nervous though. I use mine with a Castle 10A BEC.
Excuse my lack of knowledge here..but, I was under the impression the capacitors ( the large ones?) were for RF noise reduction only?

I'm gonna take the on/off switch out of the loop. I was surprised to find it.
Not many ESCs have an on/off switch inline with the BEC.

[eseerk]

Well, AssuranceRc came through for me I mailed my old esc to them, they received it on Wednesday of last week and I received my new esc in the mail today. So, big thanks to Tim at AssuranceRC and the team there I have added some shrink tube around my capacitors for some extra insurance. I hope this works. So, Align does have some type of warranty that appears to work at least for the first 90 days. Now, back to flying

[JayDee]

Originally Posted by AlphaCharlie

I was thinking I had seen this mentioned somewhere before. Could some hot melt glue around the caps perhaps provide some stress relief (as a preventative measure for those who's caps are still intact)?

Cheers,

AC

Was suggested to me by a club member. That was 2 ESC's ago, and I will be doing it soon on my ESC again. If anything, will add some stability.
I see it like an injured finger - plenty of doctors will take the next finger to it to offer support.

[phobix]

Having a capacitor fall off is like having one of your jewels fall off, it's a bad situation . All kidding a side you can use hot glue to secure the caps from moving.

[AlphaCharlie]

Originally Posted by JayDee

Was suggested to me by a club member. That was 2 ESC's ago, and I will be doing it soon on my ESC again. If anything, will add some stability.
I see it like an injured finger - plenty of doctors will take the next finger to it to offer support.

Originally Posted by phobix

Having a capacitor fall off is like having one of your jewels fall off, it's a bad situation . All kidding a side you can use hot glue to secure the caps from moving.

I think it's good insurance. I will be doing it to mine at build time.

Cheers,

AC