Spark Arrestor

[Chilli]

I put my electrical knowledge at just above "enough to be dangerous". I was thinking I needed a spark arrestor for my Etti 150 since I added a cap board this evening. But I don't like any more wiring in my boats than necessary. So I thought, what If I assemble a temporary jumper with a resister that goes between the battery's positive wire and the ESC. I can plug it in between the two for a few seconds to charge up the caps. Then pull it off and reconnect the pack. Or if using a 2P set up, connect the battery with the jumper. Install the second battery. Then pull the resister off the first pack.

I ran over to Radio Shack and got a 1/2 watt 33 ohm resister. I clipped some 5.5 bullets off an old nimh pack and soldered the resister on. I covered it with silicon tubing. I plan on shrink wrapping the whole thing a few times to stiffen it up. I took a pic of it with just the silicon tube to show what I did. I tested it with one 4s pack And it seems to have worked perfectly. Just want to know what you guys think. Is my theory sound or am I off my rocker?

Mike

[Ub Hauled]

MIke, are you going to leave the resistor in the main loop? You'll probably will notice a decline in speed...
the spark arrest is meant to be there to start um the batteries (a little 2.5mm plug) and then be unhooked or bypassed by a non- resisted connection...

[Chilli]

I only hooked it up for a few seconds to charge up the caps. Then I removed it and reattached the battery with no spark.

[Ub Hauled]

perfect... if the caps stay charged, I don't know if they do or not

[FloatDaBoat]

The caps hold a charge for quite a while. Back during my Basic Electric training days in the Army, one instructor would charge-up some 300 volt caps & leave them on the student lab stations. It was a shocking experience to pick one up . . . .

[Ub Hauled]

are t hose the same that are offered in the consumer market?
I know that they are going to market a car that have giant capacitors
as fuel tanks... pretty cool stuff

[sailr]

good idea! I like it better than the permanently soldered in links!

[jantagg]

To quote the technician from Castle. "The bigger the spark the better". No spark means the caps are shot so, be prepared for a ESC fire.

[Chilli]

I did some further testing and my little spark arrestor seems to work fine. Even with a 1p set up. The only time the caps drained after disconnecting the spark arrestor was when the reciever was left on. I don't know if my choice of resister is optimal, but it works.

I did do one last test without the spark arrestor to see how much more spark with the new cap board. I was surprised how large the spark was.

Tom, every time I plug in my ESC, I expect a fire

If anyone want to debate the use of a spark arrestor on this thread, have at it.
I'm all ears!!!!

[Ub Hauled]

To quote the technician from Castle. "The bigger the spark the better". No spark means the caps are shot so, be prepared for a ESC fire.

a big spark may mean the caps are working but it also hurts it... it's a big jolt.

[jantagg]

Hell, I am just a poor boat builder. I don't know beans about electricity. All I can say is that when I inquried about the subject with the Castle tech. guy, he did not recommend the use of arrestors.

[Ub Hauled]

Joe Ford not only recommended it but he suggested it for the next line of ESCs (according to him).
The person that you spoke about may have been only a sales person (no disrespect to sales people).

[Eggy]

Etti is recommending use arrestors but Castle and Schulze do not recommend them.

[Gerwin Brommer]

In the latest Schulze, the anti-spark is build-in .

[DISAR]

Etti is recommending use arrestors but Castle and Schulze do not recommend them.

MGM also recommends spark arrestors. What arrestor ETTI recommends?