No BEC at 6s or more?

[Varooom]

I am a newbie to FE so I have lots of silly questions.

The way I understand it, if running 6s or more you must run a battery for the rx and servo and not run the BEC from the ESC.

Is this correct?

I recently purchased a Futaba 4pls with rx (nice radio by the way).

Because of the telemetry function the rx does not have a power jack and uses only BEC.

What are the pros, cons of using or not using BEC.

thank you for your time,

Varooom

[srislash]

You can just run an external BEC wired in through a splitter or hard wired into one of the leads.
There is just too much of a difference in voltage at 6s or greater for a small in controller BEC to cope with. They fail eventually if not immediately.

[Chilli]

I don't know if there is a hard rule on when a external BEC or battery is required. Probably depends on the ESC. Running a receiver battery does take a little stress off the controller. I run a LiFe Reciever pack on everything except my P-Limited boats which use the Aquacraft UL1 Motor and ESC.

[Fluid]

Castle ICE LV controllers can run their internal BEC up to 8S safely. Others may need a battery or external BEC.


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[Mad Racer]

Interesting topic....

Coming from r/c car back ground I have been using BEC since they invented it over 30 yrs ago.

Since i'm new to FE boats I have this mentality that extra batteries is dead weight. I asked a few of our top guys and they all have a different opinions on this. I can see the point at 6s or higher but it depends on the quality of the esc. I'm running max of 6s in one boat and thats at 2 3S packs in my cat. I have just purchased a H/W UBEC for it as my cheap esc's don't have BEC . Also running a separate power pack it gives you a little extra adj for balance in fine tuning on the day.

Some guys swear by using a separate power supply for the rx others don't seem to worry.

Interesting to hear other opinions on this.

[rickwess]

Swordfish ESC BECs can run on 6s. I plan on using a anti-glitch cap just for piece of mind.

[Chilli]

Interesting topic....

Coming from r/c car back ground I have been using BEC since they invented it over 30 yrs ago.

Since i'm new to FE boats I have this mentality that extra batteries is dead weight. I asked a few of our top guys and they all have a different opinions on this. I can see the point at 6s or higher but it depends on the quality of the esc. I'm running max of 6s in one boat and thats at 2 3S packs in my cat. I have just purchased a H/W UBEC for it as my cheap esc's don't have BEC . Also running a separate power pack it gives you a little extra adj for balance in fine tuning on the day.

Some guys swear by using a separate power supply for the rx others don't seem to worry.

Interesting to hear other opinions on this.

Brushless motors and Lipo packs are so powerful today any small weight penalty cause by receiver packs are seldom a concern except maybe for racers in the lower power classes. Many of us that race often add extra weight in our boats anyway to keep them stable in rough water. If I can take a little stress off my ESC by using a receiver pack, I'll take the weight penalty. That's my justification but in no way does it means everyone should do it. You should take into account the purpose of the boat and how hard you are pushing your equipment.