running 5S

[jworm49]

I have been thinking about running my IM31 on 5S because I don't trust the stock ESC and motor on 6S. I have heard of people doing this but I'm not sure how to go about it. The tec support guys at Horizon Hobby told me that I can't hook up a 2S and a 3S pack in series. I know I have seen posts from people saying they have done this. So what I'm wondering is if people are running 5S how are they doing it?

[lenny]

Hear some links with lots of info.

http://www.tjinguytech.com/

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost.php?p=17907405&postcount=3

[Heaving Earth]

Sure ya can, just use same batteries of different cell count.
Ex. 5000mah 40c 2s
5000mah 40c 3s

[jworm49]

That was what I was thinking too and that is the configuration of batteries that I have. It's just the guys at Horizon told me that I cant do it.

[jworm49]

I had a bad experience already at the hobby shop where I took them My ESC to have deans plugs soldered onto it. They ended up putting one of the plugs on backwards so when I hooked up the batteries nothing happened of course and the wires got very hot. I took the esc back and they re soldered the plug on the right way but when I tried to hook up the esc to make sure is everything was ok I plugged in he 3S battery and everything was fine but when I hooked up the 2S it sparked and burnt the terminals. Long story short I'm on my second ESC and not sure if trying to use a 3S pack and a 2S pack caused the problem or if it was because the esc had been damaged due to the reversed wires.

[jworm49]

thanks lenny I will look at this when I have some time.

[lenny]

It sound like they changed the plug on your esc instead of fixing the 3s cell plug the right way,
So now your 2s cell plug is reverse now.
Some of those guys at the lhs have not got a clue what they are doing,
Learn to solder it is not hard to do.
Also you should ditch the deans plugs and get 5.5 bullets for all you connections in the setup,
The deans and the stock 3mm plugs are a weak link in the setup.

[jworm49]

Lenny does it make sense to you though that the battery and esc terminals would have arced the way it did after having hooked up a battery with the polarity reversed? Could that have damaged the ESC to the point where a battery would spark as soon as it was plugged in?

[lenny]

Not sure what you have going on there at this point,
All connections spark.
The higher the voltage the bigger the spark from the caps on the esc to let you know it is working good,
Can you post some pictures or a video of what you are seeing and going on with the plugs.
Also that stock esc works on 4s and above to 6s so they say,
But I am not sure if it will work on just a 2s pack or just a 3s pack ether.
The low volt may be kicking in with those low volts.

[iop65]

capacitators don't like reverse polarity!
don't know if your esc has reverse polarity protection so you should check the caps for swelling or bursting

like lenny said; you always will get sparks and about 5s they will get noticable, it's normal

[BHChieftain]

Hi JWorm49,
Also, at 5S you should definitely get rid of the deans connectors and use 5.5mm bullet connectors-- this also removes the harness which adds a bunch of resistance.
Chief

[jworm49]

Thanks for the input guys! Chief forgive me I'm not familiar with the bullet connectors other than on the motor leads but I will look into it. Lenny sorry the short version is I took the boat to my LHS where I bought it to have deans plugs put on the esc because I bought so batteries on line that cam wired with them. The got the polarity wrong on one plug but I didn't figure that out until I hooked up batteries to it and the other lug as normal. I took it back and they reversed the plug for me I wanted to make sure everything was working so I hooked up a 3S to the plug that had been reversed to start with but was no fixed. Then I hooked a 2S to the other plug and wham huge spark resulting in scorched deans plug on the esc and nasty welded looking deans plug on the batt. So I'm wondering if the esc being bad due to the polarity being reversed the day before could have caused this or is it because I was using a 3S and a 2S instead of either 2 2S or 2 3S batteries. I was never intending to use just one 2S or one 3S sorry for the confusion and thank you again.

[Heaving Earth]

Dude what a mess. Can you post pics ov what you got going on? It sounds like you're Lhs may not be the best place to take your stuff.

[jworm49]

Sorry HE my bad at the moment the boat is back to stock as they ordered me a new ESC. Only thing I did was get some no wire EC3 to deans adaptors for the batteries that I bought.

[lenny]

So you had a 5s dead short with the 2s and 3s hooked togeter in series with the deans plugs,
Well that sucks.
All because of your LHS ignorance,
They are lucky you did not get hurt and file a lawsuit for being ass holes.