Honestly, not sure if this is the best category to put this under, as it could also go under 'Receivers', and 'Servos'. Thought I'd give it a try here, first, and see how it goes.

Anyway, I recently purchased a ProMarine Skater X2, and I noticed that both ESCs have all 3 wires (+, -, & signal) connected to Ch2 on the receiver. I mention this because, in a crawling forum I also belong to, someone recently inquired about doing a dual motor/ESC vehicle, and the consensus appears to be that one of the ESCs should have the + (red) wire removed from the ESC. ProBoat (Horizon Hobby) uses a Y-harness in twins (such as the Zelos/Miss Geico) that has 3 wires from one ESC, and only 2 wires (signal & -) from the other, going into the connector that would be plugged into the receiver. However, the Y-harness used by ProMarine appears to be a standard servo Y-harness, again, with all 3 wires from both ESCs going to the receiver.

Obviously, the ESC, via the BEC, supplies power to the receiver, and that power goes on to the servo, and any 'accessories' that might be connected (such as lights & winches on a crawler). The consensus on this other forum is that, if the + wires of both ESCs are connected to the receiver, damage could be caused...to the receiver, to the servo and/or to the ESCs. One person said that having 2 ESCs powering the receiver would double the voltage to the receiver. Someone else said that the voltage wouldn't be doubled, but that the Amperage would be doubled. Another person who commented didn't say anything about the Voltage or Amperage going into the receiver...but, he did say that the ESCs would, essentially, "fight" over sending power to the receiver, which would, sooner or later, kill at least one of the ESCs, if not both.

Honestly, while I have a moderate knowledge where electronics are concerned, I have very, very little knowledge as to the power interaction between a receiver & multiple ESCs...I REALLY need some help here. Is it safe to leave the ESCs connected at they currently are (ie. all 3 wires of BOTH ESCs going into the receiver)? or does the + (red) wire of one of the ESCs need to be removed from the receiver (and, if so, does it matter which ESC had it's + wire removed)? If one of the red wires needs to be removed from the 'configuration', instead of just cutting one of the red wires, might it be a smarter idea to replace the 'servo' Y-harness with the ProBoat Y-harness. After all, the ProBoat Y-harness appears to have been designed specifically for running dual ESCs/motors off a single receiver. The Y-harness installed by ProMarine, on the other hand, appears to be an aviation servo Y-harness, for connecting multiple servos to a single channel.

I will be emailing Mike (owner of ProMarine) directly...but, I'm going to get more info from people within this forum.


~ More peace, love, laughter, & kindness would make the world a MUCH better place