Smoke stopper

Racing Quads, Self-builds & FPV
1

Im in the middle of repairing my Nazgul, iv replaced an arm and a motor to date and just thought id power it up[ via a smoke stopper just to be on the safe side…

I tripped straight away so I started a little fault finding and disconnected the FC from the ESC and tried again. It tripped, so I’m wondering if the battery I’m using would cause this as its not a fully charged 1?.

If no then its just a case of un-soldering the motor 1 by 1 and basically stripping back to bare bones and keep testing till I’m just left with components.

2

Is your smoke stopper on 1A or 2A setting Nick?

3

Also have you double checked the Vista wiring? Im sure you had the same issue on one of your other builds with the Vista wiring? :thinking:

4

Iv tried both mate still trips it …

5

Sorry my bad, this was a pre built 1 I brought, I have the new 1 at work as to putting the motors on in my dinner hour…

1 Like
6

So you have the fc fully disconnected and only motors connected to the esc board now? Are all the motors free spinning by hand? No screws touching the stator of the motors?

7

Heres a Bardwell video on using smoke stoppers and how sometimes they dont always tell you the truth lol

8

Yah all spinning fine, never checked for screws touching the wiring so will give them a good coat of looking at … :+1:t3:

9

So remove everything else and just check your ESC and motor wiring with a continuity tester.

GND and VBAT should NOT have continuity to any motor pad or each other. You may get slight beeps between them as the capacitor charges/discharges.

Motor pads should HAVE continuity to both of the other pads on the same motor. This is through the motor coils, so if you remove the motor then there should be no continuity.

Motor pads should NOT have continuity to any other motor pads on different motors.

If any of that is not as it should be, then you may have a busted ESC. Do a visual check of the components, any burn marks etc could be the problem.

2 Likes
10

Was just about to post this Bardwell video on exactly the same thing but @Yith beat me too it lol I will post it anyway as sometimes its good to have a visual reference to help :+1:t2:

1 Like
11

Well unfortunately 2 of my do hence I can only imagine its a new ESC for me :sob:

Im thinking the 2 bottom ones :skull:

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12

As iv now got to change my ESC can I use any ??? the reason I ask is they seem really hard to get hold of so would be great to be able to use any …

below is my FC, I think Iv found the right one for it on UNman

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13

Sure. As long as you wire it up correctly.

14

Hmm maybe thats why its best to stick with the same brand as its plug and play…

I know its lazy :man_shrugging:t3:

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Main power pads are bridged.

16

Good spot Deano :+1:t2:

1 Like
17

They certainly look like they are but that’s how it came due to the Nazgul being BF…

Iv never had a problem to date, unless something moved (other than my sphincter)when I hit the bottom of the cooling tower ??..

Oh yah nearly forgot I did a continuity test via the pig tale and all was ok …

18

Get some IPA and a cotton swab and clean it up and have a closer inspection, it might just be dirt making it look like its bridged.

Continuity test between the pins of the power pigtail will also give you a better idea. (Make sure everything is disconnected from the ESC first)

Also a short beep followed by nothing means it’s fine (that’s just the capacitor) If its a long continuous beep then their is 100% a short somwhere on the ESC.

19

Well I now officially having more on the bench than I do in the air x a very long list of spares I need to order…

20

I’ve just edited my previous post with more info :+1:t2: