ORIGINAL: OhD
ORIGINAL: tIANci
I run my WindS 110 on 3S 4,00 mAh packs because I have a few lying about. I am using the Hyperion TiCOOL regulator and that is rated for like up to 48V. I get many more flights.
If there is a risk of your regulator smoking then its not worth the risk at all.
It is impossible to make smoke come out of the regulator unless you reverse the input polarity in which case a capacitor blows, but the regulator continues to work when you connect it properly. What does happen if you have too high a voltage drop from input to output and at the same time draw high current, is the temperature increases and if you don't keep the regulator cool, it will shut down the current to save itself. When it cools it will still work like new. With proper cooling one could run 15 volts and 5 amps but why would you want to?
It is not wise to waste power in heat. It is called poor efficiency. Aren't you guys worried about global warming?
Jim
I believe the Titan Cool BEC is a switching BEC and not a linear BEC, so there is very little waste heat generated regardless of the input voltage. However, what you do get is high frequency ripple sitting on the voltage lines and a higher component parts count.
For our uses I prefer a linear BEC over a switchmode one any day of the week and live with the losses. I do use switchmode regs in planes I can afford to lose and I have never had a problem but I just don't trust switchmode power supplies.