rustyrivet

My Feedback: (6)

Was wondering if there are any dangers about buying a used ESC that appears to be working on the bench, but could cause a crash when exposed to the stresses of actual flying at the field. In particular I was thinking of buying a used Castle Phoenix Edge 160 for 12S Lipo use. As explained, is there still a concern about it having limited life left in it, though it could appear to run a test motor on the bench just fine ?

mgnostic

The two electric planes that I have personally witnessed burning up at the field were both ESC failures. So yes, they can fail. IMO there are two major factors. One is quality. One of the ESCs that failed was in a cheap ARF. It failed when the airplane had fewer than 10 flights. If you have a manufacturer who is using the cheapest available parts you are going to have a higher failure rate. Castle has been around long enough that I wouldn't worry so much about that. The other question is how hard has the unit been hammered. If it has a history of being hovered for days on end with the largest possible batter pack or run in a heavy warbird with a history of prop strikes I would be cautious. The flipside is that if it has been flying around doing touch and goes in a Cub it could have years of life left in it. ESCs are prone to failure for the same reasons as any other electronic device, Heat, vibration and current spikes are prime causes of failure.

rustyrivet

My Feedback: (6)

Thanks.
But after reading your reply, perhaps I need to rephrase my question differently. Most of us with some time in electric know even a good ESC can be destroyed if run hard, and/or too long near max, and/or poorly ventilated all to cause the "magic puff". ( yep, cheapie ESC's worse)
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Question Rephrased;
Can hidden damage in a quality Castle ESC occur accumulatively, so that it looks like new, runs fine on a bench, but is a crash waiting to happen maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon? I assume "Yes", but would like to hear from those who feel like they weren't running their plane particularly hard when the ESC went kaput!

This question of "accumulative" and unforeseen damage inside it is what concerns me about buying used ESC's which otherwise look nice & I also bench tested.