ESC broken?

Post anything that does not fit into any of the other forums.
Post Reply
Grandad
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts: 233
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 6:11 pm
Name: Ian Green
Car: Ford Focus Estate

ESC broken?

Post by Grandad »

Hello,
Continuing with our theme of breaking things, last Saturday Ryan's car ground to a halt because the middle of the three motor connectors pulled out of the body of the esc.
Is it possible to dismantle these things and resolder?
Regards
Ian
Attachments
esc.jpg
Eddystone
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 145
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:03 pm
Name: Richard Dobson
Car: Tamiya TA05v2IFS

Re: ESC broken?

Post by Eddystone »

Hi Ian,

That looks like a manufacturing fault - is there no chance of returning to the supplier for a replacement?

Other than that a repair would probably be possible if you can get inside. Is the case screwed together, clipped together, or sonic welded / glued? My guess looking at the picture is it might be glued, if so it's going to take some careful cutting with a sharp Stanley knife to split the case open again along the join line.

If it can't be returned for replacement I'd investigate how the case has been sealed. Screw fitting should be easy enough to see - though they may sometimes be hidden beneath stickers. If it's clip fit then a knife blade inserted into the join line of the case should go in relatively easily, the thickness of the blade itself is often all it needs to spring the tiny plastic clips holding it together. As I said previously, if its been glued / sonic welded you are going to have to carefully cut your way in.

What make / model is that ESC? Maybe a search of the internet may come up with other people who have had a similar problem - and hopefully a solution.

Take care!

Richard
Grandad
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts: 233
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 6:11 pm
Name: Ian Green
Car: Ford Focus Estate

Re: ESC broken?

Post by Grandad »

Hello Richard, thanks for your comments.

The esc is a hobbywing ezrun sc10. Sean and I decided to try and take it to bits to have a look.
IMG_0063.jpg
Its a bit out of focus, but you can just about see the small brass coloured circle in the middle of the solder land. It seems as though the brass connector tubes are probably mechanically secured or riveted through the pcb before final soldering. The tube that pulled out has got a small hole ripped out in the bottom to match that visible in the picture.

We didn't try any further disassembly, the lower plastic case seemed to be glued/potted or molded into place.

We did try and resolder the tube , but struggled to get enough heat into the joint. It worked for a while then came loose again.
So I guess its the junk box for that already!
Regards
Ian
Eddystone
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 145
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:03 pm
Name: Richard Dobson
Car: Tamiya TA05v2IFS

Re: ESC broken?

Post by Eddystone »

HI Ian,

Looking at the picture I'd try a repair by melting a blob of solder onto the end of chisel tip soldering iron. Then try to transfer the "blob" onto the broken contact on the circuit board with the minimum possible contact time between the iron and the board to minimise the chances of desoldering other parts of the circuit board. If I'd successfully got the blob onto the contact I'd let it all cool down fully to prevent heat build up. Next get hold of the tube with the tips of a pair of fine nosed pliers. Next pre-heat the tube as hot as possible by holding the soldering iron tip to the side of it and then quickly put it into position on the "blob" on the board, hopefully just a second or two more heat from the soldering iron to the side of the tube will melt the blob and fix the tube in place again. Then I'd get hold of some ShoeGoo type glue and build up some support round all three tubes by gluing them in place to help stop them pulling off again. It may not be pretty in the end but if it works who cares? No point sticking it in the junk box until it's well and truely knackered beyond repair!!

Richard
Grandad
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts: 233
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 6:11 pm
Name: Ian Green
Car: Ford Focus Estate

Re: ESC broken?

Post by Grandad »

Hello Richard, thanks again for suggestions.

We had another go resoldering the tube, my usual iron on the left is about 45W with a 'number 7' temperature bit fitted, the one on the right is about 125W. By using them both together we finally managed what looked like a fairly convincing joint.
solder.jpg
Next problem was squeezing it all in the mad rat. We used the big iron to unsolder the red and black battery leads and refit them horizontally on the esc battery terminals. Then we found that the inline plugs on the motor leads didn't allow the cables to bend sufficiently to fit under the body shell. So we tried unsoldering the plugs from the leads and resoldered them with the wires at right-angles. Although this gave the required body shell clearance, we ruined one of the plugs by allowing excess solder to run down into the springy part of the plug which had the effect of making it intermittent, so we ended up soldering the motor wires directly to the esc tubes as shown below.
open.jpg
Then we roughly cut a hole in the body shell to give a bit of room for the fan. We tried running it without the fan and it got very hot very quickly!
closed.jpg
Regards
Ian
Grandad
Expert Member
Expert Member
Posts: 233
Joined: Mon May 28, 2012 6:11 pm
Name: Ian Green
Car: Ford Focus Estate

Re: ESC broken?

Post by Grandad »

I guess we've got it to the stage where its useable. I believe Sean finished second in his final and the car is still in one piece.
Remarkable !

regards
Ian
Post Reply