Battery lead length

[jimmyhorns]

A little while ago there was a thread where advice was given on the maximum safe length of cable run from a battery to an esc.

I cant seem to find it, and think what I have in mind may be pushing my luck...

Can anyone point me in the right direction to either the thread or the info?..

Its for a 12S setup with a Kosmik 160

Thanks

[kenny d]

Could be wrong !! but I think the larger the cable the less resistance , IE the larger the diameter of the cable the longer you can safely run it , there would only be a max length of cable at a given diameter , what the cable is made from also affects the resistance

[trillian]

Could be wrong !! but I think the larger the cable the less resistance , IE the larger the diameter of the cable the longer you can safely run it , there would only be a max length of cable at a given diameter , what the cable is made from also affects the resistance

Resistance isn't the problem in this case. I do remember there was a rule of thumb about max battery wire length but I don't remember what it is. Most ESCs have about 4 or 5 inches of battery lead and then the batteries themselves have a similar length of wire. A little more usually isn't a problem. For much longer wiring you can add an external bank of caps. I'm not sure if there's anything specific to the Kosmik that would be an issue.

[Mark_T]

Most of the debate was around the time that the Castle ICE ESC's were failing and Castle was putting out information about the need to reduce voltage ripple by keeping the wires within a certain length.

If you need longer wires though look at installing additional capacitors on the input wires next to the ESC so they reduce the ripple.

Castle Creations | CC CapPack

[p4ddy]

My batt to esc leads are about 10m long, I have extra leads to reduce the bullet size.

[SGD]

My batt to esc leads are about 10m long, I have extra leads to reduce the bullet size.

10m p4ddy? What do you do, leave the battery on the ground when you fly?

[jimmyhorns]

Hmm, I think its to do with capacitance...

But then the more I read, the more confused I get. Im trying to come up with a neat and tidy layout for the forza 700, while still allowing the canopy on and off easily, ideally being able to plug in with the canopy on.... back to the drawing board!

[ghost2212]

Adding extra wire length will add capacitance as well as resistance, This can cause problems because not only are you losing more power and voltage in the wires from the battery to the ESC but because they act capacitively as the motor is being switched off and on at high switching rates the wires can hold a voltage as such and release it, This then causes both voltage and current spikes which aren't good for the Capacitors on the ESC or the FET's/Gate drivers and could cause some big issues.

Keep them as short as possible would be my advice, You'll gain more performance and stress the electronics far less!