Cap pack or not?

[Vulthraxis]

Ill start here so you can more under stand why you should run one for your ESC rated for your setup.

Next if you want to get nerdy here is Info on how they work and purpose.

 

[byte2600]

All ESC's have built-in Caps. You may see them or not. But they are there. Some are externally visible. The smaller ESC's have them external because of size constraints. Adding a Cap pack to high drawing powered setups is an advantage sometimes. It will keep the stock caps cooler to an extent. Cap packs are no substitute for bad gearing and higher resulting temps. Cap packs don't make you faster or add more power. And Caps are not snake oil They just make the ESC more efficient and ever so slightly cooler. Less Ripple volts. And ripple volts should always be below 10% of your lipo's voltage. (if you have a Castle ESC that shows ripple logs it becomes more apparent to see this.) Just my spin. Others may have differing thoughts.

I think buying anything in the wrong context could qualify as “snake oil”. They have very specific uses and everything hinges on is what you are told they do or what you believe they do. If they are selling more speed, longer runtimes, cooling then yes they are absolutely misrepresenting what cap packs are used for. If your after smoothing out voltage sag out of batteries or spikes killing components then they could be of some use. That also depends on getting the right caps for your use case as caps for A won’t fix B. As some mentioned that filtering to get better vex signal is a great use. I am newer to the RC car scene though have done drones and planes. Has anyone fooled around with super capacitors as a case test scenario. I imagine it would be an issue of size, charge time as to benefit. The only real case I see that could help badgers or speed runners if you have to low of C batteries. I would however buy better batteries rather than going down that road. Only the very top speed runners would ever use them and I doubt they would have much benefit. Would have to see before and after logs.

 

[Diem Turner]

I think buying anything in the wrong context could qualify as “snake oil”. They have very specific uses and everything hinges on is what you are told they do or what you believe they do. If they are selling more speed, longer runtimes, cooling then yes they are absolutely misrepresenting what cap packs are used for. If your after smoothing out voltage sag out of batteries or spikes killing components then they could be of some use. That also depends on getting the right caps for your use case as caps for A won’t fix B. As some mentioned that filtering to get better vex signal is a great use. I am newer to the RC car scene though have done drones and planes. Has anyone fooled around with super capacitors as a case test scenario. I imagine it would be an issue of size, charge time as to benefit. The only real case I see that could help badgers or speed runners if you have to low of C batteries. I would however buy better batteries rather than going down that road. Only the very top speed runners would ever use them and I doubt they would have much benefit. Would have to see before and after logs.

I suspect that claims of more speed, longer runtimes or cooling are more likely to come from Youtubers/content creators or forum quacks and I'll go out on a limb that most manufacturers know better than to make wildly inaccurate claims such as this. I've never been given the impression that cap packs do anything other than lower and smooth out ripple voltage. Here are two logs using a Castle MMX8S with a CC 1520 motor pre and post cap pack installation. Both logs are from outings with fairly conservative 27/34 gearing. I'm not anywhere near the top of the rung speed runners and even I see benefits in running a cap pack (how much benefit they provide will be determined largely on what ESC you're using, how it is constructed and what components are used; Castle's XLX2, by comparison, does very well without a cap pack). Batteries used in both runs were two G-Ace 11000mAh 4S packs in series. Just to be clear, I'm not claiming any performance benefits, merely pointing to a reduction in ripple voltage by well over 60% which, if nothing else, should help protect the ESC.

 

[Zarghoonalizada]

If you’re new to the world of capacitors, then this comprehensive guide is for you! In this article, we will discuss the basics of what capacitors do, as well as some more advanced concepts