Kraton Dented, leaking ESC capacitor

[iLikeRCs]

Yes, it is electrolyte inside the caps.. let's not lick it..... You have a higher risk of cancer putting your cell phone to your ear...

Isopropyl alcohol will not react with electrolyte.. especially if it's just on a q-tip...

I've ruptured brand new caps to verify, and they were wiped, with no reaction, and then submerged in a bath of it, with no reaction..


Yes, that should work...multiple coats might prove to be best... but time is of the essence no matter the approach.. once that electrolyte starts to dry it will be game over...

Probably want the conformal coating then as i have that here. How much time do I have? It's dark now and I don't have a UV light so it wouldn't dry until the morning

 

[iLikeRCs]

Yes, it is electrolyte inside the caps.. let's not lick it..... You have a higher risk of cancer putting your cell phone to your ear...

Isopropyl alcohol will not react with electrolyte.. especially if it's just on a q-tip...

I've ruptured brand new caps to verify, and they were wiped, with no reaction, and then submerged in a bath of it, with no reaction..


Yes, that should work...multiple coats might prove to be best... but time is of the essence no matter the approach.. once that electrolyte starts to dry it will be game over...

Maybe even CA glue if 10h until it cures is too much time?

 

[Camaroboy383]

Maybe even CA glue if 10h until it cures is too much time?

It's not so much cure time, it's just about encapsulation of the electrolyte.. as long as it can't see air, you should be good..

 

[iLikeRCs]

It's not so much cure time, it's just about encapsulation of the electrolyte.. as long as it can't see air, you should be good..

I put a dab of thick CA glue over the tiny crack, sprayed it with activator. When it was dry I applied conformal coating, now gonna put it outside for it to dry as soon as the sun comes up tomorrow

 

[iLikeRCs]

It's not so much cure time, it's just about encapsulation of the electrolyte.. as long as it can't see air, you should be good..

Update, seems to work fine, just hoping it will last. Would adding an external cappack help in supporting the caps that are on there?

 

[Camaroboy383]

Update, seems to work fine, just hoping it will last. Would adding an external cappack help in supporting the caps that are on there?

Highly doubt it.. I beleive if it's going to fail, it's going to fail regardless of how many caps are present..

 

[TL01magic]

here is a great link with TONS of detail

I think it could well be fine, but for sure would have less capacitance now.

The caps are to mitigate voltage ripple. I do not understand ripple (what causes it) but believe it's related to voltage drop from high power draw (like speed runs) sustained while battery voltage drops.


Anyways, best thing I can think of is frequently check if the damaged Cap is getting hot. biggest risk imo is cap pops and short circuits esc. (fails closed, opposite of a fuse, which are designed to fail open)

best case is it eventually dries out and esr gets so high the capacitor just stops working.

if it were me I would be trying to remove damaged cap gently so that the capacitors leads stay in the PCB....then I would solder new cap onto those leads. it'd look janky, be comparatively fragile BUT you could make it neat and tidy.

If going that route, as always the case with caps, keep the leads as short as possible.


not to push you into a brand, but read here recently that Castle Creations takes "trade ins" of all sorts including broken esc from other brands. Also, they would likely offer a reasonable suggestion for you if ya ask them for advice. Anyways just mentioning the trade in thing to highlight even if your ESC totally craps out it may still have "some value".

 

[slick2500]

here is a great link with TONS of detail

I think it could well be fine, but for sure would have less capacitance now.

The caps are to mitigate voltage ripple. I do not understand ripple (what causes it) but believe it's related to voltage drop from high power draw (like speed runs) sustained while battery voltage drops.


Anyways, best thing I can think of is frequently check if the damaged Cap is getting hot. biggest risk imo is cap pops and short circuits esc. (fails closed, opposite of a fuse, which are designed to fail open)

best case is it eventually dries out and esr gets so high the capacitor just stops working.

if it were me I would be trying to remove damaged cap gently so that the capacitors leads stay in the PCB....then I would solder new cap onto those leads. it'd look janky, be comparatively fragile BUT you could make it neat and tidy.

If going that route, as always the case with caps, keep the leads as short as possible.


not to push you into a brand, but read here recently that Castle Creations takes "trade ins" of all sorts including broken esc from other brands. Also, they would likely offer a reasonable suggestion for you if ya ask them for advice. Anyways just mentioning the trade in thing to highlight even if your ESC totally craps out it may still have "some value".

Hobbywing takes trade ins too.

 

[TL01magic]

Hobbywing takes trade ins too.

That's awesome!!! I have a broken blx 6s ESC...I wonder what kind of discount it offers with trade in to either Hobbywing or CC.

So cool that they do that.

 

[slick2500]

That's awesome!!! I have a broken blx 6s ESC...I wonder what kind of discount it offers with trade in to either Hobbywing or CC.

So cool that they do that.

In another thread someone said that Hobbywing offered them $50 for their VXL 8s esc.

 

[iLikeRCs]

here is a great link with TONS of detail

I think it could well be fine, but for sure would have less capacitance now.

The caps are to mitigate voltage ripple. I do not understand ripple (what causes it) but believe it's related to voltage drop from high power draw (like speed runs) sustained while battery voltage drops.


Anyways, best thing I can think of is frequently check if the damaged Cap is getting hot. biggest risk imo is cap pops and short circuits esc. (fails closed, opposite of a fuse, which are designed to fail open)

best case is it eventually dries out and esr gets so high the capacitor just stops working.

if it were me I would be trying to remove damaged cap gently so that the capacitors leads stay in the PCB....then I would solder new cap onto those leads. it'd look janky, be comparatively fragile BUT you could make it neat and tidy.

If going that route, as always the case with caps, keep the leads as short as possible.


not to push you into a brand, but read here recently that Castle Creations takes "trade ins" of all sorts including broken esc from other brands. Also, they would likely offer a reasonable suggestion for you if ya ask them for advice. Anyways just mentioning the trade in thing to highlight even if your ESC totally craps out it may still have "some value".

Would the ESC breaking like that break anything else too?

here is a great link with TONS of detail

I think it could well be fine, but for sure would have less capacitance now.

The caps are to mitigate voltage ripple. I do not understand ripple (what causes it) but believe it's related to voltage drop from high power draw (like speed runs) sustained while battery voltage drops.


Anyways, best thing I can think of is frequently check if the damaged Cap is getting hot. biggest risk imo is cap pops and short circuits esc. (fails closed, opposite of a fuse, which are designed to fail open)

best case is it eventually dries out and esr gets so high the capacitor just stops working.

if it were me I would be trying to remove damaged cap gently so that the capacitors leads stay in the PCB....then I would solder new cap onto those leads. it'd look janky, be comparatively fragile BUT you could make it neat and tidy.

If going that route, as always the case with caps, keep the leads as short as possible.


not to push you into a brand, but read here recently that Castle Creations takes "trade ins" of all sorts including broken esc from other brands. Also, they would likely offer a reasonable suggestion for you if ya ask them for advice. Anyways just mentioning the trade in thing to highlight even if your ESC totally craps out it may still have "some value".

Also...wouldn't an external cappack add the lost capacitance back and add some more? I have two here so it really wouldn't be an issue to just add it..

 

[TL01magic]

Would the ESC breaking like that break anything else too?

Also...wouldn't an external cappack add the lost capacitance back and add some more? I have two here so it really wouldn't be an issue to just add it..

I have no idea what else could fail if ESC failed.

I do think adding more capacitance would be a good thing. (presuming the cappack is same or higher voltage rating than what is on the ESC itself.

from reading I did, the more headroom the ESC has the better (with respect to being able to handle voltage ripple / spikes)

so if your esc is good for 6s, it helps if you instead only use if for less than 6s. apparently peeps who fly ultra lights back in the day would delete ESC capacitors but run it well below ESC max voltage.

issue is voltage spikes from induction induced in wire between battery and ESC. ESCs "main" component is their power transistors which are easily spoiled by too high voltage. The capacitors "smooth out" those voltage spikes.

just me but I would be searching / asking flyer RC forums or even robotics / electronics repair forums for best advice.

 

[iLikeRCs]

I have no idea what else could fail if ESC failed.

I do think adding more capacitance would be a good thing. (presuming the cappack is same or higher voltage rating than what is on the ESC itself.

from reading I did, the more headroom the ESC has the better (with respect to being able to handle voltage ripple / spikes)

so if your esc is good for 6s, it helps if you instead only use if for less than 6s. apparently peeps who fly ultra lights back in the day would delete ESC capacitors but run it well below ESC max voltage.

issue is voltage spikes from induction induced in wire between battery and ESC. ESCs "main" component is their power transistors which are easily spoiled by too high voltage. The capacitors "smooth out" those voltage spikes.

just me but I would be searching / asking flyer RC forums or even robotics / electronics repair forums for best advice.

Alright, that means adding an external cappack will help as its purpose is exactly that: smoothing out voltage spikes

Running on lower than 6s isn't really an option as I need this ESC for my Kraton and 4s is 1. Boring and 2. I don't have it lol

 

[TL01magic]

Alright, that means adding an external cappack will help as its purpose is exactly that: smoothing out voltage spikes

Running on lower than 6s isn't really an option as I need this ESC for my Kraton and 4s is 1. Boring and 2. I don't have it lol

I think you'll be fine since adding the cappack