Do you have to remove the Red esc wire ??

[john420]

Hi I built a Hexa with WKM and RC timer 40 OPTO ESC in DJI manual it says you have to remove the red wire but i was told by some one that that is for non OPTO in OPTO You leave the red wire connected please let me know which one is correct thanks

 

[Carapau]

The red wire generally has two functions depending on how the ESC is designed. If the ESC has a built in BEC ie it can provide voltage to the receiver, then the red wire is used to provide that power. So, if this is being plugged into a receiver that already has power such as the WKM MC then you need to cut the red wire otherwise you risk damaging both the BEC in the ESC or, more importantly the BEC in the WKM system. BECs do not like running in parallel.

If the ESC has no BEC then the red wire is often used by the ESC to power the Opto part of the ESC and so the red wire is uesd to draw power from the WKM MC thus you will need to leave the red wire in place.

If the ESC is not clear as to if it has a built in BEC or not then simply power up the ESC on its own (making sure the motor leads are isolated) and put a volt meter across the red and black leads of the ESC to WKM cable. If this cable is not colour coded then the + and - leads can be identified by the plug. Look at the plug and make sure you are looking at the side where you can see parts of the pin. Looking at this side, the far right pin is - and the middle pin is + ie the one you decide to cut or not.

If you do decide to cut the red (+) wire then my advice would be to do it as near to the plug as possible. Putting on a new plug is relatively straight forward and will mean that if you upgrade ESCs later you can still use this ESC in another application etc etc

 

[john420]

The red wire generally has two functions depending on how the ESC is designed. If the ESC has a built in BEC ie it can provide voltage to the receiver, then the red wire is used to provide that power. So, if this is being plugged into a receiver that already has power such as the WKM MC then you need to cut the red wire otherwise you risk damaging both the BEC in the ESC or, more importantly the BEC in the WKM system. BECs do not like running in parallel.

If the ESC has no BEC then the red wire is often used by the ESC to power the Opto part of the ESC and so the red wire is uesd to draw power from the WKM MC thus you will need to leave the red wire in place.

If the ESC is not clear as to if it has a built in BEC or not then simply power up the ESC on its own (making sure the motor leads are isolated) and put a volt meter across the red and black leads of the ESC to WKM cable. If this cable is not colour coded then the + and - leads can be identified by the plug. Look at the plug and make sure you are looking at the side where you can see parts of the pin. Looking at this side, the far right pin is - and the middle pin is + ie the one you decide to cut or not.

If you do decide to cut the red (+) wire then my advice would be to do it as near to the plug as possible. Putting on a new plug is relatively straight forward and will mean that if you upgrade ESCs later you can still use this ESC in another application etc etc

thamks for your information but i am confused about OPTO is it non BEC or with BEC
I use this ESC http://www.rctimer.com/product_850.html

 

[T J Gilbert]

Bec

thamks for your information but i am confused about OPTO is it non BEC or with BEC
I use this ESC http://www.rctimer.com/product_850.html

The specs for your ESC explain that it has no BEC and is truly and OPTO type (like the stock DJI ESCs).
You should not be getting any power through the red wire from the ESC to other components.
If you're worried about it, john420's explanation w.r.t. checking it will work.

You should be okay leaving the red wire intact.

 

[PeteDee]

Some ESC's are also fine to use all the BEC's combined, apparently the Afro's are fine to do this with, personally I cut the wire.

Pete

 

[CdA D]

Don't cut the red wire. Just fold it back to get it out of the way incase you need it later. Use heat shrink or elec. tape. You can pull it from the connector if you release the clip that is holding it in place.

 

[paktazh]

Don't cut the red wire. Just fold it back to get it out of the way incase you need it later. Use heat shrink or elec. tape. You can pull it from the connector if you release the clip that is holding it in place.[/QUOTEso if the ESC said opto then you leave the red wire right you only caut the red wire for non opto ESc ??

 

[RichardDoty]

This an typical Brushless ESC, the red(+) and the black(-) (on the same side)are wired to the power source, the black-red-white one plugged into a receiver, am I right?

Or, could you show me the ESC you've talked about? Thank you...
View attachment 16950

 

[crcr]

The Red wire they are talking about is the one on the servo wire. This cable gets plugged into the AutoPilot controller.