ESC Life span ?

[steve fh]

So in a perfect money no object world should ESC';s be treated as a lifed component and under go precautionary change once in a while or is a healthy ECS healthy up until the point it decides it';s not ?

I';m about to re build the Y6 and was about to use new ESC';s when i started to wonder if I should stick with 6 currently in use as they have been well tested and proved reliable and in fitting new ones I may be fitting one with a manufacturing flaw ?

As ever i';m probably over thinking things but just wondered what others thoughts were on the matter.

[nub]

i';d just use the ones you currently have, its a waste of money buying a full new set IMO

as for the life of a ESC it would probably a very long time if treated correctly.

[Jumpy07]

If it aint broke.. don';t fix it is my moto.


As long as you havent cooked the ESC';s by running them close to the limit.. or shorted wires etc... they should last a long time... 


Most motors by comparison should have new bearings fitted every 60 hours (Tiger recommendations).


That said have just replaced the ESC';s on my Hex as I could smell strong TCP smell... turned out it was one cooked ESC... just not worth the risk.. replaced the set.

[The.Quadfather]

the ESC';s are open to alot of (electrical) abuse so it';s actually a good Q to ask!

If they are well over-specced eg: using a 40Amp ESC for motors which draw say max of 20Amps, then TBH I would have thought there should be no need to regularly replace them.
Having said that, it';s still a good idea to occasionally check them for over-heating 

mechanical parts such as bearings are a different matter tho';

ps: glad I don';t have bearings made by Tiger in my car 

[kilby]

Also I discovered after a nasty crash that your mounting method can improve the survivability of an esc

Mounted with a single cable tie caused the etc to flex after a drop onto tarmac.  I now cable tie them at both ends to prevent the flexing

[guest325]

I';ve had a Jeti spin22 I';ve transferred from model to model for the past 4 years, it';s survived several oops'; s on 3D foamies but is still going strong - you get what you pay for!

[Chami82923]

If you have confidence in your current set-up, and you know you haven';t been over working your esc';s, ie running them too hot, then stick with what you have. The mosfets inside an esc will fail, but over driving them is most likely to be the cause, so if the ones you have are over specified, (30 or 40 amp for a 20 amp application) they';ll last for ever.

Callum

[Col_M]

On my discovery cruising around FPVing my total current for the whole quad is around 20A on my OSD, given that each of my ESCs are rated to 30A that';s very safe and not stressing them at all. As long as they don';t suffer too much physical abuse and aren';t stressed then once you';re past the first few hours of use they should be fine as you';re sitting in the bottom part of the failure bathtub curve.

Most of the solid state bits should be good for a long time but what probably is worth checking are cheap electrolytic caps as they like to pop or dry out over time. If you were really worried you could replace them with better good quality ones (usually made in Japan) and make sure they don';t get too warm.

Vibrations aren';t great either, if you';re really worried you can dob a bit of silicone onto any through hole components being wary of not impeding cooling.
Check for dry solder joints too, the biggest concerns would be the connecting leads and also through hole components.

I';d only go to those lengths if I was flying commercially though. For hobby flying just go with whatever works for you.

Remember though, no matter how much money you spend, how well you design something and how much QC you do you';ll always get random failures or problems, look ar Porsche cylinder scoring, Ferrari 458s catching fire, batteries on 787s catching fire  ::)