*** proflight ESC failures ***

[Cloudbuster]

hi all... not one to slate others products but felt the need to make all aware of potential problems with pro flight ESC';s... out tonight doing some test flight with a new gimbal on a hex and on second power up of the evening one of the ESC';s caught fire !!! luckily it was within easy reach and was able to extinguish the fire before the 2.5 grand hex was destroyed !!! this is the 3rd failure in as many months i have had with these ESC';s and i will not be taking any chances with these anymore and all pro flight esc';s will be removed from any of my current fleet immediately !!! hope this is of use and hopefully will save anyone else from having a potential disaster.

regards rob 

[guest325]

I hate to say it but why put cheap esc';s on such an expensive model?
On planes I would be using Jeti esc';s - no idea if they would work ok on multis but would have thought these should be ok:
http://www.electricwingman.com/tiger-motor-esc.aspx

[Cloudbuster]

I hate to say it but why put cheap esc';s on such an expensive model?
On planes I would be using Jeti esc';s - no idea if they would work ok on multis but would have thought these should be ok:
http://www.electricwingman.com/tiger-motor-esc.aspx

ur absolutely right !!! bought a load of these last year and now wish i had ';nt ... tis still a bit of a minefield with multi ESC because of the high refresh rates required but the chaff is slowly being weeded out. have tried all sorts so far, the DJI otto';s are very reliable but now discontinued, The DYS otto';s seem to be also very reliable and run very cool !!! also afro are ok on smaller stuff... i am sure we will see some better modular solutions in the near future !!!

regards rob 

[fruitsalad]

pro-flight escs....better known as rc-timer escs just rebadged..at over twice the price..

[dockman]

Jeti make multirotor specific ESC';s  http://www.electricwingman.com/jeti-multicopter-esc.aspx

Hobbywing also make some good stuff, I use their platinum pro ESC';s in my AP rig.

[teslahed]

Personally I';d struggle to pay upwards of £30 per ESC given how many you need but you can definitely do better than proflight. As fruitsalad points out - they are nothing special except the name and the price.

I like the Afro ESCs - get some nice high current rated ones and they should do the job. Or hobbyking F30as (or higher current equivalents). If you want cheap.

[nub]

have you said anything to proflight about the ESC';s?

personally i';d be pulling them up on they';re facebook page.

[Cloudbuster]

have you said anything to proflight about the ESC';s?

personally i';d be pulling them up on they';re facebook page.

to be honest they have been very helpful and always send out replacements but three in three months, clearly there is a problem with them. last night failure properly caught fire which is very bad !!!

regards rob

[teslahed]

If ESCs catch fire that can sometimes be down to dodgy firmware.

Reflashing them all with the latest version of SimonK might help keep them usable for longer. If proflight are flashing theirs and have made a small mistake with the firmware then that could cause them to spontaneously catch fire.

The only reason to doubt this explanation is that usually if you get the firmware wrong they go up in flames immediately, not several months down the line.

Sometimes later versions of SimonK run better due to improvements and bug fixes anyway so it could be worth giving it a try.

[nub]

that';s really weird i';ve heard of it happening but don';t quite get how something in the firmware would do something like that, very strange indeed.

at least they';ve been helpful but its not really much good if you lose a pile of equipment because of the ESC failing.

[guest325]

Personally I';d struggle to pay upwards of £30 per ESC given how many you need but you can definitely do better than proflight.

Jeti esc';s will never let you down, and you don';t need to allow headroom with them - they just work and work......and work!!!

[Hands0n]

Jeti esc';s will never let you down, and you don';t need to allow headroom with them - they just work and work......and work!!!

For that kind of serious money the use would have to be professional or semi-pro.  Even on a good day I psychologically could not bring myself to pay that much for an ESC, even if they do go on until the second coming    

But for pro use I wouldn';t want any lesser recommendation