Should a run a BEC?

[REVO-DADDY]

I am running a Novak HV 6.5 in my Hyper 8 at 4s. The Novak system has an internal BEC. It seems like it is cutting out on me here and there. I am running a decent sized servo, and 2 fans. With one fan disconnected I did not have any issue. However I have not determined that this was not a fluke. I really don't want to add something that I really don't need, but I feel like I'd be better of with a bec.

Could the Novak BEC not be supplying enough power for my needs?

[BrianG]

The Novak system has the BEC hooked to one of the two series-connected packs. As such, it isn't really affecting efficiency that much at all, but having one pack drain more than the non-BEC pack will cause uneven discharge, which is a big deal with lipos. That said, if you are having problems with the stock BEC, chances are it's being overworked and could benefit from an external UBEC (or receiver pack for that matter). Whatever you decide, it would be advisable to hook the UBEC across both packs at once for best efficiency and even battery drain.

[REVO-DADDY]

Thanks Brian. I should also mention that I was using 1 3s battery for some time and had some cutting out I concerned I may of damaged the internal bec. Can you reccomend a good bec? I see alot of them failing, and don't mind ponying up for a good one.

[BrianG]

Yeah, 3s would tax the BEC and cause overheating with decent loads. I did a test a while back, and just a 250mA load on ~3s voltage caused a substantial amount of heat really fast. A couple 5v fans alone could hit that load figure.

The CCBEC is probably the smaller, more powerful, most programmable, and cheapest of the bunch, but there have been reports of some going bad outputting full battery voltage to the servos/receiver. Most don't have that problem from what I've seen, and Patrick (from CC) said any UBEC can do that under the right circumstances. However, I have seen less reports of that type of failure with some of the other brands. A couple good ones are Koolflight, WesternRobotics, and DimensionEngineering. Those three are my favorites because they output very close to their rated voltage, have low/no noise, and retain high efficiency at higher loads.

If you search the general electric forum, I have tested several different BECs and posted the results if you are interested. Just do an advanced search for threads started by me, with the text "test" in the title only...

[REVO-DADDY]

thanks again Brian, looks like I have a little light reading tonight!

[BrianG]

lol. I just hate saying "do this" because if you have a problem, you can come back and say "your advice sucked!".

[REVO-DADDY]

I understand, but lets be honest. It's usually because they strayed somewhere between advice and execution! :) thanks again Steve