Fixing a hobbywing 150a esc

[CerberusVI]

Has anyone ever replaced capictors on a hobbywing xerun 150a esc? My buddy's esc started developing cogging then later in the afternoon it decided to cog really bad and then blew a cap. I checked all the FET's and they seem fine, Nothing else blew smoke except for one of the caps.



The caps that are in it are Rubycon 35v 470uf and i was thinking of trying some Nichicon capcitors or try the rubycon's again

[Arct1k]

They won't be as close to the fets but you could just use a couple of castle cap banks on the leads.

[CerberusVI]

Do i just leave the old caps on, or would i remove them off the pcb? I would much rather buy Caps in bulk and build my own cap pack than buy a premade one.

[snellemin]

I would remove the old caps and replace them.

[CerberusVI]

Originally Posted by snellemin

I would remove the old caps and replace them.

I was thinking that at first too, but the Hobbywing 150a esc has a weird dual PCB to it and getting to the caps and solder pads underneath look like a huge pain. Nothing like a Castle esc, which in this case would be super easy

[BrianG]

You generally want at least some caps as close to the FETs as possible. So, despite the pain, I would try if at all possible. Adding an external cap back would probably be a good idea even if you do replace them as it will spread the load more evenly so the ESC caps won't have to work so hard and will last longer.