Should I fuse a Sabertooth 2x5 ESC.

[dozerbuilder]

Hi guys, dozerbuilder here. Two requests for help if I may:

(1) I've got 3 sabertooths on my build, one 2x32 on the drive motors and two 2x5's, one on blade lift and tilt and the other on a 4 barrel ripper. The 2x5's operate Firgelli L16's (4 on the ripper). The drive motors and blade work fine off the Turnigy 9XR pro through a receiver wired up exactly as per DE's instructions with the dip switches set to RC mode, that is, No1 OFF and the other 5 ON.

I plugged up the ripper 2x5 (not to the receiver yet - I didn't even get around to connecting the three wires from the ESC to the RX (from 0V and S1 and S2) and the blue light did not come on but it blew the 8amp 12v 20A/H battery fuse I have in place. Searched carefully for a problem, couldn't find one so installed a new fuse and blew the fuse again. Spent several hours with test lights and could not find a problem. Connected up the 2x5 again, nothing, this time no fuse blown but the ESC is dead. I've proved it has power at the ESC + and neg on the ESC, but goes no further.

Any ideas where to go would be greatly appreciated. DE said to send it back and I have and bought another in the meantime locally to keep me going but I don't want to blow another, if I'm doing it wrong.

(2) Another question - should I fuse the 2x5 somewhere? As mentioned, I've got a fuse close to the battery -wondering if I can protect the 2x5 by fusing it somewhere? What fuse rating?

Thanks in advance.

[Lil Giants]

Pictures speak clearer than words...

I don't run any fuses in any models & the one pictured above has 6esc's under the hood.

Are you connecting all your esc's to a bus bar to power them?

Every bared wired you strip, do you solder the ends so there's absolutely zero chance of a single strand of a frayed wire going into a Sabertooth to create a cross polarity?!... that'd be my immediate determination of what happened to you.

It's grounding out somewhere... do you have a wire or a shrink tube covering that you might have nicked with the soldering iron causing an exposed wire?

Maybe you had a bad DE Sabertooth... won't know till you try another one... but 1st, triple check every wire - every connection.

I've never powered up a Sabertooth with the rx leads not connected... don't know what might happen, if anything bad could happen ...might the Sabertooth configure center point wrong & cause linear motors stall at end of travel? Are your Firgelli actuators in the center of their travel?

These Dimension Engineering Sabertooths have a built in thermal protection, meaning if you work the esc too hard & overheat it; it will timeout, cool off & work again. If you cross polarity the + - or ground out, they're smoked!!!

[dozerbuilder]

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

Pictures speak clearer than words...

I don't run any fuses in any models & the one pictured above has 6esc's under the hood.

Are you connecting all your esc's to a bus bar to power them?

Every bared wired you strip, do you solder the ends so there's absolutely zero chance of a single strand of a frayed wire going into a Sabertooth to create a cross polarity?!... that'd be my immediate determination of what happened to you.

It's grounding out somewhere... do you have a wire or a shrink tube covering that you might have nicked with the soldering iron causing an exposed wire?

Maybe you had a bad DE Sabertooth... won't know till you try another one... but 1st, triple check every wire - every connection.

I've never powered up a Sabertooth with the rx leads not connected... don't know what might happen, if anything bad could happen ...might the Sabertooth configure center point wrong & cause linear motors stall at end of travel? Are your Firgelli actuators in the center of their travel?

These Dimension Engineering Sabertooths have a built in thermal protection, meaning if you work the esc too hard & overheat it; it will timeout, cool off & work again. If you cross polarity the + - or ground out, they're smoked!!!

Thanks for the heads up Lil Giants. Yes I use separate + and neg bus bars well apart from one another. The Firgelli's are L16 S-Type (with limit switches so they won't have to be centered.) I made sure I didn't cross the Pos and Neg input connections.

But you know, the tiny pieces of frayed wire you mentioned are all around in the frame/hull, I used 12AWG lipo flex wire for the motors and they have hundreds of strands. I hadn't soldered them, simply rolled them between my fingers and slotted them into the bus bars and locked them up. I can see them lying around - I never gave that a thought but sure enough, there's a lot lying around. I'm gonna go over it tomoz following your suggestions one by one. Or I'm gonna fry my 2x32 next.

Thanks

[dozerbuilder]

OK well here's where I'm at as an update. Closer inspection per Lil Giants' point shows a lot of the tiny strands everywhere. I may have brought this 2x5 failure on myself not soldering all the frayed ends up first before slotting them into the 8-lug buss bars. Expensive lesson so I'm happy to share. I'm gonna disconnect all the wiring, pull the 2x32 and other 2x5, solder all the wire ends neatly, vacuum/magnet out the whole frame spotless and reconnect/re-install he ESC's and install my new 2x5 with the RX wires on and cross my fingers.

[Lil Giants]

Well hopefully it's the cure to your troubles DB... I've have had my share of magic smoke signal episodes in yr's past, back when I started in this hobby there was no internet, much less forums to seek advice, many lessons learnt from the school of hard knocks.

[dozerbuilder]

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

Well hopefully it's the cure to your troubles DB... I've have had my share of magic smoke signal episodes in yr's past, back when I started in this hobby there was no internet, much less forums to seek advice, many lessons learnt from the school of hard knocks.

Thanks Lil Giants. I'm taking it over to the electrical workshop at our co-working space tomoz to do the lot again with solder. I've pulled everything out, esc's, wire looms the lot, vacuumed the inside of the frame/hull and gone over it with a magnet and finally some bluetac sticky. I was surprised what I got out. Enough filings and fine wire sprags to fry the whole shebang. Cheers.

[dozerbuilder]

Well just to update the situation, we cleaned it all up and it's looking a lot safer electrically now with all the wires ends soldered up. And Dimension sent me a replacement ESC, had a trace-back somehow to the S2. Cheers to DE, that's what you get for buying from a good American company, prompt service with back-up. Try getting that sort of service from China, nope, I wouldn't even expect a reply.

[Lil Giants]

Originally Posted by dozerbuilder

had a trace-back somehow to the S2.

...lost me here

[dozerbuilder]

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

...lost me here

Yeah sorry, - board was shorting out to the S2 connection by shorting out ( trace back) to the heatsink.