My new brushless weapon ESCs are OPTO, not BEC...

Please post all questions and answers in here. This way people can easily see if someone else has the same problem.

Moderators: BeligerAnt, petec, administrator

Post Reply
tomchaps
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2016 4:51 pm

My new brushless weapon ESCs are OPTO, not BEC...

Post by tomchaps »

I just picked up a set of BLHeli 20a ESCs to run the classic DYS BE1806 motor for my weapon. But while my old bot used an ESC with a BEC, these are "OPTO". If I remember correctly, this means I need to wire it a bit differently--but for the life of me, I can't figure out what I should do. Wire an external voltage regulator or something?

Can anyone advise?
User avatar
Shakey
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Reading

Re: My new brushless weapon ESCs are OPTO, not BEC...

Post by Shakey »

Opto ESC's simply mean they do not output any voltage on their red servo wire. Provided there is something else powering the receiver apart from your BLHeli ESC you just wire it up as normal.
Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
tomchaps
Posts: 46
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2016 4:51 pm

Re: My new brushless weapon ESCs are OPTO, not BEC...

Post by tomchaps »

Cool, so if my receiver is powered through my brushed drive ESCs, I don't need to do anything different? Thanks!
User avatar
Shakey
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Reading

Re: My new brushless weapon ESCs are OPTO, not BEC...

Post by Shakey »

That's correct!

As an aside you should always only aim to have a single BEC powering a receiver, this is because two BECs whose outputs are connected can result in damage to them, normally we do this by cutting the red wire of all but our prefferred BEC in a robot. More important with higher weight classes and more complex controllers where the BECs are often of different types and more susceptible to damage than the comparatively 'dumb' ones in Ants.
Nuts And Bots - For all your components and ready built antweights!

Alex Shakespeare - Team Shakey / Nuts And Bots / Team Nuts:
AWS 44, 45, 49, 51 & 55 Winner - Far too many robots!
Post Reply