Continuity Test on Kiss ESCs (unsure)

[Swanno]

After soldering 4 Kiss ESCs for a Alien 5 inch I decided it would be a good idea to test that there was not a short between positive and negative to be on the safe side.

I hooked the multimeter up negative to the com and positive to the positive terminal and set it to buzzer. Touching the two probes together it would beep as I expected it too. I then tested it on the escs positive to positive and negative to the negative terminal and it would beep. There are no wires connected to the motor leads. After watching T Bones Drones fixing a broken esc he noted that there was a short between the positive and negative on the esc causing the problem and it beeped indicating continuity.

Concerned I overheated while soldering even at only 300 degrees and little contact time I also tested a fifth spare esc I bought and haven't touched and it was the same. Since It was beeping I decided to switch it to a ohm test and tested all of them again. There was 5k ohms resistance between the positive and negative and 0 ohms between the small ground and large negative (which makes sense).

(I am using an old analogue multimeter not sure if I am using it correctly, I did calibrate the ohm test though.)
Note if I used the negative on the positive port and the positive on the negative it would not beep, I thought that would be due to the diode though since they only allow current to pass in one direction.

What is the correct way to do this or did I do everything correctly? are my escs fine?

(I ended up testing a plush 25 amp and the same thing occurs with that one which I use to use on a plane occasionally so I know it works.) I'm assuming I did something wrong in testing. If I reverse the probes it doesn't make a sound so based on the esc I know that works and the esc I haven't done anything too yet they should be fine. I will use one of those car lights when I first plug it in though. Hoping logic plays to my side.

 

[Swanno]

I guess it was just my multimeter after a while I did notice the tone was slightly different between the short and no short.

Anyway just turned it on no problems other than accidentally stripping the anodizing off the inside of a screw but they provided an extra. Although not as nice as the other one it will do the job. (The anodizing coating was not as even).

 

[PsyBorg]

You are probably reading a capacitor that is usually across the power supply lines to act as a filter. They are very noticeable on esc's like the EMAX as well as others. For future builds and testing you should make yourself a smoke stopper to insulate your first power up from any issues like a short. I made mine a two piece set up so it can also be used to drain down old or damaged lipos safely.

 

[makattack]

I concur with PsyBorgs conclusion. You might notice, depending on how fast your multimeter registers, that there's a small delay as the cap gets powered up by the continuity test voltage. That small delay might be hard to notice though, depending on the size of the cap and the voltage of your multimeter. Definitely look into building a voltage/current limited test device like the above which is inexpensive and easy, if you don't have a bench/lab power supply with the same features.

 

[Swanno]

Thank you for responding. I did build a quick test smoke stopper using 2 24 volt 21 watt bulbs in series in order to limit the amount of amps the quad could make use of. Not the best but I couldn't get my hands on any 12 volt 5-7 watt ones.

Good too know for future reference as to why I was still getting a reading with my multimeter.

I just updated the FC to 1.1 and the the Kiss esc to 1.08 just need to setup the camera settings on the hs1177 and add prop shields to the escs since I have seen people rip the resistors off. Sad thing is I have not got my 4s batteries yet. But I will do a test hover with a 3s 1300.

Psyborg, thank you for your post on the rotor riot alien build I read it when I was deciding if I wanted Lumenier 2206 2350 or the red bottom 2205 2300.

 

[PsyBorg]

Yeah I am really liking the Lumenier motors. They seem more smooth then the emax motors I was flying on my Versa although they do not seem as torquey even with the extra mm height. No matter I was always a small block fan and liked more rpm over the torque. Nothing like launching out of the hole at 6800 rpm and bangin gears at 7200 to get the crowds attention. It was like takin a ride on a horizontal punch out.

 

[makattack]

Hee hee... not to derail this thread, but I went from a gas burning WRX to a diesel burning TDI and love it (despite dieselgate). I find for my purposes now, the torque is more necessary. As for flying... hmmm... my skills just are quite there where I can really say I have a preference one way or another. I think I prefer the peace and quiet that comes from a higher torque, lower RPM setup though.

 

[Swanno]

I am sure I will notice a difference since I'm jumping from a 900 gram all up flying weight Versacopter running 2204 2300 kv motors on 3s to a 600 gram Rotor Riot Alien 5 inch with 2206 2350 kv motors on 4s. I was afraid to even attempt tricks in fpv with that thing because it would fall like a brick. I did do line of sight split S, flips, rolls a mixed flip roll thing and power loops. The power loops pushed it though, it felt like I was holding the throttle at max for over 6 seconds before pitching back for the arc...

I did fly a lot of proximity fpv through trees, one good thing about the Versacopter was that when you hit a ghost branch because it was so heavy you would continue to travel in the direction you were flying so when I occasionally hit low hanging gum tree leaves I was able to keep flying. I was using a CMOS camera it was the worst. I did crash once because I was flying low and I hit some long strands of grass and weeds though that was mildly amusing (I say that with hindsight because it only broke props), that and I thought I could fly through them. Grass really slows down your motors, not really what I expected.

I'm sure you guys have some great stories too!