Help! EMAX 20A ESC caught fire

[stuffguy9000]

So as the title says the ESCs on my quadcopter caught on fire. I had tested my flight controller, receiver and transmitter which all worked well from what i could tell, so i decided to connect my motors and battery to do a motor test (I'm using baseflight). the first motor worked fine, but the second one had trouble starting and then the ESC caught on fire. I did not flash my ESCs (didn't know if i had too or how), but i did flash my flight controller, a naze32 rev6. The ESCs said on the package that they already had BLheli firmware 2-4s. I dont know if my battery, a LiPo 4s, was charged or not. This is my first time building a quadcopter or any RC device.

 

[mrjdstewart]

i'm gonna guess the power wires got crossed going into the esc or you put way to much juice into it. make sure that esc is rated for 4S. i would be surprised if it wasn't but who knows.

laters,

me

 

[PsyBorg]

Since you said the motor had trouble starting to move I'm going to say it was either a bad connection like poor solder joints that are common in mass produced bullet connectors or that you have a motor screw shorting one or more of the windings in the motor. Usually fires happen when there is a direct short somewhere and one of the components lets out the magic smoke but creates a path for current to flow and everything gets super charged and hot very quickly.

 

[Bricks]

Hopefully it is only the ESC that let out the magic smoke show.

 

[PsyBorg]

@Bricks Usually if an esc goes so does the motor as most times the motor is the cause. Haven't seen many people saying they fried a FC from back fed current but I suppose it is possible on an AIO fc / esc combo.