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[mbm999]

Hi,
I'm having a re-think about how I have connected the fuse in my boat (1 motor).
Currently, i have used a waterproof mini car blade holder with wires pre-attached and then i soldered it into the ESC positive lead. Whilst this works, the wire is stiffer and the holder bulky.
I have read on here (oldish) posts where the positive ESC wire is cut and shielded spade connectors attached (crimped or soldered or both, i'm not sure of?) and then the blade fuse is plugged in. That seems a neater solution.

Any other suggestions/comments,

Thanks,
Mark

[Colin Bishop]

Yes, you are right, somebody suggested exactly the same to me and I have used it in my two Faireys.

Colin

[TheLongBuild]

Like the receiver set up ..

[Colin Bishop]

Like the receiver set up ..

Thanks! The main reason was to get it up sufficiently high to be sure of a good signal. Making it vibration free was a bit of a bonus. I didn't want to build some sort of structure inside the boat as it could have obstructed easy access to the motor, coupling and other internal gear.

Colin

[mbm999]

Thanks for the reply Colin, it's really nice to see a picture of how its been done and which often gives opportunities for further thought (like the receiver placement).

Cheers,
Mark

[DHutch]

Coming from RC cars, I have been surprised people are fitting fuses, typically with cars no fuse is used.


I guess boats can tend to be longer duty cycle, with less sudden peaks, but I also wonder if its a legacy from pre-ESC days?




Thoughts welcome.

[Martin (Admin)]

Generally, you can walk to a car quite quickly..... but a boat in the middle of a lake .... !   

[Colin Bishop]

It's simply risk management.

If something goes short circuit then you might just blow the ESC but if the short persists then today's batteries are quite capable of melting wiring and starting a fire and of course if they are LiPos the battery itself could self combust. As Martin says, if it happens in the middle of the pond, your pride and joy may suffer an involuntary Viking Funeral! 

As is evident from the many posts on here, there are a lot of people who don't really understand the characteristics of volts and amps and consequently don't size the various electrical components correctly. A fuse costs pennies, takes up virtually no room and can potentially save you a lot of money.

It's a personal choice of course, but what's not to like?

Colin

[DHutch]

Some very valid points.


I guess especially in the case of scratch built the model value is very high, and where there has been DIY sizing of motors/esc/batteries the risk of error is greater too.


As you say, cheap insurance.