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ESC wire size

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Kinbar the Angry Toaster

Active member
Messages
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Location
Sacramento California
Tekno RC's
  1. EB410
  2. EB48
Driving Style
Racer
Just finishing building my Tekno EB48 2.0. I bought a Tekin RX8 Gen 3 ESC. I plan on running either a Maclan or Tekin 1/8 scale 1900-2000 kv motor on 4s. What gauge wire should I run from the ESC to the motor as well as battery leads? I have some 13ga wire but I don’t think that is big enough. Should I run 12ga or 10ga? Thank you in advance for your help.
 
Definitely 10 AWG for the battery to ESC, but I also use the same 10 AWG to the motor as well, but I agree that 12 AWG from ESC to motor would be sufficient. The name of the game reducing IR (internal resistance) as much as possible, the thicker the wire the lower the IR, where anything thicker than 10 AWG will produce diminishing returns.
 
The ESC does come with 12ga wire however, it doesn't seem like there is enough to route the wires the way I want to. I am going to solder the wire onto the ESC vertically will 10ga fit in the posts for the ESC?

Thank you again, much appreciated.
 
I agree. 10ga is my preference as well, but 12ga should be fine. I wouldn't go any smaller.
 
Yup. 60w is about right, wouldn't go lower.

My iron is 60w and as a soldering newbie I had no trouble.
 
Either I am terrible at soldering or 60w does not get hot enough (or both). I've had no problem soldering 14ga to my 1/10 scale esc s but can not seem to get the 12ga or 10ga to tin/solder to the post. Probably going to take it to the local RC store and have someone more skilled than I do it.
 
60W iron is more than enough for up to 10AWG wire, the key is a chisel tip, also doesn't hurt to use some flux on the wire as well, here's a demo with a 50W iron:

 
1) Are you using a chisel tip? If not, then replace the tip with a chisel tip where the width of the chisel must be at least as wide as the diameter of the wire you are soldering.
2)) Silver solder requires more heat and/or flux paste, simply dunk the wire into the paste, then you can tin it:
https://www.amazon.com/Delcast-Rosi...d=1&keywords=flux+paste&qid=1604068022&sr=8-6

I prefer 60/40 lead solder myself, far easier to work with lower melting point so less likely to damage your electronics when soldering on the ESC board:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075WTX9WY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
I would not use that simply because the filament is too thick, I prefer using 0.6mm thick filament to control how much solder is flowed, that plumbers spool will make a huge mess and feed way too much solder all over the place :(
 
I would not use that simply because the filament is too thick, I prefer using 0.6mm thick filament to control how much solder is flowed, that plumbers spool will make a huge mess and feed way too much solder all over the place :(
He did link to the right stuff the second time. The link he provided is for 60/40 rosin core solder .062" thick. I have used that exact solder without issues.
 
I solder 10awg with a 40w weller. Key is chisel the size of the wire, or at least pretty close, tinning both wire and the well on the ESC, and putting a bit of flux on when tinning and then on top of one of the sides to be soldered. Bring together and apply heat. Bingo.

Don't get confused with all the internet research thinking you need an expensive iron...just make sure its legal, 40w plus and a decent chisel size
 
The product he linked is marketed as 0.062" in diameter which converts to 1.6mm thick, which is nearly 3 times as thick... yes it will "technically" work, but it will also make a running mess and be more likely to feed too much solder which can bleed over and short out connections onto the ESC, been there done that :(

I only use 0.6mm solder for that reason alone. The product I linked above gives more that double the quantity for half the price... to each is own... good luck!
 
The product he linked is marketed as 0.062" in diameter which converts to 1.6mm thick, which is nearly 3 times as thick... yes it will "technically" work, but it will also make a running mess and be more likely to feed too much solder which can bleed over and short out connections onto the ESC, been there done that :(

I only use 0.6mm solder for that reason alone. The product I linked above gives more that double the quantity for half the price... to each is own... good luck!

I hear what you are saying, and can see how that could happen. I guess it's never been a problem for me, but for someone with less soldering experience the thinner solder would be easier to control your suggestion would be better.

My take was that he seemed to be looking for a more convenient (instant) option that would work without the longer trip to the LHS.
 

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