I am starting on my build, gathering components, figuring things out.
I am planning on putting the batteries and ESC inside a metallic waterproof case like a pelican case. That case would then attached on the front of the board like I see on many other builds.
The idea behind the meta case is that I can dissipate the heat from the ESC and batteries better than through a plastic pelican case and also if, god forbid I get a fire inside the case then the metal should resist better then the plastic.
Any thoughts on metallic waterproof impact proof cases large enough to house the ESC and the battery pack?
I bought THIS case with the same approach in mind. But for now I have found it much easier to work with THIS one – at least during building and testing phase. And it costs about half.
Do you have your ESC inside the seahorse plastic case? How do you dissipate yoru ESC’s heat?
I am also wondering how the remote control throttle’s receiver will work inside a faraday cage like metallic case, maybe I need to find a way to keep the receiver outside.
A common and much more cost effective approach is to separate ESC and batteries and have a small aluminum box for the ESC and a plastic case for the batteries.
I have mounted my esc (SeaKing V3 130a) on a metal backing. I replaced the four screws in the back of the esc with slightly longer ones to accommodate the thickness of the backing. This metal plate is held in place by six magnets so the esc can be easily removed. The magnets are glued to the inside top of the box so I didn’t have to compromise waterproof integrity. Note I have not tested this set-up on the water yet.
Just a heads up, I would take a 3.2mm sheet of ply and place it on top of the batteries to shield them from heat from the ESC. I noticed in my “all in one box” that the batteries closest to the ESC were swelling slightly as they were getting way hotter than the others.
I thought about this solution when I started but a friend told me that having the receiver in a metal box could make problems as it will act as a faraday cage. Fid you try it? Or did you put the receiver in the batteries box instead of the alu one for the esc?
I also use the “everything in one box” solution and so have the esc very close to one battery. And I don’t know if the heat from the esc (even if I have it watercooled) was the reason but I had problems with the battery close to the esc (the voltage was getting low very fast). Now I have put a slice of foam between them to isolate and everything is fine.
Somebody told me that it’s really not good for the batteries to have an important difference in temperature on one side only (warm or cool).
Thanks Jezza…good idea. I also have the batteries secured snugly together with those two white frames. I wonder if that creates a hazard if they swell. This is just my test box for short rides. Eventually I will build the box or boxes into the board.
Yes, that could be a problem, didn’t test it yet. Maybe I need to place the antenna outside. I wouldn’t want to separate ESC and receiver as the receiver gets power from the inbuilt BEC of the ESC.
HEllo, What type of foam would you put to insulate the batteries from the ESC? I am looking for some sort of insulating foam with good fire/heat resistant properties.
Thanks
Has anyone found a cheap alternative in France to the expensive Pelican case ? The Seahorse-300 cheaper alternative in the US is three time that price in Amazon France…
In the picture you can see the self circulating water tank. I now use water coming from mast so that gave me more room back. I also added a breaker and voltage meter. Batteries are plastidipped although you can see it’s been coming off.
I was still in the experimental stage so I never pushed the limits. But judging from how hot the water is being ejected out of the case now I’d say the internal system wouldn’t have been a good long term solution. At least not with the batteries and ESC in the same vicinity. I only used it for a few days while I was waiting on these bulk-head barbs to come in.
