Cube's power module bursted in flame

Cube Autopilot
1

Hi all,
I’ve had the weirdest experience yesterday with an 18 inch props quad. hopefully nobody was harmed as the quad was in the ground. the power module simply bursted into flames. this happened while I was performing a 3d calibration. as soon as the battery was disconnected. I opened up the quad, the electrics are fine, pdb is intact, battery is also fine. I am at loss trying to identify the cause of the problem.
I flew the aircraft many times in the past month. roughly 3 hours of flight in totally before this happened.
Anyone experienced this before ? I have attached a picture of the power module. clearly fire start from there.

IMG_20200717_141101
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any help is appreciated. thank you

2

ok, I think the mistake was putting this on a 40A ESCs. I thought this could handle up to 90 according the wiki in ardupilot.

3

If memory serves me correctly these are only rated to 4S
I am assuming from your description of 18” props you are using 6S at least?

Edit:
Thanks @philip, I stand corrected.

1 Like
4

They are rated as 8S
40 continuous
120 momentary

5

thanks all for the reply.
I was using 6s battery. and hobbywing 40A ESCs.
if each ESC pulls 30A let’s say, that brings the total drive of the copter to 90A. am I right ?
Thanks again.

6

30A x 4 is 120A

And if they are running at 30A continuously, chances are they are spiking to much much higher than that.

7

You need to be looking at much higher rated power system for a craft of this scale.

Check out the Mauch power systems they will have a solution for your needs.

8

@philip , i’m laughing at the math I did. thanks.
@MadRC. yes , that is the module I willing to buy. thanks

1 Like
9

Happens to the best of us :slight_smile: