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Offline tankme

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  • Austin, TX
Power switch questions
« on: January 17, 2020, 12:01:49 PM »
I recently preemptively bought some higher amp rated power switches (20A) to use with my TCB and Hobbyking X-car 45A ESCs since the HL switch was giving me issues.  After wiring up the 20A switch I noticed issues when running the tracks.  I used the blade terminals and soldered wires to blade connectors rather than heat up the switch by soldering to it.  Wanted to make sure the heat wasn't a factor in killing the switch.  The tracks were stopping and starting at the same time the TCB would reset playing the engine startup sounds.  During further troubleshooting I noticed the switch light would dim and brighten up leading me to believe the power switch can't handle the battery feeding the ESCs through the switch.  I bypassed the switch and everything works fine. 

My question is, what kind of power switches are people using since it seems the HL and my automotive 20A switch don't work?

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Offline LukeZ

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Re: Power switch questions
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2020, 04:41:33 AM »
I don't know what tank and gear you're running but the odds are that a 20 amp switch is more than adequate for the current you're pulling. More than likely you just have a flaky connection somewhere, possibly at the blade terminals, or it could just be a cheap or defective switch. You could try soldering directly to the switch to see if that helps, or try a higher quality switch (a lot of the really cheap Chinese stuff sold on discount sites is not very good, but I don't know where you got your switch).

I've mostly just manually plugged/unplugged the battery instead of use a switch but that is certainly not very convenient.

Keep trying, using a switch is certainly possible, HL and Taigen use the cheapest possible tiny switch you can imagine and they run fine.
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Offline tankme

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  • Austin, TX
Re: Power switch questions
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2020, 08:10:37 PM »
Well I bypassed the switch and it works fine.  Had the tank out for a spin today after rewiring it minus the switch.  The wires were soldered (not crimped) into the blade connectors so I doubt it was a connection issue.  The switch was an automotive type I picked up at a local auto parts place.  I guess I'll just connect the batter via the XT60 connection as I'm doing now and not worry about it.  I suppose most people would use a relay if they need to switch higher amp loads and I don't want to add the extra wiring/relay.