ESC amps?

[pollaris75]

So I have a cordless drill ESC and the boat runs great with one 540 motor(brushed) and 12V ni-cd. But now I want to make a boat that runs with two motors and one esc. As far as I understood i can hook two motors to one esc, but i have to watch the amps on the ESC. And there is the big problem- I don't know the amps that esc can handle. There are some numbers on the side, but i really don't know if they are for the motor or for the esc.
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/2041/p1125445.th.jpg (http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1125445.jpg)

Sorry for my language and hope you can help me.

[freechip]

Its rated for 12A max and from 7.2v up to 24v.

[pollaris75]

ok. And how much amps does the motor have?

[freechip]

Common sense would say its less then 12A. If you have a multi-type tester that has AMP feature. You can select this setting and plug the AMP meter leads INLINE with the POS of the battery.

Then you power up the drill or motor and you should get a reading on how many amps under NO LOAD. if yo uare just drilling in the air.

Chances are the this ESC will propably not handle PARALLEL motor configuration. But if you are going for a series connection then you will be ok.

[pollaris75]

Again sorry for my language, but can you explain whats parallel and whats series connections?

[freechip]

Parallel connection is when you would have two motors connected to one ESC using the following wiring ESC POSTIVE wire to BOTH motor POS and ESC NEGATIVE to BOTH motor NEG.

SERIES is ESC POS to motor A POS, motor A NEG to motor B POS and motor B NEG back the ESC NEG.

In parallel both motors would recieve the same power. EX: 7.2v each & double the amps
In SERIES both motors would share the power. EX: 3.6v each

[pollaris75]

Ok thanks. I will try series connection, but first i will get amp tester and test it. :)

EDIT:
I found my motor on the net and sorry mentioned the wrong motor. my motor really is HRS-550S you can see it here (http://www.hongyangmotor.com/En/ProductView.asp?id=143&class=7)
So my motor has rated at 10A that means that i cant put two motors to the ESC or I can still make it in the series connection??

[pollaris75]

Someone answer my last question.

[pompebled]

Hi Pollaris,

The ampdraw of the motor(s) is determened by the propsize and pitch.

The motor in your link, draws 1,4A no load, add a prop and the weight of the hull and each motor can draw a maximum of 10A each before things start to overheat.

Keeping the props small enough should enable you to stay within the capacity of your 12A ESC.
But if one prop gets caught in the weeds, or you pick up a plastic bag with your prop(s), the ampdraw will surge and the ESC will fail, if it doesn't have a protection circuit, or a fuse that will blow when the ampdraw exceeds 12A.

Regards, Jan.