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What
is the Ultimate BEC?
The Ultimate BEC is an external circuit that taps power from your battery
pack and regulates the voltage to the necessary 5 volts to power your
receiver and servos. It does not replace the speed control. However,
it replaces the BEC function in a speed control with much more capabilities.
It can handle
up to a 29 cell battery pack (35 volts input)
It can power
up to 8-10 servos (3-5 amps)
Who can use the Ultimate BEC?
Anyone who
orders an Opto Isolated speed control. (A speed control without a built
in BEC)
Helicopter
pilots flying larger electric helicopters. Big helicopters usually use
more servos and battery cells than most speed controls' BEC can handle.
Anyone who
is building an airplane that will have one of the following conditions:
1. The servo count will exceed the speed controls rating for number
of servos. (usually more than 3-4 servos)
2. The battery pack needed is 10 cells or more. (Example: A Jeti ESC
can handle up to 10 cells and 4 servos...beyond that...a UBEC is needed)
(These conditions usually happen with larger airplanes)
How do you install it?
The "UBEC" has a set of input and output leads. The input
leads are soldered on the input side of the speed control at the battery
connector. The output lead plugs into the receiver where you would normally
plug a receiver battery. The last thing to do is to disable the BEC
function of your speed control if there is one. This is usually accomplished
by pulling the red pin out of the servo lead on the speed control.
FAQ
What makes
the Ultimate BEC different from the BEC in my speed controls?
Speed controls use a linear voltage regulator to reduce your battery
pack voltage to 5 volts. The challenge with this kind of system is that
it is limited by the input voltage and output current. Each ESC has
a limit as to the amount of watts of heat it can dissipate. The Ultimate
BEC is a switching power supply where input voltage and output current
are independent of each other.
Will
the Ultimate BEC cause any radio interference?
Absolutely not. As a matter of a fact, most speed controls put out way
more "noise" than the UBEC. The UBEC has been designed on
a custom copper flooded board and utilizes a shielded coil to eliminate
any "noise". Most importantly, any "noise" that
radiates from the UBEC is not relevant to the bands within our radio
systems.
How
do you keep your battery from running too low?
Most speed controls have a low voltage cutoff feature to keep you from
running down your battery too low. Most low voltage cutoff features
cut power to your motor between 4.7 to 5.5 volts. The UBEC goes into
bypass mode at 5.5 volts. Thus, your Rx will still get power from your
battery.
How many
servos can I run on the UBEC?
Servo current varies by brand and type. However, 8-10 servos should
be no problem. The main thing to remember is that the UBEC is rated
for 3 amps continuous / 5 amps peak.
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