Are sparks normal when connecting a battery?

[@johnk8825]

Ahh the power of the first time power up,. You have your first drone correctly assembled, checked that everything is tight, checked that the radio setup is correct and working. You've used a short circuit detector (smoke stopper) all along and now you're ready to try your first maiden flight. You plug in and 'POP', what did I just do? I didn't think it was backwards as you jump and unplug. Everything looks OK, no smoke, no burnt smell, let's try again. The thrill of flight gets off to a very exciting start. Very nice video Lee, it was fun thinking back.

[@shadowofchaos8932]

FEEL THE POWER! Just don't lick the exposed wires. Lol

[@jamesemery1]

I'm running a 20s (72v) (ebike) battery and I use a resistor to precharge the caps in the controller, I connect the negative and use the resistor between the positive and it's connection to the controller. I tried an anti spark but it blew the resistor in the connector after a few uses (this won't happen on rc voltages). Excellent info as always. Stay safe Lee

[@Painless360]

Check out those anti-spark connectors. They work very well from the playing I've done with them here.. Happy flying!

[@lua-nya]

It's a really good idea to slow charge those capacitors, as sparks are bad for the connectors.

[@joshbrain5899]

Hi, I have a 72v system, what resister is good ?

[@RandoManFPV]

First time I've ever been mentioned in a youtube video! Thank you so much for your response to me question man!

[@Painless360]

You are very welcome. Don't forget, you can support the time I spend helping others and making content using the links in the description. Happy flying!

[@MCsCreations]

Excellent info, Lee! Thanks! 😃 That's why some big machines have a soft starter circuit. Otherwise, they're going to pull too much current and your circuit can have issues. Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@mhoobag1]

Thank you. I was wondering why my new ebike sparked as I have not used this connector before and was ready to throw the whole battery out the 6th floor window in fear it was going to set a chain reaction off. Now I watched this vid I will commit and not rinf around and panic.

[@iRoNiiC_H3R0]

I have had an instance where the spark caused the connectors to spot weld together and I couldn't remove the connectors

[@uavr1286]

Here's something that may be worth knowing: if you don't plug anti-spark connectors in properly and then draw a large current through them (e.g. spinning motors) then the resistor will burn out. Makes smoke. The connector will still work but the anti-spark won't amy more.

[@RubenAyala-fk9jt]

Thanks, very helpful

[@PeaceChanel]

Peace.. Shalom.. Salam.. Namaste .. 🙏🏻 😊 ✌ ☮ ❤ 🕊

[@gabcwabc2491]

I have lost 2 esc's from this. I believe the problem being fumbling the connector because of a tight spot. This causes multiple initial contacts. I would like to see a variety of high power switched available to allow a convicted connection.

[@typxxilps]

Hold a resistor between the xt60 connector and the device. The surge of filling the capacitors will be limited and therefore no sparks. These sparks can cause damages and therefore a precharge can be usefull as said via multimeter or even with a bench supply. The bigger the batteries get the bigger and longer the sparks. Especially at home if you have an ESS , a battery connected to your inverter to generate power from the battery once the sun has gone or clouds appeared. There you will need such big resistors to avoid the sparks that are quite big and can burn parts of your cable.

[@Painless360]

Nice tip! If you are worried about sparks to that extent, then the anti-spark connectors are fantastic. Happy flying!

[@100SteveB]

I used to have this problem on my big hex, only 6s 12.000mah batteries, but it was causing issues. I tried the normal anti-spark connectors but found the resistors did not last more than a few uses. In the end I made up a small 'start circuit' which i added to the craft. Nothing more than a on/off switch and a nice beefy 150amp mosfet. Once the battery is strapped into the craft I simply connect the balance lead to the start circuit first, then simply put the switch to the on position. The mosfet then switches the power on for the model. After that simply plug the main battery lead in per normal, then switch off the start circuit. Been using it for a few years now without any issues. I would imagine that on smaller models that use all-in-one esc's that the issue is much less of a problem, with that esc only having maybe one large capacitor. But when you get to the bigger models with a separate esc for each motor, you often find that each esc will have a couple of big electrolytic capacitors fitted. Even at the 26v of the 6s battery, that initial current draw was enough to cause a spark powerful enough to start to damage the XT90 connectors. Originally my idea was to use 2 150amp mosfets in parallel to make a battery isolation switch for the craft, but decided against that because it would be introducing a point of failure into the main source of power.

[@mooiweertje2084]

Excellent story except for the high voltage maybe. The reason of the sparks is the instant high current which is the result of high C rating and low inner resistance of the battery/lipo. The electrical resistance of the complete circuit is practically zero at the moment the capacitors are empty on plugin. Inner resistance of a new lipo is about 0,01 ohm so the current would reach up to 16v/0,01ohm is 1600A. 1600A is an insane current.

[@jimmysmith5201]

Here's what I did to avoid the spark/melting; Hook both ground wires with the same gauge wire together and then both positives on a switch that could handle the load.

[@aaaaaaaaaassssssssdf]

i built a 7s pack to power an inverter, and the initial snap somehow fried a spark-resistant xt90. so it broke the resistor and still sparks. need to try replacing it with a spare and see if i just got a bad one

[@billduncumb5052]

Do larger setups not use a main switch in the power circuit so there is no spark when you plug in the battery?

[@m3chanist]

Unless it's an airpax type circuit breaker as used in industrial cabinets, all that does is move the spark to the contacts of the switch.

[@icp-trek]

If you are very worried about the sparks, you could pre-charge the system at a lower voltage before you connect the voltage (battery) that you will fly with. I recommend using ant-spark connectors such as XT90 or AS150. However, 6s with XT60 has not yet killed any of my equipment (for years).

[@BrainDeadEngineering]

Very nice .It drives me crazy , I got this new product from Iflight , it's a fancy little board you partition your FC and batt cables with . Total silent connection . Fyi.

[@Painless360]

Cool, thanks for letting me know. Happy flying!

[@BrainDeadEngineering]

@@Painless360 My apology. It can be hard to find in their store! pt# B013709

[@wesleybremer1275]

So I should just keep the battery plugged in until my quad boots up for the first time? Or does the spark of the capacitor and no response of the flight controller mean there is a short somewhere?

[@Painless360]

While the capacitor charges first time, there is that little spark. It doesn't hurt anything so plug it in with a confident motion and let everything startup.. Happy flying!

[@wesleybremer1275]

@@Painless360 I have plugged it in but the flight controller/ esc doesn’t respond. Would it be caused by the sparking capacitor?

[@Painless360]

Nope. Check out my build series for how I do it... Best of luck

[@wesleybremer1275]

@@Painless360 thank you sir. Blessings to you!

[@rodrigonh]

It must be investigated case-by-case. In my case 'SpeedyBee F405 BLS' it produce large spark when 1000uF capacitor is *not* connected. Looks inappropriate to me. Maybe a momentary short cause by floating state on FETs driving while firmware still booting? Who knows. Hard to tell the cause when part of the project is closed source (hardware). Anyway startup sparks are never a good signal. Not that worrisome if the only cause is just the charging capacitors though.

[@Dr_Disintegrator]

Voltage, current and humidity are all factors.

[@chrishodgson9932]

hi I have a ebike as soon as I plug the charger in the 72volt battery it blows the charger

[@Painless360]

Then you may have bigger issues than s spark.. Best of luck.

[@vanguard6937]

You can also use a product like "no ox id" to reduce the spark, and to reduce any damage from sparking. Just make sure to use very little, as too much will cause a poor connection since it's a dielectric grease

[@pvtxtron]

+ first then - unless you are in Europe

[@parker1ray]

Every 6S battery and quad that I plug in sparks on connection!

[@jwc4520]

Worked most my life with electricity, my favorite battery story. Ok , made ball lightning with a battery. . Now you need a rather large battery, in this case 400 volt, 10,000 amp. Two wire got mismarked and installed backward. The battery was across a exciter which could generat an equal amount of power, and ax600 horse power motor. When the circuit was closed it locked in ...strange noise, and two small glowing orbs. Unlike anything I had seen. Fairy like in color a benign pastel palette of swirling color. It seemed like along time but it was mere seconds. The smaller one flashed to ground the larger one floated about keeping 6 grown men frozen . Now I understand such can also be done withe a WWII submarine battery but they are a tad hard to find. Had to share ...take care.

[@Painless360]

The one that sticks in my mind was the fitter that I was shadowing in the early days had just installed a chunky three phase motor and was about to make the last connection. A pal of mine made a joke and I clapped my hands one, very loudly. It turns out that by sheer fluke, as my clap echoed around the plant room it was the exact moment he touched the last wire to the terminal. He jumped up about 4 feet into the air swearing loudly and wasn't best pleased when he realised that the loud 'bang' was me, not his connection going up in smoke! I wasn't flavour of the month for a while, I can tell you! Happy flying!

[@bamsemh1]

Test on your car 😉