Fitting a Talon-90 in the Plastic Protos 500

[flyingw]

I knew from the published dimensions that the Talon-90 would not fit easily in the plastic Protos frame without modifications. I had been flying with the ICE-75 Lite in there and because it is narrower than the Talon it fit easily. But I wanted to use a BEC and the Talon-90 is an affordable unit compared to others in this range.

Took the case off the Talon-90 and found it should be possible to move the battery cables and or bend the two capacitors upwards to allow it to shift forward a bit. The 5.5mm motor sockets are soldered onto the board and reinforced with some kind of epoxy. Instead of removing them it might be possible to solder 12 or 14ga wires directly to the top of the sockets and angle the wires towards the motor leads. Then trim off 1/4 inch or so from the sockets to make the whole thing a little shorter.

In a few days I will either show a successful mod of the Talon-90 fit neatly into the Protos or I'll be sending it back to Castle for the $45 non-warranty replacement.

[kavic5150]

I would recommend not bending those capacitors if you can help it. I think they are using lead free solder on those and if I understand correctly it is brittle and can break easily.

Also there might be a risk of damaging one of the caps internally when you bend the metal posts.

Hope it works out for you.

[flyingw]

It works. Successful test hover in the back yard.

[kavic5150]

You are a brave soul indeed. So tell us, did you cringe a bit when you went to plug the flight pack in after bending those caps? Did you cross your fingers? Turn your face away a bit? Say any prayers first?

Capacitor Failure (0 min 30 sec)

Polymer vs Standard Aluminum Capacitor Failure (5 min 33 sec)

[flyingw]

There is about 1/8th inch of the wire leads between the caps and the board. It was a clean and gentle bend in the wire only and placed no stress on the caps themselves or the solder joints.

Cool cap failure films by the way.