Whoo Hooo !!! The Parts are Finally All Here

The mailman finally delivered the last of the parts (the replacement Plush 30 ESCs) I was waiting for.  It took the expected 2 weeks to arrive, although it always seems a lot longer.

Before I began the contruction of the Quad I wanted to be sure the new ESCs were all functioning properly.  The best way to do that was to use the Thrust Test Bench (see previous posts).
I mounted each of the ESCs and ran up the throttle to make sure each ESC would work and give me the full speed control range.  I also checked to make sure that the ESC didn't get warm.
One thing I confirmed was that my decision to use a terminal strip on the Thrust Bench was a great idea.  I was able to connect up each of the ESCs in seconds and didn't have to solder on any connectors to do the test. Just takes a small screwdriver.  Great time saver.  I purchased the terminal strips at Radio Shack.

Here is a picture of the terminal strip with an ESC mounted:

After I determined the ESC was functioning properly, while still connected to the Test Bench, I disconnected the servo lead from the Throttle control (servo tester) and plugged it into the Turnigy ESC programmer.  I then configured the ESC to the appropriate settings for multicopter use.

For use in a multicopter you want to change the battery type to Ni-XX.  This may seem strange, since you will be using a LiPo, but by changing the battery type to NI-XX you turn off the Low Voltage Cutoff (LVC) function.  If you were using the ESC in an airplane you would want the LVC on to protect you from over discharging your battery - but in a multicopter, if the LVC kicks in your Quad will crash.  So it is a trade off between killing your battery or your Quad.

In the case of the Plush series of ESC, for multicopter use, you also want to set the Timing Mode setting to High (the default is low).  This setting allows the ESC to respond faster to speed change requests from the flight control board.  Makes for a more responsive flight.

Here is a shot of the ESC programmer with the final settings:

Once I had all the ESCs tested and configured it was time to solder on some connectors.
The Plush ESCs come with no 3.5mm bullet connectors so you need to order those, which I did.
Since I will be connecting the "power side" red and black wires directly to the power distribution board by soldering, I didn't don't need connectors for that end.  But I do need 3 female 3.5mm bullet connectors for the "motor side" wires.  You also need some small heat shrink tube to cover the connector once the connector is soldered on.

Here are a few photos of that process - I used my new Weller WES51 Soldering Station:

First you cut the wires to the appropriate length and strip off some of the insulation (I use wirestrippers for that).

 

 

Then tin the exposed wire with solder

 

solder on the bullet connectors (tin the connectors first)

 

Put on the heat shrink tubing and heat it to shrink (I used a heat gun)

The four Plush 30 ESCs ready for installation.

Next post:  Mounting the motors.