New Products: Watertight Enclosures and Basic ESC

Originally published at: New Products: Watertight Enclosures and Basic ESC - Blue Robotics

Hello everyone! Today we’ve got enormous news for you. We are proudly introducing the 6" Series and 8" Series Watertight Enclosures! We’ve also got a new version of the Basic ESC.

6" and 8" Series Watertight Enclosures

We're delighted to expand the line-up of watertight enclosures. These larger enclosures are perfect for those of you who need to keep a lot of stuff dry! We're looking at you, AUVSI teams ;) As with the rest of the enclosure series, the housings will be configurable and customizable with both aluminum and acrylic end cap options. Custom length tubes won't be readily available, but don't hesitate to let us know if you have a specific need. All of the components are available separately - the possibilities are nearly end(cap)less! Okay, that was a bit of a stretch...

The 6" Series enclosures are rated to 65m and the 8" Series enclosures are rated to 40m. We decided to measure their capacity by stuffing them with one of our favorite things: T100 Thrusters. You may also be able to spy a 3" aluminum battery tube inside the 8" enclosure.

6" Enclosure (left) and 8" Enclosure (right).

New Version of the Basic ESC

As you may have heard, the manufacturer of the Afro 30Amp ESC has ceased production of the model we currently sell, so we've been forced to switch to a slightly smaller version. We've added a heatsink to allow for the same current-handling capability. This version also have bare power leads instead of male 3.5mm bullet connectors.

That's all for today! Thanks for reading and please let us know if you have any questions or comments. There is a discussion thread available related to this post on our forums.

1 Like

What’s the make/model number of the new ESC? I’ll look to see if there is a 3D printed case for it like the old Afro 30s.

If there isn’t, post the dimensions somewhere and there could be one

Hi guys, it’s this one: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/afro-30a-race-spec-mini-esc-w-bec.html

Keep in mind that we are reprogramming it for forward/reverse operation and adding a heat sink.

-Rusty

Thanks @rjehangir! Those look to be a good replacement.

@piercet I did a search, but couldn’t find any 3D printable covers for the “Race Spec 30As”. Here were the covers I am using for a few of my surface projects for the old ESCs. That would be great if you could make a cover up, it definitely adds that “finished” look to the bare circuit boards.

Kevin,

You have to be a big careful covering them because they need quite a bit of cooling. At the least I would recommend leaving a hole for the heat sink but preferably adding plenty of space for air to circulate.

-Rusty

I’ll look around for some active cooling solutions then too. Be nice to get a holder that has the heat sink exposed and one of the small PC fans blowing through the fins.

Rusty,

I had the local 3D Printing Services guy that printed some of Jason’s Weed Guards for me, design and make an enclosure for the new BlueRobotics ESC (heat sink).

I ran the new ESC connected to a T200 on one of my trolling motor setups in a barrel of water.
Supply voltage = 13.70 VDC
Current draw = 15 amps
Ambient temperature = 60 F (dead calm)
I ran this test for 15 minutes with no indication that the ABS enclosure suffered any ill effects from heat.

The ESC enclosure is mounted on a 3.00" X 3.00" X 0.375" piece of aluminum bar stock. In my application, the ESC and enclosure will be mounted inside a cast aluminum box which in turn will be attached to a much longer piece of 3.00" X 0.375" aluminum bar stock. Also, in my application, I rarely draw more than two amps.

More images HERE.

If anyone is interested in this enclosure let me know and I will connect you with the designer.

Phil

Repeated the same experiment but this time the ambient temperature was 83 F with a very small intermittent breeze.

My next set of tests will be to put the ESC + Enclosure into a small cast aluminum chassis-box which will ultimately be how I mount these.

Phil

Phil,

Very nice! Definitely a good idea to do these tests. Sounds like the enclosure doesn’t have a negative effect on cooling.

I like the design as well!

-Rusty