Hey everyone watching this video, as of this post the ViFly ShortSaver is now made as version 2 which does indeed have an ON-OFF button. And it also has a button to switch between 3 different trip times depending on what sensitivity you want it set at; High Sensitivity for Low Currant(default), Medium Sensitivity for Medium Currant, and Low Sensitivity for High Currant.
Awesome. I have the original and used it for the first time today. It tripped but I found no problems with my build. I remove power from the Caddx Vista and the trips went away. It was just too sensitive. If you have the original, you can still select the trip sensitivity, but you have to do it by bridging the S pads or N pads on the back. S for a little less sensitive, N for even less.
Joshua (my name is, too) you are the one that got me into fpv, you answered my questions on email when i was first building, and I own your FC. just wanted to say thanks 🙏
One more thing I would ask for on this: A power switch. I don't get why it isn't standard for smoke stoppers to include a switch. That would make binding receivers much more convenient, which would help make using the smoke stopper a habit.
@@VIFLYDrone please add an indicator like an rgb led, how much amps are drawn, like green low, yellow over 1amp, Red over 1,5amp, white just before protection close to 2amps. This help better to understand drone with many LEDs or consuming Motor sounds.
I got mine recently and I love it. It's even more versatile than advertised. I'm able to test power XT60 devices off of an XT30. I also was able to power both ESCs on an X8 from a single battery using this board.
Hello Joshua, just another great video! Another reason for large inrush current is the use of (initially discharged, obviously) large capacitor on the battery lines.
JB, when I first got my Hawk Pro I was in the dark trying to plug 6S 🔋 in the Quad 🔋 plug and it was turned backwards, then I saw and Heard this big bright Spark an smell Smoke, then as fast as I could I made sure the🔋 wasn’t plugged in. I then realized that the 🔋plug must have touch the quads plug in reverse, thinking I just Fried my New FC and Quad! after checking out the Quad for damage all that happened was the G Wire on the FC melted a little bit and a capacitor or diode next to the ground pad had partially melted! Then I plugged the quads 🔋 in an Hit the ARMED switch and the Quad was ready to Fly, I still can’t believe the quad had Survive that much power to the FC in reverse from a 6S 1600 mAH Lipo 🔋!!
@@VIFLYDrone Joshua needs to get an affiliate link to Pyro Drone also! I just got mine from there. I know, I know, that's up to the retailer, not the supplier, just saying....@PyroDrone
@joshua bardwell I've always checked for shorts with a multimeter witch is in my eyes a better solution then a smoke stopper and essential to use on any new build because you can be 100% sure you don't have any before you decide to put any power to your equipment. It can also tell you if you have your power connector. soldered on backwards so you can fix that before you pull your battery in backward too. The only thing is that it definitely takes a little longer to check everthing out then it would to plug in a battery with SS or device too on it.
Whenever I purchase anything for my quads I open up one of your videos and click an affiliate link so that way you will always have my contribution to help feed your family! Happy flying Joshua you da man!
I had mine trip on 2 of my quads and was driving me mad then I remembered I’d turned the startup beep and beacon strength all the way up whilst updating my esc’s,defaulted them and worked like a charm.
Just use a decent lab bench supply with an adjustable current limit (and even better trip/fuse mode) for new builds. Start at a few 100mA and increase as necessary. With a low current limit you can even quite safely test the motors with the props on.
When I first started using solid state smoke stoppers I kept thinking my quad had a ton of shorts in it because I have a gps, leds, crossfire rx, and the DJI air unit. It would always go through the motor boot tones, but then when the FC tries to draw power, it would just cut. This caused me an insane amount of stress, tearing apart my quads multiple times before I realized the quad was just drawing too much current. Someone should really design a more advanced smoke stopper with adjustable current cutoffs. Currently I can only really test if my esc has a short, not any of my other components sadly.
If it goes through the boot tones successfully, you shouldn't really have anything to worry about. If there is an actual short, the current spike would happen immediately after you plug the quad in, not a second or two later.
@@erksampat9328 Or during the boot tones, there can definitely still be a short on one of the ESC outputs, instantly destroying the ESC if you dont have current limiting on the input.
@@drkastenbrot True, but the boot tones would likely not kill the ESC if the outputs are shorted. But it will die once you test the motors. This is why I also use my power supply. First boot up at 1A limit, then test motors with 2A limit. Works fine for my quad.
@@erksampat9328 Yeah I'm definitely not worried about my esc, however the big issue is that I won't actually ever get a good read on if my fc is doing well or not. I actually ended up frying a T-motor f4 stack because the smoke stopper didn't tell me what was wrong. Was a good chance to upgrade to a f7 though I guess.
I bought one after watching another review and I'm happy with it. The biggest quad I have is a 4k 3 inch with Brother Hobby motors and I don't think it tripped on the 1A setting. It was worth the money for me. As others have mentioned a power switch would have made my day. Maybe with a 3A setting with v2?
I have a simpler smoke stopper but I love this one. This is the best smoke stopper made today. I use it all the time but it saved my ass today. I replaced a blown F4 MCU on a 20x20 Mamba flight controller a year ago. Plugged it into Betaflight and I can flash it, the gyro works, I can change and save settings. I figured it was repaired so I set it aside as a spare. Well the gyro in my normal quad went bad so I pulled this FC out and installed it. I get half of 1 beep from the ESC when I plug in a battery and this smoke stopper trips it's fuse and saved me. Apparently there is still a short somewhere in the Mamba FC. Instead of it blowing up, I can look for a short on the FC and try to fix it and maybe it can still be saved.
I bought this smoke stopper from the above link (thanks Josh) and it is doing something I find very curious on my latest build. When I connect a 4S battery to my new HLGRC 60 amp all in one esc board with any three motors wired, it is fine. But when I wire all four motors, it trips. I am using the one amp switch setting. Have any of you had a similar experience? I have never used a 60 amp esc board before.
@@JoshuaBardwell I changed the switch position from 1 amp to the 2 amp setting and tried it again with all four motors and the smoke stopper didn't trip. Your comment re: the beacon setting and my multimeter satisfied me I didn't have a short or defective board. Thanks for your help.
Looks like a quality product, unlike that other one, I might have to invest in one, because sometimes when I hear that electrical crack when I power up a quad it scares me lol.
Thanks for the great video. So I am building my first quad and of course got the smoke stopper after learning about it on this channel. It did actually turn red, and now i am wondering where to go from there. Can i debug the faulty wires with a fluke or should I desolder everything?
This one is GREAT ! I sure wish I had one today, I just finished building a 6s Ragging Droner and I'm always nervous about plugging it in for the first time. Thanks again for the great information.
A multimeter works great for checking for shorts too, not sure if you own one of those but if you do I know there's tutorials on how to check your new build for shorts here on RUclips. I totally know the feeling though, after building my first build i waited a fee days before I got the courage up to plug it in for the first time just because I was so worried about having a cloud of magic smoke come out as soon when I did. The funny part about it is when I finally did plug in everything worked perfectly so I went out for the first flight not long after, unfortunately that didnt go as well and only lasted for about 30 seconds before i crashed it and it was destroyed. Best 30 seconds of my life though! 😆 🤣 Hope everything works out for you!
Great idea! I will extend my light bulb smoke stopper by a diode to get reverse polarity protection. My XT30 smokestopper uses a 12V lightbulb, my XT60 uses a 24V semi truck light bulb.
Aaarrggh. A smoke stopper, I just realized, has been wasting a ton of my time. I set up a new quad with a DJI Air Unit, and everything seemed fine. I plugged it in with the RDQ smoke stopper and everything checked out. Then a little while later I plugged it in, it would do the correct esc startup tones and start beeping. Then after 15 to 20 seconds it would make 'crunchy' sizzle (? lol) sound and the smoke stopper light would flicker. Well I ended up changing out my entire FC because of this. I set it up and same thing = it was fine a few times plugging it in with the smoke stopper. Then I plugged it into my computer and after 15 seconds or so it would happen again - crunchy sizzle. Well I finally realized now that it happens when the green light of the DJI air unit lights up = when it apparently starts drawing more current. So I took the risk and plugged it in without the smoke stopper and everything is fine. What . a . royal . pain ! lol At least I have a spare good FC now and the new build is cleaner with the HGLRC Zeus board.
Could you use a lab bench power supply in place of a smoke stopper? If you put it at 15v and limit current to 1.5a? Mine has reverse polarity protection as well as a current limiter built in. It's pretty fancy one from 2008. I don't want to buy a smoke stopper if I can use my lab bench power supply instead.
Anthony, I would not advise it. A Bench supply in constant current mode is still going to be pushing 1.5 amps even if there is a short. This smoke stopper delatches the supply from the output when a current threshold is exceeded, giving you a chance to fix whatever is wrong. With the bench supply, you will probably still end up burning something. That said, I use a bench supply when building quads all the time, but I still put a smoke stopper in-line.
My battery charger has a power output mode that limits current so thats what i use... it lets you know if the polarity is wrong and i don't need any new pieces of kit
The ESC startup tone volume can be set very low.. This might help.. I have an automotive bulb ( 3157 ) and it's lights up much more when volume is on standart... Value / Volume 2 is perfect for me :P
LoL! Guilting us with the kiddos. Seriously though that little contraption would have been nice when I plugged in my second drone build several weeks back. I checked that D@m# XT 60 plug 3 time to be sure what direction it needed soldered and slap me if I didn't solder it backwards anyways! 😞 At least I had the foresight to plug it in slowly and heard the uncharacteristic crackling sound in the plugs and yanked it apart. $13 of sound insurance versus smoking $100 of equipment. An ounce of prevention is worth more then a pound of cure? Absolutely G.D. right!
I bought one! Affiliate link! Thx! There is a theory that all electrical devices are loaded up with smoke that is aching to get out. We must keep them prisoners!
One year later Bardwell. Do you still hold the vifly short saver in high regard? I just picked up the short saver 2. Was watching your video to learn how to use it. 😃
I swear it's like Joshua knew... Here's why... I just received my first 5" Quad from Banggood along with a XM+ receiver that i need to solder in... And the Smoke-stopper I ordered so far is a no-show. So while I'm thinking about just mounting the receiver without a Smoke-stop as safety/backup because I obviously want to get flying NOW... this video pops up reminding me: SMOKE KILLS QUADS.
Good thought but no. That would only work if the battery had wrong polarity. Outputting "right-way-current" through a diode into an XT hooked the wrong way still fries...
@6:20 you plug the smoke stopper into your battery correctly, but then you plug the power backwards into the quad. It's very important to note that the smoke stopper itself has no way of knowing this. It's simply tripping from over current. You're lucky that you didn't damage anything by doing this and my guess is the reverse voltage was limited by the body diodes in the ESC FETs (thankfully). Reverse biasing the voltage regulators, micro controllers, and other silicone items can destroy them in way less than 3 ms. Honestly 3 ms is quite a long time in the world of electronics. A few dozen nano seconds up to one or two micro seconds response time would be better. Additionally, if you want reverse polarity protection with a bulb based smoke stopper, just put a hefty Schottky diode in series.
Hello, I am pretty new to fpv flying and was trying to turn on my Taranis QX7 for the first time. I have batteries in but when I try to turn it on an emoji of a person sleeping pops up instead. I just need help fixing it.
I wish I had watched this a couple weeks ago (before you made it, but no time machine sadly. I'll bet Oscar Liang had a DJI system in his quad too (guessing. I'll go watch his now.)
Can You Use That Stopper With Say A Ovonic 1550mah 6S 100C Lipo Battery Plugged Into A Armattan 6S Badger Kwad When Brand New, To Make Sure Everything Is OK.. By The Way, Is It OK To Use 1550mah 6S 100C Lipo’s With The Armattan 6S Badger, I Just Purchased The 6S Badger, And That Smoke Stopper. And 4 1550mah 6S Lipo’s. Can That Stopper Handle The 25 Plus Volts The 1550 6S Put Out ??? Thank You... This Is Super Important For Me, Thanks Again...
Imagine you have two motor wires shorted. With a multimeter, this will not show up because the ESC MOSFETS are off, so there is not short at first. But as soon as you plug the battery in, the MOSFETS will turn on and the short will come in effect.
So it just shuts off power when instantaneous current exceeds 2A for some period of time... Why don't you just use a 2A 12V power supply to power the quad instead? Or a laptop charger? Those generally supply 19V at a couple amps, and the output is shut off if it detects short circuit.
@@areg7182 I did consider mentioning that too, but lab bench supplies just have a constant current limit usually, rather than foldback current limiting or hiccup mode. They aren't much better than the series resistor method.
Maybe you need to make a new little 3d printed box for this one since you won't be using the other cool box you already made. I haven't gotten around to making my box yet for my bulb smoke stopper, and now I'm wondering if I should just buy this one. Hmm
You should add a affiliate link for the Canadian Amazon. If I try to purchase through USA Amazon, it tries to charge me a fee to ship it from the USA warehouse instead of just sending the order to Canada Amazon instead
Technically it didn't protect from reverse current there, but just overcurrent again. The smoker stopper has no way of knowing that it was connected the wrong way around on the load side, it just tripped probably because of some protection diodes somewhere in the quad. It can only detect reverse polarity on the input side, since that is the only place it can actually measure voltage.
Does anyone make this for micros or whoops that use JST or BT2 conncted batteries...i have the most trouble soldering or fixing my tiny AIO boards in general an well, Ive smoked a few to my chagrin....its the smaller stuff I'd really need this for...just curious if there are any similar adapters out there.
ıt just cuts off when i give some power on the motors. my setup is 2207 supernova motors 65a esc and 6s lips. I select the three yellow led set for low sensitivity and high current and 2 amp mode. ıt works but when i put on the throttle it cuts off. why do you think it is happening
@@JoshuaBardwell yes thanks for the video. but I think my situation is that I can't fly with the smoke stopper. ı can only use it to see if there is a short circuit. because when I throttle up it trips. the current flow is more than it is capable of. let you know when I fly if the quad burns or not :)
Just tried this w a Vista and it’s going red after a single tone. Double checked and I’m pretty sure wiring is good. Is the Vista drawing more than 2A?
Ok I’m trying to get into this hobby and we’ll when do u use a smoke stopper is it for when you billed a new drone and u make sure it’s all good or do u fly with it 😂 I’m sorry this probably sounds stupid
@@JoshuaBardwell you are the fuckin man bardwell! Thanks for replying, this is my first scratch build coming from pnp and repairing my own stuff, everything checked out buildwise but i was a lil scared to plug in with the stopper tripping, after work im going to plug in and arm it up for reals. If it blows up ill reply to this with a sad emoji, if it works ill just post sick videos. Thanks joshua.
Used mine and it was fine reading. Then I plugged my 4s in directly and 10 seconds later the my Bardwell F7 FC STM32 chip smoked. Very disappointing, out of 30 quad builds this was a first.
Hey everyone watching this video, as of this post the ViFly ShortSaver is now made as version 2 which does indeed have an ON-OFF button. And it also has a button to switch between 3 different trip times depending on what sensitivity you want it set at; High Sensitivity for Low Currant(default), Medium Sensitivity for Medium Currant, and Low Sensitivity for High Currant.
Awesome. I have the original and used it for the first time today. It tripped but I found no problems with my build. I remove power from the Caddx Vista and the trips went away. It was just too sensitive. If you have the original, you can still select the trip sensitivity, but you have to do it by bridging the S pads or N pads on the back. S for a little less sensitive, N for even less.
Yes, I have the new version, The dried-grape sensitivity feature is wonderful.
Are these still for sale? Newer model out now?
Joshua (my name is, too) you are the one that got me into fpv, you answered my questions on email when i was first building, and I own your FC. just wanted to say thanks 🙏
Two hears later,still relevant. Thanks,JB!
Come on guys Bardwell works hard so we get the best content possible, buy something! Thanks Joshua always a pleasure watching your channel!
One more thing I would ask for on this: A power switch. I don't get why it isn't standard for smoke stoppers to include a switch. That would make binding receivers much more convenient, which would help make using the smoke stopper a habit.
Yes, we will add ths into next version for sure. Thanks so much for your suggestion.
@@VIFLYDrone That's great news, thanks! I will order that one as soon as I hear it's been released.
I build a Powerswitch with XT60 and XT30 by myself. Easy thing to bind quads now.
@@VIFLYDrone please add an indicator like an rgb led, how much amps are drawn, like green low, yellow over 1amp, Red over 1,5amp, white just before protection close to 2amps. This help better to understand drone with many LEDs or consuming Motor sounds.
@@SusiSpecial We even consider to add an LED to show the real Amp number.
I always use three smoke stoppers. Stops all the smoke.
Lol 😂
I got mine recently and I love it. It's even more versatile than advertised. I'm able to test power XT60 devices off of an XT30. I also was able to power both ESCs on an X8 from a single battery using this board.
Hello Joshua, just another great video! Another reason for large inrush current is the use of (initially discharged, obviously) large capacitor on the battery lines.
Bought it, made a build, messed it up, and tripped the module! This this already paid for itself! :D
Thank you JB. This has more features than a standard smoke stopper. Thank you for the review.
Do not missing a opportunitty to get one in my giveaway.
No need to lie. My heart went into my throat when you did that. Awesome product, it seems.
The charge current on the battery input capacitor can also trip the protection when you plug in.
Bought one and I love it, be a new build or just a repair, this little device is there looking after my quad.
Glad to hear that. Thanks.
JB, when I first got my Hawk Pro I was in the dark trying to plug 6S 🔋 in the Quad 🔋 plug and it was turned backwards, then I saw and Heard this big bright Spark an smell Smoke, then as fast as I could I made sure the🔋 wasn’t plugged in. I then realized that the 🔋plug must have touch the quads plug in reverse, thinking I just Fried my New FC and Quad! after checking out the Quad for damage all that happened was the G Wire on the FC melted a little bit and a capacitor or diode next to the ground pad had partially melted! Then I plugged the quads 🔋 in an Hit the ARMED switch and the Quad was ready to Fly, I still can’t believe the quad had Survive that much power to the FC in reverse from a 6S 1600 mAH Lipo 🔋!!
you can lower the startupbeep in bl_heli. Ive had the same problem and that fixed it.
You did a good job, it's sold out everywhere 😁💪
Getfpv has it in stock
pyrodrone also has stock in USA.
@@VIFLYDrone Joshua needs to get an affiliate link to Pyro Drone also! I just got mine from there. I know, I know, that's up to the retailer, not the supplier, just saying....@PyroDrone
You can take one through my giveaway, take a look in my channel ;)
@joshua bardwell I've always checked for shorts with a multimeter witch is in my eyes a better solution then a smoke stopper and essential to use on any new build because you can be 100% sure you don't have any before you decide to put any power to your equipment. It can also tell you if you have your power connector. soldered on backwards so you can fix that before you pull your battery in backward too. The only thing is that it definitely takes a little longer to check everthing out then it would to plug in a battery with SS or device too on it.
Whenever I purchase anything for my quads I open up one of your videos and click an affiliate link so that way you will always have my contribution to help feed your family! Happy flying Joshua you da man!
I had mine trip on 2 of my quads and was driving me mad then I remembered I’d turned the startup beep and beacon strength all the way up whilst updating my esc’s,defaulted them and worked like a charm.
Just use a decent lab bench supply with an adjustable current limit (and even better trip/fuse mode) for new builds. Start at a few 100mA and increase as necessary. With a low current limit you can even quite safely test the motors with the props on.
When I first started using solid state smoke stoppers I kept thinking my quad had a ton of shorts in it because I have a gps, leds, crossfire rx, and the DJI air unit. It would always go through the motor boot tones, but then when the FC tries to draw power, it would just cut. This caused me an insane amount of stress, tearing apart my quads multiple times before I realized the quad was just drawing too much current.
Someone should really design a more advanced smoke stopper with adjustable current cutoffs. Currently I can only really test if my esc has a short, not any of my other components sadly.
I just connect my quads to the bench powersupply, which lets me set a current from 0-10 amps and also displays the current.
If it goes through the boot tones successfully, you shouldn't really have anything to worry about. If there is an actual short, the current spike would happen immediately after you plug the quad in, not a second or two later.
@@erksampat9328 Or during the boot tones, there can definitely still be a short on one of the ESC outputs, instantly destroying the ESC if you dont have current limiting on the input.
@@drkastenbrot True, but the boot tones would likely not kill the ESC if the outputs are shorted. But it will die once you test the motors.
This is why I also use my power supply. First boot up at 1A limit, then test motors with 2A limit. Works fine for my quad.
@@erksampat9328 Yeah I'm definitely not worried about my esc, however the big issue is that I won't actually ever get a good read on if my fc is doing well or not. I actually ended up frying a T-motor f4 stack because the smoke stopper didn't tell me what was wrong. Was a good chance to upgrade to a f7 though I guess.
I bought one after watching another review and I'm happy with it. The biggest quad I have is a 4k 3 inch with Brother Hobby motors and I don't think it tripped on the 1A setting. It was worth the money for me. As others have mentioned a power switch would have made my day. Maybe with a 3A setting with v2?
I have a simpler smoke stopper but I love this one. This is the best smoke stopper made today. I use it all the time but it saved my ass today. I replaced a blown F4 MCU on a 20x20 Mamba flight controller a year ago. Plugged it into Betaflight and I can flash it, the gyro works, I can change and save settings. I figured it was repaired so I set it aside as a spare. Well the gyro in my normal quad went bad so I pulled this FC out and installed it. I get half of 1 beep from the ESC when I plug in a battery and this smoke stopper trips it's fuse and saved me. Apparently there is still a short somewhere in the Mamba FC. Instead of it blowing up, I can look for a short on the FC and try to fix it and maybe it can still be saved.
I bought this smoke stopper from the above link (thanks Josh) and it is doing something I find very curious on my latest build. When I connect a 4S battery to my new HLGRC 60 amp all in one esc board with any three motors wired, it is fine. But when I wire all four motors, it trips. I am using the one amp switch setting. Have any of you had a similar experience? I have never used a 60 amp esc board before.
The blheli motor beep on startup is tripping the current limit. In blheli reduce the beacon strength.
@@JoshuaBardwell I changed the switch position from 1 amp to the 2 amp setting and tried it again with all four motors and the smoke stopper didn't trip. Your comment re: the beacon setting and my multimeter satisfied me I didn't have a short or defective board. Thanks for your help.
@@charlesestes4530 The current should be over 1Amp when connecting 4 motors, so it trips and protected.
Good looks. I was waiting for you to review it and see if it was worth it. Deff picking one up
Ordered one last week. Arrived this morning direct from vifly.
I use an old 12v 2A PSU for testing. Never hat magic smoke. But i should try reversed polarity 🤔
and they are are no longer available. Backordered on all sites but BangGood. Thanks JB! now that's the power of being an influencer!
Looks like a quality product, unlike that other one, I might have to invest in one, because sometimes when I hear that electrical crack when I power up a quad it scares me lol.
Thanks for the great video. So I am building my first quad and of course got the smoke stopper after learning about it on this channel. It did actually turn red, and now i am wondering where to go from there. Can i debug the faulty wires with a fluke or should I desolder everything?
This one is GREAT ! I sure wish I had one today, I just finished building a 6s Ragging Droner and I'm always nervous about plugging it in for the first time. Thanks again for the great information.
A multimeter works great for checking for shorts too, not sure if you own one of those but if you do I know there's tutorials on how to check your new build for shorts here on RUclips.
I totally know the feeling though, after building my first build i waited a fee days before I got the courage up to plug it in for the first time just because I was so worried about having a cloud of magic smoke come out as soon when I did.
The funny part about it is when I finally did plug in everything worked perfectly so I went out for the first flight not long after, unfortunately that didnt go as well and only lasted for about 30 seconds before i crashed it and it was destroyed. Best 30 seconds of my life though! 😆 🤣
Hope everything works out for you!
@@itsme-fr5fr 30 + Years of being a TV and Stereo repairman. I think I can figure it out. HaHa thanks for the reply
Great idea! I will extend my light bulb smoke stopper by a diode to get reverse polarity protection. My XT30 smokestopper uses a 12V lightbulb, my XT60 uses a 24V semi truck light bulb.
But 12 bucks seems very OK to me for that electronic smokestopper.
Dude I've never been scared of anything in my life until I whatched this video 😨 my poor heart
great I was looking for a smoke stopper since I smoked mine.
Just ordered one!
Really interesting little device, Joshua! 😃
Fantastic review and testing!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Olá MC,
check the Vifly ShortSaver GIVEAWAY in my channel. :)
@@NunoFlyer Hey there, dude! I will!!! 😃
3:34 the thing already triggered, its red, hence why nothing is flowing through when u try to short it with the lamp...
Aaarrggh. A smoke stopper, I just realized, has been wasting a ton of my time.
I set up a new quad with a DJI Air Unit, and everything seemed fine. I plugged it in with the RDQ smoke stopper and everything checked out. Then a little while later I plugged it in, it would do the correct esc startup tones and start beeping. Then after 15 to 20 seconds it would make 'crunchy' sizzle (? lol) sound and the smoke stopper light would flicker. Well I ended up changing out my entire FC because of this. I set it up and same thing = it was fine a few times plugging it in with the smoke stopper. Then I plugged it into my computer and after 15 seconds or so it would happen again - crunchy sizzle.
Well I finally realized now that it happens when the green light of the DJI air unit lights up = when it apparently starts drawing more current. So I took the risk and plugged it in without the smoke stopper and everything is fine. What . a . royal . pain ! lol At least I have a spare good FC now and the new build is cleaner with the HGLRC Zeus board.
OMG I spent hooours doing this shit, soldering unsoldierng, just sent it like you said aaaand no issues. The flicker was driving me insane
Could you use a lab bench power supply in place of a smoke stopper? If you put it at 15v and limit current to 1.5a? Mine has reverse polarity protection as well as a current limiter built in. It's pretty fancy one from 2008. I don't want to buy a smoke stopper if I can use my lab bench power supply instead.
Anthony, I would not advise it. A Bench supply in constant current mode is still going to be pushing 1.5 amps even if there is a short. This smoke stopper delatches the supply from the output when a current threshold is exceeded, giving you a chance to fix whatever is wrong. With the bench supply, you will probably still end up burning something. That said, I use a bench supply when building quads all the time, but I still put a smoke stopper in-line.
My battery charger has a power output mode that limits current so thats what i use... it lets you know if the polarity is wrong and i don't need any new pieces of kit
The ESC startup tone volume can be set very low..
This might help.. I have an automotive bulb ( 3157 ) and it's lights up much more when volume is on standart...
Value / Volume 2 is perfect for me :P
LoL! Guilting us with the kiddos. Seriously though that little contraption would have been nice when I plugged in my second drone build several weeks back. I checked that D@m# XT 60 plug 3 time to be sure what direction it needed soldered and slap me if I didn't solder it backwards anyways! 😞 At least I had the foresight to plug it in slowly and heard the uncharacteristic crackling sound in the plugs and yanked it apart. $13 of sound insurance versus smoking $100 of equipment. An ounce of prevention is worth more then a pound of cure? Absolutely G.D. right!
I bought one! Affiliate link! Thx! There is a theory that all electrical devices are loaded up with smoke that is aching to get out. We must keep them prisoners!
Would be perfect if it had an on/off switch, helps out with binding.
It's not that easy depending on the implementation of the power path.
You could easily put a switch between the device and drone your self
Srsly you have no cable that you can Power switch???
Wet tongue does the trick
Next version will have it.. Vifly said it..
Awesome Video.
Now I know why the bulb flashes on my Quad, 2750kv motors.
AMAZING stuff!!!! just ordered it using your affiliate link. Thank you Joshua. Happy Flying!!!
One year later Bardwell. Do you still hold the vifly short saver in high regard? I just picked up the short saver 2. Was watching your video to learn how to use it. 😃
wanna find out bardwell's intro music? name : cross my fingers
artist: soara year :2011
And it's a small investment to boot. Just ordered mine. It'll save my builds and put some cash back to that lovely baby!
I swear it's like Joshua knew... Here's why... I just received my first 5" Quad from Banggood along with a XM+ receiver that i need to solder in... And the Smoke-stopper I ordered so far is a no-show.
So while I'm thinking about just mounting the receiver without a Smoke-stop as safety/backup because I obviously want to get flying NOW... this video pops up reminding me: SMOKE KILLS QUADS.
Its been over 6 months.... how is it going? This would be an awesome soldering kit.
Can add diodes to your light bulb smoke stopper for reverse polarity.
Good thought but no. That would only work if the battery had wrong polarity. Outputting "right-way-current" through a diode into an XT hooked the wrong way still fries...
Thanks for the review 😊 much appreciated
Best youtuber
@6:20 you plug the smoke stopper into your battery correctly, but then you plug the power backwards into the quad. It's very important to note that the smoke stopper itself has no way of knowing this. It's simply tripping from over current. You're lucky that you didn't damage anything by doing this and my guess is the reverse voltage was limited by the body diodes in the ESC FETs (thankfully). Reverse biasing the voltage regulators, micro controllers, and other silicone items can destroy them in way less than 3 ms. Honestly 3 ms is quite a long time in the world of electronics. A few dozen nano seconds up to one or two micro seconds response time would be better. Additionally, if you want reverse polarity protection with a bulb based smoke stopper, just put a hefty Schottky diode in series.
And...how does it compare to your JB super special fancy smoke stopper? Obviously smaller and I don't think your's has reverse polarity protection....
Were your escs fried? I plugged my quadcopter in with wet conformal coating and they sounded out of sync like that, and it wouldn't fly anymore.
make a review about flysky frm302.
Thanks bro just used ur link to pick one up getfpv had it instock not rdq or Amazon
Hello, I am pretty new to fpv flying and was trying to turn on my Taranis QX7 for the first time. I have batteries in but when I try to turn it on an emoji of a person sleeping pops up instead. I just need help fixing it.
Your amazon link doesnt work in UK sir! Ordered through BG instead!
Hobbyrc has stock in UK, www.hobbyrc.co.uk/vifly-shortsaver-smoke-stopper
Why is it not enough to check for short circuits with a multimeter?
I wish I had watched this a couple weeks ago (before you made it, but no time machine sadly. I'll bet Oscar Liang had a DJI system in his quad too (guessing. I'll go watch his now.)
You are polite. That is cool.
I clicked your Link. And i liked it.
Is it possible to ask arm the kwad when using it?
Can You Use That Stopper With Say A Ovonic 1550mah 6S 100C Lipo Battery Plugged Into A Armattan 6S Badger Kwad When Brand New, To Make Sure Everything Is OK.. By The Way, Is It OK To Use 1550mah 6S 100C Lipo’s With The Armattan 6S Badger, I Just Purchased The 6S Badger, And That Smoke Stopper. And 4 1550mah 6S Lipo’s. Can That Stopper Handle The 25 Plus Volts The 1550 6S Put Out ??? Thank You... This Is Super Important For Me, Thanks Again...
Looks good. Hei Vifly ... please add a power switch and buzzer instead only green/red led
Got it. Will do.
What's the advantage over using a multimeter continuity test?
Imagine you have two motor wires shorted. With a multimeter, this will not show up because the ESC MOSFETS are off, so there is not short at first. But as soon as you plug the battery in, the MOSFETS will turn on and the short will come in effect.
So it just shuts off power when instantaneous current exceeds 2A for some period of time...
Why don't you just use a 2A 12V power supply to power the quad instead? Or a laptop charger? Those generally supply 19V at a couple amps, and the output is shut off if it detects short circuit.
or an adjustable lab bench supply.
@@areg7182 I did consider mentioning that too, but lab bench supplies just have a constant current limit usually, rather than foldback current limiting or hiccup mode. They aren't much better than the series resistor method.
One reason is that you can't easily take a bench supply into the field.
My bulb smoke stopper once protected my quad from reverse polarity, the bulb lights up really bright. I do have a video of it.
Hey Joshua, thanks for the great vid! Have you tried this with the Toolkitrc M6? It has an output function with current limiting so it may work too...
Nice thanks again Joshua
Ordered, thanks JB!
Hey, check the Vifly ShortSaver GIVEAWAY in my channel.
Just subscribe and leave a comment.
@Bardwell Whats your view on 3D Printed Drone Frames?
Would a big capacitor across the pigtail cause the unit to trip, but only the first time you plug it in and it charges?
My thought too. A cap will generate a big inrush current. Depending on how fast it trips
Could you add in a resistor to get that 3A ?
Maybe you need to make a new little 3d printed box for this one since you won't be using the other cool box you already made. I haven't gotten around to making my box yet for my bulb smoke stopper, and now I'm wondering if I should just buy this one. Hmm
last night my smoke stopper did its job! unfortunately i did not see it go from green to red and blew up a capacitor.
Cap was soldered backwards.
@@JoshuaBardwell I understand that now after i thought my new zeez f7 stack was fried, lol.
Will it also protect you in case you connect ESC vbat to FC 5V input. Because there was a lot of smoke in it 🤦♂️
No I don't think it protects against that.
Joshua, another great video! Ordered via your affiliate link.
Mine goes red on everything, it can come defective right?
You should add a affiliate link for the Canadian Amazon. If I try to purchase through USA Amazon, it tries to charge me a fee to ship it from the USA warehouse instead of just sending the order to Canada Amazon instead
Technically it didn't protect from reverse current there, but just overcurrent again. The smoker stopper has no way of knowing that it was connected the wrong way around on the load side, it just tripped probably because of some protection diodes somewhere in the quad. It can only detect reverse polarity on the input side, since that is the only place it can actually measure voltage.
Does anyone make this for micros or whoops that use JST or BT2 conncted batteries...i have the most trouble soldering or fixing my tiny AIO boards in general an well, Ive smoked a few to my chagrin....its the smaller stuff I'd really need this for...just curious if there are any similar adapters out there.
I have just used one of your links and I have bought it. Thank you Joshua. Keep rocking mate!
ViFly ShortSaver Smoke Stopper version 2 is out now
ıt just cuts off when i give some power on the motors. my setup is 2207 supernova motors 65a esc and 6s lips. I select the three yellow led set for low sensitivity and high current and 2 amp mode. ıt works but when i put on the throttle it cuts off. why do you think it is happening
It cuts off because it's doing its job. ruclips.net/video/0CQA5dPMYJQ/видео.html
@@JoshuaBardwell what can be the reason for that. a bad mounted capacitor ?
No. Watch the video I linked. It fully expains what is happening. Did you watch the video????
@@JoshuaBardwell yes thanks for the video. but I think my situation is that I can't fly with the smoke stopper. ı can only use it to see if there is a short circuit. because when I throttle up it trips. the current flow is more than it is capable of. let you know when I fly if the quad burns or not :)
Yes, he's adorable...and I've been subscribed forever. :)
Do not missing a opportunitty to get one in my giveaway, check it in my channel, just subscribe and leave a comment, easy!
Just tried this w a Vista and it’s going red after a single tone. Double checked and I’m pretty sure wiring is good. Is the Vista drawing more than 2A?
That's possible. It would be nice if the shortsaver had a 3A setting.
Good viedeo i think that this thingie is must for beginers if they solder xt60 backwards and other stuff gj i wouldnt know about this without you
Couldn't you just put a big diode in your "normal" smoke stopper?
Or rely on the mosfet body diodes in the ESC.
Ok I’m trying to get into this hobby and we’ll when do u use a smoke stopper is it for when you billed a new drone and u make sure it’s all good or do u fly with it 😂 I’m sorry this probably sounds stupid
I’m sold!
Great option. Bought from your affiliated link.
Do not missing a opportunitty to get one in my channel.
No buzzer?
Would you recommend this is been a year?? If so I'll click on the link
Yeah it's still great.
Ok I'll use the link as I said I would thank you
So good!
Feed my children... you don't want my children to eat.. lmaooo thanks for all the vids dude.
is it normal for smoke stopper to turn red when i arm quad?
Yes because the motors pull current which trips the smoke stopper.
@@JoshuaBardwell you are the fuckin man bardwell! Thanks for replying, this is my first scratch build coming from pnp and repairing my own stuff, everything checked out buildwise but i was a lil scared to plug in with the stopper tripping, after work im going to plug in and arm it up for reals. If it blows up ill reply to this with a sad emoji, if it works ill just post sick videos. Thanks joshua.
Used mine and it was fine reading. Then I plugged my 4s in directly and 10 seconds later the my Bardwell F7 FC STM32 chip smoked. Very disappointing, out of 30 quad builds this was a first.