Cap Solder

The problem with capacitor leads

If you haven’t seen the excellent video by Chris Rosser (Stop Killing ESCs), you absolutely must watch it.
Most capacitor leads are actually plated steel, not pure copper [00:01:49].
The result? During hard throttle punches, these leads overheat, melt, and eventually fail.

And then comes the disaster: your ESC is no longer filtered, it gets hit with monstrous voltage spikes, and it risks burning out instantly.

My simple solution to fix this

I designed these small mounting PCBs. It’s very simple, but it changes everything:

• Cut the capacitor leads as short as possible to remove the critical zone that heats up.
• Solder the capacitor flat onto the small PCB.
• Use good silicone wire 20 AWG (real copper, highly conductive!) to connect to the ESC pads.

Besides saving the electronics, this makes for a super clean setup. It allows you to easily relocate the capacitor into the frame, where there is space, without risking tearing off the leads on the first crash!