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Vulcan Raven
Manual V2.0
Assembly Guide:
The Power Disribution Board (PDB)
The first thing to do in your build is prepare the power distribution board. This is a
critical part of your multi rotor as it ensures reliable and consistent power supply
to all the onboard systems that need power from the main battery packs, including
ESCs and your flight controller. Many will have their own ideas about the best way
to distribute power on their machine, and whilst this manual is not really aimed at
power distribution, we have included some general good practice tips:
Always protect your internal wiring. Any movement of internal wiring can lead to
wear of the insulation and eventually a failure, so we would recommend protecting
all power wires with heatshrink or similar - any suitable tough covering that is resist-
ant to wear and heat.
ESC control wires are thin and quite vulnerable, and are best protected with some-
thing other than heatshrink as the heat from the shrinking process may damage
them. Nylon braiding is a good alternative, and although it is less resistant to heat
than heat shrink, it is easier to fit over pre fitted plugs, and better looking, so a good
choice for any wires that will be visible. If your PDB is of the correct specification and
correctly assembled, there should not be excessive heat present.
Good solder joints are critical, and enough heat must be present to fully melt the
solder and allow a good bond between the PDB and wires. If you are using our
Vul-
can Power
high current PDBs, the thick copper in them will suck the heat from your
soldering iron very quickly. So use a powerful iron with a large head that can retain
it’s heat. A Weller 80W iron with 10mm head is as good choice.
It is a good idea to run multiple independent battery connections for redundancy,
rather than use battery splitters when using multiple LiPo batteries.
It is wise to run several auxilliary power feeds from the board to supply power to
anything you may need now or in future.This will save you having to open the frame
and solder in more feeds in future should you find you need them.
Use thread lock on PDB mountings to ensure there is no way the PDB can come
free over time, or a short will occur. Carbon fibre is highly conductive.