<p>No, you can't use a capacitor on its own to reduce voltage. You need a voltage regulator. These are often sold as a 'DC to DC converter'. There's a wide range of sizes and current capacities available, and most have an adjustable output voltage.</p>
<p>For low power devices, you can use a 'linear regulator', which simply wastes the unwanted voltage as heat. I'd guess that this would be sufficient for your needs.</p>
<p>Higher power devices switch the power on an off quickly, which is more efficient and doesn't get hot. These are known as 'switching' or 'PWM' regulators, and tend to be a bit larger, heavier and more expensive.</p>
<p>Note that some 'DC to DC converters' are 'boost converters', and are designed to increase voltage instead of decreasing it.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-26T14:22:34.680Z
So if i wire the battery connector from the brushed ESC to the other ESC's Power connection, do I still need the linear regulator? Is a BEC the same the voltage regulator? Additionally, do you know if I should wire the brushed ESC's receiever wires to any of the 4 UART ports on the FC?
demon_of_speed
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-26T17:50:54.880Z
If you wire the battery connectors together, you'll be suppling 4s voltage to a 3s device and it probably won't work. You need to take the battery power to a 12v regulator, and connect the 3s ESC to the 12v output from the regulator. I think you're right about using a UART, but I've never done it. ESCs use the same signal as a servo, and there are probably lots of guides for connecting a servo to a flight controller.
Robin Bennett
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-26T08:48:11.840Z
2023-06-26T08:48:11.840Z
Robin Bennett
<p>For a challenge, my club and I have been building a drone with a claw on the bottom. We found a good lightweight claw, but it uses an N20 Geared brushed motor. We have a brushed motor ESC(Quicrun 1625 Brushed) to run it. We currently have a Tekko32 65A ESC set for the main motors of the drone for the brushless motors. The Brushed ESC is rated to 3s, but we have a 4s battery for it. Can we use a capacitor to act as a step down for the Quicrun ESC, and which ports should we wire the ESC to on our FC( Kakute H7 V1)? All the UARTS are available on the FC still, with one plug-and-play slot for ESCs available(motors 5-8).</p>

<quadcopters><flight-controller><esc><brushed-motors><homemade-drone>
Claw using brushed ESC in conjunction with brushless ESC on Kakute H7
demon_of_speed
# Claw using brushed ESC in conjunction with brushless ESC on Kakute H7

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-06-25)

For a challenge, my club and I have been building a drone with a claw on the bottom. We found a good lightweight claw, but it uses an N20 Geared brushed motor. We have a brushed motor ESC(Quicrun 1625 Brushed) to run it. We currently have a Tekko32 65A ESC set for the main motors of the drone for the brushless motors. The Brushed ESC is rated to 3s, but we have a 4s battery for it. Can we use a capacitor to act as a step down for the Quicrun ESC, and which ports should we wire the ESC to on our FC( Kakute H7 V1)? All the UARTS are available on the FC still, with one plug-and-play slot for ESCs available(motors 5-8).

**Tags:** quadcopters, flight-controller, esc, brushed-motors, homemade-drone


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-06-26. Score: 0

No, you can't use a capacitor on its own to reduce voltage. You need a voltage regulator. These are often sold as a 'DC to DC converter'. There's a wide range of sizes and current capacities available, and most have an adjustable output voltage.

For low power devices, you can use a 'linear regulator', which simply wastes the unwanted voltage as heat. I'd guess that this would be sufficient for your needs.

Higher power devices switch the power on an off quickly, which is more efficient and doesn't get hot. These are known as 'switching' or 'PWM' regulators, and tend to be a bit larger, heavier and more expensive.

Note that some 'DC to DC converters' are 'boost converters', and are designed to increase voltage instead of decreasing it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So if i wire the battery connector from the brushed ESC to the other ESC's Power connection, do I still need the linear regulator? Is a BEC the same the voltage regulator? Additionally, do you know if I should wire the brushed ESC's receiever wires to any of the 4 UART ports on the FC?  
> **username_1**: If you wire the battery connectors together, you'll be suppling 4s voltage to a 3s device and it probably won't work. You need to take the battery power to a 12v regulator, and connect the 3s ESC to the 12v output from the regulator. I think you're right about using a UART, but I've never done it. ESCs use the same signal as a servo, and there are probably lots of guides for connecting a servo to a flight controller.  

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