Why put the ESCs away in a hot little box?

Why does everyone hide their ESCs in an enclosure?

It seems unnecessary, and even harmful as the enclosure will reduce the airflow that helps to cool the ESC down? Isn’t heat the major cause of failure? Are stones/rocks etc. really a danger to the ESCs? Is it all to protect from water? Is it just aesthetics?

Why not just wrap your ESC in a little heat shrink and stick it to the bottom of your board?

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Rocks and random debris are more of a danger than the heat. Never had an overheating problem on my VESCs; even on steep inclines. I think the best course of action would be to use heatsinks on the VESC and cut out a little square on the enclosure for the heatsink to stick out of for fresh air. For regular ESCs you can just have the built in fan/heatsink do the same.

So, just to be clear, you’ve had issues with VESCs getting hit by debris and causing a problem?

I’m just not convinced that debris is an actual danger to VESCs/ESCs, I’ve not seen any evidence. I’ve seen plenty of cases of people trying to cool them down more… by adding heatsinks… maybe not so necessary if you just didn’t box them up?

I’m not trying to be a dick, I just don’t understand why everyone is doing this, and am looking for why.

My ESC has not been hit by debris, but that’s probably because it’s in a box. I see debris or rough terrain being a much greater threat than over heating seeing as how I’ve never overheated, and meanwhile, my motors are scratched up to high heaven.

This is how I did my last build:

After 50 miles no issues so far but my esc is in a metal heatsink case that it came with.

I had my first esc killed by water when it was just strapped under the board, I rode onto few puddles and the water shorted something internally I think. Then I started using enclosures and rain/water was not a big problem anymore, but I agree, I would like to cool down the vesc by putting a fan that blows air out of the enclosure and takes out the heat from near the vesc (I already have small heatsinks on it but they’re not enough because of the heat at 8s with a 6372 motor) .

I cut holes for my ESCs but I had no choice lol

What setup do you have for your vesc not to overheat on steep inclines ??

Motor? foc or bldc ? Gearing ? Battery ?

OM5065 200kv dual BLDC 16/36 10s4p

Ok 5065 dual…now i understand. Smaller motors and 2 vesc to divide load !

yeah id rather not have my ESC exposed to all the dirt and rocks that gets flicked up under my board. although I do have a hole cut where the ESC sits.