Power & capacitors on our UL8
PM02D power module
Pacer ESC — plek voor de condensator
On an 8″ long-range quad with 6S and four solid motors, power is as critical as the flight controller. Here is how we split current — and why a low-ESR capacitor belongs on the ESC.
Two parallel paths from the battery
6S pack ──┬──► Pacer 60A V2 ──► 4× F100 (motors)
└──► PM02D ──► POWER1 on Pixhawk 6X Mini (FC + sensing)
- The Pacer 60A V2 powers motors only.
- The PM02D powers the Pixhawk 6X Mini and measures voltage/current. It is not an ESC PDB.
That keeps prop current spikes off the sensitive FC rail. Details in Step 2 — Flight controller & power.
Capacitor: on the ESC, not the PM
The Pacer retail kit includes one capacitor. The PM02D includes none. We solder the low-ESR cap on the ESC power pads (near XT60), polarity correct.
For 8″ / 6S the included cap is a starting point. Oscar Liang roughly recommends ~2200 µF or 2× 1000 µF in parallel, voltage 35 V or better 50 V. Read: Why capacitors matter.
On ArduPilot this mainly means cleaner power and spike protection — reliability more than FPV video noise.
What we do in practice
- Split XT60 from the pack to Pacer and PM02D in parallel.
- Mount the cap on the ESC (or upgrade).
- First boot without props: FC starts, LED/buzzer OK.
- Only then sensors and radio — Step 3 and Step 4.
Related
ArduPilot wiki (implementation)
Official wiki pages for configuring / testing this part in ArduPilot:
Photos
