At what point are caps needed?

[gearhd48]

I have read on the posts about using cap banks and stuff, but was wondering if you can have an improvement using them with 3S and if so how many to use at what value or with 6s how many to use and what value. What Is the way to figure this out? Please help this newbe out. I'm so confused!

[Jamey]

Hey geahd48, Have you read this one yet?
http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...emptive-answer

Having enough capacitance reduces or removes the voltage fluctuations (ripple as they call it) leading to the speed controller. Whether you really notice a performance increase or not I am not sure but ripple is not good for the esc. You can probably get away with a "normal" matched setup and a modern esc but being part of the hobby it is a nice upgrade to make. You will find the castle bank is a very popular add on. If you want to build your own bank, 4 of the 35v 1000uf caps in parallel should cover everything up to 6S as well. More complex options (series versus parallel, multiple smaller versus large, etc.) of course for extreme cases. There are different thoughts on the means of attachment but however you do it the goal is to have it connect as close to the esc as possible for the best results. Again do some searching, get it done and let us know how it worked out for you!