How to Make a Smoke Stopper to Test Quadcopters and Other Electronics

Avoid damage when you power on for the first time by building a smoke stopper.

Have you ever experienced the point where you already finished building something, and you plugged it in and smoke began pouring out? Instantly that excitement of completing you build turns to smoke! Now you need to tear that thing down, and check where your wiring went wrong! A Smoke Stopper can save you from the pain and time to rebuild.

Easy to build

Here’s how this baby works, it’s really simple: You build the smoke stopper with the power connectors that you already use and a light bulb. After building, modifying or repairing your build, you can plug this in between your battery and the Quad to test for shorts.

The smoke stopper can be used with a 2S, 3S or even with a 12V Workbench Power Supply.

Don’t use higher than 3S or 14V power for testing. Using 4S and 6S batteries will blow your bulbs.

Bulbs limit current?

Believe it or not, you can use a light bulb as an effective current limiter! A bulb has a thin wire/filament that when enough current is passed through it, the bulb will illuminate. When the light turns on it will restrict the current flow. Your light bulb’s wattage rating divided by the voltage of your battery roughly determines the maximum amount of your current.

How to calculate a bulbs current limit

Bulbs wattage (W) / Voltage of your battery (V) = Current limit (A)

Smaller Wattage for smaller loads

Small wattage light bulbs can be used for a low current limit. We recommend you automotive bulbs: 3057, 4157, 1157, and 3157.  All of these will startup the FC, but if you try to spin the motors, you will make the bulb glow and limit the current.

When you have a short

If you also have a short, the bulb will likely blow as the current will be too great for the thin filament to handle. A smoke stopper is essentially a fuse, it blows so your components don’t.

Useful but not 100%

Always remember that bulbs only LIMIT the electrical flow NOT STOP it. This means that there are situations where your circuits get fried by the continuous flow of power that is caused by an incorrectly wired quadcopter. D

It’s that easy

So this is the Smoke Stopper ladies and gentlemen! Be safe in limiting your electrical appliances, mates! Save your electricity by using the Smoke Stopper! Do not fear because the Smoke Stopper is here! Peace out and be safe!