Question About 12S & 14S
 

Hi All,
Is it ok to run a 12S EDF/ESC system on 14S if I keep the current, wattage and heat in spec?
What I plan to do is run the 12S system with 14S lipos on a watt/amp meter and raise the throttle till I reach just under the maximum allowance of the 12S system and then program my transmitter to not exceed that percentage at full throttle. Does that sound safe?

Just to let you know why I'm doing this, I'm going to upgrade the 12S jet to a 14S system soon after purchase so I didn't want to expense both 12S and 14S batteries.
Thanks for your thoughts.

Will

As long as the ESC is rated to handle 14s you should be ok. Throttling a motor from a higher voltage may reduce its efficiency a touch and thus increase its heat generation for the same power level.

Current and power drawn are proportional to voltage squared respectively voltage cubed.
Going from 12s to 14s, current drawn wants to increase by factor (14/12)²= 1.3, 30% extra.
Power drawn wants to increase by factor 1.5, 50% extra.
Increase in current with one or two cells added simple table - RCG
(In full: proportional to pitch, #blades, voltage² respectively voltage³, Kv³ and diameter⁴, small changes, huge increase).
Ignoring bit of extra voltage losses in battery, wiring, controller and motor due to higher current.


If current at wide open throttle is too high for the controller then reducing throttle to get current below ESC max.current is not a good idea. It is even harder on ESC than to keep overamping at full throttle. Better to prop down a bit to reduce current.
See:

• Explanation by Bruce Abbott:
  looking for a 6S small motor. Ideas? - Page 2 - RCG
  
• Martyn McKinney, Steve Neu and Bruce Abbott wrote some clever answers in this thread, also addressing input capacitor temperature and why life is easier on a controller at WOT (wide-open-throttle):
  ESC efficiency questions - RCG

Ok, thanks. Fortunately, it should be a short term solution until I upgrade the EDF. I will also upgrade the ESC from the start to handle the 14S.

Oooookay. That's a mouthful! :)
As mentioned in the above post, I will upgrade the ESC from the start to handle the 14S. The EDF will have to endure a bit until I get the upgrade that the 14S is intended for.
Just didn't want to have to buy 12S lipos for the short term. Thanks for the hit and the links!