2014 - best ESC at the moment?


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sk8brd

Member
i found some post a while back can't find now been looking for a bit where the simon k guy i don t know if that's his name i assume it is who designed the firmware was saying to someone that lower kv motors and big props were not tested as he did not have the motors to do so. i know people love them on the higher kv motors though. i been trying to let people know to stay away. some people have got away with it until they put any payload weight then bonkers happens. i know the recommendation on freefly forum on low kv tigers if not on mk is plush's/hobbywing/ across the board.


here's a guy on u5's and i believe btw simonk having sync restart issues.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJamvLec88M#t=67

here's same guy with motors cutting out during throttle change.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45SAWc6VMAE

Kloner what your thoughts?
 
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kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
i tried the plush and it had a slow wobble when i loaded it up to where simonK appear to work, but now i don't know wth to think.....

Theres a definite relation, but i ran a lot of different setups that worked/still work or at least they appear to....
 

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R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
I'm surprised this is being debated here. The problem with SimonK firmware on any ESC when used with low kV motors and heavy props is very well known now. This has nothing to do with the ESC manufacturer. There are some things you can do to help the situation, but it's complicated. You have to twiddle with the SimonK settings... somehow... I've never done it. Timing, # of poles, etc.

Easiest thing to do is use standard firmware.
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
doesn't fly the same.... I've logged almost a thousand hours last year,,,,, saw two failures both when going from 60 amp to 40 amp setups, both were within a month of each other....

there not that low of kv, 400 and not pancake, not high pole

Everything i've posted videos from in the last year had them, t-motor 3520 and simoK 40-60 amp esc's
 

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sk8brd

Member
there has been success "apparently" by calibrating at 110% throttle instead of of the normal 100 or using 10-29-2013comp-pwm version...another thing reported was tiger saying not to use their esc's w/ simon k in addition to the recall on higher amp esc's.. the non simon k tigers were ok though reported by tiger to customers..

here's the kicker though there's some out there with maytech simonk k esc's and sk- kopterworks esc's on cinestar rigs that don't have problems.
 

gtranquilla

gtranquilla

RadioActive
Theres been a posting or 2 on Freefly forum re: the need for a Hercules III power board to help resolve issues related to high pole count motor incompatibility with ESCs but i don't understand how that has anything to do with these issues!
 

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R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
I would LOVE to hear how the a PDB would help stop motor sync problems. HTF does that work?

So much snake oil...
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
it's 2 grand,,,, throwing money at stuff always fixes it.....hahaha. does it have a variable timing and speed of simonK 400hz? never looked at them

the calibrating to 110 is if you have a spektrum radio and accidentaly calibrate them....
 




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RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
IrisAerial said:
I thought the Hercules had integrated esc's?
Click to expand...

The Herc's ARE ESC's, four of them integrated into one board so there's more things that can go up in smoke :) The latest iteration is the Herkules II V3 Profi Power Board which is a quad ESC capable of up to 6S in a 60 x 60 form factor, 499 Euro each. Nice if you fly a quad or octo, not so nice for hex...

I've been using the HK Blue/Maytech nFET ESCs built by ZTW who also makes them for Tiger. Difference is the HK Blue are about 1/3 the price of Maytechs and up to 30 amp series are exactly the same hardware and firmware, haven't compared the larger ones though I see no reason why they wouldn't be the same also. The ZTW work quite well with SimonK but do have issues with high pole count motors running that firmware. If you go into the code and change the timing it sometimes gets things working with 22 pole motors but not always and not 100% reliable. I just went through that whole thing with a set of HK Multistar 390 kv motors, standard SimonK on the Blue worked fine on the bench and right up about 10 feet in the air when the motors started losing synch. Reloaded the ESCs with the newest code available and tweaked the settings, now it was able to get 2x the height before problems started, end of experimentation with SimonK firmware and high pole count motors.

Swapped over to a set of Castle 35 multirotor ESCs and they fire the 390kv motors just fine. Firmware has limited tuneability but since the M/R series comes with the code already optimized for use on multis there isn't much need to change things anyway. I played around with the settings a bit to see how smooth I could get things running and the end result is 20 minutes flight time running the Multistar motors on extended arms and 12 x 3.8 props in a Discovery frame. Lands at 75% discharge on the pack and I know it can do better, just haven't had much opportunity to work on it due to the snow/rain/snow cycle we've been going through the last 2 months.

The BEST setup I've used so far is Hobbywing with Silabs processor on BLHeli firmware which gives you pretty much the same set of tuning options as UltraESC and ESC32. Interesting bit of information, the stock DJI ESCs are Hobbywing optos under the shrinkwrap running silabs processors and they work really nice on the bLheli firmware, I've got a couple sets flying on different frames.

As far as out of the box, I'd definitely use the Castle 35 MR again and probably will on my next build as they can handle up to 6S, plus at $148 for a set of 4 they're very reasonably priced as Castle prices go. The other option would be to go for straight ZTW as they're now marketing their stuff direct in the USA although I do still keep a few HK Blue in the package for when I need a set quickly.

Ken
 


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PeterLester

Member
R_Lefebvre said:
I would LOVE to hear how the a PDB would help stop motor sync problems. HTF does that work?

So much snake oil...
Click to expand...

Yes... In any case quadrocopter usa sells a $700 pdb including 6 or 8 escs and a dedicated programming device!!!! It is for a cinestar hl arf kit designed for the DJI WKM or A2!!!! Also a mystery to me. The hercules is more than just a pdb as there are 4 escs built on to it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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PeterLester

Member
What i need to know now is which ESCs i can trust to work with my new Tiger MN 22 pole motors! And at what point does a motor become defined as a pancake style motor?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


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sk8brd

Member
those are called the freefly motor control set which seem to be typical hobby wing esc's with some settings changed.. a turnigy program card was reported to work on them. they have the same start up tones as usually hobby wing/turnigy plush esc's with cell count etc. what your paying for is the pdb all wired really not the esc's as there no difference between those and plush's. the non mk cinestar people are using them without issues. one freefly forum member has them on u5's without issue.

PeterLester said:
Yes... In any case quadrocopter usa sells a $700 pdb including 6 or 8 escs and a dedicated programming device!!!! It is for a cinestar hl arf kit designed for the DJI WKM or A2!!!! Also a mystery to me. The hercules is more than just a pdb as there are 4 escs built on to it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 



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