KDE XF esc's

[Fat Corgi]

That's what I wanted to hear. Excellent :eagerness:

 

[ary]

Im using KDE 35A ESC on my X8. WKM, MN 4014 kv 330, Tmotor Props 17x5.8.
Esc respons faster than my old 400mhz simonk esc

Ary

Has anyone run the KDE esc's off a Wookong and experienced any problems? Will any of the esc settings have to be change in order for them to work well with the flight controller, or is it a case of you can simply hook them up and away you go?

 

[min0nim]

I just found out the hard and expensive way today that the KDE 4012-400's / 35Amp ESC's aren't compatible with Hoverfly Pro board.

See here for details - http://www.multirotorforums.com/sho...ity-(or-incompatibility!)&p=182306#post182306

If the guys from KDE are monitoring this, I may have a spare Hoverfly board to lend if you want to test it. Send me a PM.

Cheers,
Min.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Hmmm... I wonder if this is related to the problem with Pixhawk and the KDE ESC's. Could it be an issue with the voltage level of the PWM signal coming from Pixhawk? The Pixhawk voltage level is only 3.3V. What is the Hoverfly?

 

[KDE Direct]

Hey Guys,

Just posted the new KDE Direct Design Engineering Video: Episode X, which goes through the design details of the KDE Direct XF UAV ESCs, and also a showcase of the performance capabilities. Hope you enjoy seeing all the Engineering and Design Intent that goes into the ESC series, and please let us know if you have any questions - please feel free to e-mail us at support@kdedirect.com.

 

[Carapau]

I think all other MR manufacturers should take a leaf out of KDE's book in terms of customer engagement. Just read about the shaft issues on the Freefly sight and was very impressed with how KDE dealt with it. Ive also just fitted some 5215s with the 55A ESCs and so far they have knocked the U7s well into touch.

 

[crayfellow]

Hmmm... I wonder if this is related to the problem with Pixhawk and the KDE ESC's. Could it be an issue with the voltage level of the PWM signal coming from Pixhawk? The Pixhawk voltage level is only 3.3V. What is the Hoverfly?

Hi Rob. I would guess it is related. I can't imagine it's a blocking issue although it's presented as if it is. Wouldn't you think as long as the opto-isolators are powered, and the PWM range is 1100-1900us it should be OK? Or maybe the Hoverfly compatibility issue has since been sorted, just not updated here?

 

[maxwelltub]

I think all other MR manufacturers should take a leaf out of KDE's book in terms of customer engagement. Just read about the shaft issues on the Freefly sight and was very impressed with how KDE dealt with it. Ive also just fitted some 5215s with the 55A ESCs and so far they have knocked the U7s well into touch.

what do you mean by "knocked the U7's well into touch?"

 

[Carapau]

That the KDE combination is considerably better- much better response and flies sublimely. Sorry, kicked into touch is a phrase coming from the world of Rugby Football.

 

[maxwelltub]

I figured that much but had to ask

 

[SamaraMedia]

Seeing these esc's are opto I should be able to pull the red power lead out of the connector and tape it back over the wire without issue while using a SuperX since it gets power from a separate source, correct?

 

[Motopreserve]

I don't think you need to bother since it's not sending power through there like non-OPTO ESCs.

 

[Hexacrafter]

Yep...
Specifications say no BEC.... OPTO isolation.... so no 5v power in red wire from ESC....
Just plug & Play...

 

[SamaraMedia]

Thanks guys! That's what I thought but trying to line up my X's and O's for testing, looking for anything I might do to screw things up

 

[crayfellow]

Thanks guys! That's what I thought but trying to line up my X's and O's for testing, looking for anything I might do to screw things up

Just in case you are using Pixhawk, keep this in mind:

KDE (and other) Opto Isolated ESCs
The KDEXF-UAS and KDEF-UASHV Series are opto-solated and do not provide BEC power output for the peripheral equipment. They require +5V to power the opto-isolator and while the Pixhawk can be powered from the servo rail, it does not provide +5V to the servo rail. The ESCs must be powered by a BEC or with a jumper from an unused connector on the board. It is strongly recommended that you use a BEC to power the rail rather than a jumper. Do not add servos or other devices to the servo rail as the power module is not intended to supply power to them.



The KDE ESCs have fixed PWM ranges so you must manually set the output range of each PWM signal so that RCx_MIN is 1100 and RCx_MAX is 1900us using the Advanced Parameter or Full Parameter Settings Page in the planner.

(from APM documentation)

 

[Motopreserve]

He's using the SuperX.

I (and several other owners) have had issues with the SuperX not always playing nice with the OPTO ESCs. If a motor or two doesn't recognize the ESC - leaving it in the state where it beeps slowly (and may twitch a bit), recycle the power. Typically this does the trick - but I've had to do it a couple times.

I currently have KDE/SuperX combo and it behaves this way occasionally. Recycle always works. Annoying but I've never had any odd issues after power up is correct.

 

[SamaraMedia]

Ok, back from latest test flight. Hot day but mostly calm so good day for tweaking.

Set all my internal gains at 1.0 and g knob at 16% when zero'd out. Seems to behave best when I bring the g-knob down to what ends up at 0% in the X-box report. My vibes are down except for a couple points that pushed it up near 1 but it seems like the one big spike came around the time I had a voltage surge. Not sure what that's about. Overall a pretty good flight, motor output seems pretty balanced but the #1 motor is slightly lower and #4 is slightly higher than the rest on average power draw chart. Will look at those two, again...

Got about 11 minutes flight before landing, didn't get a low voltage warning, checked batts and they were at 22%.

Working on a short video of rig at hover for motor sound while tuning, for now, latest log report: http://log.xaircraft.com/report.htm#2015_08_18_074105.250_132.1.11.59

Thanks

 

[fltundra]

Ok, back from latest test flight. Hot day but mostly calm so good day for tweaking.

Set all my internal gains at 1.0 and g knob at 16% when zero'd out. Seems to behave best when I bring the g-knob down to what ends up at 0% in the X-box report. My vibes are down except for a couple points that pushed it up near 1 but it seems like the one big spike came around the time I had a voltage surge. Not sure what that's about. Overall a pretty good flight, motor output seems pretty balanced but the #1 motor is slightly lower and #4 is slightly higher than the rest on average power draw chart. Will look at those two, again...

Got about 11 minutes flight before landing, didn't get a low voltage warning, checked batts and they were at 22%.

Working on a short video of rig at hover for motor sound while tuning, for now, latest log report: http://log.xaircraft.com/report.htm#2015_08_18_074105.250_132.1.11.59

Thanks

Your motor outputs look much better. If you look at the motor output graph, you will see when your were yawing around how the motor outputs changed evenly. I still say you could use a little more gain on pitch and roll. Also try combinations of .1 difference on pitch and roll. I ended up .1 lower on my pitch then roll, and haven't changed or touched the gain knob in over 50 hrs.

 

[SamaraMedia]

Thanks @fltundra. So when you I could a little "more gain", I should try 1.1 on P & R?

I tweaked the #1 & 4 motors again to see if that improves it any. I have tried 1.1 in the past but it seemed even twitchier.

Tomorrow is another day, for testing.

 

[fltundra]

Thanks @fltundra. So when you I could a little "more gain", I should try 1.1 on P & R?

I tweaked the #1 & 4 motors again to see if that improves it any. I have tried 1.1 in the past but it seemed even twitchier.

Tomorrow is another day, for testing.

Didn't realize you already got to the point of twitching.