T-motor ESCs - Opto? or SimonK? or .........???

J

jomk63

Member
Wondered if anyone could help with choice of ESC for a 3510 700kv motor?

I thought it would be a straightforward 30A esc - but there are options which are getting me confused :dejection:

I guess there are a few Q's : 1) do i need to flash (or buy pre-flashed) SimonK esc's for multirotor ( eg would these need to be flashed? http://www.multirotor.co/product_info.php?cPath=6_83&products_id=101 )

2) Are the Opto's worth paying extra for? http://www.multirotor.co/product_info.php?cPath=6_82&products_id=154

3) These are pre-flashed with SimonK ( http://www.multirotor.co/product_info.php?cPath=6_84&products_id=218 ) - would i need to check the version and possibly upgrade before use?

Also - eCalc shows that I need upto about 23A - so these 25A should be ok for size - BUT is there any disadvantage of going to 35A?? ie Is it possible to have 'too much' headroom on the ESC sizing?

Thanks - really appreciate any help or comments. :apologetic:
 
Last edited by a moderator:

H

homeslice976

Member
1. It's recommended, but not critical to getting your multirotor in the air. I fly with stock firmware on my ESCs, and it flies fine - but I'm told once I get multirotor firmware (SimonK or BLHeli), the responsiveness will seem like a night and day difference.

2. Good information here (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=774420)

3. You always could, but my guess would be there's a pretty recent version of SimonK already flashed, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Also - if your motors max at 23A, 25A ESCs may get a little warm when flying at full throttle. You can't have too high an amperage on your ESCs, but you can certainly be too low.
 

J

jomk63

Member
Thanks HomeSlice. Can anyone tell me if the DJI 30A's on my F450 are SimonK flashed? - I'm doubting that, so is it worth doing that for them too and will i notice a difference, using Zava M v2 FC ?? [apologies for the dumb questions :) ]
 

R

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
No, the DJI ESCs have a special brew of firmware on them that doesn't allow for any setting changes, not even throttle calibration and they can't be flashed with SimonK as that only works for Atmel processor hardware. The DJI are however essentially Hobbywing hardware under the covers and they use Silabs processors so they can be flashed with BLHeli firmware for the Turnigy Plush 25 amp ESCs, I have a couple sets setup that way and they work much better than any SimonK Atmel processor ESC I've used.

There's a special problem with any high pole count motor and SimonK firmware, some motors work OK, others not so much, only way to find out for certain is fly it as the problem typically only shows up with the motors under a load. I have a set of HK Multistar 22 pole motors that worked fine with SimonK on the bench and failed miserably about 10 feet in the air on the first flight. I swapped this setup over the Castle M/R ESCs and it flew much better though still not the way it should until one of them burnt up after maybe a dozen flights. I then swapped to a factory set of HK Blue series 40A which are ZTW hardware, the quad flew but it flew like crap as the ESCs couldn't change the speed of the motors fast enough to be smooth in the air.

I just flashed those same ESCs with the latest version of BLHeli firmware which now works with Atmel based ESCs and the difference is night and day, it actually flys the way it should on this setup and I would strongly recommend forgetting the SimonK firmware and go with BLHeli regardless of what processor the ESC has, version 11. (X) of BL is the best result I've had with high pole count motors so far and it's tunable enough to find settings that will work with just about any motor.

Ken
 

J

jomk63

Member
... sorry to be a pain - but my knowledge of what an ESC is, does, constructed, etc has gone up massively tonight! - Thanks

On the Hobbywing Plat 30A Opto, i can see type A and Type B - but i dont understand the difference? Is one set to be CW and the other CCW with the std cabling - which can just be swapped at the motor connection? :dejection:

EDIT: Type A has wire motor connectors, Type B has sockets for the motor connectors. Doh!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

J

jomk63

Member
Another thread, in another place, confirms that these look to be exactly the same ESC : HW Plat 30A Opto & T-motor PRO 30A Opto 400Hz

firmware not confirmed - but 1/2 the cost :)
 


You must log in or register to reply here.
Top