KDE 35+ ESC, KDE 4014 Motor, and 17" props?

J

jonathan_thomas

Member
I recently built a Vulcan UAV Black Widow with KDE 4014's and 15" props. At the time I was using Spider Simon K 40A ESCs. I was having trouble lifting a 5D3 and gimbal comfortably (around 80-85% throttle) and so after some modifications to the motor mounts I switched to some 17" props thinking that this wouldn't be an issue. On my first test flight I had a ESC overheat and go into self protect mode. I guess with the Spider's that means they just turn off! So that ended badly. Tried another ESC of the same brand thinking it was maybe an issue with that one and had the same issue. Put a few on the bench and they could only handle 100% throttle or 16-17A for just a little over two minutes before they'd shut down. I was told that they might have a timing issue with high pole motors and that this could be causing a overheating problem. So I bought 8 KDE 35+ A ESCs based on the spec sheets for both the motors and the ESCs. I decided to bench test these and they get about 5 minutes at 16-17A before going into a protect mode.

So I was wondering does 35+ A continuous actually mean that or is that only for a certain period of time? Is it safe to run these ESCs and the 4014 props with 17" T motor props? I'd hate to replace them all and only have the same problem happen again. Could there be something I'm missing that's causing this issue with overheating ESCs?

Thanks to whomever is kind enough to take the time to respond! I'm truly stumped and a little concerned about moving forward with this project now.
 

S

SJBrit

Member
Subscribing - I'm just building a quad with the same motors, ESCs and props so I'm very interested in responses! BTW, what batteries are you using? That makes a big difference. I plan on running that setup on 4S. 6S melts the ESCs in eCalc.
 



J

jonathan_thomas

Member
I do and I'll give it a shot tonight but from what eCalc says (not that I remotely trust it but..) 4S with 17" props would put me back at 80-90% thrust.
 


Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
jonathan_thomas said:
What confuses me though is that I'm going by KDEs specs and they still shutdown. http://www.kdedirect.com/KDE4014XF380.html Says that the 4014 at 6S with 17x5.8 props with draw 23A at 100%. Shouldn't the 35+ A ESCs be plenty of headroom considering they'll mostly be at 60-70%?
Click to expand...


This does seem strange. You should have some headroom there. Have you contacted KDE? They are top-notch with getting back to you and customer support. Based on their own data the only better, more efficient setup would be with 16" props - and not by much.
 
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M

min0nim

Member
Wow - great setup. Can we get a photo or some info about the motor mount mod?

I second contracting KDE if you haven't. They are very helpful. I have the a very similar setup (but still at 15" props), and would like to know too for a planned mod.
 

J

jonathan_thomas

Member
All I did was get some appropriate spacers from McMaster and the proper length M4 screws. It was super easy to do and luckily I had enough slack wire I didn't have to take things all apart!

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Motopreserve

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Very nice. I think I would have been concerned with the additional weight lower than the boom centerline. But it seems like those motor mounts are actually tough enough. I was impressed when I first took mine out of the box. They should be able to handle it and avoid flex.

I know this thread is about getting you straight with the ESCs. But more pics please! :)
 

M

min0nim

Member
Genius!

I was lining up CF CNC'ing for new plates. This is much better, and probably doesn't hurt to have the props a little further apart anyway.
 

M

min0nim

Member
Ok, back to your topic, I just plugged a rough setup into ECalc, and I can't really get the maximum draw per motor above 32Amps (assuming an AGW of 12kg). It should be well within the KDE specs. Hover is sitting at around 12A.
 

J

jonathan_thomas

Member
There's essentially no flex and it's surprisingly rigid. The motor mounts are great but one thing I didn't like much about the Vulcan UAV was running the wires through the arms. PITA. It would have been nice to have some instructions or at least a recommended order in which to do things.

As for the ESCs... All the documentation says that I shouldn't have any issues but the KDE I'm testing with gets ridiculously hot. Not as hot as the Spyder Simon K did (it got so hot it melted it's shrink wrap before shutting down) but still. I'm not sure what else I might have done wrong here. The only other things in line are a Vulcan power distribution board and AttoPilot 180A battery monitor. I'm pretty confident my my solder joints but maybe a bad one could be introducing resistance? It's a crappy situation because I started out with spectacular success and was supremely confident in the systems. So much for that! lol
 

J

jonathan_thomas

Member
So just did another test double checking everything. 3 minutes at 9A according to the AttoPilot (wish I had a better way to measure current) and it throttles itself down to 5A? Entirely possible I'm testing this all wrong though. I'm going to reach out to KDE tomorrow and see what they say!
 


ary

ary

Member
Hi, Im using Tmotor 4014 330kv with TmotorCF17x5.8+DYS 40A opto simonK, fc WokongM 5.20. for 2 years lifting GH, 5D, Black magic 4k (8-12min per flight) without any problem. we are living in equator(32-34 celcius, 95% humidity).
Last June I switch to KDE 35A esc. It perform better, faster motor respons.
It might be timing/esc calibration issue with your ESC
You can contact Patrick from KDE, I sent my other esc(55a) back to them because sync problem (my mistake), switching hitech to futaba 14sg. They recalibrate my esc with latest firmwire
 

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SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
I use 60 amp ESC's with the KDE 380's on a QUAD lifting a GH3/4. Flys for 12 - 14 min on 12,000 - 16,000 mAh.
I think the 35 amp motors are too small.
 



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