KDE Direct has added Multi-Rotor Heli motors to their lineup


Fat Corgi

Member
Forgive my ignorance. The numbers I am pulling out of the ecalc are fairly similar, for both the 3520xf and the 4012xf for my flat 8 octo. (Roughly 8kg's, GH3/4 lifting). Can someone the benefits of the higher or lower pole count on these 2 motors. Looking for a whole new set, so they would be teamed with the KDE sec's. I'm leaning towards the 4012's for weight.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Good timing. I had asked the folks at KDE to do a write up describing "pancake," high/low pole count etc. They were gracious enough to put together something and email it over to me. Just arrived today. I will be putting it together and posting it soon. It won't be for these specific motors - but will be interesting and informative.

Forgive my ignorance. The numbers I am pulling out of the ecalc are fairly similar, for both the 3520xf and the 4012xf for my flat 8 octo. (Roughly 8kg's, GH3/4 lifting). Can someone the benefits of the higher or lower pole count on these 2 motors. Looking for a whole new set, so they would be teamed with the KDE sec's. I'm leaning towards the 4012's for weight.
 

mangoats

Member
@Fat Corgi ----- The write up should explain the answers to your questions when it becomes available here soon. You are on the correct track with the 4012 motors for thrust and efficiency. Both the 3520 and 4012 are basically the same motor and again the write up will explain more.

We just released some more information on our larger motors that are coming. http://kdedirect.com/XFMRBrushlessMotors.html

Thanks,
Chris
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
@Fat Corgi ----- The write up should explain the answers to your questions when it becomes available here soon. You are on the correct track with the 4012 motors for thrust and efficiency. Both the 3520 and 4012 are basically the same motor and again the write up will explain more.

We just released some more information on our larger motors that are coming. http://kdedirect.com/XFMRBrushlessMotors.html

Thanks,
Chris

Hey folks, the write up from Chris can be found HERE:
 

APVXtreme

APVXtreme
Hey all, I don't really have much to say other than I am so sick and tired of buying motors that are out of date or stock within a year. I'm really hoping KDE is here for the long haul. Talking to John over at AddictiveRC and he can't say enough good stuff about the KDE motor/esc combo. I'm glad I didn't go with T-Motors, was totally excited about them last year but decided to go with Avroto's for the time being. (KDE's weren't released yet) Ran into an issue last week and found out I got the last Avroto 3520's in the USA so if I do burn one out I'm scr3w3d... The last set of motors I bought for our octo we're the T-Motor 3510's wound to kv500. I have to say the Avroto's make the T-Motors look like toy grade and from what I hear the KDE's are a cut above both especially in efficiency. I know they've been into Heli for the last 10 years and a 3D Heli goes through a lot more stress than what we do with MR's. I'm lifting 30lbs AUW on a SkyJib8 V2 right now with no problem but I have more copters that need motors and I'm getting ready to do an X8 build.

I guess my question is, in a general consensus is it worth moving to KDE? I just don't want to drop thousands of more $$$ into beta testing anymore... I'm sure some of you know my plight.

Cheers
 

fltundra

Member
I guess my question is, in a general consensus is it worth moving to KDE? I just don't want to drop thousands of more $$$ into beta testing anymore... I'm sure some of you know my plight.

Cheers
Absolutely! You won't be disappointed. Excellent customer service, here in the US, and always happy to answer questions.
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fltundra

Member
Curious what size and brand are the props? Which KDE motors? And how long are your booms?

Nice clean setup, how well does it fly with the SX? You must hover at 40%.
Between the Kde's 515 kv's, Castle esc's, and the SuperX, I couldn't be happier. Flies really good, 62% hover with 14' Tiger cf's. Aerial mob booms end to end are 13.5 inches.
 


R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
I guess my question is, in a general consensus is it worth moving to KDE? I just don't want to drop thousands of more $$$ into beta testing anymore... I'm sure some of you know my plight.

Cheers

I haven't tried their motors yet. But their helicopter parts are excellent. Just building a machine up now, an 800 gasser based on Trex parts, and purchased everything KDE that I could, and it's going together just beautifully.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
I'm very close to pulling the trigger for a hex I have in mind. And at this point, having a motor/ESC combo that is built and tested to work together is a peace of mind I'm willing to pay for....

oh, the pain in my wallet... :)
 

SamaraMedia

Active Member
I picked up 6 of the KDE 2814 515kv that I'm using on a hexa build. Plan to use 6s and 14 in" props with hopes to carry a mirrorless camera soon. Haven't had time to maiden her yet but the motors look and sound great on spin-up for directional testing. I was hoping to maiden two weekends ago but it seems I only tighten five of the the six 13" wooden props and when I tried to lift off it spit a prop about 2 feet off the ground (lucky for me) and I set it down without any damage but lost a washer and retaining nut so I was done for the day. That night I ordered some t-motor clone CF props for that secure mounting feeling. The only thing that surprised me about the KDE's was the 17 gauge wire used for a motor that is rated to 6s, I'm sure it's fine but I was a little surprised. Hope to test next week when I have some time.

John
 

fltundra

Member
I picked up 6 of the KDE 2814 515kv that I'm using on a hexa build. Plan to use 6s and 14 in" props with hopes to carry a mirrorless camera soon. Haven't had time to maiden her yet but the motors look and sound great on spin-up for directional testing. I was hoping to maiden two weekends ago but it seems I only tighten five of the the six 13" wooden props and when I tried to lift off it spit a prop about 2 feet off the ground (lucky for me) and I set it down without any damage but lost a washer and retaining nut so I was done for the day. That night I ordered some t-motor clone CF props for that secure mounting feeling. The only thing that surprised me about the KDE's was the 17 gauge wire used for a motor that is rated to 6s, I'm sure it's fine but I was a little surprised. Hope to test next week when I have some time.

John
John,
What's your AUW going to be? Reason I ask, as you might be better off with a 4S, just look at the prop spec sheet. I've run those motors with 4 and 6S, and with 6 515's on the 4S gives you a total 3,810 grams of thrust with 14X4.8's at 50%. By the way, Kde's thrust and amp draw spec's are right on.:tennis: 2.5 to 1 thrust ratio would give you an AUW of 3,972 max. The 515's are more efficient on a 4S.
If you have room 15's are an option also.
.
 
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SamaraMedia

Active Member
fltundra,

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure what the AUW is going to be just yet, that will depend on the gimbal/camera setup I use, but I'm guessing somewhere in the 3-4k range. I will take your advice and start with the 4000 mAh 4s batteries I have, especially if all I'm toting around is a H3-3D Zenmuse for the time being. I'm planing on running them in parallel for longer flight times. Sometimes I have trouble deciphering all the data and go straight for the most thrust. On T-Motor specs they will tell you what temp they will run at full throttle for 10 min. (not that I plan on doing that) but I use that info to help make a decision sometimes, KDE doesn't have a temp rating that I can see. I did notice they're more efficient at 4s as you specified.

John
 
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fltundra

Member
fltundra,

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure what the AUW is going to be just yet, that will depend on the gimbal/camera setup I use, but I'm guessing somewhere in the 3-4k range. I will take your advice and start with the 4000 mAh 4s batteries I have, especially if all I'm toting around is a H3-3D Zenmuse for the time being. I'm planing on running them in parallel for longer flight times.

John
Great, hoped it would help out. Let us know how it works out.
 


mangoats

Member
The only thing that surprised me about the KDE's was the 17 gauge wire used for a motor that is rated to 6s, I'm sure it's fine but I was a little surprised.

Just thought I would provide some information about this.

The 17-GA wire is overkill for the motor at the current it pulls. Gauge of a wire only matters with amperage primarily, and with the KDE2814XF-515 on 14” props, only talking 20.2A peak (100% throttle) burst. 17 GA copper wire, multi-stranded, is rated up to 22A continuous for a distance of 1000 feet – so we are well below this, and thus, the resistance (and heat-generation) in the wire is far lessened and can handle significantly higher peaks without overheating.

Thanks, Chris
 

Av8Chuck

Member
fltundra,

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure what the AUW is going to be just yet, that will depend on the gimbal/camera setup I use, but I'm guessing somewhere in the 3-4k range. I will take your advice and start with the 4000 mAh 4s batteries I have, especially if all I'm toting around is a H3-3D Zenmuse for the time being. I'm planing on running them in parallel for longer flight times. Sometimes I have trouble deciphering all the data and go straight for the most thrust. On T-Motor specs they will tell you what temp they will run at full throttle for 10 min. (not that I plan on doing that) but I use that info to help make a decision sometimes, KDE doesn't have a temp rating that I can see. I did notice they're more efficient at 4s as you specified.

John

Manufactures certainly don't seem to make it easy to compare specifics, so confusing..

I don't know if I did the math correctly but on:

4S it takes .4827A per pound of thrust
6S it takes .5072A per pound of thrust

Seems like a fairly negligible difference. Is there any way to figure out approximate flight time from the information KDE provides on their data sheet?

I see a lot of people going with much lower KV motors and larger props resulting in longer flight times but it also appears to be less stable. I'd rather have a more stable MR with 10 minutes of flight time than trying to get 30 minutes of flight time. But its hard to figure out the best components, I don't trust eCalc.

Also, has anyone used these ESC's with the KDE 2814XF-515? http://www.quadframe.us/collections/motors-and-propellers/products/dys-esc-40a-simonk
 

fltundra

Member
fltundra,

On T-Motor specs they will tell you what temp they will run at full throttle for 10 min. (not that I plan on doing that) but I use that info to help make a decision sometimes, KDE doesn't have a temp rating that I can see. I did notice they're more efficient at 4s as you specified.

John
Here's a quote from Chris at KDE.

"Motor temperature information.


Windings 450F
Glue 450F
Magnets 356F
Bearings 300 to 350F oil bakes out

All of this technology carries over from us producing very high end RC helicopter motors. Those motors get abused at a level that is so much higher then the multi-rotors. We designed the heat issue out of the motors several years ago. If your running a motor at 300 degrees, then there is something wrong."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1XfFoLVSU4&list=UUfp0-bTQNNDAp4JieaMtu-A
 
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