MultiRotor

Thanks to local drone shop, NewBeeDrone… I was able to get my hands on the new Runcam Micro Swift. It’s a small, 5.67g CCD camera. Usually all the small cameras are CMOS based. And aren’t ideal with how it handles light and shadow transitions. Or how well it operate at night.

Looking forward to use these new Micro Swift on my upcoming builds. I hope they perform as well as the mini Swift, Swift 2 or other HS1177 type FPV camera.

The regular Swift and Mini Swift are both about 12g. New Micro Swift is 5.67g. Should be good for the 130mm class fpv drones.

The front mounting bracket is metal and takes M2 screws. The sensor legs are epoxy in, so that should help make it more robust.

The rear is a piece of plastic. No doubt to keep the weight down. I am glad to see the standard three wire connector and the two pin one for OSD menu joystick to connect to.

As of right now, I know NewBeeDrone and CatalystMachineWorks has them in stock. Runcam does as well, but shipping usually take longer from my experience. And don’t forget BangGood.

The new “Favorite” FVT LittleBee 20a arrived into the HacksMods lab. So it’s time to take some clear shots of them and compare with the Flyduino KISS ESC. Which is still one of the highest performing multirotor electronic speed controller. The small size and light weight are great for putting on racing quads. Or burying inside heavier aerial photography equipped quadcopters, or “drones” as the media likes to call it.

In the USA, the Little Bee 20a are known as the MRM Zeus 20. Brian (punkindrublik on RCGroups) of  MultiRotorMania help finance and brought these new ESC to market. So they secured the rights as the sole distributor in the USA. However, the ESC should soon be available from some of your favorite multi rotor online stores.

Continuing in the same small by mighty form factor that the Flyduino KISS ESC brought to market, the FVT LittleBee 20 are about the same size. 12.5mm x 23mm x 3mm. Versus the KISS (v1.1) 12mm x 24mm x 3.81mm

What makes these new FVT LittleBee the current popular ESC is that recent test are showing them to perform similar to the KISS ESC. (Here’s one by QuadMcFly) This is in part due to the use of the SilLab F330 MCU. Which has a faster clock speed than the popular ATMEL chip used on most competing ESC. Add to that dedicated FET drivers and it’s performing quite well. This is what BLHeli creator Steffen has to say about it:

Then there is a very promising little ESC, the FVT Littlebee 20A:

This ESC has a good design with fast dedicated driver chips, which gives excellent freewheeling and exceptional braking.

Initial stress testing on 4S with a Cobra 2208/2000 with 6×4.5 prop, doing repetitive immediate accelerations from low rpm to full throttle went well.
During the initial acceleration, this setup pulls about 100A, so it’s a tough test for a small ESC (and can break other small ESCs).
Hopefully this indicates that the ESC will prove to be a reliable performer.

And so far, this is the closest performer to KISS that I have seen in this size.

Very clean layout and manufacturing placement of components on the PCB. Definitely KISS quality for sure. It seems like they used higher temp lead free solder. My Metcal MX500 soldering station usually makes quick work with lead free solder. But I admit, it took a split second longer with the solder joints on these Little Bee 20. This may be to prevent overheated MOSFET from desoldering itself like what appears the DYS SN20a are doing in some of the recent batches. Also, keep in mind that having to flow the solder at a higher temp usually slows down the manufacturing process. This, along with how clean the ESC looks and components are laid out…continue to signify a high level of quality control. So kudos to Favorite and MultiRotorMania.

Weight of the FVT LittleBee 20a as it came out of the package is 6.73g.

Weight of the FVT LittleBee 20a without heatshrink and wires is 2.12g. I know some of you guys want to know things like this. I know as a hobbyist, I do. So very similar to the KISS 18a which I weighed here. And about .70 grams heavier than the ZTW Spider 18a Opto Lite.

Signal wire polarity in case someone needs this info in the future. (That’s would usually be me.)

I have a few new frames I’d like to use these LittleBee on. Can’t wait to see them fly.

Some of my favorite places to buy from that carries these FVT LittleBee/MRM Zeus 20:
USA
MultiRotorMania: MRM Zeus 20 Amp ESC
BangGood: FVT LittleBee 20 Amp ESC

Australia
ImpulseRC: FVT LITTLEBEE 20A ESC
BoltRC: Little Bee 20A ESC

China
BangGood: FVT LittleBee 20 Amp ESC
MyRCMart: RCX 20A (Little Bee) Mini BLHeli Multirotor ESC

Europe
MultirotorParts: Favourite Littlebee 20A
Supreme FPV: Littlebee 20a esc 2-4s

More info can be found on RC Groups discussion thread:
Little Bee and MRM Zeus 20AMP ESC’s

With DYS/RCTimer SN20a and BL20a possibly having a bad manufacturing batch. Plus, you lose about 10% thrust versus competiting ESC. One of the new ESC some of us have started buying instead are the ZTW Spider 18a Opto Lite as some retailers are calling them. Performance seems good so far. We’ll learn how their fare in crashes and general abuse as more and more people use them and report back.

The BLHeli firmware to use are BS12a or BS20a. either hex will work fine according to sskaug (Steffen), BLHeli creator.

Mine came with the SimonK bootloader. And I was able to use my USBASP to flash BLHeli bootloader on there. Here are the ISP pad locations for your reference:

Weight as they come out of the package. I took off the heatshrink and it was about .2g lighter.

Heatshrink is thin, clear and shiny. Same types they use on many battery packs.

Weight of the naked ESC.

Here’s a shot of the ZTW Spider Lite on the far right. Next to it is the new KISS 30a. And to the far left, is the KISS 18a.

Picture of the MOSFETs and a peek at the soldering. I don’t see any left over solder splashes/balls.

KISS 18a on the left. ZTW Spider 18a Lite on the right side.

Side by side with the KISS 18a v1.1. Which is simply about 1mm longer than KISS 18a v1.0. You can see that the ZTW Spider 18a is slight shorter. And also thinner.

A look at the opposite side.

Here’s the Spider 18a Lite mounted in the lower plate of the Aura 250 FPV quad.

And a couple of closing shots of the Aura 250.

I modified the top plate so I can slide in a 4S 1400mAh lipo pack.
The links below are my favorite places to buy:

USA 

Readytoflyquad: 18a Spider Lite Series ESC
MassiveRC: MassiveRC OneShot125 18a ESC

China
BangGood : ZTW Spider Series 18A Lite

I got the new RCTimer SN20a ESC in today. These are the new crop of ultralight and small ESC, using the latest MOSFET tech. It all started with Flyduino’s KISS ESC.

The first thing I did was desolder all the wires. Then gave it a quick inspection. Follow by some photographs of them sidebyside with the KISS 12A ESC v1 I have.

The KISS are supposely 12mm by 23mm. I measured with my digital calipers at 12.25mm by 23mm. While the SN20a measured at 11.94mm by 23.33mm.

So they are both roughly the same size. However, keep in mind that the latest KISS v1.1 have larger pads so they gain about 1mm in length. It’s nice to see that the SN20a ESC comes with larger pads by default.

The other pluses for the SN20a is that all the wires come presoldered and the ESC heatshrunk. And best of all, the 20A are less than $12 in qty of 3 or more!!!

Runs BLHeli with dampening and OneShot capabilities.

And near identical in weight as well…

And thanks to Zachary, he pointed me to the pinout someone shared on RCGroups.

Discussion Thread:
RCGroups thread: RCTimer / DYS Mini SN20a esc

For flashing…I suggest getting an Arduino Nano. You can use BLHeli Suite to program it into a 4 interface flashing toolstick. This will allow you to flash SN20a ESC with either SimonK or BLHeli bootloader as well as other things. This makes it the most versatile toolstick…and least expensive too at < $4 shipped from the USA warehouse. I’d grab a 3pack or 5pack just to have extra. For friends or other projects that require the Arduino. ;)
The links below are my favorite places to buy:

USA 

BangGood USA Warehouse: DYS SN20A with BLHeli Mini 20A SimonK ESC OPTO
MassiveRC: SN20A OneShot125 20A ESC

Canada
Armattan (blheli pre-flashed) http://www.armattanminis.ca/armattan-20a-opto-esc/

China
BangGood : Rctimer OPTO mini 20A Brushless ESC SimonK 2-4S for RC Multicopter
RcTimer : http://www.rctimer.com/product-1280.html

**Update 2015-07-28** DYS rep recommend updating to BLHeli 14 to avoid any issue of burnt ESC.

I have a CC3D board that I hope to build a second ZMR250 with. So I can play with OpenPilot and compare to the Acro Naze 32 flight controller board running CleanFlight. I always like small, lightweight components on my mini and micro quadcopter builds. So it’s with great interest to see the mini CC3D Atom board.

I like that it comes with the protective casing. And you can choose between straight pins or right angle pins soldered on for you. Plus it also comes with cables, double-sided tape, a isolated dampening platform. As well as an Antenna mount and instructional flyer helping you to hook up a Satellite RX.

Here is a photo I took of it side by side with the AfroMini Naze board. (After I remove the case of course.)

Weight of the FC without the protective case that it came in.

Thanks to Darsh, the original creator of this 3D model. I created a few color variation of the Nano QX paper canopy.

More info and original content in this RC Groups thread by Darsh.

Each of the photo below links to the PDF file you can download and print. Good luck and have fun.

Just gonna share photos of the acro quad I am building. Thanks to Soma for coming up with the WarpQuad. Looks the best out of all the acrobatic quads out there.

Here’s the center frames. It sandwiches the 4mm carbon fiber legs.

I switched out some of the hardware. Such as the aluminum washer below. And used power cables that comes attached together. For a neater run of the brushless motor wires to the center of the WarpQuad.

Another change from the standard build out. I added 1.72mm washers so I can run the 22guage motor wire underneath the top plate.

Then I modified the XT60 lipo connector so that it can be sandwiched between the frames. Filed down the connector so it can conform to the curve of the top plate.

You can see where the power distribution harness will solder to and subsequently run to each of the ESC.

Those were the early photos. These upcoming photos are where the WarpQuad build out is at now. It took forever to source red aluminum washers with the same bevel as the blue ones I had on hand. Still not perfect but very close. The aluminum TeeNut that the frame is resting on is just to temporary hold the arms in place. And make it easy to disassemble without tools. This frees up my hand to ensure the cable runs are neat and nothing is pinched.

I switch to button head screws. Red aluminum 5mm. The hex size will take the same allen wrench to be consistent with the rest of the screw head used on this quad. The four button head should be strong enough to secure the motor.

Here is a closer shot of the red washers and where I intend on placing the ESC. In the center of the quad instead of on the arms like the reference build out by Soma.

A look at the cable run and how it meets up with the brushless motor. I created a stagger cut because I didn’t want to seperate the wires to fit heatshrinks. The stagger will keep the wires from shorting. As extra precaution, I applied Liquid Electrical tape to insulate. Then follow by a larger heatshrink to cover up the area. To dress up the heatshrink…I used chrome tape and nail art tape. This brings some blink down to this end of the arms.

Additionally, I hope the chrome take will help reflect some of the LED lights up to the props once I place one there.

Here is a look at the stagger cut I mentioned before. Some folks have asked why I choose to use four motor wires when brushless motors only require three. The simple answer is for symmetry once it gets to the center of the frame and have to go to the left and right of the screw.

The quad is ready for the ESC to be soldered on. Easy to do. However, I need to figure out how I want to route the power wires and still have room to fit the Flight Controller between the frame. There’s really no room for both. :)

added August 13, 2014: Check out the complete rev1 build here… http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2176239#post28508149

Lovely spring weather means I am antsy to build and fly again. I am planning on using this Hobby King HKing 10a brushless ESC in a 230mm size acro quad. Not sure if it will be able to endure SunnySky 2204 2300kv with 3s lipo but I like the physical size…so I will give it a try anyways.

Anyways, the dimensions on Hobby King is incorrect (23mm x 18mm). Here are the actual values as measured with the digital caliper. The bare ESC as pictured weighs 2.59g.

It arrived with 20guage silicone wires for the main power. And 22gauge silicone wires for the motor leads.

Missing from the photo is the electrolytic capacitor (100uf 16v). I took it off so I can use a tantalum SMD capacitor with the same values. It’s much smaller physically. Hopefully it works out. :)

What I like about this ESC is the fact that it’s BLHeli compatible. Plus, it uses all N-channel MOSFET. And it was reasonably inexpensive at $5.78. Here’s an inexpensive BLHeli programmer, and another another. You will need one of these for flashing the firmware or updating the parameters of the ESC using the BLHeli Suite software. Unless you already have an official SilLabs Toolstick. Then you can follow this guide for modding it for the same function.

We’re talking mixing and matching quads parts to build “FrakenQuads” on the RCGroups thread: Blade nQX FC board on mQX & Ladybird size quads

I know there lots of newbies looking to do this, but wasn’t sure of the relative sizes when we talk about mQX size or Ladybird size. We use those terms because the Blade mQX is the first on the market in that type and size. And the Walkera Ladybird was the first on the market in that relative size.

The nQX is thrown in there because the topic of the thread is to use the nQX flight controller (FC) on top of the mQX, Ladybird style frame. Plus, the nQX has a unique frame. In that the motor distances sits somewhere between the LadyBird and Hubsan X4 (aka Traxxas QR-1), yet the prop guards give it a visual silhouette of a slightly larger bird. Which I find helps me in orientation once it’s a good distance from me.

Anyways, hope that helps. I took the mm size distance between prop center. Then converted it to a pixel value. So the 155mm mQX becomes a 155px on the screen. :)