ORIGINAL: gaRCfield
Ok my attention span is shot. Hopefully that expalained something to someone. At least I learned from it. So timing advance - if you feel you are burning up too much energy, reduce your timing advance. The ESC should be able to figure out when to push and pull on the magnets without us telling it otherwise. If people are using 24deg and it's working, then use it. But if there are issues with power and consumption, try lowering it. From what I have read the Pletty has more than enough power, I am sure we can afford to run at a lower advance setting.
Timing is not meant as a tuning parameter, it is specific for motor design. For a 20 pole Pletty that number is 24 degrees, the esc will auto advance from that based on load.
Too low a timing setting can destroy your esc.