RCU Forums - View Single Post - Contra Rotating Propeller Drive for f3a 2m Pattern Planes
Old 03-17-2016 | 05:50 AM
  #1594  
DaveL322's Avatar
DaveL322
 
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 559
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
From: Medford, NJ
Default

Processes inside the ESC and motor are happening at hundreds and thousands of times per second. Peak amps on a watt meter, or ESC log can be misleading as they are not logging / displaying at such a high rate - they are showing an averaged current over a period of time that is much longer than hundreds / thousands of times per second.

A 90 amp setup is 90 amps all the time. When the throttle stick is at 50%, logging or a wattmeter will show 45 amps as an average because 90 amps are not being continuously sent to the motor. The ESC, endpoints, travel adjust, and Throttle Tech can not limit peak amps.....but.....they all can be used to reduce the peak amps that are logged / displayed by ESC logs or wattmeters. Guards for prop strikes and current limiting can not reduce the peak amps that occur; what they do is reduce (or shut off) the amount of power the ESC is sending to the motor, warning the pilot a problematic situation has/is occurring.

PWM frequency and timing, when in an appropriate range, will have very little effect on the peak current. If PWM and timing are substantially wrong for a given setup, commutation errors can occur and that can lead to drastic heat buildup in the motor and ESC (not to mention loss of performance). At the end of the day, the only things that really reduce peak power are smaller props, lower KV, or lower voltage (or possibly a larger motor that is overall more efficient and requires less input power to achieve the same output power).

The V4 with Pyro 600-09 is an awesome combination of power to weight. With any system that can generate so much power, it is very important to have good cooling, proper commutation, and impeccable connectors and solder joints. Anything else is increasing the chances of having a problem.