Esc question

[treff]

I am hopeless with the electrics on helicopters so can some one advise me if the following will be okay.
I have an Agile 5.5 with BL 420-1100 KV motor, RJX HV servos and Brain FBL unit will a Castle Phoenix ICE 2 HV 80 BL ESC

be enough to run this lot with a little head room. I plan to use the 10 amp Castle pro bec
but to set up the heli because cash is short just the esc. Is this feasible?
Thanks for the replies and any info will be gratefully received.
Cheers

[waveydavey]

Is that a 6 or 12S setup you're thinking of

[trillian]

If you have an 1100KV motor it sounds like you're going 6s and if so the Castle 80HV might not be up to the job. I'm not sure what kind of peaks the 80 can handle. When I was running a 6s 550 setup (Outrage 550) I had an ICE 100 and even with quite gentle flying I would see peaks of 110 amps.

[treff]

Thanks both for the info and sorry forgot to mention that I will be running 6s
According to the spec the Castle 80 hv will put out a continuous 130 amps with 5 mph airflow
but is this a stretch of the imagination lol The motor draws 80 amps max so all things being
considered 50 amps to play with or have I got things wrong?

[highlightshadow]

According to the spec the Castle 80 hv will put out a continuous 130 amps with 5 mph airflow

I wouldn't rely on Specs and airflow.... in a canopy airflow is more of a problem .....

For a 550 size typically you'd be looking somewhere in the region of a 120LV or even maybe 150LV if you're putting in a more agressive power-train.

<100A ESC is pushing your luck a little imho ... i'd go 120LV+

[james_2k]

Bear in mind that a 550 kit from align uses a 90 amp esc and some consider that not enough. But align do. So probably it's ok. But with limited headroom

[Grumpy]

You might consider a YEP ESC from Hobbyking: Radio Control Planes, Helicopters, Cars, Boats, FPV and Quadcopters - Hobbyking 

[treff]

Could someone explain the different between LV and HV, I'm getting more confused by the minute. Why all the back up systems of batteries and separate
BEC are these things so unreliable. One other thing adding to the confusion is that a YEP 120 LV ESC costs £33 a CC 120 cost from £140 to £245 my brain
is close to implosion lol

[Grumpy]

LV = Low voltage, typically up to 6s or 8s LiPo, depending on brand.

HV = High Voltage, typically up to 12s or sometimes 14s

No, BECs arent 'that' unreliable but as the consequesnce of a BEC failure is a certain crash some prefer to have a backup. If you are using HV servos then the simplest, cheapest and probably most reliable option is just skip the BEC and power the receiver/servos direct from a small 2s LiPo.

As for the cost difference between Hobbyking and the likes of Castle Creations. I dont want to start a war but Hobbyking stuff is often cloned meaning that they dont have development costs, plus you dont get the customer service backup that you would enjoy with premium brands, and quality control may not be quite up to the same standard... But it is very cheap and 90+% of the time HK stuff works fine.
Bear in mind also that the HK ESC is LV, so components are lower voltage rated thus cheaper.

[treff]

Many thanks Grumpy for all the info. I think I will try the YEP 120 esc because I have the prog card and also the cost. Got a limited budget here
so have to go with what's not always the best. I have a YEP on a 450 which I have been running for 2 years without problem but it seems
when you go with a larger model things become a little more complicated not least because of the costs involved if a components fails.
Thanks again for your time.

[tomatwalden]

I use a Castle Edge 130LV in my 550. Different heli, but as others have said, 100 is generally considered to be the bottom limit for a 550 sized machine.

[treff]

Thanks tomatwalden. It's a bit of a dilemma, go cheap and take a risk or go for the castle. I have brought RJX servos which will run at 8.4v
so It will probably be a waste of money running them at a lower voltage. Oh well, I'll probably have another rush of blood to the head and buy
something totally inappropriate lol. Cheers

[highlightshadow]

You pays yer money and you takes your chances....

We've had 2 YEP issues in our club within a day of each other ... one totally failed (luckily in pre-flight) and mine had an over-eager Low-Voltage Cutoff and caused me to lose drive in-flight ... luckily it came back quickly and i saved it ..

But similarly we've had 2 or 3 other YEP's in the club which have been solid ....
I'd say though that if you're running all your servos at HV then maybe the in-built YEP BEC isn't maybe strong enough to power everything .... might be worth (as many of our club have done) to run a separate BEC to power the flight controls

[tomatwalden]

Thanks tomatwalden. It's a bit of a dilemma, go cheap and take a risk or go for the castle. I have brought RJX servos which will run at 8.4v
so It will probably be a waste of money running them at a lower voltage. Oh well, I'll probably have another rush of blood to the head and buy
something totally inappropriate lol. Cheers

For your setup, I'd definitely go for something rated around the 120A mark. Maybe 100A, but certainly no less. I use the CC BEC Pro on my Goblin 630C and am happy with that, but I would absolutely recommend one of these things below REGARDLESS of what ESC/BEC you opt for! I use them on all my helis ... (ok, bar one!)

Optipower ULTRA-GUARD 430 Back Up Solution Super Combo OPRUS2S-L

EDIT : FWIW, I run my 700 with HV servos direct from a 2S LIPO - skipping a BEC. Not sure if the IKON/Brain is OK with that though, I suspect it will be, but don't take my word for it!

[treff]

Thanks again tomatwalden. Well, I took the plunge and went Yep 150amp esc and CC 20amp bec and will have a look at the Ultr-guard when I get things setup.
Thanks again for your help appreciate your time.