Flycolor Raptor ESCs
For those following my blog and Facebook page, you know I love testing new products and pushing these to their limits. Today I am going to share my view about the Flycolor Raptopr ESCs. First of all I want to thank Charmant from Flycolor for sending me some units!
Here are the ESCs, that I have tested on my RCbenchmark 1520 Series thrust stand:
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Flycolor Raptor 20A
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Flycolor Raptor 30A
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Flycolor Raptor 390 20A
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Flycolor Raptor 390 30A
The Raptor 390 series is equipped with the SiLabs F390 MCU and has slightly different design than normal Raptor series. The new F39x MCU operate at 50MHz and should give the ESC a better performance especially with high-KV motors. The new 390-series has bigger motor pads, so you do not need to care much about damaging the FETs while soldering your motor cables direct to the ESC. The ESCs are now in yellow, instead in white.
You also may wonder what is the difference between the 20A and 30A version: the only one, that I noticed so far is the type of the FETs. The 20A version uses the QM3114M3 by UBIQ Semiconductor. The FETs on the 30A version are by Toshiba – TPN2R703NL.
Personal view: Both FETs are pretty similar, so I am not really sure if there is a real benefit of buying the 30A version.
Details:
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Size: 27.35 x 12.3 x 4.92mm (29.11mm for 390-Series)
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Weight: 10.1g
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No BEC
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3-4S LiPo
The 18AWG motor wires are about 95mm long. The ESCs have neither a heat sink nor an external electrolytic capacitor. The ESCs are rated only for 3-4S LiPo batteries, but I have tested these with a 6S LiPo as well, without seeing smoke 😀 If you are going to use the Raptor ESC with 6S LiPo, I will advise to solder a 35V 220uF electrolytic capacitor.
All Flycolor Raptor ESCs come with BLHeli firmware already flashed. Mine have the 14.4 version and “damped light” enabled on default. If you want to change some of the settings or update the firmware, check how to easily do this with the BLHeli passthrough protocol.
Here two more pictures of the down side of the ESCs:
For my thrust tests I decided to go with the new Scorpion MII 2204 2300kv motor, because it is the one that performed the best of all my 2300kv motors. The maximum thrust, that I measured was 892g with the Raptor 390 30A on 4S with 5” HQ prop. As you can see from the picture below there is not much difference regarding the thrust between the different versions. Same for the efficiency: about 2.3g/W at max throttle.
I decided to upload the complete data, so everyone can check the results in details. Please note, that it is only for private use.
Summary: Great manufacturing quality, small size, light weight and very good performance. Personally I will go for the non-390 version, if I am going to use the ESCs with 2300kv motors. If you are planning a setup with high-KV motors (>2500kv), better choose the Flycolor Raptor 390 ESC. It is also available on GearBest as well.
Update: Check the newest build log with the Flycolor Raptor 20A.
AA
Why the F330 and not the F390 then using those 2300KV motors? Arent the F390 supposed to be bulletproof anyway?
Sergey
Hey the F390 are bulletproof, but you will not mention any difference on a 2300kv motor so far. The price of the F330 is lower, that is why I recommendet these for a 2300kv motors. Best, Sergey
AA
Thanks for clarification.
One more question, I’ve seen that you said “The 20A version uses the QM3114M3 by UBIQ Semiconductor”.
I looked over the google and couldnt find any reference to the spec sheet.
But here:
http://www.ubiq-semi.com/product.asp?lv=1&id=5&Pages=1
There is QM3112M3 and QM3110M3, but no QM3114M3.
Was that a typo on your part?
Sergey
Hey, you are right 🙂 There is no info on their site. I got the info directly from the manufacture Flycolor about these. I suspect they are very similar or maybe old batch. Best, Sergey
Hozza
Hi, When I flashed my Raptor 30A BLHeli says they are EMAX 20A, is this something to do with the FET layout? So will these actually handle 30A’s.
Cheers Hoz
Sergey
Hey, they will handle the 30A current, dont worry. You can also flash these with the latest firmware and as far as I remember there is firmware for Flyolor. Best, Sergey
AA
A quick question:
You said:
If you are going to use the Raptor ESC with 6S LiPo, I will advise to solder a 35V 220uF electrolytic capacitor.
Where is the capacitor supposed to be soldered, on the ESC or the main battery leads?
Why 220uF? How did you came up with this value? Why not 47uF or 100uF or 1000uF?
Sergey
Hey, best is to put it as close as possible to the ESC, or best on the ESC itself. You solder it on the main power GND and V+ cables. 220uF is enough to get the voltage stable and is used on most ESC with a capacitor. 47 and 100uF is just not enough: I have tested the Flycolor with a 100uF and there was no difference with an ESC without a cap. Instead of putting 220uF on every ESC, you can also solder one 1000uF on the PDB.
AA
When you say there was no difference, what was the bad behaviour? What was bad with the ESC with no caps or low value caps?
Thanks,
Andrei
Sergey
It is not bad behavior, but the so called voltage spikes. It means sometimes there could be voltage spike up to 30V, which could cause a damage to your FPV equipment.
Andres
I have the flycolor f330 30a but there is no blheli firmware for it. What do i flash on to the board since the ones i have come with rev 14.2
Sergey
Hey Andreas, you can flash the latest one, I think 14.6 at the moment. Best, Sergey
Greg
Trying to flash board with Cleanflight. Which board and firmware do I choose?
Thanks,
Greg
Sergey
Hi Greg, which board are you trying to flash, the Flycolor Raptor ESC or your flight controller?