Maytech Electronics sent me their new BLHeli_S 30A ESC for testing and I finally found time to put it on my thrust stand. Before I start with the review, I want to say thank you to to Maytech for their support! If you are still not familiar with BLHeli_S, check all the new features here.
My first impression after opening the post was, that the Maytech BLHeli_S 30A is huge. The dimensions are: 35x19x5.6mm and so far the biggest BLHeli_S that I have reviewed. Weight is 15.6g with the heat shrink tube and 14g without it. Maybe it is due to the fact, that the ESC is rated for 6S LiPo as well.
Like the Cicada 30A ESC, that I have tested last week, the Maytech 30A has a Silabs BusyBee BB10 MCU running at 25Mhz. In my opinion using the BB1 instead of the BB2 MCU (50Mhz) is a limiting factor, but will discuss this point later.
I really don’t like the black heat shrink tube and the paper sticker on it. Hope Maytech will change it in the future, because it just looks cheap.
On the second picture you can see the difference in the size, between the Maytech 30A and the Cicada 30A. As said, note that the Maytech is a 6S rated ESC and Cicada is only 4S rated.
The build quality of the Maytech ESC is good, everything looks fine. The PCB is 1.25mm thick.
On the front you can see the BusyBee MCU and on the back the TPCA 8045-H MOSFETs by Toshiba. These are rated for up to 40V and 46A current (138A pulsed). The power cables are 16AWG and in my opinion a bit overrated for this ESC. 18AWG like the motor cables should be actually fine. Signal cable is very long: 30cm. If you are going to use the ESC on a big 450mm quadcopter it should be ok, but it is way too much for a 210mm FPV racer. The weight can be significantly reduced if you change the power cables and shorten the signal wire.
Thrust results:
I have tested the Maytech BLHeli_S 30A with the current winner in my 2300kv motor comparison – DYS SE2205 2300kv motor, as well as with the T-Motor F40 2300kv. Both tests on 4S and with HQ5045 propeller.
The Maytech outperformed slightly the Cicada 30A BLHeli_S and LittleBee 20A Pro ESC. Max thrust with the DYS motor was 968g and 925g with the T-Motor F40 motor. If you need the full exported data, download it here.
Then I decided to do a 6S test with the F40 2300kv motor. Sadly on 1700us throttle the ESC turned off/restarted. I repeated the test and again I experienced restart. First I though it could be because of some temperature or current protection, but the ESC was not hot and current was definitely not more than 30A. Because of that, I decided to perform a test with a 2000kv motor – the T-Motor MN2206. As expected – no problems. This fact makes me think, that the 25Mhz BusyBee MCU limits the ESC at high RPM. On the picture bellow you can find the thrust results on 6S (F40 2300kv only up to 1690us throttle).
Summary: The Maytech BLHeli_S 30A ESC performed great on 4S and outperformed the Cicada 30A and ZTW Flash series slightly, but I don’t like the fact that they cant handle a 2300kv motor on 6S. At least it should be noted somewhere on their website or manual. Hope Maytech will change the black heat shrink tube and sticker. Then it will look much better 🙂 I cant say anything for the price, because I cant find a dealer here in Europe or USA. It seems that the only way to buy these, is to order directly from Maytech.