Hobbyking SS Series 18-20A ESC

 Santhosh 186 points

Yes..you can use this....you don't need to program it ...it automatically detects LiPo

 Santhosh 186 points

better buy 30A ESC for safety..

 Karl 195 points

Its always better to have a higher rated esc than a lower, because the motor only draws as many amps as it needs. Buy the 30 amp.

 Santhosh 186 points

Did you see the IC adapter to flash SKU: 332000007

 Anggara 5 points

Yes I did. As I said before the chip on mine is smaller than other ESCs. Do you know what size is SKU: 332000007?

 Carly 18 points

If you have this ESC then 332000007 will work for you. I can confirm from personal experience

 Anggara 5 points

Hi Carly, can you measure your chip size? Mine is only 4 mm. My other ESC (hobbywing type) has 6 mm chip.

 Carly 18 points

I measured 8mm, or 1/4 inch for the chip. If you look at it in the correct lighting, it should say ATMEL on it. It it says ATMEL, you know you can use SKU: 332000007

 Anggara 5 points

Thanks. It does say ATMEL 8L but sounds like a different MCU package than yours.

 Carly 18 points

Interesting, are you telling me your chip is actually 4mm? Sorry to assume ALL of these boards came only with the 8mm chip I have :-) Sounds like you bought these a while ago, I purchased mine around January 2013, so maybe you had a different batch. Thanks for the credit and best of luck!

 DREYER 10 points

Do not know if it's true, try to start all the speed with throttle in the same position, this fixed the starting point of the speed.

 Karl 195 points

Power on tx and put throttle at full. Then power on the ESC and wait for when it goes beep,beep quickly. Then close throttle fully. You should hear a long beep. That's what I do with this in my plane. Hope it helps. If my beeps are off sorry as I don't have the ESC right next to me

 Carly 18 points

Depends on the firmware of the board, I'm using Hobby King's KK v2.1, reflashed with XXcopter. I have to turn my YAW pot to 0%. Then put throttle to 100%, power on KK board, wait for three LED flashes and put throttle to 0%, after second 3 LED flashes, power off board and restore YAW

 H-KING_SCOTT 5155 points

If it came with a connector......it would have shown which one in the photo......since virtually NO speed controllers come with battery connectors fitted as standard.......as there are just too many connectors out there to choose from......you should not really have been suprised.

 flyingdrummer 13 points

I bought an identical one about 2 years ago which came with JST connector.... Just an extra hassle I hadn't planned on. No idea how to connect them but I guess I'll have to learn now!

 Karl 195 points

Check your motor specs because it sounds like you have a brushed motor. In that case you cannot use this ESC because it is a brushless one. Check the ESC tab on the website because I think that hobby king sells a brushed ESC as well ( it might even be a little cheaper too). Good luck and happy flying. If you have any more questions just let me know as I would be happy to help.

 mena142 740 points

Yeah, geared motor configuration use brushed inrunners most of the time. Brushed motors have more torque , have more power at the start up than brushless.

 Karl 195 points

NO it does not come with any connectors (battery or for the motor) I am using these connectors. PolyMax 3.5mm Gold Connectors 10 PAIRS (20PC) They are great. The male or bullet shaped part goes on the motor and the female goes onto this speed controller. Good luck.

 mena142 740 points

Just to enlighten you a little. The amp rating on ESCs only mean how much current the ESC can handle going though it without overheating, it doesn't mean how much power is going to be "pushed" into your motor, or drawn from your battery. What actually matters is your motor prop combination, given your battery voltage. You could use a 120a ESC with a 1C 2S 120mAh battery, as long as your motor spinning your prop from the battery voltage (thats what kv is for) is less than 120mAh. People generally go for a higher ESC to prevent overheating, but they use the same batteries. Good luck.

 Malcolm 69 points

You could, but will damage the battery as it is too small. Use either a larger battery such as 25c 1000mAh or smaller ESC like 10 Amp.

 mena142 740 points

It doesn't depend on your lipo capacity, it depend on how much amperage does your motor prop battery voltage combination. If your Lipo(2s or 3S) plus your motor and prop draw 18a or lower you can safely use this ESC. I've said this over and over, the ESC only supplies what the motor demands, same goes for the battery, they dont "PUSH" anything into the motor.

 turgut 12 points

thank you mena142, 18a esc is the only about motor amp capacity, my brusless motor is using 9A i think it's means to i use this esc with my park300 and 25c 0,5 mah lipo, am i right?

 Kalana Mihiranga 75 points

It is not coming with battery adapter.You have to solder connectors lix XT60,JST. If this help Please credited me.Thank you

 Bjarki 29 points

Try turning on your transmitter, put it on full throttel, turn on the plane and wait for the first beep sequence to be over. then close the throttel again. this should set the endpoints differently. i believe that could be the problem. good luck

 Ryan 15 points

Did you set the start and end points in your radio?

 Nicole 31 points

Try a better battery.

 Audi_tt 83 7 points

its can't be used to power a DC motor because this esc like a lot of more modern ones are inverters so they give out a 3 phase AC signal

 Karl 195 points

No it does not. It is made for planes or mulitrotors mainly (thats what I use it for). If you are looking for a motor with reverse im guessing that you have either a car or boat. If so, hobbyking has some of those in the esc drawer. Good luck!

 Karl 195 points

I am sorry i meant if you are looking for an esc with reverse... not motor. Sorry

 Miravo 28 points

This ESC don't have any reverse function, without changing the wiring of the motor: If you just exchange 2 wires on the 3 ones to the motor, then it will reverse the rotation. But no way to reverse with the command.

 neca79 297 points

I hope you have solved the problem

 Spark29 12 points

Mine was fine, i guess that that one slip true the quality control.

 Spark29 12 points

Yes, and it is explicit in the product description. The BEC output is 2A.

 neca79 297 points

Yes you have to buy it for connectors, Or solder directly :)

 Spark29 12 points

i was wondering the same thing. Well, not for the multirotor purpose, but just for an overall better performance.

 Peter 2 points

According to this site you can. I am going to order four ESC's and flash them. www.link

 Bezold 39 points

I have just done so today. I have the newer supposedly unflashable version and using a usbasp and the latest stable build of the lazyzero kk flash tool it went perfectly on all three and my tricopter is better than ever.

 mena142 740 points

Can't tell you extacly how to setup the PWM signal as I don't know a thing about Arduino, but you should first programm the "throttle range". Throttle is Ch 3, just Go Full Throttle, power the ESC, it will beep, then go 0% Throttle, it should beep again. The ESC will arm when it's correctly plugged into a motor and receives a positive signal (and throttle is on 0%). This ESC will perceive a high refresh rate on the PWM as an error and shut down. 180Hz is too much. Hope this information helps!

 sashaNar 68 points

I have two of them, they just recalibrate the signal they get at power up as 0%. Normally you would use 1.5ms as zero throttle (min signal).

 ergocentric 137 points

1.0 mS min throttle, 2.0 mS max throttle min throttle to arm ESC

 Jarrah 27 points

Throttle to full, turn on, www.link Throttle down now.

 Gary 2960 points

It really doesn't mean anything,it just allows you to know which wire is which in case you wish to change the rotation by switching any two wires.

 Goh 1 points

Oh ok, so ummm, which is ground or the negative? Just wondering

 benybee 34 points

all A B C wire act the same.. it's just hi voltage signal, as the mater of brushless motor, the signal between them is switching each other to make the motor run.. if you wanna change the direction of the motor just swap between two cable.. that's it

 madflyer1997 38 points

automating battery current as it turn the DC from the battery in AC current for the brushless motor

 Goh 1 points

*benybee, If I wanted to use on servo motors, will it work?

 mena142 740 points

The ESC alternates between two cables turning them positive and negative by turns, to create an alternating magnetic field that turn the motors. Servo motors are brushed motors, this is a brushless ESC so it won't work. If you really mean to, you can use a brushed ESC

 benybee 34 points

*goh, no you can't* servo= ground*vcc*signal|| esc= ABC is all the same function except timing between each other

 Goh 1 points

*benybee, actually i planning to use lipo to connect tis ESC to act as supply / - for the servo and as for the signal i plan to use a PIC. Is it ok to this steps?

 ergocentric 137 points

No, three phase motor only

 Jiri 123 points

The BEC is linear, that means 2A output is possible for 2S, but only for very limited time for 3S battery. You can use it for max 4 servos with 3S. The 2A is pick current, average must be under 1A with 3S LiPo.

 Ramon 1 points

Mmmm. I'll be using some ESCs for controlling four motors (it'll be a quadcopter, I hope). As far as I understand what you said... as I wont't be controlling any servo I don't have to worry at all about the BEC. Am I right?

 mena142 740 points

The BEC is the Battery Eliminator Circuit... It's a circuit inside the ESC that supplies power for your receiver, servos and such, so that you don't have to plug a separate battery into the receiver. The 2A stands for 2 amperes. The receiver, servos and other devices you run from the receiver consume current which is meassured in amperes. 1A is enough for 2-4 micro servos.

 Jiri 123 points

To Ramon: The BEC is designed as power for receiver, servos and other possible equipment (i.e. gyro). If you do not want to use BEC for servo power, the BEC limits are not important for you. Servos and transmitters require 5-6V BEC output. If the BEC is linear, the rest of power is simply changed to heat - it means, for 3S and 2A current is the must be in the BEC lost about 11W power (5,5V x 2A). Therefore 2W is only maximal, peak output power, not permanent.

 Ramon 1 points

Thanks to Jiri and mena142 for your quick and kind replies.

 mena142 740 points

It works with quad, but it NOT GOOD because the refresh rate on the ESC is too low for controller boards, and the escs tend to shut off, wich is a death sentence on a quadcopter :/. You can fix it by flashing a new firmware into it, but that's not an easy task. Any ESC will work with any motor, as long as your motor battery prop combination doesn't exceed the amp rating on the ESC.

 eiliux 132 points

I'm using these ESC's on my H-Quad with DT700 brushless motors. Just reflashed them with SimonK firmware, what gives really smooth throttle and crispy respond. And now I'm happy flying with my quad.

 Vladimir_VV 1 points

All newer SS Series have RSTDISBL, so can't be flashed via SPI. But you can change MCU($0.8) or use "Atmega fusebit doctor".

 mena142 740 points

I works, but it's not good because the refresh rate is too low to keep up with the mixing board, so the ESCs could shut down (and they do). It's a shame as these are quite cheap, but I would go with Turnigy Plushes to be safe. Note: There is a way of flashing these with a custom firmware that can handle mixing boards.

 claudio 1 points

yes, its a very good!!!

 Ryan 15 points

Go with the plushes. They are better for multirotors. I built a tricopter with these escs and it didnt fly well, put the plushes and it made a BIG difference.

 Bezold 39 points

Worked ok for me. Just flashed them with simonk firmware and they work great now.

 Carly 18 points

I ordered 4 of these originally, after stripping the shrink-wrap, I noticed 3 of them to be blue boards, with programming pads. The 4th was a green board, no pads. After flashing all 4 with SimonK TP_8khz, the three blue boards are still working weeks later, the green board fried after three test flights.

 Akshat 55 points

Is battery 3 cell?If yes?then the beeps are Correct so don't worry just go and fly,,,Or else reprogram again with correct setting....Hope it helps

 JORGE 1 points

it mean is ready

 claudio 1 points

siguinifica q esta pronto para o voo

 up there 21 points

I used these on my tricopter so yes these very good for multiroter platforms. However for those motors i would use a 30amp esc just to be safe. happy flying.

 matbogdan 41 points

I also recommend a 30amp esc. tri/quads motors need allot of power to keep it in the air.

 vijay 3 points

I have 4 of these. When I turned my quad on, after few min. smoke started coming out and one of them stop working. I am not sure the reason for some but now i am thinking of buying 30amp .

 up there 21 points

sounds like a doa, unless you were flying at the time then I would get the 30 amp.

 Subhash 2 points

I use these on a quadcopter built with the fc2822.No problems. Running with 8 and 10 inch propellors.

 Luciano 2 points

i have an quadricopter with four 1250kv, i use 18-20A ESC... it's good!