Almost everyone in the FPV community is after that Smoov when they fly. NewBeeDrone just made that a little easier to achieve.
SPECIFICATIONS:
The Smoov 32-bit ESC's from NewBeeDrone
32 bit BLHeli
30 amp capable with 10 second burst of 40 amps
Supports up to DShot 1200
Input voltage from 2 to 6s
Full telemetry
Current sensor
3 Dual MOSFET design
Programmable LED (side fire)
ESC Weight - 3.77g
Dimensions - 31mm x 15mm
BLHeli sets a required standard for ESC's that must be followed by manufacturers to allow their code to work properly with them. So what can a manufacturer do to get a better ESC than another?
The engineers at NewBeeDrone decided to design their ESC to have an optimal layout for the components which creates less electromagnetic noise, lower latency, and enough capacitors to support 6s batteries without having to install any extra.
SOLDERING:
The solder pads are individually labeled and can be soldered from either side which is great because the LED on the side of the ESC can be oriented either direction and you will still have all pads available to be soldered.
The pads are also labeled so identifying what wire goes where is a breeze. The "+" is positive from the battery.
The "-" is negative from the battery.
The "T" is for telemetry and can be soldered together with the other ESC's to one of your FC UART ports.
The "~" is for the signal. It looks like a ground, but it is not, there is no ground wire for signal needed.
For arm mounted ESCs, I like to cut a blade from a prop to the length of the ESC and add it between the shrink wrap and ESC for protection from impact or prop strike.
I like to get creative with the colors of the props to match the actual prop color I will be using.
BLHeli 32 Setup:
You can download the BLHeli32 suite from here:
https://github.com/bitdump/BLHeli/tree/master/BLHeli_32%20ARM
Open the configurator. You should see this window:
Plug your USB cable into the flight controller.
Select the COM port that the flight controller comes up on and hit connect. Then plug your battery in. (MAKE SURE PROPS ARE OFF BEFORE THIS STEP)
You can check your motor direction now using the "Motors" tab at the top.
The 1-4 numbers at the bottom of the window are showing the detected ESC's. Settings will apply to the lowest showing number. As you can see above the "1" ESC has been active so changes to the settings will apply to ESC "1" in this case. The image below shows "1" deselected so settings will now apply to ESC "2". You can change your motor direction to change the direction the props are going to spin. (For most situations, the direction is the only setting that needs to be correct for proper flight)
Next I will change the LED color to purple for ESC "2". I simply deselect ESC "1" so that "2" is the lowest active number. Then turn on the red and blue color to achieve my desired color. Change as needed.
When the desired settings for an individual ESC are reached, simply click "Write Setup" to copy the settings to the ESC. Do this for each ESC as necessary. You can again click on the "Motors" tab to test that the motor directions are correct.
My Thoughts:
When I was first approached with the Smoov ESC's, to be honest, I was not looking forward the installing them on any of my "great" flying quadcopters. I had been using Flycolor 50a X-Cross ESC's on all my freestyle quads and was convinced they were the best ESC on the market. But as my title is "Test Pilot" I was going to test them.
I fly over the water a lot and one of my biggest fears is flying with unproven electronics in a spot where a problem would be the last experience I had with that quad. These ESC's not only fly exceptional but have never failed or malfunctioned in the 4 months I've been flying them. I have even dunked them in water. A day of drying and a flight later, my confidence was restored. The Smoov, A killer ESC.
Here is some flight footage of the ESC's on stock Betaflight 3.5 settings. Rates were adjusted. Enjoy.