Another very new and one of the best series of hobby product for your powerplant on the market from the leading eadge manufacturer HobbyWing — FlyFUN V5 series ESC. And again, we are not afraid of such declaration — if you need the best possible solution to drive your large scale EDF or a regular propeller plane (or even car or a boat) but at the same time a very affordable solution — think of the HobbyWing newest FlyFUN ESCs lineup!

We�ve already tested and reviewed other HobbyWing products for FPV and R|C heli applications:

• HobbyWing XRotor series motors & ESCs for FPV
• HobbyWing Platinum PRO V4 series ESCs for R|C helis

and found that those products are excellent performers in terms of power delivery and math logics inside. Additionally, latest HobbyWing products have the leading price|quality|performance ratio on the market. Best heli and fpv racing copter pilots around the world are choosing this brand nowadays for competitions as well as for general hobby use.

Today we have one of the first FlyFUN 130A HV OPTO electronic speed controllers available on the market which we would like to test and review. We would also cover HobbyWing LED program box in this review — as the most convenient and inexpensive device to program our ESC in the field.

It is worth to mention now that FlyFUN V5 series consists of the following speed controllers:

• FlyFUN V5 60A
• FLyFUN V5 80A
• FlyFUN V5 120A
• FlyFUN V5 120A OPTO (No BEC)
• FlyFUN V5 HV 130A OPTO (No BEC)
• FLyFUN V5 HV 160A OPTO (No BEC)

All these models share the same technologies, features and settings which means that all infromation that we would provide and review here would not only apply to 130A HV OPTO ESC but to all other models of the same series.

You can buy HobbyWing FlyFUN 130A HV OPTO V5 here

HobbyWing FlyFUN 130A HV OPTO technical specifications:

• Product Name: FlyFUN 130A HV OPTO V5
• Type: for Brushless, high-voltage
• Cont./Peak Current: 130A / 160A
• Input Voltage: 6 — 14S LiPo
• BEC Output: NO
• Wires & Connectors: Input Wires: Red-10AWG-150mm*1 / Black-10AWG-150mm*1 Output Wires Black-10AWG-150mm*3
• Input|Output Connecotors: NO
• ESC Programing via: LED Program Box, transmitter
• Firmware Upgrade: NO
• Size: 110.0 x 50.3 x 33.2mm
• Weight: 221.5g
• Applications: propeller aircraft, EDF (+ cars, boats)

Let�s take a look at the declared features:

LED program box manual can be found here

In the box:

First of all the box has counterfeit item protection special sticker which is very good to have nowadays when there are many fake items being sold by some popular but not very responsible shops.

ESC is neatly packed inside and there is nothing to worry about during the transporation. Speed controller and English user manual are the only contents of the box. This ESC comes with no connectors on both sides — neither to motor nor to battery. It is left for a user to decide which type of connectors would be used.

LED program box comes in a very similar package along with English user manual, 1 servo-type connection cable, 1 extra sticker for Platinum V1&V2 settings, 1 more sticker for FlyFUN V5 settings and already applied sticker with all settings for the rest of the compatible ESC types.

Materials, build and design:

Just great! 130A HV V5 ESC has the excellent build and finish quality. All wires are carefully packed into the case which is made of plastic + aluminum. Plastic is perfectly moulded, has plenty of neat labels and has special mounting holes to aid in aircraft build. Huge aluminum radiator at top would help to effectively dispose the excess of heat. 4 large capacitors are holding tight and rest on the special podium. It would not let capacitors legs to bend.

This ESC weights 221g and has a dimensions of 110×50.3×33.2 — not very small but at the same time it shares the common physical parameters with the most 130A ESCs for planes.

LED program box has full-plastic body with couple of LED windows covered with protective sticker and a button operation sticker with all parameters listed there. It makes such programming devices very intuitive and easy to use. Much easier comparing to special PC software or other PC-based devices. The build quality is more than expected for such kind of devices. Nothing to worry about here as well.

Initially, LED box has other types of ESCs sticker table attached to the front and back of the case. Table 1 goes to the front and Table 2 goes to the back. In order to use it with FlyFUN V5 — we have to remove initial blue Table 1 sticker from the front and apply provided yellow Table 1 FlyFUN V5 sticker instead. The back sticker is not applicable in case of using FlyFUN V5.

Connections:

Nothing much to explain here. 130A ESC has the following connection cables:

• Main battery leads (to 6-14S LiPO), 10AWG wires
• Main motor leads, 10AWG wires
• 1 servo-type longer cable which splits to: 3-wire (red, black, white) servo-type connection to radio receiver &  1-wire (yellow) servo-type connection of reverse brake function, goes to radio receiver extra port for reverse braking on|off function control via separate receiver channel.
• 1 servo-type short cable — this is dedicated programming line to connect to LED program box.

LED Program box has servo-type port where dedicated programming port wire from ESC should be connect to.

Two important fact to remember when using LED program box and tuning our ESC:

• LED program box should be connected PRIOR to powering ESC on
• New setting would apply ONLY after ESC powered OFF and ON again. 

So, don�t forget that whatever parameter you set in the ESC — it would only start to act as desired after the next power cycle.

FlyFUN V5 ESC parameters:

Suppose that you have connected LED box to the ESC, applied FlyFUN V5 sticker to the LED box, powered it on and ready for tuning…

On the LED box you have 4 buttons: Item (scrolls the parameter), Value (chages the parameter value), Reset (resets the value to default), Ok (saves the new value). It is very intuitive to operate.

FlyFUN V5 ESC series have the following tunable parameters:

• Brake Type:
  • Normal Brake: brake function will be activated when you move the throttle stick to the bottom position. In this mode, the brake amount equals to the brake force you�ve preset.
  • Proportional Brake: throttle range of 20% to 100% (on the transmitter) will correspond to the ESC throttle output of 0% to 100% while the throttle range of 20% to 0% (on the transmitter) will correspond to the brake force of 0 to 100%.
  • Reverse Brake: Reverse Brake signal wire (its signal range must be the same as the throttle range) must to be plugged into any vacant channel on the receiver, and you can control the motor direction via that channel. The channel range of 0-50% is the default motor direction, the channel range of 50% to 100% will cause the motor to spin counterclockwise. The channel stick should be within the channel range of 0-50% (0 would be better) when the first time you power on the ESC. After the Reverse function has been activated the motor will stop first and then spin in the reversed direction and then increase to the speed corresponding to the throttle input. Either signal loss, no matter reverse brake signal loss or throttle signal loss during the flight, can cause the throttle signal loss protection to be activated (not applicable to 130A HV OPTO ESC)
• Brake Force: This item is adjustable from level 1 to level 7. The higher the level, the stronger the braking effect. It�s only effect in the “Normal brake” mode.
• Voltage Cutoff Type:
  • Soft Cutoff: ESC will gradually reduce the output to 50% of the full power in 3 seconds after the low-voltage cutoff protection is activated.
  • Hard Cutoff: ESC will immediately cut off the output when the low-voltage cutoff protection is activated.
• LiPo Cells: The ESC will automatically calculate the number of LiPo cells you have plugged in as per the “3.7V/Cell” rule if “Auto Calc.” is selected, or you can set this item manually.
• Cutoff Voltage: This item is adjustable from 2.8V to 3.8V (they are the cutoff voltages for one cell), it�s 3.0V by default; or you can disable it if necessary.
• BEC Voltage: This item is adjustable among 5.2V, 6.0V and 7.4V (not applicable to OPTO ESCs)
• Start-up Mode:
  • Normal Start-up: motor will immediately start spinning and then quickly reach the corresponding speed when you move the throttle stick from bottom to top position.
  • Soft Start-up: motor will slowly start spinning and then quickly reach to the corresponding speed when you move the throttle stick from bottom position to top position.
  • Very Soft Start-up: motor will slowly (slower than in “Soft Start-up Mode”) start spinning and then quickly reach to the corresponding speed when you move the throttle stick from bottom position to top position.
  • We recommend selecting the “Soft Start-up” or “Very Soft Start-up” mode when you are flying an airplane with a big-sized ducted fan. Please ensure to select the “Very Soft Start-up” mode if the diameter of the ducted fan on your airplane is over 90mm.
• Timing: This item is adjustable from 0 degree to 30 degrees, and it is 15 degrees by default.
• Motor Rotation: This item allows you to change the direction of your motor rotation between CW and CCW, CW by default.
• Freewheeling: This item is adjustable between “Enabled” and “Disabled” and is enabled by default. While enabled, you can have better throttle linearity or smoother throttle response.

The default parameters are marked with «*» in the app and can be found in the ESC manual.

So, not many parameters to tune. Took me about 3 minutes to set everything as desired. One more thing that you would have to do prior to setting everything up — is to calibrate your ESC with your radio and receiver. This is done as usually — connect everything together (motor to ESC, ESC to receiver), Throttle channel all the way up on the radio, power ON receiver with ESC connected to THR channel and you should hear a series of beeps that correspond to entering programming mode. Throttle stick all the way down and you would hear the min THR and confirmation beeps. Power everything OFF and you�re done.

ESC protection technologies:

In order to make sure that everything would go butter-smooth in flight, HobbyWing have added several protection layers to FlyFUN V5 series ESCs:

• Start-up Protection: ESC will monitor the motor speed during the start-up process. When the speed stops increasing or the speed increase is not stable the ESC will take it as a start-up failure. At that time, if the throttle amount is less than 15%, the ESC will automatically try to restart up; if it is larger than 20%, you need to move the throttle stick to back the bottom position and then restart up the ESC. (Possible causes of this problem: poor connection/ disconnection between the ESC and motor wires, propellers are blocked, etc.)
• ESC Thermal Protection: motor will “stutter” when the ESC temperature goes above 110℃ to indicate that the ESC thermal protection is activated. If lower down the throttle input to below 60% at this moment the “stuttering” will disappear and the ESC will output the corresponding power. The motor will start to “stutter” again if the throttle input exceeds 60%. If this happens — disconnect the battery first and then reconnect it to the ESC after the ESC cools down (the ESC temperature cannot exceed 70℃, otherwise it cannot be started), it will resume the normal operation.
• Throttle Signal Loss Protection: when ESC detects loss of signal for over 0.25 second it will cut off the output immediately to avoid any loss which may be caused by the continuous high-speed rotation of propellers or rotor blades. The ESC will resume the corresponding output after normal signals are received.
• Overload Protection: ESC will cut off power/output or automatically restart itself when the load suddenly increases to a very high value. (Possible cause is that propellers are blocked or the motor and the ESC are out of sync.)
• Over-current Protection: ESC will cut off output power immediately when the peak current exceeds the regulated value and then would resume the output. If the current continues to go above the regulated value — the output will be completely cut off. This protection may be activated by the short-circuit in motor or something else.

Huh… Again, is with the FlyFUN V5 series — I feel myself well protected and comfortable. At least — it is a fool-proof device and I hope that it would not burn right away if I�d suddenly forget about proper safety rules 

ESC performance:

Test setup:

Enjoy FAI F3A pilotage (P and F17) large-scale propeller plane.

This model was specially designed and constantly upgraded by Belorus manufacturer Enjoy to comply with FAI rules and flight manuevers. This is sport model, not a toy!

Wing span: 1890mm, length: 1900mm, weight: 1900g (10S LiPO, 4,5Ah)

And it is equipped with the Plettenberg Advance 30-10 motor: weight: 590g, 8-10S LiPO, 20 magnets, propeller: 22 x 12″

ESC was situated inside the aircraft which took about 15 minutes. 4mm bullet connectors were used to connect motor and ESC. FlyFUN ESC took a place in the model instead of the professional Jeti Spin 90A OPTO ESC which was a fraction smaller and had a less weight. But again — Jeti is only 90A and our new FlyFUN is capable of 130A with bursts to 160A current.

This model with such motor was specially chosen for this test. F3A models are usually prepared with the best possible electonic components and should perform with 100% reliability of each element to comply with the flying manuevers. Plettenberg motor is unique — is has a outrunner features but really built as inrunner inside. Motor stator is tied to the outer casing and inner shaft that has a shape of a fat barrel rotates inside and driven by 20 powerful magnets. This motor has all the tuning parameters of outrunners and all the advantages of inrunners druing the work — very linear power output at all stick inputs which is necesssary to fly in F3A class.

Preflight checks:

Right after we have placed FlyFUN V5 into the plane — the next thing we�ve done was to check the maximum power, current and minumum battery voltage levels with watt-meter. It would be a pity if the new speed controller won�t carry out our tests and burn the motor or disappear in flames…

But the wattmeter tells us that we are far from loading this ESC to 100% and showed pretty expected figures. Our setup was eating as much as 78A continuously at max throttle input with 10S 4,5Ah 25C battery. Max current might jump to ~100A druing the flight hardest manuevers but still won�t hit the upper capability of HobbyWing 130A ESC.

Due to the fact that FlyFUN 130A V5 os OPTO-type — we used external BEC to supply voltage to the rest of onboard components.

In flight:

Excellent! During all of the test flights we haven�t expereinced any problems with the plane, motor or power delivery. Throttle response had the expected linearity as we�ve got used to during our previous flights and with our previous setup. HobbyWing FlyFUN 130A OPTO V5 ESC could withstand all of F3A manuevers with ease while delivering the reliable power output at any overloads. But in addtion to that — our FlyFUN 130A ESC was surprisingly cold each time we�ve landed after ~8-10 minutes of flight session. Despite the ambient temperature reaching +28C that day — FlyFUN stayed ~41C at most. This is absolutely suprerior to our PRO-level Jeti ESC that had lots of power disposed as heat. Think that it is due to much more continuous current cabability of FlyFUN ESC and huge cooling radiator on top of that to dispose the heat.

Therefore, our conclusion would be that HobbyWing FlyFUN V5 series of ESCs is excellent product lineup for hobby and pro-level sports use. It should comply with any size and class model, thanks to the wide series lineup in terms of max current and features. And last but not the least — its price|performance|quality ratio just pushes it right to the top among all other ESCs available on the market!

We would stick to this ESC and would be using it from now on instead of our Jeti Spin 90A due to the much higher load capability of FlyFUN 130A HV OPTO…

You can buy HobbyWing FlyFUN 130A HV OPTO V5 here

Some time ago we have tested and reviewed some excellent HobbyWing products for FPV racing qauds — XRotor series motors and ESCs. We were impressed with how good those products performed. But today we would like to talk about R|C heli field and review the newest series of HobbyWing Platinum PRO V4 ESCs.

Many years since I�ve started flying R|C helis I was considering different brands of ESCs to match the motor and setup requirements for every certain model build. Shifting to larger class helis (550-700) significantly narrowed the available choice to only few best price-to-performance ratio power delivery systems due to the inevitable requirement to have governor function on board. Among those that had — the choice was even more squeezed to ESCs that had a reliable governor mode and would not tear the model apart in case if the initial gain settings were a way off (remember Outrage 50 cone gears problems  ?). Finally, I had to stick either to very expensive Kontronik ESCs with the best in the class gorvernor performance or/and to less expensive Castle products with much more complicated governor mode tuning when I was tight on the budget. In both cases the price bites but the result is achieved.

Someone might ask — why not using FBL governor function instead of ESC? My answer is always the same — best ESC logics would take current battery pack C rating into account while trying to hold THR output. It is not vital for those who have a constant access and funds to fly fresh battery packs but certainly a concern for those who doesn�t. My oldest packs were staying in use for 100-200 cycles and their electrical resistance was a way higher compared to the newer pack. Something in the setup should evaluate and compensate this difference. FBL would not. I would concentrate on that a bit later in text. And yes, I undertsand that FBL governor would consider such factors as pitch and cyclic angles and ratios to maintain the same RPM. But it would also impact the batteries dramatically.

My journey with HobbyWing ESC for heli has started 5 years ago when I had KDS Innova 600 model that bundled with HobbyWing 120A HV. Despite the fact that it didn�t have the governor (actually it had but the result was a way from being acceptable) it was a good product that managed more than 1000 flights and is still alive. That time I�ve used mini-V-Bar BlueLine FBL governor function with HobbyWing RPM sensor. Everything was great except the same high load on the different batteries which would result in very rare motor cutt-offs on the oldest packs. Later, I�ve switched to Kontonik Jive 80A HV ESC and enabled its excellent «Mode 4» battery-aware governor. No cut-offs, packs lived longer, no battery overheating… That was and still stays my preference. The drawback was that Kontronik products were traditionally expensive.

A couple of years later I�ve started to notice that newest HobbyWing Platinum series ESC were gaining popularity very fast. Many positive feedback on international and local forums, many good pilots using them, many videos of their performance. At the same time, the same positive and massive feedback was noticed in R|C auto field… I�ve begun to realize that there are some market shifts and a new leader on the horizon in terms of price-to-performance. And only now, when I�ve finally got back to R|C heli hobby after a long break and copter racing — I�ve decided to give it a try starting with the latest Platinum PRO V4 60A ESC + Wi-Fi Express program module for my KDS Chase 360 build.

Note: to be able to access and tune ALL the available Platinum (or other series HW ESCs) ESC settings — you would have to buy either Wi-Fi Express module or LCD programming box. 

Platinum RPO V4 series consists of the following ESCs: 60A, 80A, 120A, 130A HV, 130A HV OPTO, 160A HV, 200A HV OPTO  

So, today I would like to review HobbyWing Platinum PRO V4 60A ESC + Wi-Fi Express program module. Starting with the:

Technical specifications HobbyWing Platinum PRO V4 60A ESC:

• Product Name: Platinum 60A V4
• Type: for Brushless
• Cont./Peak Current: 60A/80A
• Input Voltage: 3-6S LiPo
• BEC Output: Switch Mode: 5-8V, 7A
• Wires & Connectors: Input Wires: Red-14AWG-100mm*1 / Black-14AWG-100mm*1 Output Wires Black-14AWG-75mm*3
• Output Connecotors: 3.5mm Gold Connectors (Female)
• ESC Programing via: LCD Program Box, WiFi Module, Program Port (Throttle Wire)
• Firmware Upgrade Supported
• Size: 48.0 x 30.0 x 15.5mm
• Weight: 49g
• Applications: 450-480 Class Heli (Main Blade: 325-380mm）
• Excellent Motor Governing Speed: High-performance 32-bit processor with a running frequency of 72MHz combined with advanced algorithm optimizes the speed governing. Together with the adjustable governor parameters guarantees every pilot a precise control experience.
• High Voltage Built-in BEC: The built-in switch mode BEC with an adjustable voltage range from 5V to 8V, a continuous current of over 7A and peak current of 18A can supply enough power for your servos to operate efficiently.
• DEO Technology: The DEO (Driving Efficiency Optimization, or so called «Active Freewheeling») technology implemented in the ESC has multiple advantages: Quicker response to the throttle change. Higher driving efficiency, longer flight time. Lower ESC temperature and a more reliable operation.
• Four Brake Modes: This Platinum 60A V4 ESC has “Brake Disabled, Normal Brake, Proportional Brake and Reverse Brake” four brake modes. The brake amount is adjustable in normal brake mode; in proportional brake mode, the brake force will be automatically allocated based on the position of the radio throttle stick; in reverse brake mode, the motor rotation can be changed via a spare transmitter channel.
• Multiple Protections: Multiple protection features include, ESC thermal, capacitor thermal (HOBBYWING-patented technology), ESC overload, throttle signal loss (or Fail Safe), and low voltage cutoff effectively prolongs the service life of the ESC.
• Other Features: A separate programming port for connecting the programmer on this ESC allows user to program ESC, check flight data include minimum voltage, maximum temperature, standardized RPM and speed curve (in Heli Governing Store mode) of the flight data recorded by the ESC, upgrade ESC firmware with a multifunction LCD program box or a Wi-Fi Module & our Apple/Android phone App

Manual: HERE

Technical specifications Wi-Fi Express program module:

• Product Name: WiFi Express
• Working Voltage: 5V-12.6V
• WiFi Protocol: IEEE802.11 b/g/n
• WiFi Signal Effective Range: 0-10m (Open Field)
• Size: 25.7 x 25.7 x 8.8mm (LxWxH)
• Weight: 11g
• Applications: XERUN series & EZRUN series of car ESCs, PLATINUM series of aircraft ESCs, SEAKING PRO series of boat ESCs.
• Wireless Connection: The ESC can now use a wireless connection via the use of the HW WiFi express module for the following operating systems ; iOS/Android phone (using the HW LINK APP) users can easily and remotely (without leaving the control stand) program the ESC parameters displayed on the smart phone to their own preference.
• Intuitive Interface: The Wifi Module is a complete different concept from the way the HOBBYWING LCD program box works, all the parameters of the wifi module are displayed all in one via the graphical and interactive interface with dropdown menu�s and scroll bars. Now users can program their ESC in a much more user friendly interface without delay.
• Firmware Update: With this WiFi module, the end users can easily and promptly update the firmware of their ESC via their smart phone (with the HW LINK APP), which eliminates the use and carriage of a laptop pc.
• Compact Design: This WiFi module is smaller, smarter, lighter and only 1/6th of HOBBYWING LCD program box in size and weight. It has a hardwired programming cable to connect to the ESC not like the lcd program box which needed an extra programming cable to connect to the ESC.
• One-touch Factory Reset: Users can promptly factory reset their WiFi module via the Reset button at the bottom of the case.
• Wide Applicability: This module is applicable to work on the XERUN series, EZRUN series of car ESCs, and the Platinum series of aircraft ESCs, and SEAKING PRO series of boat ESCs.

Manual: HERE

APP Manual: HERE 

Download apps:

Too many features and information for both of the products. But what really attracted my attention is not the plenty of features stated above but all the market feedback that I�ve encountered on the different forums about the superiority of ESC governor performace and flawless overall operation. Moreover, ESC series are built to meet the requirements of the most demanding setups. As an example, let�s consider my target Chase 360 model: motor Scorpion HK 2520 1880KV with 50A peak and 38A continuous current which is the best you can get for this model, KDS N320S and N320T HV fast digital servos with a high torque but a bit hungry for power and KDS EBAR V2 FBL. Such setup requires at least 60A ESC and HV BEC capable of 4-7A power supply. HobbyWing Platinum PRO V4 60A meets both the requirements and have significantly exceeding power possibilities: 80A peak current for motor and 7A BEC output with 18A peak current output.

In the box:

First of all the box has counterfeit item protection special sticker which is very good to have nowadays when there are many fake items being sold by some popular but not very responsible shops.

ESC is neatly packed inside and comes with a couple of plastic zip-ties, heatsink and English user manual. Motor wires have 3.5mm bullet connectors already soldered and wrapped with a heatsink. Battery wires are prepared to be soldered but have no connector — this is left for a user to decide on its type.

Wi-Fi module comes in a transparent plastic box with the same counterfeit item protection label. It is packed in a soft foam and comes with additional servo Y-cable and English user manual.

So, no worries about both items during the transporation.

Materials, build and design:

Both products look perfect in terms of design and finish.

ESC case is partly made of aluminum to ensure the stiffness and heat disposal and plastics to protect connections and capacitors and bring the weight down. Perfect crafting and molding, very neat sticker attachment and case etching. Chosen wire AWG type for power input and output are a way enough to stand the passing current — 14AWG multistrand wire in modelling application may carry as much as 68A of current. We only have 30-40A at peak times per wire, therefore, there is a plenty of room left to keep power loss and cable heat low. Even the BEC servo cable is visibly thicker than I�ve used to see on standard-sized servos.

Wi-Fi module is full-aluminum CNC block with LED status light at the top and a hole for reset button at the bottom. ESC connection cable (servo-type) and Wi-Fi antenna (which looks exactly like RX antenna) both come from the same case opening.

Connections:

ESC has the battery wires, motor wires, programming port, BEC wire and signal wire for motor reverse (needed to enable proportional brake function).

Motor wires could be connected to motor in any order because ESC can be programed to change motor rotation direction. Programing port would accept Wi-Fi module and LCD programing box.

Wi-Fi module has only one servo-type cable which in case of Platinum PRO V4 60A ESC should be connected straight to the programing port. In case of using with other ESCs you might need the provided Y-harness cable to connect to ESC properly. In is described in the manual. But the main rule: Wi-Fi module should be powered from the incoming wire and should be connected to the dedicated or other port cabable of programing.

 Locating ESC and module on the model:

KDS Chase 360 (360-380 class) is a model designed by Autsralian engineer Glen Kimpton who has done a great job especially concerning power parts location. ESC should sit at the dedicated place at front of the frame, with motor wires go up to the motor and battery wires go down under the frame where flight battery is located. Absolutely no problems here. Platinum PRO V4 fits there perfectly and the length of the wires are enough to reach all other components. Seems like as if this ESC was specially designed for Chase 360.

As you can see on the picture — Wi-Fi module is located on the right side of the frame, held by the double sided adhesive and antenna is passed forward to ensure that it is placed far enough from transmitter RX antennas that are at the back.

The longest (BEC cable) from ESC is passed on the left side of the frame all the way to EBAR V2 FBL.

Tuning ESC:

This part is the most inetersting and shows that HobbyWing company really catches up with the recent technology trends and makes outstanding products.

When ESC, motor and Wi-Fi connected we can power the ESC to start tuning it. I prefer to start with the current ESC FW version check and upgrade if necessary. In order to to that I would use Android OS phone and HWLink application from Google Play store installed.

Step 1: Install HWLink app for Android or iOS and run the program for the first time while connected to the Internet. It would check the latest database (FW upgrades) upon first run (you can force this app to check for the latest database version as described below) and would inform you if there was the new database upgrade and changelog.

Step 2: Power ESC. Wi-Fi module would show constant red LED when it is up and running.

Step 3: Go to Wi-Fi settings on your phone and discover new networks. You should find network with the name «HW-WIFILINK» and connect to it using «12345678» password. You would be able to change network name and password later in the HWLink app on your smartphone.

Step 4: When connected, you can launch HWLink app and press on the ESC icon at the upper right corner to start talking to ESC. This icon would change to ESC indicating waves — it means that it is discovered and connected. Now, you can start using the app.

you can follow the procedure of connecting Wi-Fi module to your smartphone described in the manual of Wi-Fi module.

Step 5: Check whether you have the latest FW in the ESC (go to Screen «5. FW update» beneath.)

Step 6: Calibrate your ESC: as usually, power ESC off, THR stick fully up, power ESC on and after you hear motor signal that ESC entered calibration mode and saved upper THR point — THR stick down and weit for another set of beeps. Calibration done.

Step 7: Reconnect your smartphone to Wi-Fi module.

Using HWLink application:

HWLink is very useful application that would let you do the following:

• Update app database (download latest FW for ESCs and changelogs)
• Tune ESC and import/export/reset settings
• Upgrade ESC FW
• Check some logs after flight|run
• Find, download and read ESC manuals
• Check the latest HobbyWing news
• Change Wi-Fi module network name and password

Let�s go over each screen:

1. Loading

2. Main screen where all the functions are listed.

3. Settings:

this screen would let you change:

• App language: English or Chinese
• Choose running mode: DEMO or ESC-connected
• Wi-Fi module settings: SSID name, password
• About: information about app version and database version, pressing on either info would call update function for the corresponding item (you have to be connected to Wi-Fi network with Internet access to complete this task).
• Help: read the description of this app

4. News:

just a basic inbuilt app browser that directs us to HobbyWing site.

5. Firmware Update: 

lets you check what FW version does the connected ESC have (current FW), shows the latest available FW to upload to ESC (Target Version). By pressing Update button you would start to upload the newest FW to your ESC. It takes about 3 mins to upgrade Platinum PRO V4 ESC FW and I would recommend to keep smartphone close to Wi-Fi module and keep the screen awake during the process.

6. Data Record:

the first screen here gives us a selection between cars and aircraft models and leads us to this screen:

where we can see some flight|run data for the last 20 flights|runs at most (newest would replace oldest after 20 tracks are exceeded). And there is a «CLEAR» button at top right to delete all records.

one note as it is stated in the ESC manual: this ESC would show the logged data but won�t keep it in memory. Therefore, in order to see the data a user should connect to ESC after the flight without cutting ESC power. 

Data for aircraft profiles:

• MOS Temperature — max MOSFET temperature (°C/°F)
• Cap Temperature — max capacitors temperature (°C/°F)
• Voltage — min flight|run battery voltage (V)
• RPM — governed motor RPM during flight (those revs are electronic. We have to use the following formula to calculate the real RPM = Electronic revs / number of poles / 2 / gear ratio * THR% )

Data for cars:

• Max ESC temperature
• Max Motor temperature
• Min battery voltage
• Max motor speed (electronic revs)

Update: HW just released their HW Link app update (1.2.16) that brings a new cool feature for the Platinum V4 (and HW) ESC users — now, you can monitor performance of your ESC in real-time.  In order to see this — you would have to enter Data Record secion, select Aircraft and press Real-time data at the top right corner of the screen. The app would ask you to input Gear Ratio and Motor Poles for the correct calculations and you would see such screen:

As you can see — here we have the real-time data:

• RPM
• PPM Throttle %
• Current A
• PWM Throttle %
• MOS Temp in Celsium
• Voltage V
• CAP Temp in Celsium

You can also see the graph and can select which parameters would be on the graph�s x-axis.

7. Support:

this screen has 3 choices:

Download and read user manuals: if you would donwload any manual — it would be stored locally and you would not need to redownload it every time you want to read it. Very handy feature.

Manage files: you can see, rename or delete your exported *.txt profiles and settings here

Manage photos: you can see, rename or delete your exported graphical profiles and settings here.

8. Parameters:

this screen gives us a selection of type of the ESC first and leads us to the profile selection screen:

selecting the existing or new profile would lead us to the ESC settings screen:

Parameters for Platinum V4 PRO ESC:

General:

• Flight mode: Fixed-wing, Helicopter (Linear THR)/Elf Governor/Store Governor. Last two would govern the speed but Elf mode would take the battery C rating into account by evaluating packs at the beginning, setting RPM higher or lower according to pack health. This is the most preferred type of THR governing for me.
• LiPO cells: Auto calculation (default), or set the number of cells manually. This ESC would count the number of cells with beeps upon initialization. So, we would know that it has calculated it right even if the «Auto» is chosen.
• Voltage Cutoff type: Soft or Hard. Depends of the model. Helicopters need soft cutoff.
• Cutoff voltage: 2.8 — 3.8V in steps of 0.1V
• BEC Voltage: 5 — 8V with the steps of 0.1V (depends on the electronic equipment you have on your heli model — servos, FBL, RX and other… I have everything capable of feeding 8V — so, I set 8.0V)
• Start-up time: 4 — 25s (how long would it take ESC and motor to reach the desired RPM)

Throttle control:

• Governor P: (part of governor PID setup, proportional gain, 0 — 9, how good ESC keeps the target RPM, strength). I use default
• Governor I: (part of governor PID setup, integral gain, 0 — 9, how fast ESC would get back to target RPM after slight RPM change). I use default
• Auto-restart time: 0 — 90s. Time period in which THR% brought to 25 and less would cutoff RPM and raised above 40% would result in rapid RPM gain to the desired level (rapid means time to reach target RPM set in the next parameter — Restart acceleration time). If THR% brought to 25% and less, cutoff effected and THR moved to 40% and above beyond this time period — it would result in soft start process. Only works for governor modes.
• Restart acceleration time: 1 — 3s, 0,5s steps. Time it would take to reach the target RPM after RPM cutoff.
• Break type: Disabled, Normal, Proportional, Reverse. Not needed in heli, but proportional means that THR% of 20 to 0 on radio would result in brake strength 0 — 100% in ESC. Reverse means that RPM cable from ESC can be turned to reverse signal cable. We should setup a channel on the radio so, that 0-20% means that we have normal motor rotation direction, and 20-100% means that motor would start to spin in the opposite direction.
• Break force: only for normal brake mode. 0-100, 1 intervals.
• Timing: 0-30°, 1° step.
• Motor rotation: motor rotation direction
• Active freewheel: DEO (driving efficiency optimization) HW technology to ensure quicker response to THR change, longer flight time and lower ESC temp. Should be enabled in governor modes and can be on or off for linear THR or fixed-wing modes.
• Startup power: 1-7. 1 point step.

The default parameters are marked with «*» in the app and can be found in the ESC manual.

You can rename the profile and select profile picture at the bottom of this screen.

Moreover, you have 4 additional buttons on the left:

• Connect/Disconnect to/from your ESC
• Import: import settings from the file that you�ve saved previously
• Export: export your profile and settings to *.txt editable file or photo file to share with others
• Default: reset all settings to their default values.

Just to understand how HWLink application looks and works:

ESC protection technologies:

In order to make sure that everything would go butter-smooth in flight, HobbyWing have added several protection layers to Platinum PRO V4 series ESCs:

• Start-up Protection: The ESC will monitor the motor speed during the start-up process. When the speed stops increasing or the speed increase is not stable, the ESC will take it as a start-up failure. At that time, if the throttle amount is less than 15%, the ESC will automatically try to restart up; if it is larger than 15%, you need to move the throttle stick to back the bottom position and then restart up the ESC. (Possible causes of this problem: poor connection/ disconnection between the ESC and motor wires, propellers are blocked, etc.)
• ESC Thermal Protection: The ESC will gradually reduce the output but won�t cut it off completely when the ESC temperature goes above 110°C. Maximum reduction is about 50% of the full power to ensure that the motor can still get some power and won�t cause a crash. The ESC will gradually resume its maximum power after the temperature lowers down. In addition, the ESC temperature cannot exceed 70°C when it�s powered on. Otherwise, it cannot be started up. (Here we are describing the ESC�s reaction in soft cutoff mode, while if in hard cutoff mode; it will immediately cut off the power.)
• Capacitor Thermal Protection: The ESC will activate this protection when the operating temperature of capacitors goes over 130°C. It protects capacitors in the same way as the ESC thermal protection does to the ESC.
• Throttle Signal Loss Protection: When the ESC detects loss of signal for over 0.25 second, it will cut off the output immediately to avoid an even greater loss which may be caused by the continuous high-speed rotation of propellers or rotor blades. The ESC will resume the corresponding output after normal signals are received.
• Overload Protection: The ESC will cut off the power output or automatically restart itself when the load suddenly increases to a very high value (possible cause to sudden load increase is that propellers are blocked.)

Sounds nice and makes me feel comfortable. This is important because I remember the case when one of my 600-class heli motor bruned in flight and caused Kontonik ESC to go into deep protection mode. I�ve managed to land heli on ground with no crash. I was very happy that ESC didn�t burn together with the motor that cought short-circuit in flight. But the drawback was that I had to send my Kontronik to Germany to release it from deep protection mode it stayed in. Anyway, this was quick and cheap. Much cheaper than buying a new one.

ESC performance:

Power delivery: smooth. With the current setup (Scorpion HK 2520 1880KV, 13° collective) + ESC settings and running on the Bonka LiPO 6S 1,500mAh 75C batteries my Chase feels great in the air. No power loss, no cutoffs, no visible power drops. I�ve registered as much as 45A peak current once, but it wasn�t noticed in the model behavior from the power delivery equipment.

BEC power supply: no problem here as well. My HV servos are silky smooth in flight and there wasn�t anything bad noticed in their performance. Total current draw from all onboard equipment reaches as much as 6,5A with couple of servos stall but this is an extreme situation only checked to ensure that one stall servo would not lead to BEC voltage drop or BEC reset. The BEC is capable of 7A continous amd 18A peak power which should be enoung to run powerful servos and stand the peak current they produce in a position of stall. I�ve also tried to check whether some back induction voltage that many current servos generate during quick movement cause any BEC problems (back induction voltage might cause BEC voltage increase from, for example, 7V to 14V or so which would result in BEC cutoff or else)… For this, I was moving all servos very fast for a long period of time. I haven�t spotted any misbehavior in this aspect. Some very famous names in this industry like Georges Van Gansen (Scorpion Power Systems) insist on having additional capacitors to act as a buffer… But I would give it a try with no additional capacitors.

Governor at work: very good. I am using 13° collective and checked governor performance in Elf mode during the pitch-pumps with full collective stick deflection to both sides to ensure the max load. At the same time I was measuring head speed change with FrSKY RPM sensor to check if there is any significant inclinations from the RPMs at hover after take off. I�ve found that RPMs would stay consistent throughout all input loads with very minor change in extreme points (~3.5%) but with very quick target RPM gain when released. Which is much better already than using linear throttle with 15% THR change to maintain the same RPM with the extreme pitch angles. Moreover, I think that dialing «I parameter» a little bit more would make the situation perfect. Please, note that there could be some measuring errors due to Pitch stick logging vs RPM logging intervals. But the graphs shows what I mean — RPM stay close to expected under load. At least with fresh and new 75C new battery packs. I believe that RPM inclinations from target would grow larger as battery would deteriorate and gain more per cell resistance but I cannot measure older packs now because I don�t have one. I would update this review later, after 50-70 battery charging cycles.

I  would say that HobbyWing Platinum PRO V4 governor in «Elf» mode is performing very similar to Kontronik Jive 80A HV ESC set to «Mode 4» which is really great considering the price difference. Definitely, governor logics in HobbyWing V4 ESC is excellent and can be treated as the golden standard. A huge improvement over older HW 120A HV ESC that I had long time ago. New ESC logics makes current HobbyWing products to lead the market and to satisfy most demanding pilots. As the matter of fact, it is much better than Castle 80A HV ESC governor I�ve used to fly. It either broke my cone gears with some higher PIDs or it wouldn�t hold the target RPM at loaded manuevers at lower gains… HobbyWing does a great job out of the box and despite the default gains.

Flight video would come along a bit later.

Temperature: as HobbyWing reports on their website — current V4 PRO ESC series are colder than its precessors.

I never had V3 series but I can confirm that ESC comes quite cold after each 3 minutes of flight — about 35-41°C at 22°C ambient temp which is much better than I�ve used to when was using Castle ESCs or Kontronik without a dedicated cooling radiator. But the direct comparison is not right in this case… models are different and power draw is also different. The only thing that I am certain about — Platinum V4 stays cooler than expected.

Wi-Fi module signal and RX signal interaction: no problems here. Haven�t noticed any drops in RSSI value of my RX connection to radio. Seems that Wi-Fi module would not interfere with RX radio downlink. It has very limiter range of ~10m which makes it secure to use always powered on.

Overall conclusion:

HobbyWing Platinum PRO V4 60A ESC is an excellent product that has deserved to be called a leading-class ESC. It has many modern technologies implemented, can be programed over the air, has outstanding battery aware governor math, competes perfectly with very expensive products like Kontronik and YGE but also provides more features and finally — it has the best price/quality/performance ratio. Other good brands and a way more expensive…. And some cheaper rivals like YEP and other YGE clones have no such build and electric component quality (many YEP ESCs were burned at flight in my practice) to compete with modern HobbyWing products. I would say that Platinum V4 can be objectively called «the best choice on the market» currently. And the Wi-Fi module is a great supplement to ESC in terms of ease of setup. Now, I understand why there are so many positive feedback about this series of ESCs on the market.

Well done, HobbyWing!!! Platinum PRO V4 series ESC impressed us the same way XRotor motors and ESCs for FPV racers did! Hope that the future products for helis, cars, boats, planes and copters would continue to lead the way!

We want to thank HobbyWing and Direct Distributions (HW rep. company in Ukraine) for landing us those products for test and review.

Urgent!!! Excellent offer if you are willing to buy FrSky Taranis QX7 and other FrSKY radios: the lowest price on the market AND 4-7 days express delivery worldwide!!! Such offers are rare, don�t miss that one!!!

Many times, especially during winter season, I�ve been looking at the tiny whoop FPV copters at different online stores but never hit «ORDER» button — they�ve all looked attractive but equipped with brushed motors… thus, underpowered. Maybe they are good for indoor use, but I always prefer to have something more versatile, something that I can fly indroors during bad weather or winter season and at the same time something that I can take with me outdoors and have almost the same experience as I do with the larger 180-250 class FPV copters. I�ve even tried to fly a couple of brushed models — they all feel slow and definitely change the way I�ve used to fly and move my fingers. Moreover, brushed motors wear over time resulting in adding more and more THr input to fly the model. Not really good.

On the other hand — there is a new and quickly emerging market niche for micro FPV copters powered by the brushless motors. And one of the first companies who already got something to say about it is KingKong — a company that is very well known for its good FPV products like props, RTF whoops, antennas, transmitters and so on. And you know what? They already inroduced more than one brushless RTF FPV micro quad — KingKong 90GT and KingKong Q90.

Today, I would concentrate on KingKong 90GT. I have this quad for almost a week now, had a plenty of flights and can now share my experience. Let�s start:

KingKong 90GT technical characteristics:

• Flight Control: Micro SpRacing F3 6Dof Version with 32-bit STM32F303CC processor and MPU6050
• Motor: 1103 7800KV Motor
• ESC : 3A Blheli_S 4 in 1 Brushless ESC (OneShot 42/125, MultiShot, DShot 150/300/600)
• Camera: 800TVL CMOS Camera FOV150 Degree
• Propeller: 2 CW & 2 CCW (Red transparent)
• FPV Transmitter: 16CH 25mW VTX
• Battery: 2S 7.4V 350mAh 25C
• Wheelbase: 90 mm
• Dimension: 82x82x28 mm
• Weight: 42.9g (without battery)

Comes in several versions:

• ARF (no receiver)
• PNP with FrSKY AC800 (only RSSI on telemetry)
• PNP with DSM2 receiver
• PNP with FASST receiver

My version is FrSKY AC800 receiver because I am using FrSKY Taranis X9DP and QX7 radios.

In the box:

• Carry case, «lunch box» type
• RTF copter
• 2S 7.4V 350mAh 25C battery
• 2 sets of 1935 porps
• 1 set of prop screws
• 1 set of plastic protection frames
• 1 set of longer screws with washers for potection frames
• 2 spare battery holder rubber rings
• 1 wrench
• microUSB-USB cable
• 1 set of additional cables for F3 board
• short manual

You can get the manual HERE

New version of this product: FrSKY Vantac GT90 — similar product but with much better FrSKY receiver XM in the bundle. 

You can buy KingKong 90GT: HERE Don�t worry, this shop is from good person in China. It might look unfinished yet but your orders would be pocessed in the best way. Support this shop on its early stage and we would eventually have one more good place to order from. If you would have any questions about your order — leave a comment and I�d help you out.

So, in other words, what are the features and what is so good about this model?

• 90mm wheelbase powered by 1103 7800kv brushless motors that give plenty of power and larger copter feel
• no motor wear over time, brushless means durable
• common tuning practice due to the use of F3 board, BetaFlight|CleanFlight FW, BLHeli_s ESCs.
• removable plastic props and frame protection that would let you fly indoors and outdoors with maximum protection

Really nice features and package that brings this model much closer to its larger brothers — 180, 210, 250 class quads. I would go over each element step-by-step:

Packaging:

Just excellent. Everything is neatly packed in a transparent lunch-type box that not only potects the model during shipment but also would serve a role of carry box in future. Really clever.

Frame:

2mm carbon fiber one-piece main base plate and 1mm upper plate with plastic standoffs for PDB and upper plate. Plus aluminum standoffs and soldered pins between PDB and flight controller. Looks and feels pretty sturdy for 90mm FPV quad.

Motors:

• Height: 14mm
• Weight: about 3.9g
• Shaft: φ1.5mm (1mm outside)
• KV (rpm/V): 7800
• Voltage: 3.7-11.1V
• Battery: 1-3S lipo battery
• Prop: 3 inch, 2 inch, 65mm, 45mm

1103 7800kv brushless motors with 1,5mm shafts (inside) and 1mm shaft (outside). M2 thread for 4 bottom screws and same for 4 top prop screws. Interesting fact is that when we use this model without plastic potection — there are 4 screws provided to hold the motors. But in case if we�d install plastic parts — we only have 2 longer screws with washers per motor to tie them to the frame. Of course, you can find another 4 screws of the same length with washers to have the complete set.

Those motors have a plenty of power for 90GT. Although the THr input is a bit less reactive comparing to many 210 class copters, but still it is much more closer to larger rivals in terms of power than any most advanced brushed model.

PDB + ESCs:

4 in 1 ESC + PDB board that is soldered to the flight controller. ESCs are 3A BLHeli_s and capable of OneShot 42/125, MultiShot, DShot 150/300/600 types of communication. This is absolutely great. Using the latest digital technology like DShot on micro quad brings this model even closer to the larger models we are all got used to.

Note: get familiar with DShot in my other review: HERE

Of course, not much reason to use DShot600 because the flight board is only capable of 4/4KHz loop rate and DShot300 is more than needed. But still this little model beats many other products in this aspect. I am using DShot300 currently. Moreover, you can use BLHeli_s standalone or Chrome applet to configure and update the FW in all ESCs. I would explain this a bit later.

PDB and FC boards are not only held together with 2 aluminum standoffs and screws but also soldered with the pins that deliver power from PDB to FC and ESC signals from FC to PDB. Changing PDB or FC could be a little pain consequently. But nothing really bad. The worst scenario is if one or more of the ESCs are damaged. In this case you would have to change the whole power distribution board.

One strange thing here is that PDB battery connector is a 2S balance plug instead of any other more common type power connector. This is not really an issue as this connector seems to handle input current… but I would better change it to some more convenient type like XT30 or JST plug.

Flight controller:

This seems to be micro SpRacing F3. Delievered with 3.0.1 BetaFlight FW from the factory and preconfigured pretty well to start flying out of the box. The HW configuration is using UART2 to connect receivers, motor outputs 1-4 for ESC signals and 2 additional +V and GND pins to deliver voltage to flight controller from PDB. There are also:

• BOOT button that is required to upgrade the FW of the board
• I2C unused port
• UART3 for PPM, PWM receiver port with LED strip control on pin 9 (so, we can have the additional LEDs) and ability to connect OSD or telemetry. Video on how to connect OSD is at the end of the review.

In case of AC800 receiver, BetaFlight confguration is the following:

• UART2 configured to be SerialRX
• Receiver Mode: RX_Serial
• Serial receiver provider: SBUS

Other configuration:

• 4/4kHz loop rates
• MultiShot communication with ESCs (1070 min THr)
• BlackBox logging enabled (there is a flash chip on the FC to carry the logs)
• Accelerometer enabled
• Modes are: ARM on AUX1, Horizon, Angle and Acro on AUX2
• Default PIDs are:

apart that Super Rates for Roll and Pitch should be 70. And D setpoint weight = 1. The complete configuration damp file is stock kingkong90gt

There is no buzzer on the FC. In order to find the lost quad in the field we can set Beacon (signal) in ESCs configuration for 1 or 2 minutes delay. In this case our motors would make a sound instead of a buzzer.

Camera and VTX:

Not bad at all. 800TVL with 150 degrees FOV — this is quite a good piece of FPV technology. You should understand that such small package would suffer a bit more noise because of the smaller physical matrix light sensor in comparison to larger cameras in 180-250 class copters. Lens is removable and can be turned to find the best focus. Camera is fixed in place and cannot change the vetical angle. I wouldn�t tell that this is an issue because we have 150 degrees FOV which is enough to fly FPV without tilting our camera.

VTX is 16CH 5.8GHz 25mW with a button to change frequency. Each press of the button would result in different combination of VTX LED double flash color telling us which CH is currently used.

The VTX range is fine, at least with my KDS Kylin Vision FPV goggles and Aomway cloverleaf antenna. I am able to fly 2 floors of my concrete house without signal blackout and have an acceptable signal strength in the field. It is not comparable with larger 200 or even 600mW VTX with cloverleaf antennas but pretty much enough to have fun indoors or at the field with not so many obstacles around. Let�s say that it is not obvious what would happen first — VTX signal loss or tiny AC800 receiver failsafe…. I would conduct some tests and publish the results here a bit later.

Protection frame:

Definitely a good option for indoor use or for beginners trying to get familiar with flying outdoors. A set comes with 4 separate larger curved parts around porps and 4 parts that join everything together. Total weight with protection is 75g which is 7g more than the weight without the plastic frame. Not much.

Installing this protection means that you would have to remove motors and original screws and use longer screws with washers provided. One other good thing to do is not to use small front plastic joint as it is situated right infront on the camera and disturbs the picture.

Receiver:

I have AC800 receiver for FrSKY. This receiver is kind of actibg strange sometimes. It might show some sudden channel jumps. But usually work quite good. The range is kind of short — something like 100m at open spaces when RX is on top of the frame… If you want something better — you can buy FrSKY Vantac GT90 — same model with FrSKY XM receiver (the link is at the beginning and at the end of this review).

Preflight Mods:

Although this model is almost perfect, I would say that it still needs a couple of mods before the first flight:

• I�ve moved my AC800 receiver to top of the frame (on top of the VTX or move VTX back and mount AC800 infront with some double sided tape. This would ensure the longest range for the RX)

• I�ve added some foam tape under the battery. This ensures that the battery would stay in place.

Flight Setup:

Despite having good PIDs and preconfigured quad out of the box, I�ve done some extra settings:

Updated the board with the latest BetaFlight FW. In order to do that:

• You should have BetaFlight configurator Chrome applet on your PC.
• Press and hold BOOT button on the board and connect the board with the provided microUSB-USB cable to your PC.
• Go to Firmware Flasher, select SpRacing F3 board and latest stable FW underneath

• Select «Load Firmware Online» and than «Flash Firmware»
• When FW flash finishes — you can disconnect the board and connect it again without BOOT button.

After that, I have configured my ESCs to run DShot300, to brake on disarm and to give a searching buzz :

• You should have BLHeli_s Chrome configurator applet on your PC
• Remove your props, power your quad
• Connect to BLHeli configurator

Configurator would discover your ESCs and there would be a button at bottom right to read the configuration from ESCs. Hit that.

note: this screenshot is taken with other ESCs. Follow the text to find the appropriate settings for KingKong 90GT ESCs.

One the next screen you would see some default parameters along with the option to select and upgrade the FW. Notice that this applet shows some common parameters sections and each separate ESC additional parameters. Moreover, it would also tell you which FW version you currently have on each of your ESCa and let you choose from the drop down menu the appropriate newer|older ones. Decide whether you want to upgrade.

The rest of the parameters are:

Common parameters:

• Programming by TX: common sense — whether you want to use programming mode from TX or not. Leave it default.
• Start up power: the power with which the motor would start to spin. Usually should be left at default 0.50
• Temperature protection: common sense. I set it to 90C.
• Low RPM power protection: protection from overpowering the motors at low RPM — set YES.
• Brake on stop: you can set this to YES which means that motors would stop quickly when DISARMED
• Demag Compensation: protection from motor stalls caused by long winding demagnetization time after commutation. Leave it default.
• Motor Timing: common sense. Most of the motors would run with Medium (default) settings.
• Beep strength: common sense
• Beacon strength: the strength of beeps for motors when Thr is idle too long. Don�t set it high or it can burn your motors. Default value is ok.
• Beacon Delay: time perior of THr inactivity after which beacon beeps would be sounded. Set this to 1 or 2 minutes — this would act as searching buzz instead of buzzer that we do not have on FC.

Individual parameters:

• Motor direction: the direction of motor rotation.
• PPM mix. throttle: for DShot set it to be 1000 (*note)
• PPM max. throttle: for DShot set it to be 2000 (*note)
• Flash FW: look at the top bar of each ESC — it says which version and which FW is currently on your ESCs. Check for the newer FW versions in the drop down menu. Flash if necessary.

Just hit «Write Setup» and you are done.

*note: Since DShot doesn�t require to calibrate Thr signal for ESCs,  Min and Max Thr values should be set to the stated limits of 1000 to 2000. The digital signal is passed within those boudaries, therefore, it should be like this for any DShot ESC.

Now, as you are done with ESCs setup, you can connect to BetaFlight configurator, select DShot 150, 300 or even 600 on the Configuration tab. Better to use DShot300.

The last thing to do is to set the idle Thr % for the motors and ESCs (you can see such parameter in the Configuration tab below DShot protocol selected).

This is also easy:

• go to Motors tab
• check «I uderstand the risk……..» warning at the bottom right
• connect your flight battery if it is not yet connected (better to use some current limiter, but I don�t use it)
• click on Master slider and with your keyboard UP button (one press at a time) start to increase Thr%.
• when the motors would start to spin normally (no stall noise, no clicks, just a smooth run) — write down the resulting value. Let�s assume that you�ve got 1070.
• Subtract 1000 and divide by 10. 1070 — 1000 = 70/10 = 7
• You can now enter this number as the idle Thr% in the Configuration tab.

That is it. Your motors and ESCs are now ready to go.

Original DShot document on Github: HERE

Important: one of the main question about DShot and reason to have those on your quad is the loop time: what loop time DShot can handle and how it correlates with the gyro and PID loop times on your FC board. As you probably know, the rule to set max Gyro loop and PID loop frequency in Configuration tab is CPU load of the FC (shown at the very bottom of the applet). CPU load should not exceed 30% after making the change. F3 board on KingKong 90GT would allow up to 4 / 4kHz to run but it depends of the features enabled on the board (acceleromter, barometer, etc). Since one of my flight modes (Horizon) requires accelerometer to run, I can go as high as 4 (gyro) / 4 (PID loop — that is what ESCs would use) kHz loop time and get 27% CPU load. Now, let�s see what DShot is capable of:

• DSHOT150: 4kHz max
• DSHOT300: 10,6kHz max (10,6khz is only available on 32khz gyro boards)
• DSHOT600: 16kHz max
• DSHOT1200: >32khz max

So, in my case DShot300 is the right choice. Why? Because DShot150 would reach the limit (it is always bad not to leave some room) and DShot600 would be a huge excess that would drive DShot600 ESCs to the max amount of signals despite the FC board is incompatibe of running such speeds (FC PID loop is 4kHz, DSho600 loop is 16kHz ). Therefore, DShot300 is a good choice.

Than, I�ve configured my radio and calibrated channels on the Receiver tab of BetaFlight FW. This is common.

• You should have your channels configured so that min CH of the radio would result in 1000 in Betaflight, mid channel = 1500 and max CH = 2000. You should use subtrims and endpoints setup in your radio to do that.

note: there is a small problem with AC800 receiver and FrSKY Taranis radios. No matter how I�ve tried to set endpoints in the radio — it would result in something like 1079 min and 1965 max values in BetaFlight. In order to overcome this, we have to scale the channels in BetaFlight configurator using the following CLI commands:

Suppose you have -100 min and +100 max CH range for all channels in SERVO tab of your model in Taranis radio and you are resulting with the same figures in Betaflight Receiver tab (1079 min and 1965 max value for corresponding channel). You can execute the following commands in CLI:

rxrange 0 1079 1965

rxrange 1 1079 1965

rxrange 2 1079 1965

rxrange 3 1079 1965

save

This would scale down BetaFlight channels input so that they would correspond to incoming AC800 signals. (Thank you Reavski from RCG for a hint)

Finally, I have reconfigured my PIDs slightly. 

Only made RC rate and Super Rate a bit more to have 1000 degrees speed of manuevers upon full ROLL and PITCH inputs.

Overall feel:

Flies great. It is really very close to the experience of flying on 180-210 quads with a good HW setup. Power is enough to jump over obstacles very quickly and make quick rolls and flips. Moment of inertia is easily controlled when having such powerful motors and this what really differs 90GT from brushed copters. Motors run smoothly and quietly. VTX power is enough to fly 2 concrete floors indoors and pretty large range with no obstacles outdoors. 25C rating battery is also enough to deliver some good pitch pump power. This model really feels and behaves as if it is a larger quad. And it does not force you to change the style of flying compared to 180-250 quads. This is the most important for me. Moreover, the durability of the motors is much higher than brushed motors have and the frame seems to be capable of standing many collisions.

First flight indoors video (camera picture is better, this is my bad recorder):

First flight outdoors video (camera picture is better, this is my bad recorder):

Conclusion: 

I love KingKong 90GT. It really does its job almost perfectly. It is capable of indoor use during some bad weather as well as outdoor flights almost on par with larger brothers. I would say that this model is ideal for any beginner — very durable, has the removable protection, gives the experience of larger models. Excellent hobby entry and a must have for everyine who wants to fly indoors or keep hands warm during long winters. But keep in mind that you�ll need some spare batteries. Stock one is good only for 3 mins of flight time. I would suggest 450-500mAh 25C 2S instead.

New version of this product: FrSKY Vantac GT90 — similar product but with much better FrSKY receiver XM in the bundle. 

You can buy KingKong 90GT: HERE Don�t worry, this shop is from good person in China. It might look unfinished yet but your orders would be pocessed in the best way. Support this shop on its early stage and we would eventually have one more good place to order from. If you would have any questions about your order — leave a comment and I�d help you out.

Urgent!!! Excellent offer if you are willing to buy FrSky Taranis QX7: the lowest price on the market AND 4-7 days express delivery worldwide!!! Such offers are rare, don�t miss that one!!!

Today, I want to share the new KDS Kylin 210 FPV racing copter frame build process, talk about its advantages and overall opinion about using it.

Last season, I�ve been using KDS Kylin 250 (280) RTF kit frame and setup and I want ot mention that despite more than 1000 flights and many crashes with some bad ones, this frame is still alive and flies perfectly.

The only drawback that it has currently is not due to its quality but rather due to the shifted pilot experience and demand. Kylin 250 is an excellent product but currently can compete on par only with other 250-class copters. This brings an issue when any competition series would not separate 180 class copters from any other classes and forces anyone to compete in one session despite the fact of totally different flight weights and setup power. Therefore, when it comes to participating in some events, we have to stay tuned to others setups and be on par with those.

KDS Kylin 210 frame is aimed to remove this difference. Recently, it looks like pilots have chosen to fly 200-210 class as the mainstream and Kylin 210 perfectly fits there.

The price of the frame is not much to talk about — only $23. Many frames cost much more than that. But even having such low price, this frame is not a compromise…

It comes in a bag with all necessary screws, carbon fiber plates and plastic mounts to complete the setup. Unfortunately, I couldn�t locate any assembly manual for that and this is the reason I am writing this short review.

In the bag:

• Four 4mm carbon fiber arms
• One 2mm carbon fiber base plate
• One 1,5mm carbon fiber battery plate
• One 1,5mm carbon fiber top plate
• Two 2mm carbon fiber camera mounting plates
• One 2mm carbon fiber VideoTX back plate
• Four alluminum standoffs
• Four plastic standoffs
• A set of M2 and M1.5 screws to join everything together

As you�d expect — this frame is fully carbon fiber material with plastic standoffs placed 30,5mm diagonally to accept any current flight control and PDB boards.

So, I would summarize all features:

• 30,5 mounts for any current FC and PDB boards
• Camera holders spacing to accept the most famous cameras like Foxeer or RunCam
• Special holes at the top plate to accept additional ring camera holders
• Plenty of room between bottom and top plates to have the 2-4 layer electronic sandwich
• Universal motor mounting holes to accept wide motor range
• Special top plate openings for VTX antenna connector
• Battery plate spaced from bottom plate to accept battery strap

As you can see, no problems here. Frame is capable of accepting any current racing electronics and is easy to work with.

Now, lets talk about the technical design in terms of durability:

What I�ve noticed in terms of «designed» durability is 4mm thick arms that have some «puzzle» design at the frame ends so that they would make one piece when placed toghether. This would definitely add much to the durability of each arm in case if force is applied from the front and sides.

Most of the force would be evenly spread around all screws and both arms at joints. Moreover, each arm has 3 screws and all 3 come through all 3 buttom parts — battery plate, arm and base plate. From that, I can make a prediction that this frame would last quite a long time.

All joints are well designed as well. Not only they retain parts but also kept minumin and serve a second role of supporting something else. Clever way of designing.

Lets assemble a frame:

• Take a base buttom plate, couple of arms, battery plate, 2 longest M2 screws and 2 M1.5 screws.

• Hold the base plate so that metal thread holes would be facing down (straight side is back).
• Take one arm, place it on top of the base plate and align it so that its 3 holes would correspond to 3 holes of a base plate.
• Take battery plate and place it over the arm so that its 3 corner holes would align with  arm holes. (Part with wide opening is back)
• Put 2 longest M2 srews through 2 outer holes off all 2 plates and arms assembly.

• Do the same for the rest of 3 arms.

• Take 4 aluminum standoffs and screw it on each of 4 screws furthest from the center of the frame.
• Take 4 M1.5 screws and put them through the whole assembly starting from battery plate, through arms and to the base plate threaded holes.
• Take 4 plastic standoffs and place them on top of the rest inner 4 long screws.

• Take 2 camera mounting plates, align its base with frame openings in front and near aluminum standoffs.
• Take VTX back plate and align it with the openings in battery holder plate.
• Cover everything with the top plate and use 4 shorter M2 screws to tie it to the aluminum standoffs.

• That is it. KDS Kylin 210 frame is assembled.

Everything fits perfectly well. I really enjoyed assembling this frame.

For my flying setup, I�ve chosen the following electronics:

• KDS Kylin 2204 2300KV motors
• KDS Kylin 20A ESC (OneShot125)
• FrSKY XSRF3E (F3Evo board with integrated XSR RX), BetaFlight
• Some regular PDB
• Foxeer 700TVL CMOS FPV cam
• KDS Kylin 5,8Ghz 600mW VTX
• Aomway 5.8Ghz cloverleaf antenna
• Some addressable LED strip
• KingKong 5045-V2 3blade props
• 1,300mAh Bonka 45-90C 4S

In my setup, I have only 2 layers of electronics because the receiver is intergrated into F3Evo flight board. But even if it is not — there is still a plenty of room between bottom and up plates to fit separate RX, buzzer and other parts. And action camera can be easily mounted on top because it is kept clean from anything else.

The flight season has not started yet here. The weather doesn�t allow some good flight sessions but from what I�ve tried — I can conclude that this frame and setup is much more ineteresting, powerful and lightweight in comparison to 250 class.

Kylin 210 with FC F3 Acro only weights — 94,5g.

My total setup weight: 288g. And my total flight weight with the battery — 440g. This is almost 100g less than the corresponding setup on 250 class frame. Seems that it would help a lot to have some more flight time, to compete on par with other 210 class frames and setups and to have some extra fun during the 3D freestyle. Can�t wait for a good weather to give this copter a really good try…

KDS Kylin 210 frame could be purchased HERE

Build a second frame with slightly different setup:

Cam: Foxeer 700TVL
VideoTX: 5.8GHz KDS Kylin 600mW
Antenna: clover, Aomway
Flight board: SpRacing F3Acro
Power DB: Matek
Motors: KDS Kylin 2204 2300kv
ESC: KDS Kylin 20A OneShot125
LiPO: FlyMod.net 1,300mAh, 4S, 45-90C
Props: 5x4x3

The current product that came all the way from China to us for the review — JJR|C Elfie (H37) — is not a regular copter. Instead of using traditional radio transmitter it fully relies on the user�s smartphone. Is it good or bad — lets check..!

You can buy this product HERE

JJR|C Elfie comes in a very small box that contains quite a set of accessories. Besides the copter with the 1S LiPO 500mA battery, here you would find:

• USB chargning stick
• English user manual
• soft pouch to carry copter around
• a set of spare props and motor reduction gears

Good value!!! Worth to mention that this model is foldable. Each arm can be folded so that copter would easily fit into the pocket.

Technical Specifications:

As you have already noticed, there is no radio transmitter. This copter would transmit its own Wi-Fi hotspot as soon as powered up. So, the process of making the first flight would be something like this:

1. Charge flight battery with the provided USB stick. Connect the battery to it, plug it into any USB port and wait until stick LED would go off — it means that the battery is fully charged.
2. Using your smartphone, locate JJRC application in app store (iOS or Android), download and install it.
3. Turn on Elfie, go to your smartphone Wi-Fi settings and connect to JJRC Wi-Fi hotspot (no password needed).
4. Launch JJRC app and press connect.

Now, let us explain each function of the main app screen:

Besides of seeing FPV picture as a background of the initial screen, we have several overlay control buttons that would do the following:

1. Take a snapshot (to your smartphone)
2. Start|Stop video recording (to your smartphone)
3. Browse records folder
4. Increase|desrease rates (control reaction speed and maximum angle)
5. Not shown until armed (show controls)
6. Enable|disable control with smartphone gyro (enable, hold the finger in the right stick and move phone to control copter. Very handy feature)
7. Arm|disarm.
8. Additional setup (1. FPV picture flip, 2. FPV picture aspect ratio, 3. Headless mode, 4. Force calibrate copter accelerometer)

As soon as we press button 7, we would have such picture:

1. Enter to 3D flip and roll mode (enable it, move right stick to the limit of any direction — copter would flip or roll to that direction. Note that you have to be at least 2m above the ground)
2. Start motors. Press this and than move left throttle stick up to launch.
3. Land. Press this to force copter to land. Or decrease the throttle.
4. Emergency motor stop button.

You can also see 3 trim channels on this screen but it is really better not to touch those. If the copter is not holding it position and tries to run away in any direction — land and recalibrate accelerometer.

Build quality and design:

Build quality is nothing to worry about. Nice soft-touch body plastics, foldable arms, soft props… There are 2 white leds to indicate the front and different flight states and 2 red leds to indicate the back of the copter frame. And only one ON|OFF switch at the top. Nowhere to get lost in the controls. Bottom part has the battery compartment door.

Flight summary:

The maximum flight time that we could aquire from the provided battery was around 7 minutes. Which is not bad. Overall copter stability during the flight is excellent. It perfectly holds its position and altitude despite not having GPS, sonars or other means of space orientation. We would say that this is the most stable toy copter model so far from all that we have tested previously. Its 6-axis gyro does a great job aiding a pilot to keep everything under control.

One of the the most handy feature is controlling this model with smartphone gyro. Thus, only one hand can be used to control the copter and the reactions are great.

The 2 main drawbacks of any Wi-Fi based copter are that the maximum flight distance would not exceed 30-50 meters and the controls are little bit sluggish. But it is easy to get used to and completely usable.

FPV ability:

Yes. This model might give you a clue and some basic skills for flying FPV. Picture quality is enough to orient in space, especially outside and in a daylight. We would not recommend to fly it indoors and in low light conditions because the camera is not wide angle and not capable of low light perception. Camera can be tilted up and down for ~15 degrees vertically.

Durability:

Perfect. Foldable arms, soft props, reduction gears, small total flight weight — all add to overall excellent durability. We had some crashes during test flights and seen no signs of any damage to any part of the model.

Camera recording quality:

Very basic. 720×576, H.264 codec with high comression rate. Only suitable for FPV picture. Yes, it records photos and videos but we doubt that anywone would be impressed with its quality. Still the quality is totally on par with any other competitor for this class models.

Summary:

We would say that this is a good present for any kid or a beginner in case if you wouldn�t like to mess with the additional stuff of traditional copters (radio transmitter, chargers, etc). This model has a good build quality, can be carried around in the pocket — thanks to its foldable design; is very stable in flight and very durable. What else you can demand from a drone at around $40 price range?

Pros and cons:

Pros:

• Good value for money
• Good box contents
• Excellent stability and durability
• Foldable

Cons:

• Some range limitations for Wi-Fi control
• Not so good video record quality (on par with rivals)

You can buy this product HERE

Stay tuned, more reviews to come…