WARNING acro Naze 32 + Afro 12 amp V3 = magic smoke!

[teslahed]

I have heard that the newest 12 amp ultra lite (v3) Afro ESCs have shipped with the wrong voltage regulator on them;

The BEC give out 6 volts and not 5 volts.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__55241__Afro_ESC_12Amp_Ultra_Lite_Multi_rotor_Motor_Speed_Controller_SimonK_Firmware_Version_3.html

Specs:
Current Draw: 12A Continuous
Voltage Range: 2-4s Lipoly
BEC: 0.5A Linear 6.0v
Input Freq: 1KHz
Firmware: afro_nfet.hex
Discharge wire/plugs: 20AWG/Male 2mm
Motor wire/plugs: 20AWG/Female 2mm
Weight: 10g (Included wire, plug, heat shrink)
Size: 25 x 20 x 6mm 

This means that if you use them to power your Naze 32 there is a good chance you';ll let the magic smoke out. Acro Naze 32';s don';t like much more than 5 volts going in.

Previous afro ESCs would give 5 volts via the servo cables and are absolutely fine to use with a Naze32.

timecop was not amused when he realise what hobbyking had done.

[Britishguy]

Facepalm...

[tupoar]

Erm........ woops.

[Calomile]

I had noticed some folk with mini quads running with just the gnd and signal wires on their ESC cables and wondered why... That';ll explain it then!

[teslahed]

Many people only use the signal wire from their ESCs so that they can use a separate UBEC which can be more reliable. Not because of any voltage problems.

But if you did have 12 amp V3 afro';s then it would make sense to use a separate UBEC and just use the signal wires from the ESCs as you describe.

[The.Quadfather]

I have heard that the newest 12 amp ultra lite (v3) Afro ESCs have shipped with the wrong voltage regulator on them;

The BEC give out 6 volts and not 5 volts.

This means that if you use them to power your acro Naze 32 there is a good chance you';ll let the magic smoke out. Acro Naze 32';s don';t like much more than 5 volts going in.

the stm32 devices (+ all sensors) used on Naze are all 3.3v, so there';s going to be another regulator onboard anyway

it depends on whether the FC onboard regulator is OK with 6v or not

might be a problem with USB tho';

[teslahed]

it depends on whether the FC onboard regulator is OK with 6v or not

It';s not - 5.5 is the maximum recommended.

[The.Quadfather]

It';s not - 5.5 is the maximum recommended.

eek!

so long as the regulator cries enuf and doesn';t pass the voltage on to the rest of the components, should be not too tricky to fix!

funnily enuf, I recently noticed my fav 3.3v regulator was also only specced up to 5.5v which was a suprise

I think this is far more of a issue for KK2 boards where the uC is directly connected to the ESC BEC circuit
just hope that peeps read the spec on the HK page....

[kilby]

The regulators on the boards are denoted by the following (quoting timecop)

"DE=???" marking = RT9193 = 5.5V max.
IL|xx marking = SPX3819 = 16V max

[tony]

im using new afro esc and it flew fine now just cheeked hn web and it has this now

**Current stock is shipped with 5V BEC. Some Afro12 where shipped with a 6V BEC, as most flight controllers and receivers can accept this voltage this should not be a problem, but if you are having issues with the 6V BEC and compatibility please contact our customer service team to have a voltage step down adapter shipped to you free of charge.

[kilby]

Update:

According to timecop any naze after 10th Aug has the updated regulator (up to 16v)

The Hobbyking versions are also 16v

[teslahed]

Well that should save a few hobbyking noobs from frying their boards. I';ll be checking mine when i get home now too!

Nice one timecop! (and thanks for the info Kilby )

I assume this means you can send up to 16 V in at the ESC / motor pins before it fries - so you can run it directly off of 3 cells effectively, if you wanted to?

[kilby]

Apparently he was assembling 3000 Acro Naze a month,  he probably had a huge stock of the lower voltage regulators to get rid of

[Panther]

Only found this thread yesterday so I thought I better check mine out.
I bought mine in December 2014 and have been flying it regularly since then. I can';t see V3 anywhere on the Afros.
I checked with a multimeter and the output is 5 volts so it looks like I am OK. (well I must be, it has been flying for months)
Quad is a 250 with D4R2 in CPPM and Acro Naze. Multistar Baby Beast motors. (really like them)
Anyway, thanks for the heads-up.