TBS Powercube?

[Hands0n]

We must be the only forum on the planet that is not talking about the new TBS Powercube.  So I';ll start the ball rolling. ::)

Culled from Reddit ...

Saw this quote from Trappy on FPVLab:

It';s going to run on SimonK, 20A cont./50A burst, 2-6S, running a STM32F3-based flight control capable of Cleanflight, and TauLabs. Power distribution for FPV (12V, 5V) is included. The SimonK is super-secret-sauce, it';s a very high-performing variant customized specially for miniquad racing. weight is 65-70g, with the (optional) tuning kit we can take it down by 12g. A stock Blackout / ZMR build can thus be built at the same or lighter weight compared to the KISS18 ESCs with PDB. Cleaner wiring too. Same price as well, compared to a Naze32 which is F1 based.

Regarding the above mentioned tuning kit:
tuning kit will be replacing the brass standoffs with gold-plated aluminum. more power capacity and less weight.

I am really struggling to see the win in this.

So what we';ve got here is a "cube" which is essentially (or exactly) a PDB, 4 off 32x32 ESC boards and an FC stacked with metal bolts and nuts. Why is this better than smaller ESC distributed across the air frame? I get it that this does 6S, but then so do others. "Special sauce" SimonK firmware? Really? This feels like a reinvention, and a badly designed one at that.

Discuss ...

[Yellow]

We must be the only forum on the planet that is not talking about the new TBS Powercube.  So I';ll start the ball rolling. ::)

Culled from Reddit ...

I am really struggling to see the win in this.

So what we';ve got here is a "cube" which is essentially (or exactly) a PDB, 4 off 32x32 ESC boards and an FC stacked with metal bolts and nuts. Why is this better than smaller ESC distributed across the air frame? I get it that this does 6S, but then so do others. "Special sauce" SimonK firmware? Really? This feels like a reinvention, and a badly designed one at that.

Discuss ...

Agreed 100% not my cup of tea.
Will they be able to stop this "secret sauce Simon k" from being flashed to other simonk ESCs?

[tupoar]

So many good things about it, yet so many simple things missed.


Yes it';s a nice and neat solution but


1) For that price, there is nothing it can do that you can';t do already.


2) That special sauce SimonK makes it sound very closed source. What if I wanted to run BLHeli?


3) why not throw in a current sensor?


4) No OSD?


I do like the neatness though. Give it 2 months and there will be clones half the price.

[Yellow]

Yes it';s a nice and neat solution but

Is it really that neat though? Its a really high stack to fill in the middle of a frame, still have wires flowing out to the motors anyway, why not have the escs out there? Its easier to check them, replace them etc

I suppose that on a bigger frame where the motor wires might go inside a tube back to the centre it does make it easier to fit it all in one place, but on a small racing frame I think adding more stuff to the middle makes it more fiddly - imagine doing a 180 without putting the escs on the arms

[tupoar]

Is it really that neat though?

Have you seen my builds?? 

[davethepitch]

I am not keen on it but is the Power Cube supposed to replace everything electrical except the motors and lipo.

[JeremyE]

It doesn';t excite me one bit. The ESC';s wont get any cooling the way they are placed.

[Hands0n]

I am not keen on it but is the Power Cube supposed to replace everything electrical except the motors and lipo.

Yes Dave, that does seem to be the case. And I think it includes the OSD also, as TBS show on-screen displays of various parameters. But my own view on TBS OSD is that they are rather utilitarian compared to others. I do think both 3DR and Cleanflight/Baseflight have the floor to themselves in respect to comprehensive OSD.

[davethepitch]

Hi Danny

My concern is if one of the ESC';s caught fire the whole cube assembly could be destroyed but I guess that could be said for an ESC mounted on the arm causing damage but I know which I would take the chance with and that is the ESC';s away from the PDB and fc.

Dave

[Hands0n]

Hi Dave

I think you';ve highlighted at least one of its more serious design flaws.  In the traditional design such damage can be limited to the affected motor arm.

[Cheredanine]

OK I got quite exited by this last month and did some research, was going to buy, but in the end, didn';t, features and issues:

It includes PDB, ESCs, FC
FC is a colibri racing F3 (3 UARTs, fast PID control on luxfloat, ESCs come with SimonK but can be flashed with BLHeli)

BUT:
1. it doesn';t really replace a PDB, there is no viable power sauce for stuff not connected to UART
2. It is clearly designed for someone who wants to spend money on TBS stuff, I don';t mind the cost of the power cube, but the camera and VTX connecters are picoblades, great if you but a TBS camera and VTX, less so if you want to use any other, equally as capable brand which retail at half the price or less
3. OSD - Connector is designed for TBS core pro, fantastic if your want to spend that much money on a voltage regulator and OSD which doesn';t even have an artificial horizon (which I want), less so if you wanted to spend a tenth of the money on something like a minim mico
4. very tall, the quad I was looking at putting this in has 22mm clearance for the FC mount area, this doesn';t fit.  I can use longer spacers but I don';t want to

So instead of buying:
TBS powercube (£120)
TBS Core Pro (£70)

I bought
Naze 32 acro (£17) and flashed it with betaflight (it is a rev 6a)
Littlebee 20 amp escs (£40)
OSDoge (£50)

for almost half the price and I can connect my camera and VTX (which would have been far more expensive or fiddley to wire with the powercubem) easily

That said TBS stuff will fit neatly and will do what you want, (unless like me you want the artificial horizon)