iFlight has been teasing me with these tempting SucceX 60A ESC with “Metal MOSFET”. Finally they arrived and I get to try them! Is 60A an overkill? What does metal fet do? let’s find out.
Where to Buy?
They offer two versions, single and 4in1 ESC.
iFlight SucceX 60A 4in1 ESC:
- Banggood: http://bit.ly/2RrTyoZ (Try this coupon for 15% off: e2bcea)
- Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DakUak
Can someone please tell me why iFlight tried to soft-mount their 4in1 ESC?
Update: The reason they added rubber grommets is to minimize the impact in crashes which can damage components on the ESC.
iFlight SucceX 60A Single ESC:
- Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Ft1Oil
- Banggood: http://bit.ly/2AK0fIG
It’s great that they have included all the wires, bits and pieces you would need to start building. Maybe some nylon standoffs and screws would be nice for the 4in1 ESC.
Specifications
- Current Rating: 60A (burst to be confirmed)
- Voltage Rating: 2S to 6S LiPo
- Dimension: 38x36mm (4in1), 30x17mm (single)
- Weight: 16.7g (4in1), 4.9g (single)
- STM32 F0 MCU, Runs BLHeli 32 Firmware
- Built-in Current Sensor
- No BEC
- Supports DShot1200, MultiShot and OneShot ESC Protocol
- BLHeli32 Firmware Target: iFlight-BL32-4IN1
Close Look at the SucceX 4in1 60A ESC
I have to say, these metal capped MOSFET look rad.
What’s benefit with metal capped MOSFET?
While these “metal MOSFET” ESC have a much higher current rating, iFlight also pointed out they run cooler. That’s great news for any mini quad builds, not only the ones that are pushing 60A current draw with each motor. When testing, I will pay attention to the temperature in ESC telemetry and see if that really makes a difference :)
You might notice the mounting holes are enlarged from 3mm to 4mm. This is done in order to fit the rubber grommets. However I don’t really get the point of soft-mounting the ESC.
Maybe they want you to soft mount the 4in1 ESC, then you can hard mount the FC on top and not have to worry about it? But there are so many “thick” wires soldered to the ESC, it will probably impact the soft-mounting effectiveness. And the widened holes seem to be fragile.
There is no BEC onboard – In my opinion it’s not really needed anyway, most flight controllers these days can handle direct voltage, and have their own BEC.
The pin-out of the header connector are quite usual: GND (G), LiPo Voltage (V), M1, M2, M3, M4, CUR (Current Sensor), ESC Telemetry (TX). You probably have to double check, and rearrange the wires in the cable.
The solder pads on this ESC are quite small making it slightly more difficult to solder.
The construction of the SucceX 60A 4in1 ESC is out of the ordinary. Unlike most other 4in1 ESC’s, which are just a single piece of PCB, the SucceX has one board soldered on top of another. My guess is, additional copper layers are required due to the high current rating. This probably made it easier to manufacture as well. Anyway, the height of the ESC doesn’t seem to be that much taller.
Bug?! Ground Not Connected
When I was testing it in my quad, nothing happened when I plug in the LiPo battery. When I check continuity between the GND pin and LiPo GND, there was no connection. But the GND pin in 4in1 connector connects to the GND of all four MCU just fine. So it appears to be a problem with ground connection.
So I connected the LiPo GND to a ground pad on the ESC (as shown in the image below), and that fixes the problem.
Not sure if it’s just a defective unit I have, still checking with iFlight.
Grommet Too Tall
For low profile frames, you might struggle to fit this 4in1 ESC in the FC stack. Also it requires long bolt/standoffs to mount it.
One work around is cutting them shorter.
Close Look at the SucceX 60A Single ESC
If you are one of those who are uncertain about the reliability of 4in1 ESC, the SucceX 60A single ESC’s are probably the way to go.
In addition to the metal capped FET’s, these ESC are also equipped with a heatsink to help cooling. Half of your ESC is also protected against “prop strike” too (where the prop bends in a crash and hits your ESC).
The three tiny solder pads in the middle are GND, ESC signal (labelled PWM), and ESC telemetry (labelled TX).
There is also an LED on both sides of the ESC, a thoughtful design, making it visible regardless which side you mount the ESC on the arm.
It’s perhaps not the tiniest or skinniest ESC, and yet it only weighs under 5g without wires. A good choice if you are looking for reliability for a high power 4S builds, or even 6S builds, where it’s possible to pull 200+ amps (50+ amps per motor) with high KV motors.
More Info?
Let me know in the comment if you have any question. For more info, check out this build log.
11 comments
Part number for when you need to replace FETS is IRF7480M found at
infineon.com/cms/en/product/power/mosfet/n-channel/optimos-and-strongirfet-latest-packages/directfet/
digikey.com part # IRF7480MTRPBF current price is $2.96each
Another update! The 60A 40-in-1 ESC I have is v2(?) and it is made of one single PCB. Which is good. However, The pads are no longer castellated, so the ONLY motor wire contact is with the top PCB pads and the through hole vias which connect to the inner power carrying layers; so they say.. With a castellated pad, there is the entire length of the cut through-hole which contacts the inner layers and with gold, and thus solder contact. It remains to be seen if this design will really carry 60A on EACH ESC. Look slike they were trying to cut costs.
I’ve got 12-14AWG leads to solder for my T-Motor 2814-10 770Kv motors, so bye for now. More to come…
Update on the CLRacing controller; I had a solder joint that failed. My fault…works now.
Just ordered this 4-in-1 ESC, but I am getting V2. Ha! 3mm mounting holes, and not castellated. FYI your the motor leads should have been soldered to the other side where the pads are twice as big, and not onto the castellations. You are working with and mounting the board upside down.
Regarding the MOSFETS: This ESC uses DirectFETs. These have the “drain” pin on top of the FET. The transistor is actually upside down in the package. Rather than having NO heat dissipation on the top directly through a pin, the direct FET’s is directly connected to a heat sink. This allows the FET to radiate heat from both the bottom AND the top. A word of caution though, the top IS live and is electrically hot since it carries the output pin current. With the direct connection of the drain, and much better heat dissipation, a much smaller silicon die can be used for a given current rating which reduces component cost (or increases company profit).
I am going to run my Succex 4-in-1 V2 with a CLRacing Dual 20602 FC when it shows up later this week. Got the FC last week; bad M2 pin..&^%$…! Going to scrap it and get the iFilght TwinG F7 V2. I got this CLRacing dual with the 20602 mainly to do an analysis on the use of two gyros; not completed yet. One BAD aspect is the CLRacing is MISSING the pads for M5-M8 so there is no salvaging the board. yes, I know about re-mapping in Betaflight, but that is really not as flexible as the amateur “experts” think it is. On the iFlight PCB I would have been able to remap M2 to another motor pin; it has pads for all 8 motors.
The iFlight TwinG is using newer 20689s which according to the tech specs is not as good a part as the 20602. However, for use as a drone controller it might suffice.
Word to the wise; NEVER buy version ONE of anything. Look at the iPhone.
I will update my comment after I get the V2 4-in-1…
The reason for the soft mount is that it prevents the ESC from taking the bending forces of a mini quad frame that is inevitably flexing during a crash. Extends the life of the ESC, especially one like this with dual boards.
Please note that the “e2bcea” coupon for Banggood has a “once per account use” limitation. Just something to consider, whether to use it now, or save it for something else :)
Looking at the 4in1 esc pictures, the part that can break is the solderjoints between the two layers. This has happened with onboard bec layer on other 4in1 escs before, if not mistaken.
Now iflight needs a flight controller that it can directly plug into…..
I don’t think so, their plug has the standard Airbot layout of 8-pin 4-in-1 ESC plug. Many Airbot FCs have it.
SucceX F7 TwinG,coming soon~
2 gyros are useless ;-)