MXP230-E build

nilsen

Senior Member
Hello Peeps,

So I got into miniquads about a year ago and started with a QAV 250, you can read about that here:

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?15300-Build-Log-QAV250-CF-edition

For those TLRD the QAV is fantastic, seriously, however I have broken 2 baseplates already at the arms, so you have to
  1. Rebuild the entire thing
  2. Buy a new base plate for around 60$

I have always been intrigued by the X-hover MXP230 since it was touted as being extremely strong and since Aliens aren't ready quite yet I went with the MXP 230-E as it's already quite a lot heavier than the QAV250.

I also went with the kiss 18amp ESCs and the SPRacing board.

Parts:

X-hover MXP 230-E
Kiss 18 amp ESC
Lumenier FX2206 2350KV
SPRacing
Lumenier 250mW Raceband vtx
700TVL superhad cam board cam
Micro-minimosd

This is how the MXP arrives
DSC04754.jpg

4 shiny new Kisses, these things are TINY!
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ESC next to motor
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Mounted on the PDB board
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5 V polulo Reg for powering the board
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Mounted with Top Plate
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There is a LOT of space between the bottom of the PDB and the top plate
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Board camera mounted in the Lumenier swivel case, but it's the 700TVL so the back doesn't fit anymore, I simply used plasti-dip (liquid electrical tape to close it up, the case is dam heavy as it is so it's most probably a good thing.
DSC04763.jpg

Micro-minimosd is tiny so it can be nicely added to the back of the camera.
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The finished product.
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Camera and OSD
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Nice and clean
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Front
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Likes:
So damn strong.

Concerns:
Arms are held directly onto the PDB which I would imagine is a weak point.

Dislikes:
Heavy

Ok so KISS esc, I don't know what to say, they are a completely different beast. No amount of BLHeli will change that, the motors are so quiet and responsive but they are kind of fiddly to work with, not impossible but I treated them with respect.

It flew so well with Cleanflight 1.10 RC-2 and PID2, I enjoyed it very much, but it was windy and cold so I decided to pack up.

Everything very rosy :)
...
..
.


I landed and the quad burst into flames.
Seriously.
 

nilsen

Senior Member
Take 2

I stood on the thing, as the motors started spinning up on one side and yanked out the battery.

I think what must have happened is I underestimated the heat that the KISS(es) would get to and they mist have melted through the heatshrink and with the landing they bumped each other and there you go.

DSC04770.jpg

1 esc destroyed.

I pulled the whole thing apart again and started to rethink the whole build by trying to separate the ESC's better and during my testing while "revving" the esc's up and down the SP3 stopped working :(

DSC04770.jpg

The F3 chip gets sweltering hot, so now I have no fancy new FC and am 1 ESC down, luckily 1 ordered 5 so that wasn't so bad but I was so damn upset I just left it all.

.
.
.

Ok, I order another 60 Franc (70 Dollar) SP3 as I really liked the setup and the fact that I could use my futaba receiver without an inverter and when it arrives I start rebuilding.

I was a little worried about these 18 amp ESC's and I had the 30 AMP ones lying around which I was going to use for a miniquad at some point so I thought, why not just use them directly.

So I jumped onto Tinkercad and designed a holder for the ESC's, make no mistake, they are so much bigger than the small 18amp ones.

3D printed KISS case
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Power Side
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Motor Side
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Kiss out the Case 1mm Base, nice insulation
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5V reg for board and 12v reg for camera (bummer, that the camera needs 12V)
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Cases are quite big but at least they ave AMPLE cooling, they don't however fit on the PDB anymore.
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Power and signal wires
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Soldered onto the ESC's
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Closeup
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The finished product. Again.
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Easy access to unplug the minim-osd micro as you cannot use it and the usb port at the same time. Lame.
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An arm.
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Oh, also, the SECOND SPracing board died, this time it was literally on the first spool up of the motors, it just stopped responding and the USB chip went super hot as well as one of the small regulators, did the KISS esc blow up the board?
I'm sending them back to the shop, there is no way this is right, the setup is fine as I took a spare Naze and chucked it on witht he SAME config and it was perfect. Maybe the QC isn't so good yet?

Anyway, I hope to fly this in the afternoon after work today.

Cheers!
 
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jipp

Senior Member
looks great.. im glad you wont have to spend any more money on your 60;00 bottom plates let alone the time it takes to rebuild.. this looks like a clean build. i know bruce from youtube loves his frame.. it seems to be the on he always flys with.. maybe because it had a nice little box he could load up.. dunno. my PDB came with the micro OSD it is small. i was surprised when i saw it..

iv not tried kiss esc, but maybe this winter will give hem ago. how small are the kiss say to the DYS 20a esc? that is what ill be using on my zmr fpv project.. i was surprised how small they were compared to the emax 12a esc.. hell the sticker on the emax 12a esc were bigger than the DYS n20a blheli esc. heh.
chris.
 

nilsen

Senior Member
looks great.. im glad you wont have to spend any more money on your 60;00 bottom plates let alone the time it takes to rebuild.. this looks like a clean build. i know bruce from youtube loves his frame.. it seems to be the on he always flys with.. maybe because it had a nice little box he could load up.. dunno. my PDB came with the micro OSD it is small. i was surprised when i saw it..

iv not tried kiss esc, but maybe this winter will give hem ago. how small are the kiss say to the DYS 20a esc? that is what ill be using on my zmr fpv project.. i was surprised how small they were compared to the emax 12a esc.. hell the sticker on the emax 12a esc were bigger than the DYS n20a blheli esc. heh.
chris.


Yes, I'm sure I'll find something else to spend money on ;-)

Regarding the size of the Kiss ESC, consider a thumb nail, it's about that size, so most probably smaller than anything you've seen before, I was shocked!
 

jipp

Senior Member
i gues that would explain why they got hotter than you expected.

man it would be nice to have a 3d printer for fixes like you had to come up with..

thanks for sharing the good and the bad.. lets us all know accidents happen no matter what you do.

chris.
 

Ocean

Member
Those Holders for the ESCs are a really nice idea. Especially knowing how 1 short can end not only an ESC but a fc or a motor as well.
 

jhitesma

Some guy in the desert
Mentor
Looks nice! Isn't it jaw dropping the first time you power up motors with KISS? First time I did it I seriously thought the motors weren't even moving because of how quiet they were. I never realized how much noise was generated just by the way the motors are driven.

Sorry to hear about the meltdown and SP3 issues :( That's pretty crazy, I'd agree with your guess about what caused the first meltdown...no clue on the SP3 failures though.

I'm of mixed opinion on the 3d printed holders. They just seem kind of bulky and heavy...and like they'd hold heat in. I'd also be a little worried about them melting after how the case you sent me for the RaspPi held up to a 120F day :D Though I doubt they'd melt enough to cause a short I could still see them melting enough to deform after some hard flying.

Hope it goes good tomorrow for you!

BTW - I'm still fighting with the Tri. Tried a few more things and still can't get it off the ground. Really need to make a post about it and see if I can't get some fresh ideas going...just bee crazy busy still.
 

nilsen

Senior Member
Hey people!

I thought I'd share some experiences which I have had lately with the MXP230 and more importantly the KISS esc's.

Generally I have been overjoyed by the performance of the KISSes however I have had 3 of them catch on fire and 2 of them just stop working and took out motors.

1. The first simply started burning after landing.
2. Just stopped working with no physical issues.
3. One started burning after a crash - and took out a motor.
4. Was burning after a crash.
5. Just stopped working, burnt out the motor.

Now, this may seem like my setup is faulty, I have these things mounted on the arms of the quad, double insulated with duct-tape then liquid electrical tape then the esc is completely covered in liquid electrical tape.
They don't run warm but seem to be very brittle and tempremental.

I appreciate the cutting edge performance but they need to be a little more robust in order to be worth it.

I have the 30amp ones in the discovery and have had no problems, they are brilliant but then again don't get beaten around.

Why are the 18amp so finicky?

Anyway, I'm done with them, I have gone ahead and pre-ordered the TBS powercube as I would love to have the electronics protected inside the frame, it makes for a very clean layout.

Let's see what happens.

Rant over.
 
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jipp

Senior Member
well you have confirm once again kiss are not for me. iv read to many times the same experience as yours. its to bad they are not as durable as other ESC. but i guess the racers do not care.

chris.