"£50" Heavyweight

[Rapidrory]

The first prototype for the ESC is working nicely:



(Yes, it's a terrible test rig, but it's what I had around)
This is just a proof of concept i threw together last night to check that all the components I'm planning to use work together as planned, and that the MOSFETs are all switching efficiently. The drill motor is several times smaller than a HW drive, but it can control it without warming up at all which is what I was aiming for. Worked first time as well, which has never happened before when I've developed previous ESCs! :P

The PCB layout for the full version is mostly done; It'll be able to drive two motors at 24V, and have 2x100A surface mount FETs in each 'corner' of each H bridge, though given the pins on the FETs mine would likely have about a 40A continuous rating. (for comparison, a TZ85 use 3 x 191A FETs on each corner, but when mounted, their pins limit them to 28A. 3 x 28A giving ~85A which is where they get their rating from, despite the fact that the FETs themselves could handle up to almost 600A continuous, 800A peak... No wonder no one ever seems to kill them! :L)

The parts for this cost about £15 in total, which is a fair bit cheaper than £50 for a pair of TZ85s

When it's done I'm planning to run it in my featherweight until I get my heavy going; if it gives me any trouble running in my feather than it's gonna be useless in a heavy :L

In other news, I'll hopefully get my £20 postage back for my polycarb, as I collected it in person at Maidstone. This'll free up a nice chunk of my budget again