New tinyESCs Version 3.0!
Our tinyESC v2 - the workhorse behind thousands of combat robot drivetrains since 2010 - has been upgraded!
FingerTech tinyESCs pack the most power into the smallest package! They take up very little space but can handle more than enough motor current for your robots. They are incredibly robust, with several types of protection built in.
Upgrades from v2:
- Upgraded microcontroller
- Clockspeed increase (8x more responsive!) with a higher PWM motor output
- Cleaner more efficient code
- A miniature pushbutton for entering Calibration (much easier to use than v2, and only active for the first 10 seconds on power-up.)
- Most importantly: A juiced up switchmode BEC that can supply 600mA to all those power hungry telemetry receivers! (v2 was limited to 100mA.)
Features:
- The tinyESC is a bi-directional brushed single motor controller.
- Ultra-compact and lightweight.
- Simple to use and super robust! Undervoltage, overcurrent, overtemperature, reverse-polarity, and BEC protection.
- Internal BEC (battery eliminator circuit) provides 5V to receiver - no extra receiver battery required!
- Calibrate function allows precision driving.
- Status LEDs for power, both directions, signal loss failsafe, and calibration.
- The tinyESC includes a Battery Eliminator Circuit. If there is no 5V supply present on the robot, this will power the radio receiver from the main battery. There is a blocking diode so multiple tinyESC BECs can be run at once, along with one non-tinyESC BEC (like in a weapon motor controller).
- If you are controlling the tinyESC from a powered device (like Arduino, etc), there is no worry about damaging the tinyESC from higher voltages.
*Includes 0.01uF capacitor. Solder it between the motor's leads to filter motor noise and voltage spikes. (Not required for FingerTech Spark motors - they are high quality and do not generate dangerous voltage spikes.)
Specifications:
Battery Voltage: 6.5V - 36V
Motor Current: 1.5A continuous (forever). For robots, usable continuous current is 2.0A.
Max Current: 3A. For robots though, 5A-stall motors are easily handled by tinyESCs (see Videos tab). You will not wreck a tinyESC by trying to pull too much current - it will simply disable its outputs temporarily.
BEC Output: 5V, 600mA. Can power other electronics like receivers and other ESCs, plus motors and servos up to a total draw of 600mA. Receivers with telemetry (such as the FS-IA6) CAN now be run by tinyESCs without requiring a separate BEC!
Frequency: 15.6kHz (8x more responsive than v2.6's 2kHz!)
Motor is braked to stop rather than coasting. This gives precise motor control, crucial for robot drive!
Failsafe written for combat robots: Motor outputs shut off if the receiver loses signal from transmitter, and do not require restarting the ESC when signal is regained.
Available with MiniQD Connectors installed - these clip onto motor terminals (Spark and other FK050 motors) and eliminate the need for soldering!
Motors that our customers regularly run off a single tinyESC:
- 2 Gold/Silver Sparks 16mm up to 18.5V
- 1 22mm 16:1 Planetary Gearmotor
- 2 Maxons 13mm up to 18.5V
- 3 BotBitz/Pololu/Sanyo 12mm N20s
- 1 Kitbots 1000RPM 25mm up to 11.1V (needs included capacitor installed)
- 1 B16 22mm up to 11.1V (2.5A stall)
- 1 B62 22mm up to 11.1V (5A stall)
- 1 BotKits 22mm up to 11.1V (5A stall)
*Note: Multiple motors on a single tinyESC can not be independently controlled. A standard drive would require 1 ESC per side, driving 1-3 motors each.
Dimensions:
Circuit board size: 1.27x1.50x0.41cm (0.50x0.59x0.16'')
Outer heatshrink size: 1.3x2.1x0.48cm (0.51x0.83x0.19'')
Wire gauge: 26AWG
Weight with wires: 4.0grams (0.14oz)
Weight without wires: 0.8grams (0.03oz) [We don't know why you would ever need weight without wires, but other companies seem to think it's a selling point, so here it is to compare with!]
Built-in Protection:
Currently there are three two known ways to destroy a tinyESC. (So avoid them!)
1) Reverse battery voltage. Not anymore!
2) Applying battery voltage to the motor outputs.
3) Voltage spikes from noisy motors (not using the included capacitor). High-efficiency motors like Maxon brand can create voltage spikes on reversing so the capacitor is needed on those as well.
-FingerTech's "Spark" series of motors are not noisy and do not need the capacitor.
0-FT-TINYESC-V3
CAD File