I am building a hexacopter and will be using PixHawk as the flight controller and a Raspberry Pi for gimbal control as well as image processing. Now I see that I can use a 4s or 6s battery for powering my set up and a BEC can be used to convert the 14.8V/22.2V down to 5V for the electronics. Additionally, the ESC will use BEC to provide the correct voltage to obtain the required rpm of the props.
Now, from my research on BECs I understand that most use a resistor to reduce the voltage, thereby wasting energy in the form of heat. Based on this understanding, I feel that the 4s is a better option, considering total capacity is constant, for longer duration flight as in case of 4s the voltage drop required is less and hence less energy wasted. Is my understanding correct?
Second, is a resistance type BEC capable of handling 6S battery?
Further I understand switching BECs do not waste energy, so if I get a switching BEC which battery is better 4S or 6S, all other parameters remaining same and constant?
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Arunava, you are completely wrong.
The tension of the battery goes directly to the ESC and the required rpm to prop is not provided by the BEC but from the three fase drive of the ESC to the brushless motor.
So the tension you'll need to reduce from 4S or 6S to 5 Volts it is just for servos, receiver or flight control board not for the ESC/motors supply.
Arunava,
for a start simply check whether the BEC you're interested in does support the required input-voltage (usually expressed in xS or for an 6S you want to see something like 26V). Two things to watch out for:
and again: if it is 5 Volts you're looking for - the power module provides for that already. You'll need a seperate BEC once anything requires 12 V (Gimbal etc.)
I have not understood what you meant. Could you please elaborate a little. Sorry, I am new to this thing.
Thomas Scherer said:
Arunava,
the solution with a resistor would not provide a fixed voltage. You can hence assume that all BEC utilise a step-down converter. Their efficiency is in the 80 ~ 90 % range. I would look at their weight as most important factor. Mind you that the power-module for your Pixhawk does have a 5 V BEC on board. If you want to maximize on performance, check the hall-sensor version offered by craft & theory (MAUCH).
The cell-count depends on your setup. If in doubt, I reccomend going with 6S.
There are linear BEC's that use a voltage regulator (and dissipate the energy in heat) for low current from a 3s battery and switching BEC's for higher voltage/current that are very efficient (90%+).
Use a switching BEC sometimes called an SBEC or UBEC as they are the only practical way to get 5v from a 4s-6s battery. If you are feeding video equipment then an additional filter or a low-noise BEC may be necessary.
Peter