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Misadventures in power electronics

Posted by Jeff Wurzbach on June 11, 2013 at 7:00pm

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If you have a story, rant or suggestion about limitations of power products (power supplies, ESC, etc) on your UAV, post it in the comments below.  I am specifically interested in feedback or thoughts on shortcomings in the power products that we at 3DR make, so we can incorporate that feedback in the next generation of products.

A little bit about myself:

I came to 3DR in early May, from General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems.  While at GA, I worked on EMALS, AAG and the Railgun team.  I am a graduate of UC San Diego with a BS in electrical engineering (circuits and systems depth).  My current role at 3DR is in engineering, where I mostly work on research, development, and new product design.  

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Comments

  • mquintilian June 11, 2013 at 9:45pm

    I received a esc with the cap soldered on backwards causing it to explode when plugged in.

  • Developer
    Bill Bonney June 11, 2013 at 9:02pm

    I've suggested this part before http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/405/tps84250-109358.pdf it's 2.5A upto 50V and about the same price as the current part on the PM. I still think servos should be powered by an off board BEC, but have the APM more friendly to connect more outputs that just the 8 from one 5V rail currently. Well a design that the rail can be any voltage from 5-7V would be awesome.

  • Daniel Chote June 11, 2013 at 7:50pm
    I love the power module, but I think I can speak for a lot of people that 4s is a big restriction. A 6s capable module would be really helpful. I would also love to see a 3dr product for high power PWM.
  • Todd Stellanova June 11, 2013 at 7:36pm

    There was this existing thread about the TPS79133 3.3V regulator failing on the APM 2.5+ board:

    http://www.diydrones.com/forum/topics/apm-2-5-no-dataflash-compass-...

    My brand-new board is currently exhibiting this behavior (5V in, 0.8V out of the TPS79133) and I'm stillll waiting for an RMA from help@3drobotics. My APM 2.5 was working great until this failure.

  • Joshua Ott June 11, 2013 at 7:12pm
    This is the dude who is designing our power circuits from here on, so speak up folks.
  • Joshua Johnson June 11, 2013 at 7:10pm

    Great to see 3DR taking initiatives to improve their products using the communities feedback! :)

    Bravo 3D Robotics,

    Joshua Johnson

This reply was deleted.