Speed controllers (ESCs) seem to be getting smaller, lighter and more efficient by the week and the new Little Bee ESCs are testament to that. This particular 30A 2-6S OPTO version weighs less than 10g, is about as big a large postage stamp and yet runs cool at 30amp continuous, delivering up to a 40amp burst current. The Little Bee ESCs feature a fast integrated Silabs processor and some of the best components available to provide an ESC that gives excellent free-wheeling and braking capabilities. Indeed, some people are reporting up to a 20% performance increase over other comparable ESCs, including the popular DYS BLHeli series ESCs. Best still, all of this extra performance doesn't come at the detriment of reliability, we're hearing of very few failures.
The Little Bee ESCs arrive factory-flashed with BLHeli firmware, supporting OneShot125 and damped mode to give ultra fast throttle response. For those than don’t know, BLHeli is a next generation firmware which looks set to take over from the dominance of SimonK firmware. BLHeli offers great new features like OneShot125* and Damping Light. OneShot125, simply put is a feature that lets your flight controller communicate with your ESCs much faster; the result being your multirotor can respond much quicker to commands. On the other hand Damping Light is a sort of active breaking. With normal ESCs when you reduce the throttle, the motor will only be slowed down passively by the drag of the props. With Damping Light enabled, the ESC will act like an electronic brake to actively reduce the motor speed. Again, this feature makes for a much more responsive and stable multirotor. While OneShot125 and Damping Light are the killer features of BLHeli, there are other benefits. For example, you can configure the ESCs to sound a beacon if they sit idle for 10minutes, which might just help you find your racing quad if you crash it in a field of long grass.
Thankfully the configuration is made easy by the BLHeli software suite, and connecting them to a computer is also straightforward. The Little Bee ESCs are some of the first ESCs that actually support configuration via your flight controller. This means you don't need to remove them from your drone or even use a USB linker (although this is also supported - compatible USB linker). Simply install betaflight (instead of cleanflight) on the FC and download the latest BLHeli suite - more instructions here.
Features:
NOTE: These ESCs have no BEC, they are OPTO. You will need a 5V BEC to power your flight controller/receiver.
*Your flight controller must support OneShot to take advantage of this feature.
