General Ideal BEC voltage

[zenmetsu]

All of my servos and my gyro are 8.4V tolerant. I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to boost my voltage to, say, 7.5 volts.

My understanding is that servo speed is increased and current is reduced. The current reduction is what is getting my attention, since 4 servos will pull a lot of amperage at 5V and I'm worried that it could exceed the ESC's BEC.

Any thoughts?

 

[Tony]

It is true that the higher the volts, the lower the amps. But the watts stay the same. If you have 8.4v servos, running them at 7.5 will make them a bit faster and that is always best. spektrum Rx's can handle just over 8vDC so you should be fine with that setting. The best part about this is you can run a 2s lipo with NO bec and be safe. You just have to put a plug on it that can handle the amp draw to power everything.

 

[Lee]

The higher the Voltage, the less stress there is on the electronics. Servos will be faster as well, a more responsive heli

 

[zenmetsu]

I understand from my electronics experience that power will remain the same (voltage * current), so the battery will take the same drain in theory. There are losses though from resistance that go up with current (I^2*R), so higher voltage will always be better in the end, though negligible in short cable runs with low resistance such as servo leads.

My main concern was with servos, if anyone had evidence pointing to increased failures (stripped gears in accidents, etc due to higher torque) or other uncommon issues that I may be overlooking. Looks like I'll just run at about 7.5V or whatever my CC Phoenix will let me get away with. Faster is better.