Advanced Power Drives (APD) 80F3[X] v2

The APD 80F3[X] v2 from Advanced Power Drives (Australia) is a single-motor ESC for powerful FPV and X-Class quadcopters. It drives one motor and at 20 g per the product page counts among the light high-current controllers.

The continuous current is 80 A and the peak current 140 A; the controller holds the peak only briefly, the manufacturer states the duration. Sizing follows the 80 A, and even of that one does not use the full amount, because heat and airflow in a small build leave little margin. The product page gives 8S, i.e. 34 V, as the upper limit, the documentation mentions 14S; until the manufacturer confirms otherwise the lower value applies. For weight the product page says 20 g, the documentation says 10 g without leads. The signal paths listed are PWM, DShot150 to DShot600, ProShot1000 and Bidirectional DShot; the latter supplies motor speed for RPM filters. Telemetry is on board and the firmware is APD's own development.

Frame and law: an X-Class quadcopter normally weighs more than 250 g and therefore falls outside class C0. From 250 g take-off mass, operator registration and a proof of competence are required; these duties concern the aircraft and its operator, not the ESC.

For selection: the motor's continuous current plus reserve must stay below 80 A. In FPV flying, crashes and blocked propellers load the controller in particular; the current spikes hit MOSFETs and capacitors, and crushed leads and cracked solder joints follow. After hard landings, look at the lead roots, the board and the heat path.