iFlight XING2 1404 3000KV

The iFlight XING2 1404 3000KV is an ultralight outrunner with 9 slots and 12 poles (9N12P) for toothpick and micro FPV builds with 3 to 4-inch propellers. iFlight is a Chinese maker of FPV drives. The motor weighs 9.1 g including cable, and the case measures 19.9 mm in diameter and 18.4 mm in height. The stator code 1404 stands for 14 mm diameter and 4 mm height. The series is also made in 3,800 and 4,600 KV.

At 3,000 KV the motor turns roughly 44,400 rpm unloaded on 4S (14.8 V nominal) and roughly 33,300 on 3S (11.1 V). As maximum values the maker quotes 220.8 W and 13.8 A; together they give 16 V, the voltage of a 4S pack. That is about 24 W per gram of motor mass. Permitted cell counts are 3 to 4S.

Power figures only carry weight with a time span, and makers use between 3 and 180 s; the 220.8 W of the 1404 is a maximum value, not a continuous power. Motor, speed controller (ESC) and battery must be rated for 3 to 4S. For the rules the total weight counts: four of these motors weigh only 36.4 g, and builds of this size often stay under 250 g, the limit of class C0. Whether a camera triggers operator registration does not depend on weight, however.

On a 9 g motor everything is delicate: the shaft is thin, the bearings are small, the winding wire is fine. A blocked propeller, from a twig for instance, burns the winding within seconds because the controller keeps sending current. The checks are the true running of the shaft, the noise of the bearings and the cables, which are thin at a total mass of 9.1 g and can break where they leave the motor.