Plettenberg - Orbit 20-10

The following is a review of the Plettenberg Orbit 20-10 motor. Initially some shots of this outrunner :

Introduction

The Plettenberg 20-10 has long been a very popular motor for the Logo 10 helicopter. Given that the Logo 10 is almost identical in size and weight to the Century Swift the Orbit would seem a natural choice for powering the Swift. In the Logo 10 the Orbit is usually powered with a 5S lipo but for this review I thought I would run the motor at 4S and 5S. This motor can also be powered at 6S but this will cause it to run beyond its RPM specified limit. There are many Logo 10 owners running this motor beyond specification but I have not done so within this review.

I have used two packs within this review, the first is the FlightPower 4S 3700 Evo and the second is the Polyquest XP 5S 3700.

In order to record the flight data I have used a BNB products DPR 100 in flight data recorder. This is the latest generation of this in flight data recorder which includes RPM measurements.

The Orbit motor has been tested with the M.S. Composite 515 mm carbon blades throughout this review.

Motor Stats

That are not many details available for the Plettenberg range of motors. However the Orbit 20-10 has a KV of 1130 rpm/v and weighs 215 g.

Flight Performance

Initially I set the motor up to run on a 10 tooth pinion but after some flights realised that this was not really giving me the optimum performance for 3-D flight. The head speed on a 10 tooth pinion was peaking at around 1700 RPM when utilising the 5S pack. When using the 4S pack head speed obviously dropped again. Although flight performance was perfectly acceptable using the 10 tooth pinion and the Swift was very capable of some nice sports flying and very basic 3-D the whole machine felt like it needed speeding up to get the best out of the motor.

Therefore I fitted the 11 tooth pinion and this gave a much stronger performance with both packs. When running 5S the head speed peaks at around 1950 RPM. This gives ample power for most 3-D manoeuvres except those that require large amounts of collective pitch in order to complete. As an example the Swift will tick tock on this setup but the head speed varies between 1900 RPM & 1650 RPM. This variation in RPM means that the Swift tends to only manage three or four good tick tock's before the head speed bogging down affects the crispness of the maneuver.

With the 5S pack the Swift can produce some very nice smooth 3-D and providing the emphasis is kept on smooth 3-D rather than stick banging 3-D the motor will cope very nicely. I have been using 515 mm carbon blades with this motor and based on it's performance I would not recommend using a larger blade size.

With the 4S pack the head speed is obviously a little slower and therefore the crispness of the 3-D performance is less when compared to the 5S pack. However, the Orbit still does a very good job and most of the 3-D manoeuvres possible on the larger pack are also possible on the smaller pack. However, tick tock's are fairly laboured and lack the visual punch possible on the larger pack. Once again providing the pilot places emphasis on smooth 3-D and not violent 3-D the Swift can be put through a very nice 3-D display.

Flight times using the 3700 mah packs are around seven minutes or less depending on how hard you fly the machine. For a basic 3-D flight seven minutes is achievable.

The following are some in-flight graphs from the DPR 100 showing voltage, amp draw and RPM readings when performing a typical 3-D flight utilising the 5S pack. The first chart just shows voltage and amperage. This is a typical 3-D flight, I performed loops, rolls, combinations of loops and rolls, flips and tick tock's. Towards the end of the flight there are also two autorotations. This flight had a maximum amp draw of 52 amps (no surprise that this was during the tick tock's). The average amp draw across the flight was 21.76 amps. The overall flight time was seven minutes 16 seconds.

The second chart is also of a 3-D flight where I was performing very similar manoeuvres to the chart above. The focus of this chart is the RPM measurements during the flight.

 

Conclusion

The Plettenberg Orbit 20-10 is quite a versatile motor in that it will run very nicely on either 4S or 5S. I have focused on its potential as a 5S motor when running on an 11 tooth pinion with 515 mm carbon blades. The Orbit is neither a heavy motor or an expensive motor and therefore I think it offers good price/performance.

If you are looking for a motor that will give you the option to start learning 3-D flight without moving to higher voltage packs and more expensive motors then this could be a good option. Certainly this motor will run quite happily on 4S for sport flying and basic 3-D flying.

Overall I enjoyed flying with the Orbit, it was a very predictable motor, didn't run too hot and produced a respectable performance. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this motor to a pilot looking to progress their skills without investing heavily in more expensive equipment. This motor would also make a very good first motor for a beginner as it has the ability to grow with the pilot has their ability improves.