Century - VoltEdge 3D Xtra

The following is a review of the Century Voltedge 3D Xtra motor. Initially some shots of this large inrunner :

Introduction

The VoltEdge 3D Xtra motor is an inrunner designed to run on 14.8 V.
This is one of the standard motors that can be supplied with a combo deal on the Century Swift. This motor is aimed at the slightly more adventurous flyer. It has a KV of 1536 and when paired with an 8T pinion (as supplied in the kit) it will provide a maximum head speed of around 1800 RPM. You can run this motor on a 9T pinion but be aware that amp draw climbs significantly for the increased headspeed available in this configuration. The motor is under more torque in flight which means there is more bogging of the head for collective pitch based aerobatic flight.

In practice this motor is happier running slower than 1800 RPM which allows for some extra torque to be available when increasing pitch for climb out performance. I ran at about 1700 RPM which felt about right for torque versus headspeed.

Flight Performance

The Swift was more comfortable to fly on this motor than the Sports Endurance. Certainly some mild 3D is possible and I performed some flips and inverted based flying on this setup. Headspeed is quickly lost if you try more aggressive moves. I have very large throws on my cyclic for a fast roll and flip rate, in practice a full deflection aileron roll was enough to bog down the head and I did back off my throws to reduce this.

Flight times using the supplied FlightPower 4S 3700 mAh were around 8 minutes. Peak current during my test flights was 55 amps. The average amp draw being around 19 amps. This is well within the specification of the pack and would not cause any longevity or stress problems for the pack. At the end of ten minutes flying the motor was quite hot and I wouldn't recommend consecutive flights without a short cooling off period.

The below picture shows the data recorded using a DPR-100 in-flight data recorder.

Conclusion

This motor would suit somebody looking to stick with a 4S setup and do sports flying and basic mild 3D. The motor was certainly more spritely than the endurance motor and the extra headspeed added both stability and better flight manners overall. I wouldn't recommend this motor for anything more than very basic 3D, the head bogs even in flips and rolls and although good collective management can deal with this a 3D learner wouldn't have these good collective management skills. Amp draw isn't excessive over the endurance motor and 8 min flights are easily achieved if you don't go mad on the collective pitch. The motor does run hot and I would allow for a cool off period between flights. Overall I'd say this is really another beginners motor and not really for the more serious 3D flyer.

Following this review I was contacted by Century UK pilot Adam Turner.

Adam has been running this motor somewhat harder than I wanted to because of temperature concerns but his update is provided below:

I must say that the century 3DXtra motor that you reviewed is very capable of 3D, I will be using my stock swift CC60 and 3dxtra in the Clubman 3D comp in 2 weeks time to show everyone what it can do.
It is fully able to Chaos, roll, flip and do anything on the spot except tic toc. To gain this power you must set your speed control to Advanced timing, High gov mode, Upgrade to the latest softwhere in the Phoenix 60, run a good blade eg NHP510 (100grms) and a 9T pinion, both supplied by Century UK. Have low cutoff voltage and low current limiting. Also highly recommend the heat sink and purple motor mount to aid in cooling (usually runs at about 65-70degs C). The standard tail is very strong and there is no need to upgrade the blades. Also more power will become available after 15-20 cycles of your 4s2p Flightpower LiPo. Unfortunately all this power results in a reduced run time of only 4 and 1/2 min (all hard 3D).

I will give all the above a try once I have significantly better cooling available as indicated in Adam's information above. I'll also produce another DPR chart showing the performance differences from running this setup.