Year after year flight controllers grow stronger, faster, more powerful. Three years ago we had MultiWii running Arduino. Two years ago it was Naze32 with STM32F1. Year ago it was SPRacingF3 with SMT32F3. This year it is something with STM32F4. Is there a price is power consumption to pay? Should we start using stronger BECs? 1A? 2A or maybe 3 amps are now required? I've decided to check.

flight controller power usage

Measured current required by flight controllers I had on hand:

  • Flip32+ 7DOF (special version of 10DOF without magnetometer): 44mA
  • SPRacingF3 Acro (chinese clone): 55mA
  • Airbot F4 / Flip32 F4: 93mA

So, there is a price to pay in terms of power consumption. But, let's be honest here. Even increase by more than 100% when going from F1 to F4 is not putting much drain on any decent BEC. Good and solid 1A BEC should be more than enough to power most setups.