[RANT] The problem with Flipsky and many products in general

Sorry guys, I have to rant a bit. Maybe we should have a rant section. Such a frustrating day today! And we all know this. It’s just another complaint on the pile.

So I am making a build for a friend, and I decided to use the FS 200A ESC because it fits the budget and works: https://flipsky.net/collections/electronic-products/products/high-current-fsesc-200a-60v-base-on-vesc6

We are in a bit of a hurry, so I used a mill to make a box for it while waiting for the ESC to ship. I knew the dimensions of the box because it says on the FS website:

Today I get the ESC and it is 67mm, not 58mm wide. Now I need to re-do my boxes, which is a big PITA and a lot of work. This is my question:

Dear Flipsky,
How come I cannot know what I am getting before I get it? At dayjob (engineer: EE, ME, SW), I work with all kinds of products and integrate them and it is very normal to expect the dimensions on the website accurately represent what I will get. It should be a basic expectation to know the dimensions of a product. I understand the performance may vary, I can live with that. But the dimensions? Can you just put the accurate dimensions on your website and stick to them?

Flipsky wants to be like Castle, T-motor, Turnigy, KDE etc. But they can’t ever get to that level because they are not willing to commit to designs and advertise them accurately with datasheets and performance data. It seems everything from their company is outsourced to some other place where they have no idea what they are shipping, or they use their customers as guinea pigs and tweak the design constantly based on customer feedback.

On another note, if they have some engineers in-house, are they children or robots? Look at this design:

The ESC is bricked in epoxy so it is clearly waterproof and intended to be submerged. But the connectors, XT-90’s and SH’s, are clearly not waterproof, and are intended to be located in a dry place. But a grownup human would know that XT-90’s aren’t water proof, and so they wouldn’t have bothered with the epoxy, or they would have used a waterproof connector! But minimal pull testing would show that silicone jacket wire doesn’t bond to epoxy potting compound, thus invalidating the use of the epoxy in the first place, so I can clearly not choose the design in front of me!

They fooled me! They switched the design when I wasn’t looking! The second greatest tactical blunder in history is to engage in commerce with a mainland company when proper fitment is on the line! Ahahahahahaha

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No.

Flipsky wants to be CHEAP, which is also likely why you ordered from them specifically.

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I’m sorry, coming from an ME over here as well, I can’t believe you did this sight unseen - I never trust factory dimensions on something as ambiguous as a heatsink like this. Especially to mill a part before the actual product shows up, idk man

Unfortunate but could have been avoided. There is still a point to be made but you aren’t backing up what dimension you are talking about either.

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone attempt to use this specific ESC on our forum before either, most people are steering away from flipsky right now, and that price on this ESC isn’t even cheap either so I’m not sure why this was the one you chose

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I’m 98% mad at myself, 2% mad at Flipsky. We were in a hurry, and this design is a good size for the space its going in and has good power. It’s not cheap, but it is cheaper than I can make it if I layout and assemble myself with the same parts!

Nothin you say is wrong, and this IS my fault. But still, we should expect to be able to trust dimensions on the website. Is this really the way things have to be: we can’t have any idea what we’re gonna get until we receive it?

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I mean I guess I get your point, it is disappointing. What dimension are you talking about anyway, is there any chance they like listed the wrong one or something?

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Its the width. I think what happened is they made a 80x58x15mm pcb esc that was advertised @ 200A, and they made a heatsink for it that was that size. It probably sucked and did barely 100A, (you can’t buy it anymore) so they re-did the board to a slightly larger config that was closer to the 200A. But they still had all these heat-sinks sitting around so they kept using them. They say the dimensions of the heat-sink, but its done in such as way as to look like its the PCB dims.

I just assumed that the “epoxy cased” version was bigger because of the case. I asked them to hold a ruler to the board, but I didn’t insist. It’s a case of hope overpowering my own inner knowledge that they are just gonna make whatever.

The saying is you get what you pay for.
Will advise that there is plenty of information about Flipsky and other vendors right on this forum to help you make more of an educated purchase.

I lurk around here and other places before I do a purchase and if I can’t find it, I’ll ask or work with the manufacturer for more information.

As for the ESC you mentioned that is ‘waterproof’ by them / poorly engineered, I tend to avoid and also look for other product inconsistencies. Too many, I avoid that brand.

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This seems like solid advice but also some victim-blaming which is typically a bad thing. If there is a datasheet, then it should be correct, IMHO. That’s literally their entire purpose to exist in the first place.

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I will admit it was a little harshly worded but given the reputation it seems reasonable that their measurements wouldn’t be great

Apparently making their datasheets accurate is very difficult :roll_eyes:

If there’s one thing a lot of these Chinese electronics companies lack, it’s attention to detail

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Just dropping in to say FUCK FLIPSKY :slight_smile:

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Hope you’re planning to actually watercool them. They perform worse thermally than the 6.6 singles in the aluminum case without it. Otherwise, they’ve been without issue. I definitely wouldn’t submerge them (lol) but I am planning on running them exposed w/ a rock cage.

I have made a watercooling case. That’s the unfortunate part. Now I have to remake the case because they put the wrong dimensions on their website.

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They updated the numbers on the website

I guess its something.

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