Castle Hydra and 6S Lipos

[domwilson]

Ok. I wanted to get a clear answer on this. Castle advertises that the Hydra will do 6S on the lipos. Then they state in their literature that using 6S is not recommended. Then I have read that people use them on 6S and then some people say it will blow up with 6S. Does anyone have a good answer as I would like to run one 6Sfully?

[SJFE]

People say alot of things. Just because it's stated that it can be done don't mean it's a good Idea. Run it on 4s and it will live for ever. If you want to run 6s buy an HV controller. If you bought the hydra first sell it. You will recover 90% of what you need for the 110HV. Like 10 amps make a diffrence anyway right?? I am sure some one will pop in and say " well I do it all the time and have never had a problem". I know I don't want the added distraction of a ticking time bomb in my hull. Buy the right peice of equipment for the job and eliminate the question marks. Thats just how I see it:cool2:.

[Ub Hauled]

it is recommended to ALWAYS leave headroom in amps and volts.
keep that in mind when you run it. Nobody can tell you how to run your boats (that is my philosophy anyway), if you want to experiment with your equipment and find out how far you can push it, that is your own biz. I listen to the big kahunas and try my own things based on their opinion... have I burned equipment in the process? SURE! but I knew the risks and wanted to go with them anyway to see if I could... it works in some occasions and not so much in others.

[Doby]

I run mine on 5S with no issues:bounce:

[SJFE]

I agree with Doby on 5s being less od a risk. I have pushed my HTX esc's to 5s voltage with out a problem. This was not how ever a 200 dollar esc. So like I said better save than sorry.

[Steven Vaccaro]

I've run my hydra 240 on 6s with no problems when pulling 80-100 amps.

[Raydee]

I emailed Joe Ford from Castle Creations about running the 120 on 6s a while back and even with a lower amp draw he recommended that I didn't. I know a lot of the heli guys that were running 6s had problems with their Phoenix 80 esc's and ended up going to the 85HV.

[skidooguymxz550]

i've been wondering the same thing except with twenty nihms. i ran that combo on a hydra 120 powering a 14xl all summer and it was fine till i tried to program in reverse and it blew.

will a 110 hv be able to safely power a kbxl 10t on twenty cells safely?

[Raydee]

You will need a Pistix adapter with that controller but as long as you are under the 110 amp rating I think it will be fine. I am holding out for the 180hv or maybe a Kontronik 120 which is rated at 120 amps but I was told it will handle up to 200 amps.

[peells]

Keeping an eye on your amps is really good but if you exceede the max voltage you will burn the board! I have done that about 4 times. Now I have a controller which can handle up to 12s and 100 amps and it works fine.
Steven V. says he can use a hydra 240 with no problems at 6s which is cool but you were wanting to use a hydra 120 is that right? I blew up one and it took 5 weeks to get it back, don't get me wrong the Castle people are great to deal with they will treet you more than fair. and if you do want to risk running that 120 hydra on 6s set the timming at its lowest setting and make sure you manually select the 6s option and not an automatic detect setting (if it has one) Then post an let us all know how it did. I am saving my 120 hydra for another boat and am going to run 4s using two 2s in series again at the lowest timming setting it helps keep the heat off the unit.

[KevinR100]

Just to add to the 'yes' vote - I run 5s & 6s all of the time with a Hydra 240A in a 33" delta force, KB 8XL 1400kv, mod. 47mm 2 blade Octura prop. surface drive setup. It is a great setup and is the last boat I would get rid of;)
Kevin

[peells]

Kevin that is really great to know but we have been talking about hydra 120's and I really applicate your in put because I have been skeptical about buying another Hydra 120. but I do have a brand new one I am going to put in a 12th scale hydro. and I am going to run it at 4s on the lowest timing, is that where you run yours?

[KevinR100]

Hi Peter,
I run mine at low startup with max. power coming in at 85% & with normal timing. This is on all of my castle hydras. btw I run castle UBECs instead of the onboard bec (remove the red wire). These I use soldered into the castle ESCs battery connectors.
On my 120A hydras, I have used up to 5s 5000mah with no problems. I have not as yet tried 6s but I doubt that I would do so. As you know, it is very important to program the ESCs 3volts per cell cutoff with LiPos.. atm we are trying to have made a voltage cutoff regulator that will do the complete job of the onboard cutoff but not require re programing for different LiPo cell counts. We intend to have this device switchable for the various cell counts & be installed in each boat rather then one for each battery.
Regards,
Kevin

[SJFE]

So Dom you see every situation and setup is diffrent. Unless you are willing to pick one of those exact boats and setups that have been proven to work you are still rolling the dice. I revert to my first post :wink:.

[domwilson]

So true...It's good to hear all the experience's. Just trying to see if I really want to try it out. I don't like to gamble without knowing the odds.

[peells]

Gambling is risky business it is good to get the opinions of wise counsel,
It is sounding like the 4s will work for you at the lowest timing setting,
you might try communicating with Kevin above he sounds like he is trying to have a nice little gadget developed.

Pete

[FE_Chris]

One of the reasons I sold my hydra 120 was because of what Jay Turner said about it not being able to handle 6s over the long haul. I don't wanna be putting something together thats destined to fail sometime or another...... More or less as far as I can see it's pony up and get a Castle HV, or use a OEN RC 100 HV and not go to far over the top.