Castle Hydra HV (not ICE hydra) Controllers beware

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  • Steven Vaccaro
    Administrator
    • Apr 2007
    • 8721

    #16
    Mike glad you didn't have serious injury's!

    The moral of this story is that this is very dangerous stuff we are dealing with. Proceed with the highest caution!

    Nothing is without its problems. I had a rx fire on my bench two weeks ago. I simply plugged in a esc with a bec that was defective and supplied 15 volts to the rx and poof. Literal fire. If it was a bit closer to some plastic bags on the wall, it may be a diff story.

    Again, glad your ok Mike!
    Steven Vaccaro

    Where Racing on a Budget is a Reality!

    Comment

    • cybercrxt
      Fast Electric Addict!
      • Mar 2009
      • 2909

      #17
      Thanks Steven and Doug, and all the others. This message was mainly just to caution people about how dangerous this stuff is. The castle HV series, as a lot of people know, has a very mixed history of burning up on plug in. My story pushs that level of defect a little further, and I want people to know! Sorry if Mark F might be sponsored by Castle. Its a shame that he took it as a slam. He was a very cool guy when we talked on the phone last year.....
      Laser cut, birch plywood rc race boat kits- WWW.MLBOATWORKSRC.COM WWW.DINOGYLIPOS.COM

      Comment

      • LuckyDuc
        Team Ducati Racing
        • Dec 2008
        • 989

        #18
        Glad you had no irreparable injuries. You are very lucky.

        I boat with a retired shop teacher. He told me to always wear glasses, have a fire extinguisher handy (bucket of sand in our case), and a first aid kit. I usually wear the glasses and have the first aid kit with me, but I get lazy about the bucket of sand.

        Comment

        • sailr
          Fast Electric Addict!
          • Nov 2007
          • 6927

          #19
          I've seen quite a few of the 240HV's smoke on plug in. Nothing new. The criticism here is a bit strong. I've seen the big Schulze's do the same thing. Regardless of price, HV esc's are still a weak link in our hobby. I'm not defending Castle, but do criticize all of the ESC makers for not seeming to be able to consistently make stable HV units!

          Originally posted by MarkF
          I have been using Castle controllers for over 15 years now. I have burnt my share up and have even plugged the batteries together on 10 and 12s packs and experianced all the fireworks and a few burn marks. But I have never heard of a controller shorting out on plug in. I'm sure its happened before and not with just Castle controllers but to say they need to be discountinued I think is a little harsh to say the least. What you experienced was no different than accidentally plugging in 2 packs together and getting the crap scared out of you, which I'm sure most people on this board have done at least once if not more. Should we bad mouth all bullet plugs and lipos will were at it too and have them banned. How about propellers? Maybe we should have them discontinued because we all know how dangerous they can be. Im sorry you got hurt Mike but your rant I think was a little over the top.

          Mark
          Mini Cat Racing USA
          www.minicatracingusa.com

          Comment

          • MarkF
            dinogylipos.com
            • Mar 2008
            • 979

            #20
            See most of us have seen this kind of thing happen before. By the way I'm not sponsored by Castle. They have been good to me on some of my burnt controllers but I had to go buy them originally just like everyone else. Most of my big cell count records were with Schulze controllers anyways and I had to buy them too. I'm glad your OK Mike but Castle has bent over backwards to try and give us a good controller and I didn't think it was fair for you to go on multiple sites and tell people that because of your incident that there HV controllers are no good and they need to be discontinued. You as a vendor yourself should know better. How would you like it if someone had a problem with one of your kits like maybe they got a bad splinter that required some stitches and started a campaign saying all of your kits are crap and should be discontinued because they got hurt so everyone better beware. Would you consider that fair and his right to do that? I guess you would have too. I didn't mean to affend anybody by my post, I think I just woke up in a bad mood this mourning.
            Sorry

            Mark

            Comment

            • Doug Smock
              Moderator
              • Apr 2007
              • 5272

              #21
              Mark it's all good, point taken.
              I've seen a couple of guys short packs. Saw a guy have some leads get loose on a 10s2P set up and short against a 300 Shultze, I've had Baracudas fry on plug in. I have never seen anything in model boating as violent as this was.

              I always have a fire extinguisher and a bucket of sand near by, thankfully I have never needed either. Sometimes I have glasses on, sometimes I dont. Mikes experience changed that for me.

              Doug
              MODEL BOAT RACER
              IMPBA President
              District 13 Director 2011- present
              IMPBA National Records Director 2009-2019
              IMPBA 19887L CD
              NAMBA 1169

              Comment

              • Greg Schweers
                GREG SCHWEERS
                • Oct 2007
                • 92

                #22
                I've been doing this for 20+ years, and from the day I started to this day, the speed controller has always been the weakest link. I have burned up quite a few speed controllers. The old say was "if you want your controller tested, give it to Mark," because he could burn up anything. I've seen more than one Shultze poptop burn up on being plugged in. In '09 I had two 240LV controllers burn up on plug in, and one burn up in the boat. All 3 were basically my fault: the setup was too hot, and I knew it. If you push the controller too hard, eventually, when you plug it in, it will just burn. I solved the problem by talking to Castle, I paid some money and they built me a 360, and I haven't had a problem since. But, I've also dead-shorted 2S-packs and 4S packs - that will wake you up! Mike, this could have happened to any brand controller you had. I know that people have had a lot of trouble with the HV controller. You just have to remember you're playing with big amps, and when something goes wrong, something's gotta give (either the controller or the batteries). Yes, I have burned my fingeres more than once. Another safety tip, don't change the prop while the batteries are plugged in (don't ask me how I know).

                Comment

                • detox
                  Fast Electric Addict!
                  • Jun 2008
                  • 2318

                  #23
                  I once returned a VERY burnt Hydra 120 LV ESC to Castle. The nice lady I spoke with reffered to my burnt esc as "one crispy critter".

                  Comment

                  • ray schrauwen
                    Fast Electric Addict!
                    • Apr 2007
                    • 9471

                    #24
                    Originally posted by Steven Vaccaro
                    Mike glad you didn't have serious injury's!

                    The moral of this story is that this is very dangerous stuff we are dealing with. Proceed with the highest caution!

                    Nothing is without its problems. I had a rx fire on my bench two weeks ago. I simply plugged in a esc with a bec that was defective and supplied 15 volts to the rx and poof. Literal fire. If it was a bit closer to some plastic bags on the wall, it may be a diff story.

                    Again, glad your ok Mike!
                    I bet you moved those bags!!

                    Glad to hear you are O.k. Mike. Thanks for posting, always good to be reminded we are playing with fire so to speak.

                    I have dead shorted a pack or two and thats just not fun.

                    At least I've never welded leads together, ....
                    Nortavlag Bulc

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