Dear Castle Creations.....

[Ub Hauled]

I agree with Darin... the ESCs are solid.
Please be patient guys, don't jump the gun and
start assuming the ESCs are not worth using...
If your favorite team of your favorite sport lost
ONE game, would you go and find another team to cheer for?
I think not, so give Castle some time to go thru the 1000's of line
of code and find the inadequate numbers and fix it.

[electric]

Does this problem apply to the 120amp HV esc? I am getting slower speeds than I expected on my new boat, but am not sure this is the problem. Has anyone done a comparison of this controller on the new firm ware to the old version?

[icelert]

I may be wrong, but as I understand it the HV Hydras aren't able to revert to the older versions.

And for the record I too have used CC exclusively since switching to brushless and have had no problems on version 1.3. I love my Hydra 240 and my Bar 125!

I think it would be nice if someone could chart some runs w/ a data logger on the same boat using versions 1.3 and 1.4. That should give Mr. Ford a good understanding of what's going on.

[lonewolf]

Hey guys I never meant this to be a bashing post... I am saying that I have read alotof posts recently about hydras..This that the other... Just for numbers sake 1/2 of the issues are bad set ups/programs... Another 25% for firmware issues.. Then the unknowns... My intent was for maybe some post from them that will address the firmware issue. There may be another common demoninator here also we are not seeing ,but I am sure they are..
A statement made now just might prevent a bunch more hydras with issues...
I own a 25 amp castle and a cc80. I have not run either as of yet. I will be hooking the cc80 up to a 10L on 12 cells in a pickle hope she holds...

I I hope to get a 240 for my mono after this settles down. Or a 180 ?
No bad intentions no bashing not what this post is about.
I am a bystander here I have just seen a large increase in hydra post's
Dave

[Mich. Maniac]

Ray, if you dont mind me asking... You once stated you found a weird throttle curv after programming. I think it was you. What did it look like? I know it should not matter but what IF you ran a wot @ 80% and up? This way once its open you KNOW its open and not a step or 2 off. Its surely not a remedy but just throwin stuff out there. I had a Heli act like this once and it was not truly obtaining enough Throttle even though curv was linear.

[Eodman]

I recently let the genie out of two of the 120's ..... Bad product ...NO way ... just my stupidity ! My son asked me how the castle link worked so.... I showed him changed a couple of values thought I changed back to the default settings and didn't!!!!

Should have checked twice but ---- Father knows best you know!

[Raydee]

Mike, the very first time I updated one of my Hydra 120 ESC's to 1.4 my boat wouldn't run at all. When I hooked the Castle link up to the controller the throttle curve was completely flat at zero. Once I returned the curve back to linear the boat ran but never like it did on 1.3. It def isn't a throttle curve problem.

For anyone that wants to see first hand what is happening with 1.4 just take your boat that you know is running good and just update your ESC to 1.4. Don't change anything else on your setup or settings and I will guarantee you will see a performance difference and more heat than normal. I have tried it with three different controllers now and two different hulls. I swear it feels like 1.4 has a restrictor on it and it feels like the boat doesn't run full throttle even though the red LED on the controller says otherwise. Also keep in mind that the motor is what is showing all the extra heat and not the ESC so its not like the esc is getting hot from excessive part throttle running. It really almost seems like the timing may be off in version 1.4? All I know is something changes from 1.3 to 1.4 and I would just be 100% happy to be able to switch ALL my Castle ESC's back to 1.3. I am hoping Joe and the Castle guys will give me a way to do this on my HV 180 since I already am able to do it on my other CC controllers and not on the HV controller.

[icelert]

"For anyone that wants to see first hand what is happening with 1.4 just take your boat that you know is running good and just update your ESC to 1.4. Don't change anything else on your setup or settings and I will guarantee you will see a performance difference and more heat than normal"

Not to fan the flames here Ray but did you re-bind the rx to the tx after changing the firmware?
I remember Joe saying that re-binding was a must do.

Like I mentioned I love Castle's products. In the engineering world there is a thing called a safety factor. It is designed into products for obvious reasons. Castle is one of a very few that are built with such safety factors. Problem is that too many abuse that or don't understand it enough to prevent the magic smoke from escaping. I say that not because of what we are discussing, but because of what Castle must have to deal with. Many of the lesser priced ESC's out on the market can't survive under their own ratings, but people are willing to take a chance because the investment is less and/or they are using safety factors of their own.

As many of you know running a fast electric boat requires knowledge that there always is going to be a weak leak in the system. Understanding what that weak link is and acquiring the means to monitor and control it is the key to success and longevity.

This is a wonderful discussion, and I hope Castle will come forth with some info soon to help us better understand the reasons behind the firmware revisions and what maybe happening to improve the performance on revision 1.4.

bryan

[Ub Hauled]

Ray did and I did rebind Rx/Tx... there is def something going on...

I am leaving the pros to deal with it... Joe as always helped the boaters out... let's give the guy a chance to fix things, he may be in the middle of nowhere but I think they do have holidays there as well

[electric]

Isn't there a way to test the esc to ensure that it is really at full throttle? I seem to remember you unplug the motor and pull the trigger and look for a solid red light that tells you you are at full throttle on the esc. Is this correct?

[Ub Hauled]

that would work based on the fact that the software is giving the LED the signal to turn on at the right time... what if the software is only outputting 80% of the power and tells the LED that it is full throttle?
If there is something that does not seem right, chances are there is a hiccup somewhere, whether is user error or hardware.

[Doug Smock]

CASTLE CREATIONS 913-390-6939

Call them and put this to bed.

[Flying Scotsman]

Ah, Doug my mentor and mate. There have been problems with V1.4 and as of this date Joe has not addressed the problem.

Douggie

[Doug Smock]

Ah, Doug my mentor and mate. There have been problems with V1.4 and as of this date Joe has not addressed the problem.

Douggie

Hi Douggie,
I just figured if Joe wasn't here, maybe some GOOD information may come from contacting them. I'd be calling twice a week until I had an answer.

Your mentor? Man when I grow up, I want to be just like you!!

Doug

[Flying Scotsman]

Hi Douggie,
I just figured if Joe wasn't here, maybe some GOOD information may come from contacting them. I'd be calling twice a week until I had an answer.

Your mentor? Man when I grow up, I want to be just like you!!

Doug

Oh my God, two assholes in heaven. The Jihad had better watch out, as I think the virgins will be taken

Douggie