Some information on Castle ESC

[Gary]

Just thought I would pass along some information on what I have found on Castle Mamba 1/5 controllers. I was at a dead end when Castle disscontinued there Hydras was was not to happy since they fit perfect and worked very smooth....but would cook sometimes. Called Castle and was told in not so many words that this ESC is really the same ...sort of ...as the boat ones. Well I bought a Mamba 1/5 ...plenty on Ebay for 169.00 each and pulled the fan off and installed two water blocks bought from OSE and I can tell you first hand these controllers are FANTASTIC. I have been killing them for a year now. Submerged MANY MANY time, dried them out,spray them down with corrosion X and back to buisness. Temps never go over 180*, handles 300 amps no problem and smooth and easy programing and performance. Also have data logging in there as well. In my opinion at the rate you see ESC's die.....they are a home run for me.I run my Phil Thomas boat to around 105 and have put at least 100 passes on the same controller running 25 volts to it.

[dmitry100]

Which leads me to wonder if esc's designed for marine use really are under rated in the sense that the manufacturers make the hardware weaker because they expect watercooling to be used anyway.

[RayR]

Not so loud, you are giving away the secret......

Just kidding, been using the XL2 for long time. Works great.

[Fluid]

Which leads me to wonder if esc's designed for marine use really are under rated in the sense that the manufacturers make the hardware weaker because they expect watercooling to be used anyway.

Seems to be some confusion here. Castle told me that the ICE Marine 240 was the same controller as the ICE 200 aircraft controller, it was rated higher because of the more efficient water cooling.


.

[kfxguy]

I've been using them too. See this thread


http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ight=Mamba+xl2


I'm building a new version that has cooling on the bottom of the heat sink. I epoxy coat mine.

[ray schrauwen]

What water cooling blocks did you buy? Do you have pictures our a link? I still have one to change too marine use.

[kendt]

I have only used mine a couple times but i am thinking of picking up another. The swordfish 200 cooling plate is a perfect fit for the bottom side. A hobbywing 120 cooling plate fits perfectly between the rails if the SF plate so lots of cooling. I just need to come up with something more lightweight for the top fets rather than the heavy heatsink that comes with it..

[twonb1]

Wherefore one find those cooling blocks ?

[twonb1]

Double post.....

[kendt]

I had them left over from dead esc,s.

[twonb1]

Nooooo. Lol

[SweetAccord]

I spoke with Castle and their answer was people were misusing or not able to setup properly, and the ESC's in the boat environment is more demanding than airplanes or cars as the load and conditions are very different and with that said, that was their reason for discontinuing the line.

[kfxguy]

I spoke with Castle and their answer was people were misusing or not able to setup properly, and the ESC's in the boat environment is more demanding than airplanes or cars as the load and conditions are very different and with that said, that was their reason for discontinuing the line.

Makes sense since other escs hold up just fine for the most part. Ive had more castle escs fail than anything else. Why? Because they are super sensitive to water. It's a boat. Water is going to find its way in there sooner or later

[Darin Jordan]

Seems to be some confusion here. Castle told me that the ICE Marine 240 was the same controller as the ICE 200 aircraft controller, it was rated higher because of the more efficient water cooling.

That's exactly right. HEAT is the enemy. I think you'll see the same ratings differences in the ICE and ICE LITE ESCs. The LITEs aren't rated for as many cells in most cases.

[ray schrauwen]

IMG_20151011_121026.jpg

IMG_20151010_215857.jpg


Just tested my XL2 after adding cooling plates. I followed the directions for throttle calibration but, its hard to tell if I got it right. The last Castle esc I owned before this was a Barracuda 80 in 2005.
It runs proper on the bench, still has reverse on and brake. I need to hook it up to my pc when I get back home this week to program the timing and shut off brakes and reverse.

What setting disables current limiting or should I not worry?

I used DP270 BUT if you do be very careful about if or how much you put near the connector on the main board so you can still plug in the driver /BEC board in. Use too much and you will be flaking it out like I had too. thankfully it connects properly and seems to operate as normal. When Larry comes by, I will have him help me be 100% sure i did it all properly.

I changed caps from factoy to Rubycon ZL 680's all around. I can still use the case if I want with little mods because te 680's are larger than the stock 560's. Too bad my season is about over unless some odd very warm day comes along. More building to do...