Castle Hydra ????

[HTVboats]

240 castle.jpg
240 hydra.jpg

A friend sent me this controller to check out and conformal coat (waterproof) When I hooked up Castle link it shows a Hydya and I assume it is a 240 - 2 120's stacked. It doesn't show data logging and seems to be a 4S max controller. Not one I have owned so any info would be appreciaited. I don't want to hook up a battery till I learn a bit more.
Mic

[properchopper]

Mic, the Castle Hydra 240 was a quite popular "go-to" full P controller - go back maybe 10 years or more. I had three in constant rotation with Castle repair (which they were quite liberal in warrantee-ing - if not exactly speedy). I'm still using one (minus the BEC - oops my fault) and it runs my P-Cheetah (TP 4060) very very nicely. You can download the programming stuff and program Timing, LVC, start hard/soft and more.

ACastle 0.jpgACastleboat.jpgACastle2.jpgACastle1.jpg

[RaceMechaniX]

Mic,
The hydra's do not have datalogging.
-Tyler

[HTVboats]

Tyler,
I kind of figured that out when I linked it to the PC. My question is can it run on 6S? Does not have a LVC to match 6 cells.
Mic

[NativePaul]

Assuming that it is a Hydra 240 (and it looks that way to me too) it can run 6s, but it has a linear BEC as opposed to the switching BECs that are almost ubiquitous these days, so you will need an external BEC or battery for 4-6s use.

From memory you cant set the LVC to 6s, but you can select custom voltage and put 20.4v (or whatever voltage you deem suitable) in there.

[HTVboats]

That helps thanks guys for the info
Mic

[Raydee]

For us the rule on the older Castle ESC's was to run them at least one or two cells less than what they were rated for....so a 6s esc was run on 4s. I ended up going to the newer ice and edge 8s aircraft escs and ran them on 6s with homemade water cooling with great success. I still have one Hydra 240 running in my 4s Whiplash.....its the longest lasting Hydra esc I ever owned.

[RaceMechaniX]

The BEC circuit on Hydra's and even the newer ICE and EDGE controllers is the weak link. We got a lot more life out of the Hydra/ICE/EDGE controllers when we skipped the BEC and used an external receiver pack. Smaller servo's with less torque were generally not problematic, but 200oz and larger servo's strained the circuit. Additionally the higher the input voltage from the batteries, the harder the BEC circuit had to work. i.e. a 2S battery was easy to regulate the BEC voltage, but a 6S battery was a big step down from 22V to 5V.

Several of us went to the Castle external BEC powered off the main battery to avoid the internal BEC failing.