ESC / MAH and Ripple Current. Experts weigh in please.

[keithbradley]

Castle has been saying this for years. I won't deny that they have a relevant point in pointing out the relationship between lipo capacity and the data we see in our logs. However, this was the same story when we we running 10C lipos. Now lipo capabilities have been increased 4x over. Logic would suggest that if 8400mah is required for this setup now, something like 30,000mah would have been required only a few years ago.

Were your lipos getting hot?

[photohoward1]

BTW I see on the Castle web page all Marine ESCs' have been discontinued. They always said boaters were a pain. They lost too much money on us. Looks like china is the only game in town now.

[Fluid]

....The CC guy said I was "blowing the legs off the caps" by not running the recommended MAH. I didnt know what he was talkin about exactly. I upped my MAH and no trouble since.

"Blowing the legs off the caps" is a very good indication that you were having very high ripple currents due to excessive amp draw for that particular battery setup. Going to higher mAh (which is really just increasing the pack's ability to deliver adequate power to the motor) solved the problem, another indication that a poor pack configuration was the issue. As Tyler stated it would be good to see the ripple current and total current logs.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but the only Castle ICE controllers I've damaged were in extreme SAW setups. I've been running a couple for 3+ years in high-power P and Q race setups pulling between 170 and 200 amps continuous and they haven't skipped a beat. No extra caps either. I do run premium packs (45C-65C not cheap packs) with capacities between 5000 and 10,000 mAh, my power wires are short, I use good connectors - and most of my running is heat racing where run time is seldom much over 2 minutes. These may be the reasons I don't burn then up. Oh, and I never get them wet either. The best way to destroy an ESC is to get it wet then run it without thoroughly drying it out at least overnight.






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[longballlumber]

Try as I might I can't find where Castle has discontinued the Hydra ICE controllers.....

.

Here you go...

Later,
Ball

[T.S.Davis]

My Castle ICE 240's simply would not work on my Q sport setup. The old Hydra 240LV works flawlessly. It will run on an ICE200 though.

How come we never have a had a boat guy design an ESC for a manufacturer? The last guy to tackle it was Andy. Those old RC hydro esc are still running.

The Castles worked but they were designed by plane guys and then adapted to boats. If the Ice started with more and/or bigger caps from the beginning they would have been less prone to injury from ripple.

The only speedo that ever had enough caps on them were the Figthercats but those had so many quality issues it was hit n' miss. One worked great and the next would melt all the solder off the boards in a puddle of molten goo.

[RaceMechaniX]

Terry,

It comes down to numbers. I spoke with one of the Castle guys are heard they sell 100:1 airplane controllers versus boat controllers. Also boat controllers came back for failures much more frequently and are more costly to repair due to conformal coating removal and reapplication. I am surprised they continued with marine versions as long as they did.

We do have many other good options, just not an inexpensive, US based company with good tech support.

TG

[Fluid]

My Castle ICE 240's simply would not work on my Q sport setup. The old Hydra 240LV works flawlessly. It will run on an ICE200 though...

What was your setup Terry? I've run my Q Sport for three years on the same ICE240 no problems. Won a lot of races too. Neu 1527/1Y, 6S1P/6500 mAH, ICE240. The ICE200 is physically identical to the ICE240 down to the four caps. Just different heatsinks and firmware. Since it is heat which limits an ESC not the amps, they rated the marine version at 240 amps rather than the 200 of the air cooled version.





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[tlandauer]

Sorry to jump in, I have a PT Hydro with a Neu 2215 1y, was thinking for sport run 6s2p with this Ice 240 , should I buy one before stock dries out?
What is out there that would give me this rating with good customer support.
Apologies for yanking this a bit.

[photohoward1]

Who will fix it if it breaks? That is always the Question. I have about 5 Schulze that I use and once they go....they go. Swordfish has some nice options but the warranty is suspect on them too.

Sorry to jump in, I have a PT Hydro with a Neu 2215 1y, was thinking for sport run 6s2p with this Ice 240 , should I buy one before stock dries out?
What is out there that would give me this rating with good customer support.
Apologies for yanking this a bit.

[keithbradley]

Looks like china is the only game in town now.

Castle ESCs are made in China as well, so this didn't tip the scales in that direction at all.
There are still a few European companies out there that make quality components, but they are of course not in the same price range as Chinese ESCs.

[Fluid]

...I have about 5 Schulze that I use and once they go....they go...

Try this: http://www.matthias-schulze-elektronik.com/


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[T.S.Davis]

Neu 2215 1y, was thinking for sport run 6s2p with this Ice 240

Yep that. Mine wouldn't run on the 240. They wouldn't burst into flames or anything dramatic. They would just die.

Somebody used to always use this phrase....."Choose any two of the following. Fast, reliable, cheap."

It may be that these are the future of the upper crust. If they were just a little more reasonable they would be getting a lot of attention from the boat guys.

http://www.rocketcityracing.com/Race-Boats_c_129.html

[Fluid]

I used MGMs 5-6 years ago. Worked alright...for awhile then they'd just stop. Send 'em back to the maker and they'd come back and work...for awhile. Maybe they are better today. Still have one sitting around waiting to be sent back.




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[T.S.Davis]

Ken was running MGM when we went to Jersey in 2006. They were fairly reliable for him but pricey. Peterson runs them now. Well, he was at least. I thought he'd had pretty good luck with them.

We've established, I think, that none of them are from here. So couple some boating expert knowledge with a decent inexpensive manufacturer out of country and we should be able to make something viable. Maybe Heifi and/or Seaking something. IDK. Frustrating. Aren't the Swordfish already pretty close to where we want them to be already? I thought there was something tricky about calibration though.

[photohoward1]

Ken was running MGM when we went to Jersey in 2006. They were fairly reliable for him but pricey. Peterson runs them now. Well, he was at least. I thought he'd had pretty good luck with them.

Peterson runs YGE Controllers.