New ESC new problem

[Gary]

I have been testing the Castle Mamba 1/5 esc as it appears to be a clone of the marine version no longer made. Problem is boat is off speed wise by about 6-8 mph. No matter when I test regardless of batteries or conditions it will not budge past 94mph which is very strange, even with bad runs or early shut downs. When I look at the data it has spikes of 360amps and as far as continuous goes I can not read it.Temps never over 170* The marine esc's would read about the same as well. Motor rpm's are down 2,000rpm and I am thinking that mabe the current limiter may have something to do with it but can not tell.
So the question is does the current limiter just slowly pull back amps or is it a quick cut off? I did not have my lap top to program in a very low setting to see what happens but before I head out again tomorrow morning I thought I would ask. Other than that ESC works perfect. Thanks

[kevinpratt823]

I believe it is basically just a "ceiling" if you will, it does not cut off as it is designed to limit wheelspin out of corners mostly. I spoke to Castle about it in their 1/8 controllers long ago, and I was told that it does spike momentarily before the controller recognizes it and reacts to limit it, but we're talking fractions of fractions of a second. Not sure about Castle stuff, but the current limit in all the Tekin stuff I run in cars is only in effect at lower throttle positions but allows max current at full throttle. Not sure about your boat, but in my maybe limited experience the current peaks under acceleration then falls off a bit as the boat planes off and then winds out, I would think if held open long enough the current would back off and allow the motor to rev the rest of the way. In cars the current limit does not affect top speed at all, just how aggressive the initial power is.

Maybe somebody who has run this controller in a boat will have more info for you, but this is how I understand it.

[Gary]

Ok thanks Kevin. But remember the 240 ice marine controllers had the same set up where you could adjust the "current limit" just like this one. Hopefully someone else will chime in.
I do know I can see 350-390amp readings on the "MAX" amperage data log that I have seen over a few years of recordings with the marine units. Its funny too because on the program screen it says you can "Disable" the current limit but you can't, there is no way to do it. I will call Castle tuesday for more info before I get in to deep.

[ray schrauwen]

Subbed...

[madmikepags]

Set current limiter to highest or to off, this limits current at the beginning of the application of throttle so as to be like a traction control in a vehicle, this is not necessary in a boat. the other thing to try is after calibration to your radio raise your forward throttle EPA on your radio to 120% sometimes controllers dont reach the high end of the throttle on some radios?

[Gary]

Just got off the phone with Castle and had a very long talk on there ESC's. They are not sure if the controller is hitting the cut off because it should show me in the data log that the amp chart will have a red flat line at or above max amperage but my numbers are showing 365 amps at max. Again even talking with them I could not read the continuous amps. They did tell me to use the EDGE 200 because you can "shut off" the amperage and disable it,the ESC, with no protection.
So in the end still not sure whats going on.
Mike I tried all that and it made no difference but thanks.

[urbs00007]

try to contact fluid. he runs these controllers. how did you cool the esc? does it run cooler than your 240 did?

[kfxguy]

I would add a cap bank to it if you havent, I think that might help some with your current spikes...to help protect the controller. I run them on every boat application.

If you are using any torque limiting, it will go slower. We used torque limiting in buggies and they slowed down about 10mph. Just some ideas

[Gary]

Thanks. Yes I add cap banks to everything I run. I am starting to think mabe the batteries are just done. They are a little puffy but my TP's always seem to do that. I just ordered two Revo batteries and hope they will perform better than the very expensive Thunder Power's.At less than half the cost, worth a shot.

[ray schrauwen]

You should have a lot of fun with those packs. Did you get Silver or Diamond packs?

Thanks. Yes I add cap banks to everything I run. I am starting to think mabe the batteries are just done. They are a little puffy but my TP's always seem to do that. I just ordered two Revo batteries and hope they will perform better than the very expensive Thunder Power's.At less than half the cost, worth a shot.

[Gary]

Silver. Hope they pack more punch than Thunder Powers!!

Hey John long time no see!! We have to get together some time!