Was anyone aware?

[Bill-SOCAL]

And in the case of the 240HV it is blowing, and starting fires, just sitting there on a stand in the pits. And the several that I am aware of are very experienced boaters who have not wired something wrong, etc.

I had similar experiences with their early controllers in foamies. Plug them in and watch them burn. Not fun and not acceptable.

So yes, poor set up is one thing and I can understand how they might be reluctant to cover those situations. But really, is it at all acceptable for a controller to catch fire while just sitting there waiting to go??

[Steven Vaccaro]

Steven, the point is that the guys that have chimed in are expererieced FE boaters and do not run silly setups.
CC does seem to have a problem with the Hydra series.
I have a Hydra 120 on 1.3 software and no issues.

Douggie

I respectfully disagree.

Racers have the "potential" to burn up more esc's than some of the new guys out there. Racers push setups to capacity and beyond. Its part of racing. I'm not saying all problems are user related because they are all not. I'm sure there are defective esc's out there. What I'm saying is that as a "dealer" I have HARD real data that tells me Castle doesn't have the big issues that you may think. If they did I would STOP selling them immediately! I can say as a user of the Castle esc's that I have 3 Hydra esc's that I have used this past summer. No blown controls.

[Flying Scotsman]

Steven, the racers know when they have pushed the envelope and expect the magic smoke. That is life but hooking up the batteries correctly?

Douggie

[Steven Vaccaro]

So yes, poor set up is one thing and I can understand how they might be reluctant to cover those situations. But really, is it at all acceptable for a controller to catch fire while just sitting there waiting to go??

No it isn't and its a HUGE liability factor to the manufacturer. If this happened to me I would be on the phone IMEDIATLY to Castle. This is the first I've heard of a sitting esc just catching fire. Most I've heard were powered than tested. Once tested they would turn the motor a few rpm and go up in flames.

[Bill-SOCAL]

John Fruge' and Howard Tucker both had them go up in flames just sitting there plugged in.

[Steven Vaccaro]

John Fruge' and Howard Tucker both had them go up in flames just sitting there plugged in.

Crazy & scary! Were these both brand new controls?

[Bill-SOCAL]

John's was. First day with the boat. Several successful runs that day, just sitting there after taking it out of the water. He got lazy about unplugging things immediately and then while just sitting there next to it up it went. Inside of the boat was totally smoked!!

[properchopper]

Steven, the racers know when they have pushed the envelope and expect the magic smoke. That is life but hooking up the batteries correctly?

Douggie

I agree with Douggie relative to race setups. With the obvious exception of SAW racing, a heat raceboat needs to survive a 2 +/- minute heat, or 4 min offshore race. Appropriate propping to insure race duration normally sets the limits of what the motor, SC, & batteries can endure so "safety-zone" setups are mandatory. Fun running, on the other hand, to "see how fast she'll go" often imposes entry into the danger zone. Ever since I converted my setups from " banzai" to "race", no smoked CC SC's. Most of my fried CC's happened from the digesting the dreaded Legg Weed Slaw. To be fair to the HV guys, I'm a 4S runner and haven't had the problems that they seem to have although I've witnessed Jan's frustration numerous times.

[Doug Smock]

John's was. First day with the boat. Several successful runs that day, just sitting there after taking it out of the water. He got lazy about unplugging things immediately and then while just sitting there next to it up it went. Inside of the boat was totally smoked!!

Interesting.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Ok, so Doug and Props, guys are saying that racers know not to push setups to their limits? Lets be realistic, how many seasoned racers are there out there with enough setup time under their belt to not push setups? AGAIN I AM NOT SAYING THERE ARE NO DEFECTIVE ESC'S. Just please don't tell me that just because someone drops a boat in the water in a race setting, that he knows or has the knowledge not to make a mistake.

AND FOR THE THIRD TIME, just in-case someone has missed this, I'm not arguing the fact that there are instances where the esc's should NOT blow.

[Steven Vaccaro]

John's was. First day with the boat. Several successful runs that day, just sitting there after taking it out of the water. He got lazy about unplugging things immediately and then while just sitting there next to it up it went. Inside of the boat was totally smoked!!

Maybe it had something to do with the sitting for a while, while under battery power. This should be passed on to Castle for them to look into.

I have not left the power on a esc for a while to see what would happen with a Castle. I did by accident leave a Asian esc on and it got hot enough to start to soften the shrink wrap.

DISCLAIMER: I'M NOT blaming John for this!

[Steven Vaccaro]

Interesting.

Doug for a guy that eats alot of popcorn, you are awfully thin!

[Eyekandyboats]

you guys just need to learn how to use the esc's
i have 12 CC esc's and only 4 have failed since 2006.. and they were all my fault because i didn't take the time to set things up.



one thing many people don't know which will make the esc prematurely fail is failure of the CAPS.
every time you plug it in that spark will be there. some times when you get litle or no spark the Caps arent working and the full shock is taken though the PCM board which will cause failure.
it is alwayse a good idea to replace the caps when they start to go

[Eyekandyboats]

you guys just need to learn how to use the esc's
i have 12 CC esc's and only 4 have failed since 2006.. and they were all my fault because i didn't take the time to set things up.



one thing many people don't know which will make the esc prematurely fail is failure of the CAPS.
every time you plug it in that spark will be there. some times when you get litle or no spark the Caps arent working and the full shock is taken though the PCM board which will cause failure.
it is alwayse a good idea to replace the caps when they start to go

[Bill-SOCAL]

you guys just need to learn how to use the esc's
i have 12 CC esc's and only 4 have failed since 2006.. and they were all my fault because i didn't take the time to set things up.

I am sorry Taylor but the failures that I know of can in no way be attributed to people not knowing what they were doing. This is with the 240HV that I am speaking. When a ESC flares upon plugging it in there is very little that can be caused by user error beyond wrong wiring. And the guys I know of simply did not wire things wrong.

Simple fact is that there are failures that are NOT user error. True many failures are caused by the user, but not in the cases I am talking about.