Castle Ice controllers

[hebner]

Nick,
Sent you a PM
Hugh

[Fluid]

Way to go Hugh, tight-hole the rest of us why don't ya!




.

[hebner]

Didn't want to clutter the Castle Ice Controller thread.

[RCprince]

There's a lot of nice things that the Ice may offer .... but at what price point! After losing 2 Hydra 240's this weekend I have to say I am more than a little gun shy in investing in an even more expensive ESC!

Not trashing Castle here .... just pure economics!

I've seen the 100amp 34v for 115.00

[Raydee]

Yeah the Ice controllers are a bargain, if the boat esc's follow the lead then they might be priced better than the current hydra's too.

[Joe Ford]

And most likely they will be pretty low. The ICEs are priced lower than the Phoenix controllers they're replacing. More of everything (quality, processing power, etc) for less $. Selling like hot cakes.

bustit...should be ok, just watch motor and ESC temps. You're pushing the voltage of the ESC, but as long as you use good quality batteries and set her up right you shouldn't have a problem. Don't let her run wet though. For the spark arrestor...use a 1 ohm 5W resistor. Anything higher and you can have cutoff issues...especially when we add auto-lipo function to the software in the next release (yes, I've been making waves for us boaters :) ).

Eod....two???? What happened? Did you email me @ work at all? Send them in? Shoot me a PM and we'll get this resolved. Didn't take it as trash talking. I realize that problems happen...keep a cool head and I'm willing to work with anyone. Raised by a lifer Marine though so piss me off and I'm sure you know the rest...just like my dad. lol Seriously though, doesn't matter if you were calling me every name in the book...I'm always willing and happy to help our customers even if starting off on the wrong foot. No worries about posing hard questions. I don't run and hide.

[Raydee]

Joe, you don't fly heli or plane do you? I have a pretty technical question for one of the CC guys about my Ice 75 in my 500 size heli that I installed today.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Joe will there be any higher amp Ice controls released?

[Eodman]

Yeah Joe, I have a Toysport Jolly that's twin drive.

Setup is as follows 2- Feigao 8xl's watercooled, Hydra 240's, Counter rotating Octura x442 props & Hyperion G3 4s1p lipos 1 per side.

Went to hook the batteries up - got the first one hooked as I finished hooking up the second one the 1st one let the smoke out followed by the second one! Got a spark and I was looking for the genie!

Never found that girl!

Joe I have to say Castle has been very supportive of me and my fellow servicemen ... but I can only afford this a few times before I start to look at other alternatives!

That's not bad mouthing it just comes down to finances! I know you guys are trying your damndest to resolve this!

This is the Cat in question at speed late last year!

[Joe Ford]

Steve...can't comment there. I hope so though.

Eod...definitely going to do everything in my power. Not liking the fact that a cheap chinese ESC is starting to be considered superior to our product...for what you guys pay it should work all the way up until you mess up. LOL Not that I've ever smoked an ESC before doing such things. Beautiful cat BTW! If you haven't sent those ESCs in yet, send them to my attention please. I have a feeling something happened in the first ESC and somehow took out the second...what, I'll try and figure out.

[sailr]

Joe, are the ICE controllers going to come out in something higher than 100A?

[Ub Hauled]

Joe, are the ICE controllers going to come out in something higher than 100A?

Not known,
View post #38 & #40

[DISAR]

One question that should be answered by Mr.Ford is if they have come up to any conclusion why some of the Hydras HV died on plug in or soon after. Is it programing-software? material defect? poor workmaship-assembly? user handling? impedance? high volts? high amps? extra long cables? water submersion?
The thing is that some work OK and some die, there must be a reason for this and a good explanation may attract people back to Hydras HV.

The most common causes can be used also as NOT TO DO items in order to have our ESCs live longer. Mr.Joe Ford pls help us!

[Ub Hauled]

He just got his hands on one and is examining, like he posted either here on this thread or one other thread going on .... jury is out.

[ozzie-crawl]

i know i ramble on a bit about the himodel/mystery esc,s
but as far as the hydras go if they were near bullet proof i would try and scrap the coin up to try one, but then what you pay in the u.s for a 240 i would only get a 120. then if there is a problem its larger shipping costs as well. thats why the mystery/himodels i believe are so popular= cheap out lay if there is a problem buying a new one isnt much more expensive than the return postage for a hydra warranty
my 2c
scott

[DISAR]

I have lost 5 himodel 200As until now and I will not buy again one. 2-3 of them died with no apparent reason, during programming-after launching-during playing.
No matter water-cooling-proofing etc. they died

[Joe Ford]

One question that should be answered by Mr.Ford is if they have come up to any conclusion why some of the Hydras HV died on plug in or soon after. Is it programing-software? material defect? poor workmaship-assembly? user handling? impedance? high volts? high amps? extra long cables? water submersion?
The thing is that some work OK and some die, there must be a reason for this and a good explanation may attract people back to Hydras HV.

The most common causes can be used also as NOT TO DO items in order to have our ESCs live longer. Mr.Joe Ford pls help us!

Working on it. :)

[jantagg]

Dear Joe,

I sent in for repair my HV240 controller after it smoked after the first run. I admit that the boat was bouncing badly and that most likely caused the current to surge. (6S/2P P-Sport hydro.) Thankfully, you are going to replace the controller at no charge.

I spoke to a Castle tech. guy to day about the problem with the HV controllers (I use the LV240 without any trouble) and he informed me that it is best to use the HV controller only during time of smooth water. That seems a bit impractical so, I hope that Castle will work on fixing the software problem. MY MGM controller doesn't seem to have the problem; but, I don't trust it with a 10S setup.

I would buy American products, even if they cost a bit more, if they were quality reliable products.

Tom T

[Raydee]

I flew my Heli today with the GOV mode setup. The Data logger is probably one of the best things in a ESC I have ever seen. No extra wires for a seperate data logger to deal with, just plug in your castle link and download the info. Make's setup a breeze, no more guessing. I truely can't wait till they are available for the boats. For the price of the ESC, you get a ESC, data logger and a BEC.....win win win!!!!

Sorry :)

[Ub Hauled]

OOOOOOOOOOOO Lordie lord!!!!!

[Joe Ford]

Dear Joe,

I sent in for repair my HV240 controller after it smoked after the first run. I admit that the boat was bouncing badly and that most likely caused the current to surge. (6S/2P P-Sport hydro.) Thankfully, you are going to replace the controller at no charge.

I spoke to a Castle tech. guy to day about the problem with the HV controllers (I use the LV240 without any trouble) and he informed me that it is best to use the HV controller only during time of smooth water. That seems a bit impractical so, I hope that Castle will work on fixing the software problem. MY MGM controller doesn't seem to have the problem; but, I don't trust it with a 10S setup.

I would buy American products, even if they cost a bit more, if they were quality reliable products.

Tom T

Who said that? I think he may be referring to very choppy water where the prop comes out of the water (along with the rest of the boat), the prop unloads, and then hits the water at very high speed....and then there's a huge amp spike. This is hard on a controller, but IMO I don't think that would be too much of an issue...especially since I've done this quite a few times learning to drive these things and haven't had an issue. It's not a software issue he was referring to...it's an amperage issue. I'm the "boat guy" now so just email me. The more I drive these the more info I'll be able to help out with. I'm a sponge when it comes to something I have interest in. I do all the emails at support@castlecreations.com...put "OE FORUMS" as the title and I'll get to it asap.

[domwilson]

Hey Joe,

I asked a this last night. I guess it got overlooked with all the questions you were being asked..."For me, Auto lipo as the default would be fine as most people use lipos I would say. Will it allow for manual adjustment of the cutoff voltage? What is the proposed cutoff voltage for auto-lipo?"

[Joe Ford]

Gotcha. I see now that there was one other person that replied. Maybe I'll start a poll. :)

[Joe Ford]

There...poll started. https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...ad.php?t=10134

[sailr]

Think about how cool it would be if you could read that data at the site! Castle needs to make a small LCD 'readout box' giving you the basics like peak amps, peak volts, max motor temp, max battery temp, etc. This would be incredibly helpful in choosing the correct prop, etc. without needing to go back home and plug into your computer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, get a laptop.

Joe, you reading this? A chinese manufacturer is already working on their 'at site' readout box!

I flew my Heli today with the GOV mode setup. The Data logger is probably one of the best things in a ESC I have ever seen. No extra wires for a seperate data logger to deal with, just plug in your castle link and download the info. Make's setup a breeze, no more guessing. I truely can't wait till they are available for the boats. For the price of the ESC, you get a ESC, data logger and a BEC.....win win win!!!!

Sorry :)

[sailr]

Isn't this what the extra caps like ETTI sells are supposed to do, to soften the spikes? Maybe this is the answer Joe? Or larger caps? Just wondering.

Who said that? I think he may be referring to very choppy water where the prop comes out of the water (along with the rest of the boat), the prop unloads, and then hits the water at very high speed....and then there's a huge amp spike. This is hard on a controller, but IMO I don't think that would be too much of an issue...especially since I've done this quite a few times learning to drive these things and haven't had an issue. It's not a software issue he was referring to...it's an amperage issue. I'm the "boat guy" now so just email me. The more I drive these the more info I'll be able to help out with. I'm a sponge when it comes to something I have interest in. I do all the emails at support@castlecreations.com...put "OE FORUMS" as the title and I'll get to it asap.

[Jeff Wohlt]

Guys, just to put in perspective...my buddy runs a ammo 2300 KV in a BJ with 4S and m440 and never an issue with the UL1 ESC...rated for only 60 amps. HELLO! That is a pretty hot set up...burned a motor but the ESC has not flinched.

So when I see stuff like 8XL 2084 KV and 240 amp ESCs popping then it is the controller. No two ways about it. Either poor parts or very poor programming.

Joe, it seems like CC is reacting like this is the first you have heard of this stuff. I would estimate many, many have been returned just from the guys here and that is just one board...what happened to all that data of fixing them?

Don't mean to down any product but this is far from the first. I would certainly think these are at least hooked up to batteries for a QC check but it really does not look like it.

I congratulate you on your service but there are bigger issues and have been for some time.

[bustitup]

Working on it. :)

Joe
Mine is the hv240 that is on its way to you..please let me know when you receive it

also so you know the whole history.....I got that esc about two weeks ago...it was brand new sealed in the box....I took it out of the box and installed the water lines and 5.5 bullet connectors.... I then hooked it up to castle link and only thing I set from default was the voltage cut off and set it at 19.2 volts......then installed it in the boat to bench test it on 6s1p.....I proceeded to bind it to my tactic 2.4 ghz....I then turned on the transmitter and held the throttle trigger wide open and had my son plug in the battery....we immediately got a unreal huge spark and the esc flashed a red light a few times and made a sequence of beeps and then nothing, dead....no smoke...i took it back to my computer and hooked it to the castle link and it wouldn't recognize the esc...it showed a usb connection but no esc....then removed all the bullets and hose lines and shipped it to you

[DISAR]

I would certainly think these are at least hooked up to batteries for a QC check but it really does not look like it.

The QC check with voltage applied should be always done. Is it?

[Ub Hauled]

Guys, just to put in perspective...my buddy runs a ammo 2300 KV in a BJ with 4S and m440 and never an issue with the UL1 ESC...rated for only 60 amps. HELLO! That is a pretty hot set up...burned a motor but the ESC has not flinched.

Jeff, I too run a big mod prop (43mm) not an issue with the motor or ESC...