Castle esc discontinued

[gadou]

Hello,

I'm new here.

I'm currently building an electric "sport 40". I've been out of the hobby for the past 10 years.

I was looking at a Castle esc but saw they were all discontinued. Any idea why???

Should I get one anyway or is there something equivalent out there. I loved the idea of the data logging system.

Thanks for your help!!!

[photohoward1]

The Reps always said that Boaters were a pain in the Butt! I am sure they were loosing too much money on us.

[Fluid]

I'm not certain where you saw that the current Castle ICE controllers have been discontinued. They are still listed on Castle's site with BUY NOW buttons, and don't have a DISCONTINUED notation like the older Hydras do. Too, they haven't been dumping them at under half price like they are the discontinued ICE airplane/heli controllers in the Garage Sale. Am I missing something?

BTW I've used a ICE240 in my Q Sport Hydro for years and it has been bullet proof.



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[Alexgar]

If you click on the boating products it says all marine products have been discontinued at the top of the page

[martin]

If you go to Castle Creations web site & click boat sections it has a note All marine products have been discontinued.

[martin]

Alexgar you beat me to it.

[longballlumber]

Wow... as a Castle user/supporter this could have a huge impact on our hobby.

[Fluid]

Now I see it - I needed to refresh my browser.

Fortunately I use the airplane controllers exclusively now anyway.



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[cybercrxt]

Well, I have been converting the Airplane controllers to water cooled here lately anyways (thanks to a friends advise!), so it is what it is. The conversion makes for a more compact, and better cooled controller anyways. You just have to use a pistix. Other than that, no biggie. Figured it was coming. Mike

[Fluid]

Actually, Spectrum DX transmitters can use the Castle airplane controllers without an PiStix; maybe others can too. I've stopped using all my PiStix, which BTW had QA/QC issues.


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[urbs00007]

fluid, do you make your own water cooling blocks?

[cybercrxt]

I have had great luck with the pistix sold on OSE...Mikes subworks is the brand. I guess I need to start an ESC conversion service for Castle airplane controllers soon! If anyone is interested, just PM me. Mike

[longballlumber]

This is something I have been meaning to ask anyhow since many have been doing it for awhile. Does, anyone have input for those of us who prefer to do it ourselves? I am already a "stick" guy so the need for the pistix is eliminated.

Thanks
Mike

[olwarbirds]

Pistix: been around RC for years, even work in Hobbyshop and have never heard of this...is it something some wheeled controllers need to use airplane esc's ? I use Spek DX3 controllers and Spek marine rcvrs, so from what im understanding i dont need a pistix ?

[T.S.Davis]

Greaaat, another gaping hole in the market.

[kfxguy]

fluid, do you make your own water cooling blocks?

I do......

[Fluid]

I have had great luck with the pistix sold on OSE...Mikes subworks is the brand....

Those are the only ones I've used. Three went south on me in three years, two club members had the same issues. One more thing to fail in a critical system - KISS.

[gadou]

Just got of the phone with a lady at Castle.

They dumped the boat line because it is a business decision.

They cannot get parts to make them according to what she told me.

She also told me that if I was to buy a new one they would honor the warranty as long as they have parts to do the repairs.

So, I'm not going to spend 300$ on an esc that I will not be able to get fixed or repaired if breaks or blows up...

Any suggestion for an equivalent would be appreciated.

[Fluid]

Pistix: been around RC for years, even work in Hobbyshop and have never heard of this...is it something some wheeled controllers need to use airplane esc's ? I use Spek DX3 controllers and Spek marine rcvrs, so from what im understanding i dont need a pistix ?

Years ago when we had few brushless ESCs available a boater names Andy Kunz designed the PiStix so that airplane controllers could be used with wheel radios. Andy now designs radios for Horizon. Most wheel transmitters don't have enough throttle trim adjustment to allow the use of airplane ESCs, the Spektrum DX series does. Maybe others do too, I don't know. But the PiStix solves that problem. Andy used to make them but he gave the rights to Mike's Subworks.


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[olwarbirds]

Castle: has been having alot of warranty issues for awhile now, we had probs with car esc's at hobbyshop (brand new) being bad and them taking 6 weeks or more to replace them.... the statement of " cannot get parts to make them " is totally an excuse to appease.... Traxxas has had it with Castle too. Im with gadou, Im not paying 300$ for an item i cant get repaired. T.S. exactly, we need a good marine esc for HV apps. I personally dont mind converting plane esc's but mine will NOT be castle products. Guess I need to rethink my GP400 power setup.... DJ

Fluid tks for info, I know Andy from Spek...did alot of testing with him on the first Spek DX8I....

[Fluid]

This is something I have been meaning to ask anyhow since many have been doing it for awhile. Does, anyone have input for those of us who prefer to do it ourselves? I am already a "stick" guy so the need for the pistix is eliminated.

Once you strip all the aluminum heat sink junk off the ICE240 there isn't much left. Just a single board with metal bars along the edges and surface-mounted FETs. A real easy method which works okay is to glue aluminum plates on the top and bottom of each side of the board - the plates must touch the FETs and the bars along the sides. Then glue an aluminum tube to each plate. You have to use a thermal-transmitting glue like Loctite 384 adhesive and 7387 activator for the plates. I prefer a high-silver epoxy for the tubes. Then heat shrink the whole thing, the whole controller ends up being much smaller. A machined extrusion works a bit better if you can find one. Just make sure that the left and right sides have NO electrical connection or they will let out the smoke...

Here is a photo of a Castle ICE 200 Lite, which looks identical to the HydraIce without the heat sink junk, and a smaller one opened up to show what I am talking about. The latter would need the gummy stuff removed before attaching cooling plates.


zzz1z.jpgzzzz.jpg .

[cybercrxt]

In response to the Pistix..You have to spray them down with Corrosion X. If they get wet, they will fry, if they have Corrosion X on them..they last. I have been using them for quite a while with no problems..but I did have problems before they were coated in X.

In response to do it yourself on the conversion...sure, but to do one right, aluminum angle, aluminum tube, thermal transferring adhesive, conformal coating, 2 sizes of heavy duty heat shrink, you will be in it for $100 in materials. Granted, I have done 6 controllers so far, and still have plenty of thermal transferring adhesive and conformal coating, and just not ran low on aluminum and heat shrink. Just depends on how many you are wanting to do.

I have been finding that timing settings on Castle ice esc's are key. If you are running a D wind, you better have the timing on Low (0), if you have a Y wind, you can run Normal (5 i think). If you run a D wind on anything more than Low..you will trigger the thermal protection trigger. If you run it properly, you can take a 40" 12lb O/B Tunnel boat and with proper setup obviously, count on the controller to be fine at 79.5mph in SAW form..This was on a 200a Castle Ice Airplane LV controller on 6s. I have run these same LV ICE Controllers on 8s in scales.. no issues.

YOU HAVE TO USE EXTERNAL CAP BANKS ON ANY AND ALL CASTLE ICE MARINE OR AIRPLANE CONTROLLERS...IF YOU DONT, THEY WILL BURN. IF YOU DO, AND YOU HAVE YOUR TIMING RIGHT, YOU CONTROLLER WILL LAST. Every person that has asked me why their Castle ESC burnt...I asked them the above questions, and every time, either timing was wrong, or no cap bank was used. Not saying my theory is bullet proof, but I have seen great results, and put them through the test.

Mike

[cybercrxt]

Once you strip all the aluminum heat sink junk off the ICE240 there isn't much left. Just a single board with metal bars along the edges and surface-mounted FETs. A real easy method which works okay is to glue aluminum plates on the top and bottom of each side of the board - the plates must touch the FETs and the bars along the sides. Then glue an aluminum tube to each plate. You have to use a thermal-transmitting glue like Loctite 384 adhesive and 7387 activator for the plates. I prefer a high-silver epoxy for the tubes. Then heat shrink the whole thing, the whole controller ends up being much smaller. A machined extrusion works a bit better if you can find one. Just make sure that the left and right sides have NO electrical connection or they will let out the smoke...

Here is a photo of a Castle ICE 200 Lite, which looks identical to the HydraIce without the heat sink junk, and a smaller one opened up to show what I am talking about. The latter would need the gummy stuff removed before attaching cooling plates.


zzz1z.jpgzzzz.jpg .

Looks like someone learned how to convert from the same person I did! Nice work Fluid! I will take some pics of some I have converted, and some I will do soon. Mike

[ron1950]

Went to castle site last night and saw everything discontinued... wow. Ad news...

Ow after reading about the timing from Mike ..what wind is a castle 2028 motor? Thanks

[Darin Jordan]

I have had very good luck running the Castle ICE series controllers. If you can get the "Lite" series, you don't have to strip anything off. Make up some cooling plates and go run them.

With Spektrum, you can just modify the trim and endpoint settings and it will run the Airplane controllers without needing any special adapter.

Conformal coating is cheap and easy to apply, so I just add it myself.

The marine segment of the RC market is pennies compared to the rest of what's out there. The saving grace for the radio market is the fact that many RC Car/Truck guys want to be able to puddle-bash, so more and more of their RXs are "water resistant"... which is good for us. Same with their ESCs.

Might want to consider looking into the big 6-cell and 1/5th scale sized car controllers. LOTS of those out there, and they are basically the same as the 200 and 240A Castles.

[HOTWATER]

Just got of the phone with a lady at Castle.

They dumped the boat line because it is a business decision.

They cannot get parts to make them according to what she told me.

She also told me that if I was to buy a new one they would honor the warranty as long as they have parts to do the repairs.

So, I'm not going to spend 300$ on an esc that I will not be able to get fixed or repaired if breaks or blows up...

Any suggestion for an equivalent would be appreciated.

Gadou, may I post this quote for the guys on the International Waters site?

Thanks,

Kent

[gadou]

I 've put my reply on IW Kent.

[HOTWATER]

Ok...thanks!

[Gary]

Boy that's too bad about Castle. They were such a nice compact ESC.

[ray schrauwen]

Blame Pags , he owns so many Castles and I'm not sure how many pooched out last year at MI. I remember he tried 3 esc's to get a boat going before a heat and he couldn't get it going.

Greaaat, another gaping hole in the market.