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Thread: Water cooled mamba xl2

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    Default Water cooled mamba xl2

    Try to make the story short....I wanted an ice 240 in my Rivercat im building. Well they don't make them anymore as you all know, but I found out quite some time back that a mamba xl2 is the exact same esc except (per castle and I have a burnt one I compared to confirm this) the top shell is different because it's air cooled and the firmware is a little different. I prefer how a car based esc drives anyway, so a plus for me. So I picked up a mamba xl2 and decided to water cool it. Me being me, I couldn't just epoxy some tubing to it and call it a day. No. I had to make crap complicated as I usually do lol. I wanted to show what I ended up with as it looks pretty cool I think.

    First off I changed the caps on the board. It can with 35v caps. Hmmm. Common sense tells me it's probably not so good to cut it that close, especially if I run 8s through the thing. Sitting voltage with hv cells is 34.16v. Too close for me. So in went 50v caps. Then I lightly coated the whole circuit boards with clear epoxy like I use on everything else. This things are known for going out if water if thinks about getting close. Next I milled off the Fins to make way for two cooling blocks I milled.




    Then here's the cooling blocks.




    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Epoxy coated the board. I did the little board too. That thing has been known to unplug and kill the esc. I taped it good after plugging in and put heat shrink over it. It should never come unplugged.





    Finished unit. I bench tested it for a bit and appears to work perfect. My luck, it will last about 30 seconds when I throw the boat in the water haha!



    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    It's also sealed with black silicon so water should not enter but in case it does the epoxy should guard it. Here it is sitting in the new Rivercat im building.




    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    And a couple more pics. What do you guys think?






    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Looks really beautiful as always! Man, that block look as good as it can be!
    So you are saying that this is essentially the same as the 240 A ESC that CC discontinued? How is the firmware differ between land and sea? I assume you can disable the "reverse" feature for boat use.
    Forgive me for asking as I am still not quite clear , do you use regular epoxy to coat the board?
    Too many boats, not enough time...

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    Quote Originally Posted by tlandauer View Post
    Looks really beautiful as always! Man, that block look as good as it can be!
    So you are saying that this is essentially the same as the 240 A ESC that CC discontinued? How is the firmware differ between land and sea? I assume you can disable the "reverse" feature for boat use.
    Forgive me for asking as I am still not quite clear , do you use regular epoxy to coat the board?
    Thanks! Yes it's the same except the top shell of it is designed for air cooling. As far as firmware differences I'm not sure but I think I remember him saying something about the throttle curve being different. I have a ice 240 also and the boards are identical.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    You can fool the esc into thinking it's a marine if you choose the marine version in software, so I was told by Larry Jaques but, I have not tried yet. Still not sure how I want to mod mine. Some have lightly mentioned that this has possibly current limiting but, I have no idea??

    Looks good, well,, let us know what it's like on water. We'll be frozen here for a while.
    Nortavlag Bulc

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    Yes that is good!! I've been wanting to do similar on my cc esc's. As I don't like how the past marine 4 tube cooling was. Thanks for sharing and great mod!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by ray schrauwen View Post
    You can fool the esc into thinking it's a marine if you choose the marine version in software, so I was told by Larry Jaques but, I have not tried yet. Still not sure how I want to mod mine. Some have lightly mentioned that this has possibly current limiting but, I have no idea??

    Looks good, well,, let us know what it's like on water. We'll be frozen here for a while.
    I actually like the way car escs drive anyway. Yes it has current limiting. Might be a good thing. Lol. I'm gonna test it in something soon.
    Last edited by kfxguy; 02-23-2015 at 10:39 AM.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Haha, build thread AGAIN!

    CF Mamba XL2 looks better than factory! You ought to pop Castle an email saying you revised the Marine Division... lol
    Why are you bothering me? I want to see your boat!
    32" CF Rivercat--- built by "kfxguy" (SOLD)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Spartanator View Post
    Haha, build thread AGAIN!

    CF Mamba XL2 looks better than factory! You ought to pop Castle an email saying you revised the Marine Division... lol
    Well honestly I don't have much faith in this design esc. There's all sorts of wrong about it in my opinion. I'm hoping that if I take it easy it may last. I'd be happy if I got as much use out of it as my seaking 180. It does look quite good I'll agree.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    I like it Trav, I just got 4 Phoenix Ice 200's and will be modding them. I have had my Ice 240 for three(or four possibly) years and it is still going strong in my 1717 powered DF.

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    Quote Originally Posted by srislash View Post
    I like it Trav, I just got 4 Phoenix Ice 200's and will be modding them. I have had my Ice 240 for three(or four possibly) years and it is still going strong in my 1717 powered DF.
    I've heard good things about those escs
    .NAMBA20...Caterpillar UL-1, P-Spec OM29, P-Mono DF33, P-Spec JAE, Aussie 33" Hydro-LSH, Sprintcat CC2028 on 8s, PT SS45 Q Hydro, PS295 UL-1 power, OSE Brothers Outlaw QMono 4-sale, Rio 51z CC2028 on 8s

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brushless55 View Post
    I've heard good things about those escs
    I hope I have good luck. My first one lasted about 5 minutes. I'm not 100% positive but I think it got wet. Hopefully the epoxy protects it well. Guess I'll be finding out.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Quote Originally Posted by kfxguy View Post
    I hope I have good luck. My first one lasted about 5 minutes. I'm not 100% positive but I think it got wet. Hopefully the epoxy protects it well. Guess I'll be finding out.
    Keep us posted bro !
    .NAMBA20...Caterpillar UL-1, P-Spec OM29, P-Mono DF33, P-Spec JAE, Aussie 33" Hydro-LSH, Sprintcat CC2028 on 8s, PT SS45 Q Hydro, PS295 UL-1 power, OSE Brothers Outlaw QMono 4-sale, Rio 51z CC2028 on 8s

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    Quote Originally Posted by kfxguy View Post
    And a couple more pics. What do you guys think?
    I think it looks really good, but also rather heavy. If I were trying to do a similar thing mine would not look anywhere near as neat but it would be lighter, that is not knocking what you have done, we are just after different things from our boats.

    Aesthetically the 3 wire end with the water fittings screwed through the carbon plate looks much better to me than the 2 wire end with exposed blocks.

    How do you have the cooling blocks attached? If you added carbon plates to the sides you could hold them in place well enough to use regular heat sink paste which is a much better conductor than thermally conductive epoxy and massively better than potting compounds.
    Paul Upton-Taylor, Greased Weasel Racing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NativePaul View Post
    I think it looks really good, but also rather heavy. If I were trying to do a similar thing mine would not look anywhere near as neat but it would be lighter, that is not knocking what you have done, we are just after different things from our boats.

    Aesthetically the 3 wire end with the water fittings screwed through the carbon plate looks much better to me than the 2 wire end with exposed blocks.

    How do you have the cooling blocks attached? If you added carbon plates to the sides you could hold them in place well enough to use regular heat sink paste which is a much better conductor than thermally conductive epoxy and massively better than potting compounds.

    interesting observations....

    -its not -avy at all. its definately lighter than the swordfish 240 pro plus 2 that was originally going to go in it. its probably on par with a seaking 180, however out of curiosity, I will weigh it for you tonight.
    -I used a very light coating of jb weld to hold the blocks on. they should stay put because i mix my jb weld on a gram scale and they are roughed up. Thermal conductivity should be about the same as the blocks touching the esc body, they were clamped until cured and excess jb weld was squeezed out and cleaned of.
    - I totallu agree the three wire side looks better how i screwed the fittings through the carbon. I thought about changing it up but really you dont see that end anyway as it sits up aaginst the front deck in the boat. I may, however, change it like the other side.

    this is all in all an experiment. If it burns up because i'm not getting heat out of it well enough, well i may build another one that would be better thought out (you know when your doing something you always figure out a better way in the middle of it right when its too late! lol) and probably using your idea on the thermal compounds. I do like to think this should be adequate however...i did something almost just like it to a mamba monster 2 in my 26" cat running an x642 prop, castle 1515 2200kv motor and it never runs hot. it did thermal one time when i was beating on it with an m645 prop and the prop was too deep. thats pushing that setup past its limit.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Wanted to add the pics of my mm2 just to show its the same concept. Shaved the fins off (like I did on the xl2)





    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Here's some pics with weights as promised






    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Like your idea, question, what about the thermal barrier between fets and the heatsink? Maybe I missed something as the waterproofing was applied over them before heatsink right? I've taken a few apart, real pain in but to get the thermal epoxy castle uses apart without damage. (At least for me, so I commend you:) ). From dealing with them a tec expressed to me they use a glass based thermal adhesive to achieve spacing between parts. Guess to ensure electrical non-conductivity. But also some tec talk to talk it up I suppose. Great idea and I like it, I've been wanting to do this to the several I have and get rid of the multiple tubes.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cooper View Post
    Like your idea, question, what about the thermal barrier between fets and the heatsink? Maybe I missed something as the waterproofing was applied over them before heatsink right? I've taken a few apart, real pain in but to get the thermal epoxy castle uses apart without damage. (At least for me, so I commend you:) ). From dealing with them a tec expressed to me they use a glass based thermal adhesive to achieve spacing between parts. Guess to ensure electrical non-conductivity. But also some tec talk to talk it up I suppose. Great idea and I like it, I've been wanting to do this to the several I have and get rid of the multiple tubes.
    This is what I noticed when taking it apart:

    First is they use a silicon feeling (that's how I'd describe it) adhesive to I guess you could say glue the fets to the outer shell (we are gonna call it a heat sink). It came apart pretty easily. Now, I left the adhesive in place. Also on one side all the way down the fets on both sides it hard a cloth material covering them. I noticed my ice 240 was lacking this one detail when I took it apart. I figure it's to keep things from grounding even tho there is a thin layer of glue separating. I did not epoxy over the thermal part of the fets (see above board pic and the outer flat metal "pucks" are the parts that conduct the heat to the heat sink. Mine is still spaced because I left the Adhesive in place and put a thin layer of ceramic thermal paste on all sides. I then siliconed the case on the ends to seal it and hold together and then glued the sides where the two halves of the heat sink meet. I used tape to hold it together while it was all drying. All I can say is I probably could have bought some of what they use to hold it together and did it that way, but I'll try it this way. It didn't cost that much so if it fails, I'll be disappointed but I'll try it once more and do things a tad different. I guess you can say it's a learning experience. I've been wanting to do this and I figure you never know till you try it. I'll put it through the ringer soon I hope.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    You don't want the two coolers to touch. I think one rail is pos and other is negative, that's why there is that fiber tape on at least one rail. I could be wrong.
    Nortavlag Bulc

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    Quote Originally Posted by ray schrauwen View Post
    You don't want the two coolers to touch. I think one rail is pos and other is negative, that's why there is that fiber tape on at least one rail. I could be wrong.
    Correct. They aren't on mine, they are insulated.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cooper View Post
    Like your idea, question, what about the thermal barrier between fets and the heatsink? Maybe I missed something as the waterproofing was applied over them before heatsink right? I've taken a few apart, real pain in but to get the thermal epoxy castle uses apart without damage. (At least for me, so I commend you:) ). From dealing with them a tec expressed to me they use a glass based thermal adhesive to achieve spacing between parts. Guess to ensure electrical non-conductivity. But also some tec talk to talk it up I suppose. Great idea and I like it, I've been wanting to do this to the several I have and get rid of the multiple tubes.
    I discovered this by accident: the thermal compound on these TOTALLY releases with liberal use of MG Chemicals Silicone Conformal Coating. Just FYI. Thought I was doing a good thing then it fell apart on me, DOH!

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    Little random but I'll post anyway. I've started on my new Rivercat. I've actually got a few builds going at the same time but I'm getting excited about this one and this boat is what this esc is going in and will be driving a lehner 2250....Just finished the second layer of the inlay....

    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Oooh, honeycomb. Nice!

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    Nice!
    Why are you bothering me? I want to see your boat!
    32" CF Rivercat--- built by "kfxguy" (SOLD)

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    Thanks fellas! I hope this thing turns out over the top. It is going to be super strong. Two layers of carbon and reinforcement everywhere. Should I do a build thread or is it kinda redundant?
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    Made a slight change to it. I didn't like how it fit in the boat with the loop hose on it.



    Last edited by kfxguy; 03-02-2015 at 01:13 PM.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

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    I have one of these as well. I only ran it a couple times but it performed flawlessly. I used some water blocks i saved from dead t120s attached to the heatsink with high temp silicone.It was just a temporary arrangement and way too heavy.I am going to just mill out some of the fins so brass tube can be inserted and shave off some to make it lighter. The thing i didnt like is that the tiny fets dont even touch the heatsink. I ordered .5mm thermal pad i am going to replace the tape they use. I will be sure to cover the fets with rubber to transfer more heat to the sink. Lot of great features on these units. Next I am going to try one of these badboys.
    http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...o_Car_ESC.html

    They are a copy of the castle unit but much cheaper.

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