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Thread: Will castle return to marine esc's?

  1. #1
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    Default Will castle return to marine esc's?

    Hi all,

    I read some chat a while back about castle possibly coming back into the marine esc market... any news?

  2. #2
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    I asked Joe a few weeks ago. He said nothing yet.
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    That's to bad, I was kinda hoping something was in the works. You would think they would do well, even if they started back up with the same ones they were selling before.

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    Yes sir. I have some Hydra 240s that have been raced for nearly 10 years!
    MODEL BOAT RACER
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  5. #5
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    All they need to do is a comformal coat a mamba and drop it in the 250 case. Done.
    Noisy person

  6. #6
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    They lost too much money on boats. Too many abused controllers people thought should be warrantied.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    With the logging capabiltes castle has there should be a separate log that is not accessible to the consumer that would give a history of the controller when returned for a warranty claim. If you over amped or abused your esc and burnt it out then no warranty, although its probably not recoverable if it goes up in smoke but maybe worth a shot.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe Ford View Post
    As Travis mentioned, we will be working on some new boat ESCs. Over the past year of trade shows and customer interactions, we've received so many requests to make them again. We figure it's time to make some next generation ones with all the modern updates (waterproofing, datalogging, water cooling, etc). It will take some time (6+ mos) for these to come to fruition so your patience is appreciated. We will be taking all the recommendations we've received over the years from customers and our own personal knowledge and wrapping them into packages that hopefully everyone can appreciate and utilize.
    This was just about a year ago. Hopefully they are still working on it.
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    still kind of surprised by how tiny of a package the castle ice/edge 200 lite comes in.

    not sure what the big deal is with waiting around for them to a boat version ... I don't imagine this controller would be any different than having 2 small tubes epoxied to the lite's aluminum plate or to the bus bars

  10. #10
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    I dunno what the hold up is. I talked to him a few months back, he was going to send me one to test when a prototype was ready. Maybe I should send them a prototype lol.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

  11. #11
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    I believe they are potting their car ESCs and makeing them actually water resistant now, instead of using the crappy conformal coating that they used to use and calling them water resistant. Hopefully this change will carry over to their new boat ESCs if they ever come out, their sensitivity to water was the main thing to let them down before.

    Hopefully they are working on a potable case that is not hugely heavy with heat sink fins like the car ones or the last boat one.
    Paul Upton-Taylor, Greased Weasel Racing.

  12. #12
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    What I don’t understand is they had waterproof car escs but not waterproof escs that go in.....water.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

  13. #13
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    At the time their car ESCs were only conformaly coated too, again advertised as water resistant but just as sensitive to water as the Hydras, I lost a MMM driving through damp grass.
    I think the potted car ones came out after the last Hydras came out.
    Paul Upton-Taylor, Greased Weasel Racing.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kfxguy View Post
    I dunno what the hold up is. I talked to him a few months back, he was going to send me one to test when a prototype was ready. Maybe I should send them a prototype lol.


    i will buy two of your cooling cases for the XLX !! Please

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    Quote Originally Posted by Speedfreek View Post


    i will buy two of your cooling cases for the XLX !! Please
    I replied to you pm. Sorry for the delay. I really think it’s cost prohibitive for me to make these things. It’s a heck of a lot of work, in my next version I’d just mill the whole thing out of a block of aluminum and have it screw together with carbon fiber end caps. it would be expensive but fine looking and reusable
    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 replied to you pm. Sorry for the delay. I really think it’s cost prohibitive for me to make these things. It’s a heck of a lot of work, in my next version I’d just mill the whole thing out of a block of aluminum and have it screw together with carbon fiber end caps. it would be expensive but fine looking and reusable
    Thanks anyway

  17. #17
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    How many of you would buy a Castle boat ESC if there was no warranty? Just curious.
    Tyler Garrard
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  18. #18
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    No Warranty..... prob not, I would at least want peace of mind for 3 moths or so just to insure no factory defects

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    Quote Originally Posted by R2315 View Post
    No Warranty..... prob not, I would at least want peace of mind for 3 moths or so just to insure no factory defects
    Same ^^^^^^

  20. #20
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    No, 1 year warranty from factory defects, I'd buy them all day long if they were made like a 40/160. and spend 2 hun more for the quality and programing, plug play, over heat protection, loads of head room, 4S - 12S.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RaceMechaniX View Post
    How many of you would buy a Castle boat ESC if there was no warranty? Just curious.
    I buy all my escs with the notion that there won’t be a warranty. Most situations the esc is not going to be covered so I don’t bother. Now if it’s doa, then I’d expect a warranty and castle can pull the logs and see it was never run. I tried to warranty that mgm I had because it was over $400 and that stung a good bit, but if it happened now, I wouldn’t worry with it because I know how things go with boat escs.
    32" carbon rivercat single 4s 102mph, 27” mini Rivercat 92mph, kbb34 91mph, jessej micro cat(too fast) was

  22. #22
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    People have no problem buying them privately off eBay with no warranty, it’s no secret how good they are so I think most would be willing to forgo some warranty protection to get them back. As long as it not doa I’m in!

  23. #23
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    I have got 8 - 240 Hydra's night now.
    I did have 10 about 5 years ago, I have lost two in 5 years.

    Larry
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  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by RaceMechaniX View Post
    How many of you would buy a Castle boat ESC if there was no warranty? Just curious.
    I'm in with others. As long as not DOA, I'd forgo the warranty.

    Just a thought... maybe they should consider a tested/guaranteed working ESC with no warranty but then offer a service plan/contract. Maybe $250 for the original ESC and then an additional $100 for a 12 month service contract. Provide the option to re-up the service contract each year with each year of age on the ESC adding some cost.

    Personally I wouldn't use it but it may give some piece of mind. Well... maybe I'd consider buying it (service plan) for the first year just to make sure. Especially when they first come out. But I couldn't see going to a second year and keep investing into a service plan when I could just spend that money buying a new one.
    Have fun with that....

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    OR... maybe if not giving a warranty, offer some sort of trade-in discount and then if repairable... re-sell as manufacture refurbished.

    Maybe original ESC costs $300.
    If it stops working offer a $100 trade-in on a new ESC. Maybe between $50 to $100 depending on condition of trade-in.
    $0 trade-in value if fire damaged, user modified or over 3 years old. (Age limits due to technology and discontinued models.)
    If it can be repaired could resell as refurbished for $200 with a reduced $50 trade-in value.
    Put serial numbers on them so they can be tracked.

    I don't know... they should do something to get creative. Protect themselves from abuse while providing options to buyers/users.
    Last edited by dethow; 04-16-2018 at 01:05 PM.
    Have fun with that....

  26. #26
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    I am curently poor and back on the Suppo ESCs, so am not currently in the market, but I have had a bunch of castles in the past, most have had no warranty and it didnt put me off. As long as they still have the reduced price out of warranty repair/replacement it wouldn't put me off when I get some more money in the future.

    I have had one that smoked on first plug in, and one that froze during programming and wouldnt wake up, on top of the ones that I have killed though, so I don't think that I would risk buying one if I would have to pay full price for replacement.
    Paul Upton-Taylor, Greased Weasel Racing.

  27. #27
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    If for some reason they must offer a warranty. What if they were to implement a permanent log file for their use only with the serial number, the maximum values reached in amps, voltage and temperature. If you want a warranty replacement withen the first year, you first send in your log file which they can only interpret and if it meets the requirements you get approved to send it in to be looked at. Another thing, maybe a small indicator to show if it was exposed to water, waterproof or not you sink it, it should not be their problem. Not sure how much of this is feasible, maybe it's just not a big enough market for them, although it seams like it.
    Last edited by R2315; 04-16-2018 at 02:42 PM.

  28. #28
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    Cool

    I don’t think that forum members understand the economics here. There are only a tiny number of boaters to buy their ESCs. (To give a rough comparison of the markets: combined NAMBA/IMPBA memberships = 2500. ROAR = 5000. AMA = 200,000. FAA (drones) = 800,000+). Castle can only afford to make marine controllers because they sell so many for aircraft use. They modify them slightly for boats, but designing a marine controller from the ground up would drive the price way up. Even Schulze sold more 40-160s to flyers than to boaters.

    In the past Castle lost money on their marine controllers due to ‘warranty abuse’. They are in business to make money and finally discontinued the marine versions. They would be foolish to do the exact same thing again and expect a different result.

    I hope they do reintroduse an improved marine version. I’d purchase them without a full warranty, as long as there was a provision for initial product defects. Remember, full waterproof conformal coating would probably make them unsalvageable as a rebuildable unit, so repair/trade-in may not be possible. But that’s all my take, I can’t/don’t speak for Castle.


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  29. #29
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    There is a difference between initial setup failure and failure due to abuse. I usually know when I've asked too much of an ESC. Usually. Not every time of course. I don't ask for warranty on stuff like that. Not sure how many like this I've wrecked but in all honesty......it's a bunch. Then sometimes the warranty isn't worth the hassle. "But it's 5 years!" So what. If you mail one to the opposite side of earth for many dollars and a lengthy turn around. Only to get it back in the same condition that you sent it.....gets old quick. If you send it a second time for the same repair for many dollars again............no. I ain't do'n it. Into the box with the rest of the dead things.

    The trouble for the manufacturers is that the internet often recommends setups that are very likely going to bake. When experienced folks suggest something wont work the debate ensues. The frequency with which world record holders are dismissed on this very forum shocks me. After the subsequent fire, the end user contacts Castle with "Well, some guy on the internet told me that would run all day long". Then he ran it for 8 minutes until it stopped. It stopped because it's seared to a crispy golden brown of course. Where does that leave a manufacturer? Castle used to just bite the bullet but with marine the replacement was much much higher than on any other ESC. Hence, they stopped making them.

    I hope that Castle get back into them but we'll see. Havne't heard from Joe lately on it.
    Noisy person

  30. #30
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    I've seen one person cleanly remove the pcb's from encapsulated Hobbywing escs.


    Quote Originally Posted by Fluid View Post
    I don’t think that forum members understand the economics here. There are only a tiny number of boaters to buy their ESCs. (To give a rough comparison of the markets: combined NAMBA/IMPBA memberships = 2500. ROAR = 5000. AMA = 200,000. FAA (drones) = 800,000+). Castle can only afford to make marine controllers because they sell so many for aircraft use. They modify them slightly for boats, but designing a marine controller from the ground up would drive the price way up. Even Schulze sold more 40-160s to flyers than to boaters.

    In the past Castle lost money on their marine controllers due to ‘warranty abuse’. They are in business to make money and finally discontinued the marine versions. They would be foolish to do the exact same thing again and expect a different result.

    I hope they do reintroduse an improved marine version. I’d purchase them without a full warranty, as long as there was a provision for initial product defects. Remember, full waterproof conformal coating would probably make them unsalvageable as a rebuildable unit, so repair/trade-in may not be possible. But that’s all my take, I can’t/don’t speak for Castle.


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