Castle Sidewinder ESC

[VaultBoy]

What is the minimum input voltage from the rx for the esc to operate properly?

[aluminated]

Don't you have that backwards?

[VaultBoy]

not really, I have it all wired with a bec and I need to know the proper voltage to set it

[VaultBoy]

I have it set at 6v and have good receiver and steering servo power but my sidewinder no longer beeps and doesn't send power to the motors.

[VaultBoy]

A better question, is the any diagnostic software for a Castle esc? Like plug it in and it runs tests on it to find faults?? Castle link doesn't have any diagnostic menus

[Charlie-III]

1, the ESC internal BEC is what powers the RX (unless you have the external BEC plugged into the RX)
2, not much voltage is required to run the RX
3, no "ESC beeping" may be due to the motor
4, did you try calibrating the ESC to the RX?
5, I am not aware of any consumer software to diagnose the CC ESC

[VaultBoy]

I am using an external castle bec to power the rx which works fine and steering servo works fine. The esc worked in my buddies crawler a week ago but in mine I get no tones and no output to the motors. The esc is properly receiving input from the rx after calibration based on the leds (green forward, yellow neutral and red reverse) but send no power out to the motors. I have verified with a multimeter that there is no output voltage to the motors.

[VaultBoy]

Figured it out. I have to run full unreduced power to the esc for it to work properly. For me that's between 12.5v and 10.5v (lipo). Don't know why this is, I would think it should operate off the 6v voltage from the rx but I guess not. Go figure, the lipo cutoff doesn't work either so a new esc is on my list anyway.

[Tonysmini]

I think you may have confused yourself somewhere. The ESC gets it's power from the battery, not from the RX. All it gets from the RX is the signal (black and white wires on the lead) You should have pulled the red wire and taped it back so your ESC's BEC isn't trying to power the RX along with your external one.

Have you looked at the battery settings on your ESC, you may have the battery low voltage cut out set too high, and don't forget you need to recallibrate the ESC to the radio gear after you've used the Casrle link, (I forgot this and gave myself hours of problems before the penny dropped and I figured it out)

[VaultBoy]

My esc is faulty which is the problem. If i have the red wire taped back, the esc doesn't function at all, and if I had it run thru the rx which is regulated at 6v, the esc would light up and respond to radio input but wouldn't tone or send power to the motors. I had to take the red wire from the rx connector on the esc and run it to the battery plug, giving it a higher operating voltage for it to work properly. I have the voltage cutoff disabled on the esc otherwise it wouldn't work. I'm going to use the esc as is for awhile and just replace it later. I had it all wired properly to begin with and only had to rig it to help the ailing esc work at all. It sounds confusing but I had my buddy who does comp crawling check it out and that's the scoop, a faulty esc that for some reason works if its wired goofy.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by VaultBoy

My esc is faulty which is the problem. If i have the red wire taped back, the esc doesn't function at all, and if I had it run thru the rx which is regulated at 6v, the esc would light up and respond to radio input but wouldn't tone or send power to the motors. I had to take the red wire from the rx connector on the esc and run it to the battery plug, giving it a higher operating voltage for it to work properly. I have the voltage cutoff disabled on the esc otherwise it wouldn't work. I'm going to use the esc as is for awhile and just replace it later. I had it all wired properly to begin with and only had to rig it to help the ailing esc work at all. It sounds confusing but I had my buddy who does comp crawling check it out and that's the scoop, a faulty esc that for some reason works if its wired goofy.

I guess if the internal BEC in the ESC is shot this makes sense. The ESC takes battery power input and routes it to 2 places.
1-the motor drive circuit
2-the internal BEC that powers the ESC control circuits as well as the RX (when the small red wire from the ESC is connected to the RX).

[benoj]

From what I understand is you are trying to run the sidewinder off just the rx wire with 6v and not hooking a battery to the main battery leads. If that is correct it shouldn't send any power to the motors since it needs voltage to go into the main battery leads as its not meant to by operated through the rx wires.


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[VaultBoy]

I have the main leads hooked to the battery, im not a complete newbie! The internal bec is fried thats the problem

[Grimreeper]

I had something similar happen to mine and it turned out that I just needed to go to an older firmware and everything worked okay. It was the weirdest thing. Maybe its not exactly like what you are having but its a thought.