Have tech questions? Will answer.

[JohnRobHolmes]

Practically my whole catalog will work as long as you select the proper speed. It's more of working with your budget than anything else. I would recommend a 550 sized brushed or 540 brushless.

[Landluber]

I am attempting to assemble a crawler using excess parts I have on hand and bought in salvage lot. I have a Castle Sidwinder 8th paired to a 2300KV outrunner on 3s but cannot get any low speed startup. Once the ESC activates, the initial rpm goes to high for crawler control. Is there a way to get the ESC to output a lower start voltage suitable for crawler operation. I have several Sidewinder 4s installed that do exactly what I want. I had expected the Sidewinder 8th to behave similar just provide wider voltage capability.

[JohnRobHolmes]

Originally Posted by Landluber

I am attempting to assemble a crawler using excess parts I have on hand and bought in salvage lot. I have a Castle Sidwinder 8th paired to a 2300KV outrunner on 3s but cannot get any low speed startup. Once the ESC activates, the initial rpm goes to high for crawler control. Is there a way to get the ESC to output a lower start voltage suitable for crawler operation. I have several Sidewinder 4s installed that do exactly what I want. I had expected the Sidewinder 8th to behave similar just provide wider voltage capability.

Use the torque control function and low startup power. Once you get the torque control function done with motor test, add the lowest amount of torque control and slowly increase until you like the startup. It won't be quite as good as the sw4, but it really really helps.


Your motor might also have a pretty high start RPM. Most outrunnners in that KV range aren't made for smooth startup. If it is a 10 or 8 pole, it will always be pretty jerky.

[Landluber]

Thanks for the fast reply. I will work with your programming info tonight. Is there any reference article to review that will indicate what to look for when evaluating ESCs for their low speed operating characteristics? I find manufacturers info really lacking in detail. As an example ... what makes the SW4 work so well vrs. what I am experiencing with the SW8th.

[mikemcE]

The SW4 and the MMX have the latest firmware for slow speed resolution


Hang up and Drive

[robert@castle]

Originally Posted by Landluber

Thanks for the fast reply. I will work with your programming info tonight. Is there any reference article to review that will indicate what to look for when evaluating ESCs for their low speed operating characteristics? I find manufacturers info really lacking in detail. As an example ... what makes the SW4 work so well vrs. what I am experiencing with the SW8th.

The sidewinder 8th uses our older firmware that had more focus on outright power. We hadn't spent much time on that older firmware working on getting the startup to be smooth.


Sidewinder 4 and Mamba X use our newer firmware that retains the power but has a lot more focus on low speed control. It's not just firmware though, there is some hardware changes that allows the firmware to have more finite control of the motor. The sidewinder 4 should be able to run the motor at about 1/4 or 1/5 of the minimum RPM and should cog and stutter less during startup.

[Voodoobrew]

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...0&share_type=t

Not sure how to find the post on my phone but search for "cryodrive". Robert@castle posted about it a while back.

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[Voodoobrew]

Originally Posted by robert@castle

The sidewinder 8th uses our older firmware that had more focus on outright power. We hadn't spent much time on that older firmware working on getting the startup to be smooth.


Sidewinder 4 and Mamba X use our newer firmware that retains the power but has a lot more focus on low speed control. It's not just firmware though, there is some hardware changes that allows the firmware to have more finite control of the motor. The sidewinder 4 should be able to run the motor at about 1/4 or 1/5 of the minimum RPM and should cog and stutter less during startup.

Can you add pwm control to the firmware or are hardware changes required? Not to step on JRH's toes but castle esc's got active drag break and Holmes hobbies got pwm control. Odly enough the $40 hobbywing got both and that's my goto. Granted there are things it can't do as well but pwm seems like something easy for Castle to implement. Or are there like contractual reasons your not allowed to implement it?

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[Landluber]

Based upon input from post 1303, I ran the motor torque test per castle Link instructions and programmed the SW8th using the torque limiting. I am at 1.0 setting ... works much better but is NOT an SW4. For confirmation of my 2300KV outrunner working properly, I plugged it into an SW4 and it will tick over like a second hand on a clock. Anyone need a SideWinder 8th!!

Thanks for the help

[bbrigg]

Volts vs Amps

We all know that watts do the work and that watts=volts x amps. Provided that the motor and ESC are rated for it, is a higher voltage "kinder" to a brushless motor and ESC for the same work and is the difference worthwhile?

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[Jboucher]

Volt up, Gear down
Less heat more torque isn't it?

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[Voodoobrew]

5s and 6s batteries have so much voltage, the arc they cause literally blows up your brushes bit by bit. But yea Basicaly more voltage less heat unless you use that extra power then it's still just more everything. You can still use the same amps at higher voltages but you will get mor speed, power at the same heat levels I imagine.

Edit: Ug Tapatalk I have no idea where the post is I was responding too.

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[JohnRobHolmes]

Originally Posted by bbrigg

Volts vs Amps

We all know that watts do the work and that watts=volts x amps. Provided that the motor and ESC are rated for it, is a higher voltage "kinder" to a brushless motor and ESC for the same work and is the difference worthwhile?

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If you gear down for the higher voltage and higher motor RPM so the motor is spinning faster for the same work, yes it is better for the electronics.

alternatively, a lower kv on higher voltage is better for the ESC, but the motor won't really perform different if the unloaded RPM is the same.

If you aren't having overheating issues and don't lack torque or power, there really isn't much gain to running more voltage with more geardown or slower KV. But more voltage with more geardown will increase torque at the wheel, drag brake strength, and will typically make startup smoother if the ESC doesn't screw around with the throttle.

If you don't gear down or KV down while raising voltage, you will actually be asking more from the ESC and it will run hotter. Either from higher switching losses because you have to use a lower throttle amount for any given wheelspeed, or from higher current levels since the "faster" system will now pull more amps. Not necessarily bad unless overheating becomes a problem, as the rig will have considerably more wheelspeed and torque.

Originally Posted by Jboucher

Volt up, Gear down
Less heat more torque isn't it?

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Indeed!

[yp.sebastian]

Does these pro motors need break in? Any tips on running the set with stock gearing on say trx4 or scx10ii or even new comer like element enduro?
Thanks in advance as I am fairly new to all this and anything will be useful!

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[JohnRobHolmes]

They come broke in. I would recommend a 550 for the trx, otherwise stock gearing is fine.

[Lanky]

Building a sport mod race clod. I plan on running either a sv3 or a mamba X. Wondering what motors you’d suggest. Typically in my pro mods ill run castle 4600 1406’s or 5700’s. It’ll be run on 2s. This truck will be run outdoors.

[JohnRobHolmes]

Between 12t doubles and 10t doubles on a 5mm web, that seems to be a good speed for other guys doing the same.

[strap624]

John I'm building the Axial UMG10 unimog kit, I am thinking of a trailmaster 550 in either 21 or 27t. Using 3s lipo. What would be better suited for crawling/trails? Also I know the 550 can be used in the SCX10.2 but the UMG10 kit is the shorter wheelbase version of that. Any thoughts on if a 550 would actually fit?

[Lanky]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

Between 12t doubles and 10t doubles on a 5mm web, that seems to be a good speed for other guys doing the same.

Do you offer anything like that? Looking at your site under description i can find anything similar.

[allanon1965]

got a tamiya king hauler semi to build and am trying to decide what turn hh to go with. specs just say 540 size, no turns listed...any idea on what i should use? i was thinking 35-45 hh tm or the sport version...