Mamba X question!!

[Steelone232]

Does any one have good directions or a video, on how to use the mamba micro or X esc rock racer/ crawler mode. It's very confusing. I have a futaba 4pv controller.

[Jim85IROC]

I don't have a video, but you plug the white wire into whatever receiver channel corresponds with an unused button on your controller, and in the Castlelink software you configure it for the drag brake option per the instructions. It should all be very straightforward.

[84yoda]

Put it in rock racer/crawler mode in the drop down list.
Reverse type, with reverse.
Put drag brake to whatever you want, say 30%.
Leave normal brake to default.

Then put white wire in open channel on rx, 3rd or 4th channel, ect.
Change to 2p or 3p in your remote for the channel and type you want. You can do 2p for on/off or 3p for different percent drag brake.

[2mtech]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but since I had the same question it seemed appropriate since a search brought me here.

Although I can figure out some things for myself...



...setting up the aux wire function apparently wasn't one of them.

So putting together the over-teched manual (I love tech writers) with 84yoda's useful reply here, I have mine programmed to:

Basic tab -
Reverse Type - With Reverse
Brake Amount - 20%
Drag Brake - 50%

Advanced tab -
Aux Wire Mode - Rock Race / Crawler Mode


With the aux wire to Aux channel 1 on my DX4C as a 2p, toggling that should switch between rock race mode with normal reverse/20% dynamic braking/no drag brake and crawler mode with crawler reverse/50% drag brake.

Right?

[84yoda]

Correct. Just make sure the white wire goes into channel 3 or 4 in rx and pick channel 3 or 4 in your remote as well.

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by 84yoda

Correct. Just make sure the white wire goes into channel 3 or 4 in rx and pick channel 3 or 4 in your remote as well.

Cool, thanks!

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

[DavidH]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

...
So putting together the over-teched manual (I love tech writers) with 84yoda's useful reply here, I have mine programmed to:

Basic tab -
Reverse Type - With Reverse
Brake Amount - 20%
Drag Brake - 50%

Advanced tab -
Aux Wire Mode - Rock Race / Crawler Mode


With the aux wire to Aux channel 1 on my DX4C as a 2p, toggling that should switch between rock race mode with normal reverse/20% dynamic braking/no drag brake and crawler mode with crawler reverse/50% drag brake.

Right?

As I understand it, the drag brake setting on the 'basic' tab is only active when the aux wire is disconnected. From the help file on the aux wire mode:

"Drag Brake Adjustment
The controller's drag brake is controlled by the AUX wire signal. The drag brake is scaled from 0% at 1.1ms signal received on the AUX wire to 100% at 1.9ms. If the AUX wire becomes disconnected, the controller will use the drag brake value set in Castle Link."

If you want less than 100% drag brake in crawler mode you can do that by adjusting your endpoints. I found the diagrams on castle's site to be helpful, after figuring it out for myself.

X-series Rock Race/Crawler Auxiliary Wire Mode

Here, "drag brake set to 50%" means that the rockracer and crawler modes each have half (50% each) of the available drag brake adjustment.



This is where having the aux wire on a variable/knob channel on the transmitter would be valuable. I have mine connected in parallel with the shift servo.

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by DavidH

As I understand it, the drag brake setting on the 'basic' tab is only active when the aux wire is disconnected. From the help file on the aux wire mode:

"Drag Brake Adjustment
The controller's drag brake is controlled by the AUX wire signal. The drag brake is scaled from 0% at 1.1ms signal received on the AUX wire to 100% at 1.9ms. If the AUX wire becomes disconnected, the controller will use the drag brake value set in Castle Link."

If you want less than 100% drag brake in crawler mode you can do that by adjusting your endpoints. I found the diagrams on castle's site to be helpful, after figuring it out for myself.

X-series Rock Race/Crawler Auxiliary Wire Mode

Here, "drag brake set to 50%" means that the rockracer and crawler modes each have half (50% each) of the available drag brake adjustment.



This is where having the aux wire on a variable/knob channel on the transmitter would be valuable. I have mine connected in parallel with the shift servo.

I need to swap mine. I connected mine to the on/off switch on my Radiolink because when I put it together I didn't realize that it had the ability to be adjusted. Now I've got the drag brake wired to an on/off switch, and my light bar wired to a pot. I've been wanting to change it, but because it's buried deep in the bowels of my Bomber, it stays like it is until I have another reason to open it up.

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by DavidH

As I understand it, the drag brake setting on the 'basic' tab is only active when the aux wire is disconnected. From the help file on the aux wire mode:

"Drag Brake Adjustment
The controller's drag brake is controlled by the AUX wire signal. The drag brake is scaled from 0% at 1.1ms signal received on the AUX wire to 100% at 1.9ms. If the AUX wire becomes disconnected, the controller will use the drag brake value set in Castle Link."

If you want less than 100% drag brake in crawler mode you can do that by adjusting your endpoints. I found the diagrams on castle's site to be helpful, after figuring it out for myself.

X-series Rock Race/Crawler Auxiliary Wire Mode

Here, "drag brake set to 50%" means that the rockracer and crawler modes each have half (50% each) of the available drag brake adjustment.

This is where having the aux wire on a variable/knob channel on the transmitter would be valuable. I have mine connected in parallel with the shift servo.

Oh...ohhh...the light bulb just came on. Now it makes sense, embarrassingly enough. My original problem was not lacking understanding of the ESC but not understanding the operation of my transmitter well enough. Now the chart makes sense too. Inexcusable.

So I want to set the drag brake on the basic tab to 0 (for rock race mode where I don't want any drag brake), then adjust the mid travel point/EPA of channel 3 (with the aux wire) to its midrange to get something resembling 50% drag brake when in crawler mode.

So yours changes modes in conjunction with high/low gear...that's cool.

Thank you for sticking the probe in the right synapse, it's firing now!

[DavidH]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Oh...ohhh...the light bulb just came on. Now it makes sense, embarrassingly enough. My original problem was not lacking understanding of the ESC but not understanding the operation of my transmitter well enough. Now the chart makes sense too. Inexcusable.

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. I am a control systems programmer and designer by trade, and it puzzled me for a bit. But then, I never read instructions.

So I want to set the drag brake on the basic tab to 0 (for rock race mode where I don't want any drag brake), then

That setting has no effect while the aux wire is connected. It really is only for those not using the aux wire, not using the aux wire for the rr/crawler mode, or as a failover value if the aux wire fails/disconnects during a race.

adjust the mid travel point/EPA of channel 3 (with the aux wire) to its midrange to get something resembling 50% drag brake when in crawler mode.

Looking at the chart, what you want is to adjust the endpoints so that you get 1.0ms for zero drag brake in the race mode and 1.6ms for about 60% drag brake in the crawler mode.

So yours changes modes in conjunction with high/low gear...that's cool.

It really does work nicely to change the nature of the rig in hi vs low gear, and in the yeti it eliminates that awkward moment when you let off the throttle at 30+mph and the drag brake engages.

Thank you for sticking the probe in the right synapse, it's firing now!

Glad I could help.

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by DavidH

Looking at the chart, what you want is to adjust the endpoints so that you get 1.0ms for zero drag brake in the race mode and 1.6ms for about 60% drag brake in the crawler mode.

The plot thickens somewhat there then...channel 3 on my DX4C (aux 1), with the aux wire, has two EPA choices in 2p mode..."H" (assuming high) 0% - 100%, and "L" (assuming low) 0% - 100%, so I would expect I'd have to set the H position (or whichever one correlates to rock race) to 0% and the other to 50% for crawler mode, as I have no way of reading signal pulse length in ms.

I'm guessing higher end transmitters have that feature?

Thanks for hanging in there with me...I hate to not understand things so I tend to obsess until I do!

[HumboldtEF]

I have the same setup, Mamba X with a DX4C though I'm using a 3 position switch (100% & 50% drag brake and 0% with reverse lockout), setup is not that easy, I struggled off and on for a few days.

I'll check my TX settings when I get home later and let you know if I used H or L

[robert@castle]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I have the same setup, Mamba X with a DX4C though I'm using a 3 position switch (100% & 50% drag brake and 0% with reverse lockout), setup is not that easy, I struggled off and on for a few days.

I'll check my TX settings when I get home later and let you know if I used H or L

I'm not sure of the exact output of the Dx4C, but to get that setup it should be a matter of setting the AUX1 to 3P with a trim to 0 and the EPA to 100% on both ends.
In the ESC; turn on Rock Race Mode and Set the Drag Brake Setting to 25%.


The drag brake setting is the switch point, so you should put it halfway between the 2 values you want it to change modes between.


For the 2p setup above, setting the drag brake to 50% and then using the Aux1 EPA to set the min and max drag brake. The exact MS value doesn't need to be an exact science. Doing it by feel should be enough when using 2p mode.


If you wanted to make it an exact science, you could get something like this:
https://www.servocity.com/pwm-meter

[2mtech]

Meters...now we're talking!

Thanks, robert!

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by robert@castle

For the 2p setup above, setting the drag brake to 50% and then using the Aux1 EPA to set the min and max drag brake. The exact MS value doesn't need to be an exact science. Doing it by feel should be enough when using 2p mode.


If you wanted to make it an exact science, you could get something like this:
https://www.servocity.com/pwm-meter

Yep, that's the ticket! Works perfectly, will just have to play / fine tune once I build some shocks, a cage, get some wheels on.

I love stuff that does what it's supposed to do.

[HumboldtEF]

Well incase you still need input I checked my DX4C settings and I've set H to 100% and L to 105%

[DavidH]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

The plot thickens somewhat there then...channel 3 on my DX4C (aux 1), with the aux wire, has two EPA choices in 2p mode..."H" (assuming high) 0% - 100%, and "L" (assuming low) 0% - 100%, so I would expect I'd have to set the H position (or whichever one correlates to rock race) to 0% and the other to 50% for crawler mode, as I have no way of reading signal pulse length in ms.

I'm guessing higher end transmitters have that feature?

Thanks for hanging in there with me...I hate to not understand things so I tend to obsess until I do!

No worries.

On the DX4C you can adjust the "travel" settings for Aux 1 independently for each ("H" and "L") points using a percentage reading; Assuming that you have already checked to see that H and L correspond with the rock racer and crawler modes (reversing if necessary) start with both H and L adjusted for 100%, then decrease the % on the L side to reduce the drag brake amount to where you want it.

You don't need to know the actual pulse-width values, but I believe that conceptually knowing what you are doing here helps you to get where you want to be.

Originally Posted by robert@castle

...

If you wanted to make it an exact science, you could get something like this:
https://www.servocity.com/pwm-meter

I need one of these.