Cheap Chinese ESCs

[Alteredgasser57]

Hey Guys, so one of my friends gave me one of his abused castle brushless setups for free (awesome). The only problem is the esc looks like it was hit by a truck after being found in a large pile dinosaur sh*t (Not Awesome). Oh and it doesn't work to. The motor, however, looks brand new out of the box (this is the awesome part). what do you guys think about getting an uber cheap chinese esc to do some experimentation with the new motor before dropping the cash to buy a real esc? Also, any suggestions for both: crazy cheap escs, and quality escs?

[MasteroFlego]

Hobbywing is fairly cheap, depending on what kind of amp draw your looking at, castle or tekin are high quality. What motor do you have?

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[Alteredgasser57]

I'm actually not sure exactly what the motor is, I've been away from home for a while, but I do know it was paired with a side winder 3 esc when my buddy got it brand new. As far as amp draw I was thinking between 60 and 80, something that can handle 3s fairly easily.

[MasteroFlego]

Why not get a new sidewinder 4?

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[brimdogg]

I'd recommend getting a SW3, if you find a good deal, or a SW4 if you're running it in a buggy or someother high speed application.

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[Alteredgasser57]

I will probably end up with a sv3 or 4. But to see how good the motor works yet, I was thinking to grab a cheapy esc. If I like the way the motor functions, I will go out and grab a real quality esc

[JatoTheRipper]

Are you looking for a brushed or brushless ESC? If it's brushless do you want sensored or sensorless?

For $40 you can't beat the HobbyWing WP 1080 for a brushed, crawler ESC. For $20 you can get their 1060 ESC that is reliable, but less adjustable.

HobbyKing (not to be confused with HobbyWing) has some nice brushless ESCs that are cheap and reliable.

[Jim85IROC]

If you're looking for a cheap sensored ESC, you can get the Hobbywing clones on eBay for around $14 each. Most of the time they work well. Sometimes they don't. You can't expect perfect quality control in a $14 ESC.

I'm running one in one of my vehicles and it works great. I'm about to buy some more for some upcoming builds. At this price, I don't care if I accidently ruin one or if one ends up being faulty.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/120A-Sensor...MAAOSwJq1ZaQeg

[Alteredgasser57]

Excellent. I saw escs like that on eBay and wondered about how good they actually are (for a $15 esc). I think I'll pick up a sensor-less version for my motor experiment. New question though, can you program a drag brake into a side winder esc?

[brimdogg]

Originally Posted by Alteredgasser57

Excellent. I saw escs like that on eBay and wondered about how good they actually are (for a $15 esc). I think I'll pick up a sensor-less version for my motor experiment. New question though, can you program a drag brake into a side winder esc?

Yes I know the SW3 & 4 for sure can.

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[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by Alteredgasser57

Excellent. I saw escs like that on eBay and wondered about how good they actually are (for a $15 esc). I think I'll pick up a sensor-less version for my motor experiment. New question though, can you program a drag brake into a side winder esc?

I'm not really as fond of the cheap sensorless ESCs that are out there. I've got a few of them and some seem to be OK, others seem to cog like crazy. I have one truck that cogs so bad I have to kick it to get it moving sometimes.

[Ninomaniac]

^ this, lol.

I had one of those HW knockoffs, the POS died a month a go or so.
Replaced it with an X-Car 120A off Hobbyking and it's very smooth on the same motor.

[Alteredgasser57]

lol, I know the feeling. I had a truggy with stock brushless electronics, and that sucker would wig out so hard sometimes I would just put it away for the day and grab a different rig. I would prefer sensored, but I'm not sure if the castle brushless motor I got is a sensored motor (again I haven't been home for a quite a while, so I don't remember). Plus the cheapo esc is definitely not permanent, so I'm okay with dealing with extreme cogging while experimenting with the castle motor, once I either get home, or get it shipped to where I'm at.

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by Ninomaniac

^ this, lol.

I had one of those HW knockoffs, the POS died a month a go or so.
Replaced it with an X-Car 120A off Hobbyking and it's very smooth on the same motor.

I've had better luck with the blue Ebay knock-off than the Hobbyking knock-off. I've managed to have the lipo cutoff go bad on 2 of my X-Cars, and the 3rd had all of the smoke fall out when I accidentally hooked up the motor wrong.

[JatoTheRipper]

I wonder if HobbyKing's HobbyWing clones have changed. My 120A X-Car that I got in 2014 is still going strong.

[Jim85IROC]

That's the same time period that I bought mine. Most people seem to have good luck with them. I guess I'm just special.

[Ninomaniac]

The main difference between big brands and cheapo versions is that the latter come with a requirement of the buyer being lucky.

BTW I also had a Trackstar WP 80 esc that killed one of my packs, the lipo cutoff stopped working.

A buddy says his X Car 120 is fine, but forgets throttle calibration now and then.

You get what you pay for...

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Ninomaniac

The main difference between big brands and cheapo versions is that the latter come with a requirement of the buyer being lucky.

BTW I also had a Trackstar WP 80 esc that killed one of my packs, the lipo cutoff stopped working.

A buddy says his X Car 120 is fine, but forgets throttle calibration now and then.

You get what you pay for...

No, you killed that battery pack. Even without a LiPo cutoff you should be able to tell when the LiPo is starting to die...

[Ninomaniac]

OK, Mom.

[Alteredgasser57]

it can be hard to tell though sometimes when a lipo pack is starting to hurt, or when you should quit after it starts to hurt. Hence why lipo cut off is a thing