Castle BEC- review and tech thread

[Johnson420]

Sounds great so far Good Stuff John
I'm already sold, how far are these from my hands...


Castle needs to build this BEC in one of there ESC's.

[clarkrw3]

put me down for a couple when ready

[Calderwood]

How many volts can i safely run to my hs-645mg in 100* weather on my 2.2?

[JohnRobHolmes]

Originally Posted by nigels_world

How many volts can i safely run to my hs-645mg in 100* weather on my 2.2?

You are gonna have to test that yourself. It depends on your terrain, traction, vehicle weight, breeze, driving style, etc...

[Mnster]

I friend of mine was saying thier BEC would run off the USB port. So much for that.

[Joe Ford]

Originally Posted by Johnson420

Sounds great so far Good Stuff John
I'm already sold, how far are these from my hands...


Castle needs to build this BEC in one of there ESC's.

Beta testing will determine their release date...if there are some changes needed there's no way to estimate how long...if testing shows they're ready for production we'll begin producing them soon. We can produce these VERY quickly...hundreds per day. John got the first beta unit, and another crawler junkie got beta unit #2. ;) I know you gents push switching regs to the limit...why crawler guys were the first on my list. As for building this into our ESCs, I think it's safe to assume we're way ahead of you on that one.

John...I also wanted to PUBLICLY thank you for letting me borrow your crawler for filming the show on ESPN. I hope the show brings some good exposure for you. Let me know if you have any questions about the CC BEC during testing, or if you find anything that needs tweaking. Talk to you soon buddy.

[Offroader5]

So, am I correct in assuming that these are THE reg's you were talking about not too long ago?

They look great and for a great price...put me down for one too. Are these programmed with the same link that you use for the ESC's?

[rcjunky3]

very nice, this seems like it turned into a preorder list more than a tech thread so please add me to the list for a couple

[Rckcrwlr]

Originally Posted by Joe Ford

John...I also wanted to PUBLICLY thank you for letting me borrow your crawler for filming the show on ESPN. I hope the show brings some good exposure for you. Let me know if you have any questions about the CC BEC during testing, or if you find anything that needs tweaking. Talk to you soon buddy.

Joe,
Thank you for showing "focused" interest in our obsession. Since all the support that you and JRH have show...I am now running all CC on my rigs.

Give us more info on the ESPN thing. Don't want to miss that.

Thanks

[JohnRobHolmes]

I will put the reg to the test in both my Super and 2.2 today at the comp. It will show what is what and how well it works for sure.

[Reflection]

You got a PM.

I can't wait to see how these turn out.

[Calderwood]

Originally Posted by johnrobholmes

You are gonna have to test that yourself. It depends on your terrain, traction, vehicle weight, breeze, driving style, etc...

Do I just keep track of the temp of the servo with a temp gun? How hot can I safely get my 645?

[JohnRobHolmes]

Originally Posted by nigels_world

Do I just keep track of the temp of the servo with a temp gun? How hot can I safely get my 645?

Yep. I would recommend keeping the servo under 140f, but that might really be pushing it because the internal temp will be higher. If you want to be safer keep it under 130f or even less.




I had flawless runs today at the Capen comp. I used 3 cell lipo on both my 2.2 and super for the main pack. I had the voltage reg turned to 7.4 volts. I didn't even have to temp anything, the reg barely got above ambient and it scoped in the high 90's (F). I run two Hitec 5998tg servos (101f max) in the super and I gave it a pretty good workout. A much harder test will be on my carpet with 5 minutes of wiggling and maybe some extra weight on top. The ESC's (dual mamba max) ran cooler than normal too, an added benefit.


As a side note, I didn't route my power around the RX- I actually routed the power through the RX to see what would happen. I didnt burn the RX, it didn't get hot, and no ill effects were noticed as far as glitching. I ran a JR 6102 RX in the super and a DX6 (AR6000?) RX in the 2.2.


I certainly give it two thumbs up. I have honestly never had such a consistent run as far as servo power is concerned. Near every other reg or BEC I have used started to fade by the end of my runs.




Next tests- 5 minutes of wiggling the super on the carpet, and 9 volts into my tower pro servo

[racerx]

JRH, how is the voltage affected (output) of regulators when they start to get hot. I run a Mamba Maxx with MPI adjustable reg, DX3, and 2 Hitec 1/4 scale digi servo's and after one coarse they start to get hot and I think my reciever is shutting down. Does the MPI unit shut down if it gets too hot? I get no steering or throttle when it does this, Kris runs the same setup but with 2 MPI regs going directly to the servos and the BEC powering only the reciever with no problems at all. I am just wondering if one of these little guys might be the solution I am looking for, I don't want to have to run 2 of the MPI units.

[JohnRobHolmes]

What is your input voltage RacerX?

[tomik]

Very nice! When are we going to have these in our cars?

[slowrockr]

JRH I'm pretty sure racerx is running 11.1 lipo. I've been wondering about these little guys for my setup too. I run the same as racerx, 2 5745's 1 mpi adj reg to the receiver. I don't have any issues with it shutting off but I do notice the servo power falling off as the reg gets hot. I would rather not run 2 mpi regs to power each servo if I can help it. I'm just looking to get the most from my servos without the power falling off.

[JohnRobHolmes]

I just got done with another stress test. Same deal, 3 cell lipo, 5998tg servos, wiggling my HHH rig on carpet for 5 minutes as fast as the sticks would move. The Castle BEC was set to 7.4 volts. My front servo maxxed out at 150f on the motor side and immediatly started to fade in power at the 5 minute mark. The rear servo was at 132f and was doing fine. The Castle BEC was 141f max and showed no signs of slowing down. This is the first time I have been able to overheat the servos.

at 5 minutes 30 seconds I quit as I didn't want to fry my servo. That is the max time that most comps run too, so it worked out well. There is no way that normal crawling would stress my servos this much though. This is not representative of how I crawl on rocks. I dont think I have gotten my servos above 120f tops.

[racerx]

Originally Posted by johnrobholmes

What is your input voltage RacerX?

3 Cell lipo (12.4 fully charged) I think the high voltage with the linear drop of the MPI unit may be the problem but I am not as "schooled" in the electronics stuff like some of us!

[clarkrw3]

So when are you going to have these for the mortal of us???

Originally Posted by johnrobholmes

I just got done with another stress test. Same deal, 3 cell lipo, 5998tg servos, wiggling my HHH rig on carpet for 5 minutes as fast as the sticks would move. The Castle BEC was set to 7.4 volts. My front servo maxxed out at 150f on the motor side and immediatly started to fade in power at the 5 minute mark. The rear servo was at 132f and was doing fine. The Castle BEC was 141f max and showed no signs of slowing down. This is the first time I have been able to overheat the servos.

at 5 minutes 30 seconds I quit as I didn't want to fry my servo. That is the max time that most comps run too, so it worked out well. There is no way that normal crawling would stress my servos this much though. This is not representative of how I crawl on rocks. I dont think I have gotten my servos above 120f tops.