Castle Mamba X AUX Wire Glitch

[Techno Duck]

Was crawling with my Capra and developed an issue with the AUX wire on the Mamba X. I keep getting the 'AUX WIRE GLITCH' audible alert. Everything was working normally when the audible alert started. I've tried a number of things, but cant get the AUX wire working again.

I have the AUX wire tied to a 3 position switch on channel 3 of a Futaba 4PLS. This allowed me to switch between 0%/50%/100% drag brake.

I have checked that all settings on the ESC and transmitter are correct. I tried a different receiver. I also moved the AUX wire to channel 4 with no luck. I also tested the wire harness by swapping it from another Mamba X. The audible alert starts as soon as i start the ESC, both with the AUX wire plugged in and not. The only time the audible alert stops is if i disable the AUX wire function with the Castle Link. I data logged just the AUX wire channel and it does not show any movement at all.

Any ideas? I am puzzled.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

How do you know it's the Auxiliary Wire audible alert?

I would reach out to Castle Creations. They have great customer service and they are usually fast. Or you can PM Robert@Castle on here. He is an employee of the company and he has helped me diagnose an issue that nobody else could.

 

[Lavaheadache]

Was crawling with my Capra and developed an issue with the AUX wire on the Mamba X. I keep getting the 'AUX WIRE GLITCH' audible alert. Everything was working normally when the audible alert started. I've tried a number of things, but cant get the AUX wire working again.

I have the AUX wire tied to a 3 position switch on channel 3 of a Futaba 4PLS. This allowed me to switch between 0%/50%/100% drag brake.

I have checked that all settings on the ESC and transmitter are correct. I tried a different receiver. I also moved the AUX wire to channel 4 with no luck. I also tested the wire harness by swapping it from another Mamba X. The audible alert starts as soon as i start the ESC, both with the AUX wire plugged in and not. The only time the audible alert stops is if i disable the AUX wire function with the Castle Link. I data logged just the AUX wire channel and it does not show any movement at all.

Any ideas? I am puzzled.

Really !?!

This is crazy. I just came here to post and search for this. I'm just now experiencing the same issue. I have tried everything I can think of short of taking the thing apart to see what is wrong. I tried different receivers, radio, channels, switches, new harness, tried powering the other stuff with a BEC.. Nothing is working. The only thing I can do is shut off the AUX wire functionality. In the first few moments of the issue it seemed like if I tugged on the base of the harness where it goes into the esc, functionality would resume temporarily. Pretty bummed as it is an awesome esc and it is great otherwise. I've been spoiled by what the aux wire can do and I use it multiple times every drive as it toggles the drag brake on an off for my trail machine. I was literally preparing to call Castle this morning to discuss my options.

 

[Lavaheadache]

How do you know it's the Auxiliary Wire audible alert?

I would reach out to Castle Creations. They have great customer service and they are usually fast. Or you can PM Robert@Castle on here. He is an employee of the company and he has helped me diagnose an issue that nobody else could.

Long beep followed by 2 quick ones.

 

[Techno Duck]

Really !?!

This is crazy. I just came here to post and search for this. I'm just now experiencing the same issue. I have tried everything I can think of short of taking the thing apart to see what is wrong. I tried different receivers, radio, channels, switches, new harness, tried powering the other stuff with a BEC.. Nothing is working. The only thing I can do is shut off the AUX wire functionality. In the first few moments of the issue it seemed like if I tugged on the base of the harness where it goes into the esc, functionality would resume temporarily. Pretty bummed as it is an awesome esc and it is great otherwise. I've been spoiled by what the aux wire can do and I use it multiple times every drive as it toggles the drag brake on an off for my trail machine. I was literally preparing to call Castle this morning to discuss my options.

I drove myself crazy last night trying to figure this out, spent about 2.5 hours messing around with it. I did email Castle shortly after posting, hopefully this is something simple. There is very limited info available about the AUX WIRE GLITCH other than whats in the manual.

At this point though, i have a feeling its something internal to the ESC or maybe the way i have the radio configured. One thing of note, this has happened before on another Mamba X installed on my 10.2, but it went away. Never figured out what caused it... this is what leads me to think maybe my radio / receiver and the AUX wire function of the esc have somehow fallen out of 'sync'. When this started yesterday, i was moving up a medium grade rock face, was not changing any settings..etc.

Here is a better run down of what i did last night.

-Checked all settings in Castle Link. I even reloaded the firmware and went back to default to start over again.
-Checked all settings on the Futaba radio.
-Re calibrated ESC with radio
-Tried swapping the AUX wire to another channel.
-Tried swapping the wire harness from another Mamba X
-Tried a different receiver
-Audible alert still sounds whether i start the ESC with the AUX wire plugged into the receiver or not
-Data logged the AUX wire; the log shows no function of the AUX wire

 

[Techno Duck]

I was able to get the AUX glitch to go away by pressing the connector on the ESC side down with a bit more than average force. Everything worked fine after reconnecting a few times and manipulating the wires trying to recreate the glitch. I let it sit on the bench for about an hour or so then retested before i started putting everything back together. The AUX glitch has returned. Castle did get back to me this morning, ill be sending it back to them for service. A minor inconvenience having to unsolder the BEC...

 

[Lavaheadache]

I was able to get the AUX glitch to go away by pressing the connector on the ESC side down with a bit more than average force. Everything worked fine after reconnecting a few times and manipulating the wires trying to recreate the glitch. I let it sit on the bench for about an hour or so then retested before i started putting everything back together. The AUX glitch has returned. Castle did get back to me this morning, ill be sending it back to them for service. A minor inconvenience having to unsolder the BEC...

You and I have had the same exact problem at the same time. It seems to be very uncommon. Strange... I do live on the exact opposite side of the county as you so it isn't that, lol.

I called them this morning to talk about my options. I'm not sure I want to waste time and money being told that it isn't fixable and that I need to either deal with it or pay for a replacement, If they even have stock. Mine is well out of warranty so that isn't an option for me.

I'm blown away that this just happened to you too. It'd be funny if both of our esc's landed in their service department from opposite sides of the country with the same one off type internal error.

I'm also using a Futaba radio system. Admittedly I do have the receiver full of power drawers but even with nothing else plugged in it doesn't work.

I could just buy a Mamba micro X and pair it with an external BEC since this one is rather over kill in a 10.2. I could then use this "defective" one in a basher and be just fine.

 

[Techno Duck]

You and I have had the same exact problem at the same time. It seems to be very uncommon. Strange... I do live on the exact opposite side of the county as you so it isn't that, lol.

I called them this morning to talk about my options. I'm not sure I want to waste time and money being told that it isn't fixable and that I need to either deal with it or pay for a replacement, If they even have stock. Mine is well out of warranty so that isn't an option for me.

I'm blown away that this just happened to you too. It'd be funny if both of our esc's landed in their service department from opposite sides of the country with the same one off type internal error.

I'm also using a Futaba radio system. Admittedly I do have the receiver full of power drawers but even with nothing else plugged in it doesn't work.

I could just buy a Mamba micro X and pair it with an external BEC since this one is rather over kill in a 10.2. I could then use this "defective" one in a basher and be just fine.

A funny coincidence for sure. This ESC is fairly new with a build date of OCT 2019. Only used in my Capra, so it had a pretty easy life. I thought about swapping it for the one i use in my SMT-10 (i dont use the AUX feature at all on that). But i don't want to be bothered taking that rig apart also and swapping plugs. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to get this sorted out.

 

[Techno Duck]

An update to this;

Sent the Mamba X in about 5 weeks ago and have not heard anything from Castle. Sent an email asking for an update and received a pretty generic email saying they will replace it, but its going to be another 3-6 weeks.

The response is pretty frustrating because it gives the impression i had to prompt them to start this 3-6 week count down. I know this can be expected when the product availability fluctuates.. but still a bit annoyed to be without a $150 ESC for a total of 8-12 weeks based on their estimate.

 

[rcracer78@gmail.com]

Interesting...I’m having the same exact issue with my Mamba X! Please keep us posted

 

[Techno Duck]

rcracer,

Replacement Mamba X was shipped to me on 4 MAR. In total, it took about 9 weeks. Your experience may vary but its basically up to what amount of stock they have available.

 

[GiXXerFiXXeR]

I am also fighting this issue...

 

[RCO]

Since yesterday i am a „aux wire glitch“ member... the ESC runs about 6 packs and the glitch starts in the middle of run. Out from nowhere...

The only thing i can do is send the ESC to castle/get a replacement?!?

Sucks! If they where available i would pick up a backup X and waiting for the replacement.
In this case, i can not run my VS4-10...