LOL, thanks... But you gotta love his motor mount... it's very nice..

yea ryu's is definatly getting the "class award" but i want to see it done damn it! lol

so here are a couple teaser pics. not finished by far yet but i got this 5t body to fit and got it painted (spoiler not mounted yet). i ordered the Todd LeDuc wrap from UpgradeRC and a set of 5t rims with dunereaper tires but i am looking at the MXT tires from hostile and may just sell the dunereapers. tomorrow i meet with my mahcinist to draw up the custom hubs that will be used for mounting the 4 wheel disc brakes.
i am gonna try to get a video this weekend of it running, but without brakes. probably just go to a wide open area so i wont need any brakes. this will be good to actually be able to test temps also.

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Oooh.. she looks sharp..! Finally some more pictures... Hurry up man..!!!! :mdr:

looking sexy. I like it black like it is, w/o the wrap. Looks fast.

oooo pretty!

thanks guys. i was up til 5am last night getting my shop all cleaned and organized so it is ready for me to just tuck my head down and just work my tail off. its so much easier to work in a clean environment. and i needed a good kick in the ass anyway. its a good thing i have the support of the RCM forum members. its better than AA!

That's right!!!!

got the esc mounted up just how i wanted. now i am gonna mount the steering servo and give it a test run to check temps. i wont have brakes but by end of this week i should have this beast done....unless i end needing a bigger motor. then it might be a bit longer.

Hook us up with some shots without the hood, RTR. What Gearing are you using there Ryan. Will be nice with the disc brakes, I notice that the stock brakes don't work to well with a 645MG. I would love to see you get the disc brakes working, it's kinda hard to stop a 38Lb beast going that fast... What's the total weight of yours, RTR?

so here it is RTR minus the disc brakes and mudguards...and body obviously. i need to finish a couple of other things like shorten the motor leads and also make an aluminum servo holder as the stock plastic one sucks. anyway, i finished up drawing the hubs needed to mount the disc brakes last week and my machinist swore he would get them done this week so i should have brakes mounted by end of week. other than that it should be good to go but i cant get the damn esc to turn on and not sure why. i was only able to hook up a 5s so i will try again with actually hooking up 10s later today. i hope i didnt get a bunk esc that was $400. seriously!!? i am hoping it requires 6s or higher and that is why it hasnt worked. any thoughts out there?

anyway, here are a few pics RTR. weight is....um, not sure. i know it is more than 22lb cuz my digi scale maxes out at 22lb and gives me error when i try to weight it. its not much more than that though cuz right at 22lb i am just barely holding it. if i recall i weighed all the parts separately before assembling and got a total of 25lb. based on what my scale says i would guess that 25lb is about right. i cant believe yours is 38lb. 13lb difference is substantial.

oh, and my gearing right now is 15/40 but the rc calc puts it at like 70mph so i will most likely be running my 12t pinion, which is the smallest one i have. the 12/40 setup puts it at 54mph which is more in the range of what i am after and plenty fast for me.

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so i just took off the wheels and tires and weighed it again. this time my scale held up and it came in at 22.20lb and the wheels and tires came in at 4.3lb so a total of 26.5lb RTR. body probably weighs a pound also. that about the same as MB's baja if i remember right.

Looking good.

I know your pain, I still can't get my MGM 28025 to work.. Just waiting for a reply from Mike... I can't wait to see your brake setup... She looks awesome man! Wow, I can't beleive mine is 13Lbs heavier than yours. I was reading the review on RC Universe, the Petrol version RTR with fuel was 37.5Lbs.. So mine is only 0.5Lbs heavier than the petrol, and the Petrol has only top speed of about 35MPH with that 23CC CY Engine. But then again, the weight difference adds up.. I have a bigger motor, bigger tires.. Them damn tires probably weigh almost 2 Lbs each.. Bigger batteries... Dual servos.... I wish mine was 25Lbs, that would've been awesome, but hey man... the parts are beefy on the redcats...

@ 25Lbs, the 2215 definately won't have a problem.. Will be lookin' forward to see the video man.. It will be an awesome 4WD buggy.. I don't think Master Blasters Baja was 26.5 Lbs.. I think it was lighter than that..

looks awesome! i cant wait to see it run!!!!!!!!

well it wont be running anytime real soon since i have discovered that the Hydra 240hv is bunk. wont even turn on. anyway, hopefully i can get a new esc soon. i really dont want to lay down a lot of money again though, thats for sure.
i am certain i am doing everything right. there is no power switch on the esc so its just a matter of plugging in the connectors. the instuctions say to be sure to connect battery to all leads instead of half of them since it has the double wires. i soldered on my connectors and hooked up a battery. thats it. same way i do to every other esc i have. the thing has to be faulty.

maybe you try a hobbywing hv (up to 12 s), or a suppo hv.

both brands are good, and not too expensive, you don't want to spend too much money. the hw is quite popular for 1/6 conversions, maybe you add a fan and some caps.

the suppo would be worth a try, too.

maybe the esc needs a startup. the graupner genius have that, you can choose between the direct startup of the ecs when plugging in, or after using the throttle (it has no on/off switch). give cc a call!!! for 400,- it's supposed to work!!!

btw, she's a real beauty!! great car!
florian

thanks florianz,

i have sent an email to castle support. i am gonna call them today also. i am hoping i am just doing something wrong and there is some procedure to run the first time. i really want to run this esc and not anything else.

Must suck to have something that's ready to go, and no ESC to power it... :oh:

thanks for rubbing it in!:lol: j/k, i know what you meant. it does suck though. big time!

I hope you get ur baby goin' soon...

just hook the batterys straight to the motor!

what? are you serious??!!


hey aqwut,
is the hobbywing esc the Pentium model? that is the only HV version i can find for $100 but its a airplane/heli esc. is that the one you are using?

Have you tried programmin it yet? Do you get any leds at all? Are you trying a full 10s now?

That would be horribly bad luck to have a doa. Listen to the song DOA by the Hunted to vent your frustrations. :angel:

i was just kidding dude:lol:

i havent been able to program it cuz it wont even turn on. it doesnt have a port for hookup to CastleLink...at least not one that i can see. i think it can only be programmed via the transmitter.

i tried hooking up 10s and still nothing. with 5s a small red led blinks 1 time right when i plug it in but thats it. when i hooked up 10s i didnt notice if the red led blinked or not. it doesnt beep or anything and the light on my spektrum rx doesnt light up so i know something isnt right. the rx is fine too cuz i checked it with a MMM.

anyway, i have no idea what is wrong. it must just be a faulty esc.

i am just re-reading the instructions and it says one of the features it has is a
"Safe Power ON" arming program to help prevent motor from accidentally turning on. but ut doesnt say anything about how it works or what to do. just says to connect a battery safely.

for troubleshooting it says if the symptom is nothing working at all to check all connections, check polarity and if that doesnt fix it then contact Castle Tech support. i am certain that everything is connected how it should be and i made sure to hook it all up right cuz i didnt want to fry a $400 esc. it never acted like it got fried or anything. it simply has done nothing other than a 1 second red led blink from the first hookup.

so damn frustrating. and i havent heard back from castle yet after sending emails and leaving messages. hope to hear back soon.

Your supposed to use the Castle Link adapter that plugs into the servo plug on the ESC, connect it to the battery and then try and program it.

Yeah, I'm using that ESC, but i have a PiStix adapter with it and using the mechanical brakes.. no motor brakes at all...... What's your final drive ratio?.. mine is currently 8.42:1 @ approx 16K RPM..
The most that I have tested was 7.36:1 @ 16K RPM. I haven't tested any higher gearing yet, so for now the ESC can run safely (on Grass)...

38Lbs @ 53 MPH on 12S5000mAh....

yeah, i have been working on trying to use castlelink to see if the esc works and still nothing. castlelink says that the hv series controllers need to be hooked up to at least a 12v battery to be able to program. so i hooked up the batter and connected the esc to castlelink and still nothing. castlelink doesnt even recognize it. it just gives me an error saying nothing is connected. so i tried my MMM with castlelink to make sure everything was working and i was able to program my MMM no problem. there is definitely something wrong with this controller.

Do you have the motor plugged in? Properly? Maybe try plugging in the battery with the turorrle held all the way down on the transmitter. Have a separate bec plugged in?

Don't know why I'm saying all this... Doubt you're doing anything wrong. You're experienced enough. Wonder what castle says.

Edit- Looked at the led meanings sticky in the cc forum. It only says it's for car controllers, but it might be somewhat universal. Solid red or green means full throttle or reverse. Doubt the little flash of hape you got was that, but it might be. Maybe you have the rx plug plugged in backwards?

i will check the led meanings. i have checked and re-checked the to make sure its plugged in right and polarity etc. i cannot see anything i am doing wrong? i wish it was something i am overlooking so then its just a quick fix but it seems to be a problem with the esc. i mean, i hooked it up exactly the same twice and one time it worked fine with the MMM and the other time nothing on the HV. i also have test this with the rx and the same thing happens. everything is fine when i hook to my MMM but nothing happens when hooked to the HV.

castle hasnt responded yet to any of my calls or emails. maybe i will hear back tomorrow.

edit: so i checked the sticky with the led definitions and there is not a definition for a 1 second red blink and then nothing. i take that to mean there is something wrong. thanks for your help though metallover. even now i am still open to more ideas. i guess i just want to hang on to the hope that its just something i am overlooking so i dont have to send it in and wait 2 months.

Well, kinda similar problem I have.... my 2280 is sitting pretty in the firehammer, and have no ESC that could handle the current.. Been toying with the MGM for months... Mine takes programming, but nothing else...

which mgm did you buy? i know they arent cheap. plus i hear getting them fixed is a pain being as they are located in europe. it almost sounds like that little hobbywing is the way to go. didnt you say that your specs showed you werent even drawing 100amps?

btw, i dont really understand all the details of of gearing and watts and on and on. you seem to know all that very well. here is what i am running. was wondering if you could tell me if you think the hobby wing will work

2215 2y 750kv
10s 5000mah 30c
and 15/40 gearing

i know the gearing is high. i can go a bit lower down to a 12t pinion for a 12/40 setup if needed. is that gonna be geared low enough? what would my gear ratio be? remember i dont have the drive reduction unit like you. just a spur and pinion gear and of course the stock front and rear diffs which are 30t spur and 10t pinion.

roughly 7.5 final drive ratio has been the most I've been able to push/try on the 100A ESC without any issues.. but my KV is set for 356, and your's is 750KV.. but your tires are smaller diameter... and your vehicle is quite lighter in mass... your's is about 9.99:1 final drive ratio if you use a 12T pinion... I think yours is setup same as Kaz..? With the buggy tires and the high FDR and higher KV motor/rpm, I think the 100A ESC would handle fine...

I bought the 28025 temporary for my 1/5th scale race a few months ago, but it didn't work.. it was pretty much a waste of money since that's the only ESC that would've been able to handle the 2280-5 on 6S 10000 mAh, 5th scale.., and it still doesn't work, I'm sure Mike would help me out.. Just waiting for a reply.. I'm in the same boat as you, I really don't want to send it out, unless I'm 200% sure that there is nothing else that could be done for it to work.... because my Hydra 240 on 6S couldn't handle that motor either, but that's because it needed water cooling and the motor RPM was 1480KV...

The Hydra was 75+ Deg. C, the Lipos were about 50 Deg. C 6S2P 10000 mAh, and the motor was about 40 Deg. C. and all 6 10 AWG wires were warm...

I think it's just a bad joke, selling expensive esc's which just don't work. and bad service doesn't make it better.

but anyways. some months ago I was about to buy one of those esc's:
http://www.r2hobbies.com/proddetail....=rcps81708_120

My first 5s bl-esc had the same black programming box like that one. So I guess it has a "kind of" car-program. using that box was just so easy. great stuff. But, I didn't use one of the esc's shown above. you probably could use the car brake of that esc. maybe you add some caps to be on the safe side.

suppo used to have a super high voltage esc, but their HP is down. Just because it's "no-Name" and chinese, doesen't have to mean it's rubbish. As you see, you buy "brand" and it's not working at all.

I used to have a plane esc similar to that one http://www.bidproduct.com/part/Produ...20ESC_106.html and it was rock solid, worked absolutely flawlessly. Only problem is, they have no dynamic car brake, but that doesn't matter for you.

here's the suppo 10s esc, I am sure that they had a 100a esc:http://www.lightflightrc.com/HTML/pr...80A_HV_ESC.htm

further there are the etti boat esc, for more than 10s. They are known to be good, not that cheap like a suppo or a hobbywing. I had one, which smoked soon...

I don't know how high the amps are driving that big, bautiful :mdr: car. using 10s, 100a could be sufficient.

ok, so here is the email i just got from castle. it appears it am just an inexperienced idiot. i knew it had to be something i was overlooking. what i dont get is why it didnt say this in the instructions. i guess becuase any boat guy, which is who this esc is for, would have known this without having to to be told.

quote from castle:

Ryan,

The ESC is opto coupled. It does not have a BEC to power the receiver. You must power the receiver and the ESC with a separate receiver battery plugged into the receiver.


end quote.


ok, so it sounds like i need a bec and a separate rx pack. lovely. at least its gonna run today. woohoo. fingers crossed. so, i want to make sure i get this right. i have only used a bec one time and it was a looong time ago. can some of you experts guide me through how to set this up. i have that little blue castle bec that was like $20. is that gonna work?

thanks for the input. i think i will be able to run a test today. so is yours actually geared higher than mine? i guess you could gear a lot higher with such a low kv motor and so much power. i am really hoping it works as planned. i really dont want to have go back to the drawing board.

sorry about your mgm. luckily for me i was just over looking things but it sounds like you know what you are doing and chances are the mgm needs to be replaced. idk, i know some guys swear by them. i have never owned one but have looked at getting one several times.

ooops... :oops:

well, w/out bec it won't work...

be careful with the ubec/external bec, it has to work for 10s. it also should provide enough amps for the big servos.

eg, the turnigy ubec/bec are quite good.

Yeah, mine is geared higher because of the lower KV... But don't hook up your Castle BEC to your 10S, it will fry.. 6S maximum on the BEc, so you'll need a seperate pack for that.. but I suppose you already know this...:whistle: Your buggy should be rockin' today man.. .Hurry up and post a video...

They do work very good, but I do like the castle UBEC.. I have quite a few of them myself..

Hyperion to the rescue... http://www.allerc.com/product_info.p...oducts_id=2821

Good for 10S, all e has done VERY well by me, ships from AZ to NY in 2 days, everytime!