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Soldering on the Mamba Max ESC
I have just recieved a Mamba Max ESC and my plan is to desolder the the pos and neg leads that came with the MM and to solder on the power leads that came from the VXL. I was just concerned that I could possibly damage the ESC, I have a 40 watt soldering iron
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A good soldering iron is required, I have done it (added larger wires). There is always the chance of damaging something, just don't overheat the circuit board.
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Why? Do you want a traxxas plug on the mm?
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Why not buy a traxxas male plug and solder it on the mm leads? |
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I aready have the lead connected to the male traxxas it would faster to just solder on the power leads to the MM ESC, but if I would fry the ESC while soldering that would be a pricey lesson |
Soldering on the circuit board is a bit trickier than soldering on a plug. If you have no soldering skills, you may want to go another route.
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i would take the male connector off the traxxas wires and resolder on the mm wires,the other way is to chancey,good luck
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Yeah, just change the plug; I tried to desolder the the batt wires from the MM to change them once, and it was a nightmare. I think Castle use some kind of special solder, as it just refused to melt...it kind of "caked" up. I also nearly wrecked the PCB because of this, so unless you have a very good iron, try to avoid touching the PCB.
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The mamba's thick pcb soaks up a lot of heat, making it diff to solder. You would be way better off changing the plug, 40watt won't be enough.
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I had to change all my motor leads - I'm getting better at soldering but it was a real pain. To change a plug i wouldn't take this approach...
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Don't solder on the circuit board
Please do not solder on the circuit board as it voids the warranty. Before you all post things like "I am a pro solderer" and "I have soldered on circuit boards all my life and really, really, really know what I am doing" consider this. We use high temperature, lead free solder with special flux to enable us to sell our products into the European Union. This solder and flux is not readily available. The circuit boards are heavy copper and conduct heat very well. The problems these create are that standard lead based solder does not mix well with our solder and will create a cold joint. The amount of heat it takes to flow our solder is conducted though the circuit board to the point where parts will loosen or fall off the other side. It takes special training and equipment to reliable solder onto a Castle Creations circuit board without creating problems. Because of these issues, we do not make exceptions to the rule that if you solder on the circuit board the warranty is void.
If you really feel you need to solder directly onto a Castle Creations circuit board and later have problems the saving grace is it only costs about one third to one half the cost of a new ESC to have it replaced. Check the out of warranty replacement costs on the ‘Support’ tab on our website, www.castlecreations.com. Bernie |
welcome to the wonderful world of ROHS..
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@ Bernie i must say that you should include this warning in the documentation as most people will assume the reason you have solder tabs is so that they can replace wires etc.
I soldered some new 12awg wires to one of my mamba max's before i found out that it would invalitdate the warranty. i must admit it was a mission to solder even with my crazy 100w iron that seems to have no temperature control as if i leave it the iron tip glows red. |
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But you can suck it clean from PCB and solder back with whatever solder and flux you have, right? P.S. But no matter what warranty void!!! |
Eek I didn't know this either - I'm a self confessed lousey solderer who was it appears v lucky!
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to solder my caps on, I stripped the wires just above the pcb and tinned and soldered the wires there. a little liquid electrical tape after to seal it back up. I use a big arse soldering gun to solder. I am too impatient for the pencil to heat up. it's not practical for soldering small things, though my bud that makes electronic stuff laughs at some of the small joints I have gotten soldered with such a big gun... lots of practice I guess hehe. I dig holding a trigger for a few seconds and presto, hot enough to solder even battery bars. if I have to solder a pcb I will use the pencil, but most times the gun works for me.
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Putting caps on the actual wires close to the ESC is a good way to do it, but I still don't see the reason for adding capacitance. A well-designed ESC won't benefit from it, it just adds expense and effort. If other brands of ESCS benefit from it seems to say something about their design.
A soldering gun is not appropriate for electronics work. There is 120 volts going through the tip when on which can quickly create a disaster with electronic circuits. Bernie |
Throughout my testing of the mm, it seems to lower the operating temperatue of the esc. I am running 4s lipo, and outside of the spec of the esc. All of mine are working fine and stay cooler with the added capacitors.
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But when you start pushing limits, then new caps and extra heatsinking comes to play. -plus couple other things here and there. |
The cell limit for the Mamba Max is based on the Kv of the motors we include with the system, not the Mamba max ESC. Simply multipy the motor Kv by the pack voltage. If it is over 65,000 the motor will spin apart. With lower Kv motors the ESC has no problem with higher voltage, up to 5s lipo. The ESC is about a 100 amp ESC. 100 amps X 18.5 volts = 1850 watts. The issue is you must have batteries capable of 100 amps continuous output. Many battery companies C rating would lead you to believe they can do this, few deliver on the promise. We recommend having at lease 20% more battery capacity than you think you will need to avoid problems. Also only buy lipos from reputable companies, most of which are not common in the RC-Car world.
If you have adequate batteries you don't need extra capacitance and if you have inadequate batteries extra caps won't help you. The amount of power it takes to move mass goes up by the square of the mass. While the Max system with a Max motor used withing spec is capable of 1000 watts (11.1 volts X 90 amps) and is capable, with a lower Kv motor and more voltage of about 1850 watts. However, this is not enough to move the weight of a Monster truck or 1/8th scale conversion reliably. In these systems the Mamba Max ESC is a $130 fuse. When you hit the throttle hard on a hot 1/10th scale the amps will spike over 500 amps. The spike with a heavier car is a potential ESC killer. Capacitance has no affect on these spikes. BTW, the amp spikes in our 1/18th scale systems are over 150! Bernie Supervisor, Product Support |
So in a light crt .5 - 5s is ok? Cool!
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It should take about 33 percent more energy to go 10 percent faster.
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Useless..., I've sent you PM hoping to keep it private, but here we go. Mambamax is perfect and you guys have bad batteries and do not know how it works... Wake up, you are sales and support fellow, while couple guys here actually do now how it works and can design and improve existing ESC's. You might have wrong image about who you are talking to. Sorry for harsh post, Artur P.S. I won't even comment power requirements and formulas, i.e. physics. I am not sure about your CV. But explain me what the cap is actually for in the ESC, besides charging and discharging :) You talking about in-rush currents and so, but looks like you have no idea, like I can't see how the cap can discharge in the circuit while being attached to good battery, playing dumb of course... Also, have you even consider about efficiency of your ESC at half throttle, while pulling 1850W? Ok, maybe half... What is the power capacity of your heatsink on ESC? |
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