An idea for future CC ESCs
 

Hey all (especially Castle guys, if you're reading this). I've just had an idea for a possible future feature on your ESCs. If it's already been thought of then forget this, but I thought I'd get it out there.

Why not have an optional, external temp sensor for your motor that hooks into the ESC? You could just have a temp probe (probably just a thermistor) that's thermally-epoxied to an aluminium motor clip, which could fit around most smooth-can motors much like the clip-on heatsinks you can buy (for the Castle-Neus, it could fit near the rear endbell). Then, just have a simple 3-pin port on the ESC which the sensor can plug into, and the ESC could monitor the motor's temp and go into shutdown if it approaches 200F? Maybe even have the cutoff temp adjustable.

It just seems to me that a relatively simple feature like this could save an awful lot of (perhaps inexperienced) people from damaging and demagging their motor...and even save a few ESCs as a result. Obviously it'd require a hardware change so would only be useful for future ESCs, but it seems like a sensible idea to me. The Novak sensored setups have a built-in temp sensor in their motors, and it only makes sense to have a similar system on our much more powerful systems. Could save a lot of warranty claims, and would be a nice failsafe to have in case your motor suddenly heats up due to some other problem.

Like I say, apologies if this has already been considered and discarded. Thoughts?:neutral:

Sounds like a good idea to me!

I would definately go for it. I'm thinking it would make the mmm v4 a hot item?

If people were once willing to run external LVC's for their lipos, then i'm sure initially, there could be an external temperature cutoff as well.

Cool! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it'd be a good idea. I can't think of any disadvantages, and I'd have thought it'd be relatively easy to implement into the software as it's just another temp sensor to monitor alongside the internal one - assuming the CPU has enough free processing time.

Any thoughts from you Castle guys on this?

I have a better idea, choose a well suited motor and gearing to your application, then make some other hardware changes, namely, they should have an input for the lipo balance plug so it will cut when any single cell reaches minimum voltage, not the whole pack.

I like both ideas. A lead from the esc that connects to the lipo balance plug and a clip-on temp sensor for the motor, both wired to the esc to monitor lipo cell balance and motor temperature.

This reminds me of reading about when people started putting balance taps on lipos. I hope these esc additions will become standard as well.

Both.
 

Both ideas sound pretty good. From the manufacturing standpoint it should be a fairly easy change to the ESC's that are now supported by CC. The cost for the modifications seem to be pretty nominal, compaired to the amount of warrenty work they could save in the long run. So what do you think CC people?????:rules:

Properly matched lipos that are sized correctly and have honest specs to base calculations on will not have any cell imbalance issues.

Now maxamps may want to include one of these gadgets with every pack, might save them some money.

I do like the temp sensor idea. Would also be cool if it could be accessed with an output to some of the newer radios with telemetry, such as the dx3s/r...

The only thing I'm aware of is this, but you might as well have telemetry: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=8786

ah yes, but with the exchange rate at the moment, id be paying over 400aud for per pack, more than i can afford :D I'd like to run my poor old zippys to their bitter end before having to get some enerland power! hopefully we'll be up close to parity again by that time *fingers crossed*

Come to think of it, I've never actually run a cell in a pack too low, I like the idea of them being monitored seperately though, you know... just in case :p

If you like that idea, they make a LVC that plugs into the taps. Next best thing...

Yeah its not really a LVC though, it doesn't actually cut anything off does it? just flash some lights? at any rate, im not that worried about it, ie enough to add extra little bits on my car, i just think itd be a cool feature built into an esc.

Actually the Dimension Engineering Cell Shield is a true LVC, and even has a temp probe that you can add to it to cut it off if they get to hot as well, but...Its for airplanes. Not sure how it would work out on a car. On there website they state that they have one in the works for cars, but I could have sworn they said that over a year ago.

I received a CAR version of this for beta testing. Tested it, sent them my results and my thoughts, and never received a reply back... So it doesn't seem they are interested in producing a version with pistol-radio software.

How did it perform?

Strap on Temp sensors can be unreliable and give varied results. I've seen differences on Nitro motor temp sensors of up to 25 deg between lasso and temp gun readings.

Perhaps something else to consider would be a little audible warning on ESC temp and Lipo volts. i've seen the external audible warnings on pack voltage but surely that's easy to employ within an ESC of the MMM size.

It worked like expected, but what I didn't like was that after it shut off the throttle, and I returned the trigger to neutral, I could still grab full throttle and draw the batteries down further. In that situation the Cellshield just didn't respond fast enough. Of course I wouldn't normally treat Lipo batteries that way, but it was necessary for testing purposes.

Yea, thats not completely uncommon though with external LVCs. Wish I coulda got one of the beta units. They were supposed to e-mail me when they were ready and send me one as well for testing, but never did. :neutral:

That means DE broke off all contact with the people who could help them get this product to the market... Strange move if you ask me.

Another idea I was thinking about, which also relates with the balance plugs, is if you can plug them into the esc so it can detect just how many cells you are running.
Just a thought.:whistle:

Not if they're done properly. A lot of lasso-style sensors don't give an accurate reading because they often don't have good contact with the heat source. If Castle made an official motor sensor that used an aluminium clip-on clamp that wrapped most of the way around the can with the thermistor thermal-epoxied to it, then heat transfer would be very efficient and reliable.

I just think it'd be a simple, elegant feature that could be an invaluable failsafe measure IMO.

Castle speedos already do, with Auto-LiPo.:neutral:

Auto lipo though is a guess I've still messed it up before plugging in a disharged pack and it just thought it was 4s pack instead of 5s...

Same has happened to me as Arct1k, after my MMM reset on its own. Luckily I noticed the power drop to save my lipo's.

Okay, fair point.:yes: I'd forgotten about that scenario.