Mamba Max Not For 1/10th Scale?!?!
 

Castle Creations Mamba Max website describing the max states...


Mamba Max 10th Scale Power System

The ONLY Brushless System To Own!

Are you SERIOUS about power or just into having SERIOUS FUN? We 've got you covered either way:

so a few months ago I ordered one.... runs great in my FLM rustler... so I was thinking of putting one in my other truck... I do have heat issues which kinda suck... after a 10 min run (or 5-7 min run full out) I have to let it sit for a bit to cool off...

then I read at the bottom of the page...

NOTE: The Mamba Max Power System is NOT for use in 1/10th scale monster trucks.

http://www.castlecreations.com/products/mamba_max.html

it is great for 1/10th trucks, buggies and cars.
but its not for the e-maxx, revo conversion, etc.

According to CC its not intended for Monster truck size applications. Many here have proven it capable, but they are trying to cover thier butts with conservative specs on it. They want to be able to claim that as long as you follow the specs it is pretty much bullet proof. I personally dont think you could smoke one if you followed the CC specs to the letter.

You could easily smoke one following thier rules.

12 cells, any of their motors, on a heavy e-maxx = smoke. Gearing will be a mojor factor in how long it takes to smoke. Trust me. Out of at least 15 esc's I have smoked, only 1 of them was out of spec. But ya, Castle is by far the best...but wrong application will end its life early. If you are gunna try it, try it with a castle....its the most likely to survive.

You've burned 15 ESCs?! :eek: You ought to change your name from Bomb-Proof to "sparky" or something. :dft012:

yea, no kidding. The best one was at the last RCCA race in CT, I smoked out the nitro guys in the pits.....massive amounts of smoke. The least fun is when a lipo is involved.

Yeah, it's amazing how much smoke they can stuff into such small electronics! :027:

schulze succeeded in compressing the biggest amount of smoke..

They make better smoke machines than controllers..

Has anyone figured out why Schulze ESCs burn so easily?

So all those 80's rock concerts really just had a few schulze escs planted near the stage... :D

Expensive effects!

Yeah, schulze did.. Loose contact!!!!!!!!!!

i personally think it's because of the motor braking, which can causes higher spikes. a fet is allergic for that, as you know.. :) there are some kind of diodes, you can buy at a set voltage (lets say 24V, and anything above that 24V is killed (regulated till 24V). can't recall their name.. but they can handle an awfull lot of power.. and you can put them paralel over the source. (motorwires in this case) so three of them.. never tried them, but i am pretty sure you will keep the fetts in their safe range..

Hmm. Most FETs have the diode you are talking about integrated into the FET package. As to the name of the diode: Are you thinking "avalanche diode" or "zener diode"?

The manual says not for 1/10 scale monster trucks. Emaxx is a 1/10 scale monster truck. Hence, not within their specs.

I can smoke it in anything, trust me.

I may be a fairly new member, but I have alot of electrical knowledge that I can share.

Zener diodes are what Serum is referring to. They act like a normal diode until their specified or higher voltage, then they conduct. Unfortunately, they have a slow "response" time to conduct. That time delay still creates spikes.

Schottky diodes conduct ultra fast, but conduct like a normal diode. They conduct one direction, but not the other. Not good for speed controls that have reverse, cause you will have a short on reverse.

The best thing I've found to use on most little motors is something really simple and cheap. It can usually be found for free, conducts at around 80 volts, and is bi-directional..... a neon bulb. You solder it across the motor terminals. Simple, but it works.

Actually, Rene told me he was talking about "Trancil diodes". I never heard of these, but it sure sounded like he was talking about zener or avalanche diodes to me. I did a search and came up with nothing. Have you heard of Trancil?

When a neon bulb conducts, isn't it still a relatively low current device since it's just ionizing a gas? If so, I wouldn't think it would have enough of a shunting effect...

I've never heard of a "Trancil" diode, but it is possible that it may just need translated.

Anyway, most high voltage spikes from collapsing motor fields (especially on sub 30 volt motors) can reach spikes of several hundered volts, but are extremely low current (In the micro-milliamp range). 99% of speed controls use FETS that over the years, the designers have come up with extremely effective ways to control output harmonics, spikes, saturation, etc. I still advocate the use of snubbers in any circuit where you control a magnetic coil. Any time you remove voltage that the mosfets don't have to deal with, you increase the reliability of the device.

Does TVS suppression do anything in our situation? Probably very little. Thousands of speed controls are in use every day without failure, but I use it on mine.

Yeah, it's transil.. my bad.. it's a kind of an avalanche diode..

Most FETs, especially ones for PWM motor applications use a reverse biased zener/trancil/avalanche diode to shunt that reverse polarity spike over a certain value to protect the FETs.

Off topic, but somewhat related, story:
I once had an unknown inductance coil that when used with a simple oscillator circuit powered from a 4 AA batteries produced over 1,000v from the collapsing magnetic field! Felt like a cattle fence! :036: I had it set up so it charged through a resistor over several seconds and then dump the voltage all at once to a set of pads outside a project enclosure. The best part is I put a sign on the box that said "Don't touch" and left it unattended on a table. You can imagine how many yelps I heard. :017:

ahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha thats funny, if i were there i'd be one of them

It was pretty funny. Since it was at home, it was the kids doing the yelping. I would just say "The box TOLD you not to touch, so why did you?". So not only did they get zapped, I added insult to injury by scolding them for it. :)

Perfectly safe though since the current was miniscule...

talking bout smoking a mm controller...would it be safer to run a ubec or simply put a RX pack with the internal bec disabled?

If over 2s/6 cells; yes. Although, most linear regulators simply shut down when they get too hot.

Welcome to the forums BTW!