Mike is great...and I'm an idiot
 

Just thought I'd report that my order of two Mamba Max 5700 systems (and some Deans wire) arrived all present and correct, just the other day...and WOW they look good! Very well packaged, and they'd have gotten here sooner if Customs didn't get hold of the package and slapped a £48 charge on it. Still, that part of things went great, so a big thanks to Mike!

However...just yesterday, I made an incredibly stupid and careless mistake. Long story shortened, I decided to set about soldering the controllers up. I needed to shorten the ESC motor wires, so I thought I'd just de-solder the leads from the tabs, shorten them, and re-solder. Easy? Well it should have been but my soldering iron was having a hard time melting the solder on there for a start. I took the casings off the ESCs just to make things a bit easier...and when I was trying to de-solder a wire on the first Mamba, it looks like I've inadvertantly cooked one of the tiny surface-mount components right next to the tab!:026: :002:
I don't know if I've actually done real damage, but my bet is that I have. A friend of mine is doing the rest of the soldering for me at work (he has a more powerful iron), so I can't test the stricken ESC until he's done.:013:

It looks like I've got a $50 charge and a long wait coming my way...I can't believe I've managed to potentially wreck a Mamba before I've even so much as plugged a battery into it.:019: :002: That's why I'm an idiot, lol.

Anyway, sorry about the rant...top service from Mike once again!:018:

No need to feel down, yet. There's still a chance that the esc will work.
If it does not, send it back to Castle Creations for repairs. Their charges and service are friendly and very light.
I recommend you to get yourself a good soldering station from Hakko for less than a $90 dollars.
Its a worthy system for any soldering applications.

I hope you're right! Thanks for the suggestion, I'll definitely be looking into getting a decent soldering station. I thought my 30W iron would be powerful enough when I got it, but it looks like Castle have used a higher temperature solder...and it does struggle when soldering thick wires.

Thats good advise...

Didn't I say that Mike carry these soldering systems?!

Sorry for digging up this old thread guys, but I just thought I'd quickly update you. I finally got my Mambas back from the friend who was finishing soldering them for me, so I thought I'd test the damaged one (almost certain that it wouldn't work)...and it DOES! I can't believe it. Forward, brake and reverse all seem to be fine, although programming the unit didn't go as described in the manual lol (the red/yellow LEDs don't seem to light at all).

I haven't tried it properly in Cold Fusion as the truck isn't quite finished, but it certainly seems to be ok. The other Mamba should be just fine, so I'm rather pleased.:027:

Incidentally, I've got myself a decent soldering station now; one of these:http://mcmb2b.com/cgi-bin/test/21-7958.html. Works just great, and I got it for just £30 in a sale. :)

I'm really happy for ya, pal. Strange, though, the link is not working.

Does anybody know if they use lead-free solder on the MM?
As far as I know, according to law, they are supposed to now. This might explain your trouble trying to desloder it.

I dont really know.

Sorry about the link, try this one: http://mcmb2b.com/cgi-bin/test/scan/...scription.html. Just scroll down to the "Soldering Station Digital ESD Dual Display LCD"...it's that one.

Dafni, that's a good point....my friend seemed to think though that they actually used leaded solder instead (I usually use lead-free with no problems). When I tried to solder it, it melted once, then when I tried to re-melt it, it just wouldn't...it kinda went "gummy" (that's the best way to describe it lol). Whatever solder they used, it was a paint in the butt lol.

As for the MM, well it looks like all I've damaged it part of the LED circuitry; only the green LED will light up; there's no action whatsoever from the red and orange ones. Still, it works. :)

That's a relief. Have you completely finished your truck?

Glad the ESC was not harmed! Good luck with the rest of it!

I don't think there is anything special about the solder used on the MM... but there is a clear waterproofing stuff it's coated with that seems to interfere with trying to solder on it. I noticed this when I first direct soldered leads for my ubecs.

It's not so bad if you first scrape off the clear coating.

Then again a poor solder iron can make even simple jobs a PITA

Thanks guys.:018: The truck is very nearly finished...I'm just waiting on some cross-braces for the chassis, and then she's ready to roll. I did get a taster of the power of one of the 5700 motors today, and wow...I think I'm gonna like it. Off of the ground, the tyres were ballooning more at 50% throttle than they did with my old 14T Orbitals at 100%...:026: :027:

i roasted one from soldering, i still gotta send it back.
the brakes hardly work and the leds barely light up anymore.
:035: