Castle ESC's: Water resistant and/or water proof?

[shaunjohnson]

i know that some of the ESC's have gone underwater, as for the MMM...well it had an allergic reaction lol.

if Patrick is listening, waterproofness would be a good design feature to add to the ESC's.
this will boost sales i believe as people want power for their old brushed E-revo or E-maxx but don't want to lose waterproofness.

and a show of hands, who wants to try aquaplaning their 1/8th scale on a large puddle?

Originally Posted by shaunjohnson

and a show of hands, who wants to try aquaplaning their 1/8th scale on a large puddle?

heres my hands

[Thomas Porfert]

As stated above, we do not claim our speed controllers are waterproof. That being said, all of our Car and boat products are dipped in silicone conformal coating. We now dip the controllers in the coating, so it covers the majority of the components. Unfortunately we can't guarantee that every component gets completely coated, so we can't guarantee the controller is completely sealed.

The Mamba Max is actually the hardest to fully coat. It uses a dual board design (power and control boards) that uses 2 rows of pins to connect the 2 boards. It is nearly impossible to seal the inter-connectors. The newer method is to surface mount the control board directly to the power board. (Mamba Monster, Mamba Max Pro). This makes it easier to seal the controller and protect it from water damage.

I think someone already commented on this as well, but water damage is not covered by warranty. But the controller can still be replaced for our non-warranty flat repair fee.

Hope this helps clear things up.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

[webracer]

Get some liquid tape to be sure. Remove the fan and you have a very water-resistant ESC. I looked into my new Mamba Monster, and it does have conformal coating, but I will probably liquid tape over that. My question to CC is will the liquid tape void my warranty? I understand that failure due to water exposure cannot be warranteed.
I think it is awesome there is the $70 flat fee replacement (even if it gets wet or smashed). Also, CC is in Kansas, so no probs with overseas warranty claims. Someone even answers the phone when you call!

[Thomas Porfert]

Generally we don't recommend adding compounds, liquids, adhesives, etc directly to the circuit board. If you decide to add anything directly to the ESC, just make sure it is designed for electronics and attaching directly to printed circuit boards. If any added protection leads to the failure of the ESC, or prevents us from repairing the controller, it will be considered a non-warranty repair and incur the flat repair fee.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

[webracer]

Thanks Thomas:
The 3M liquid tape is designed specifically for this purpose. I don't believe that it would prevent repair any more than the conformal coating, but it is red in color, not clear. I'll probably wait 'til the ESC is out of warranty to do this just in case.

[Thomas Porfert]

As long as we can easily remove it to repair any defective or failed components, it shouldn't be a problem. If you're close to the end of the warranty, it's probably not a bad idea to wait; just to be on the safe side.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support