Anyone have experience with cheap 12s ESCs?

[Jahay]

Ok i have been looking at some ESCs...

ANYWAY... i know Castle are awesome... i personally dont think their NEW LINE OF HV ESCS ARE ALL THAT JUST YET!!!! but you still cant fault their customer service. They do a very good job of replacing faulty or blown up products.... we all know this...

BUT i cannot justify spending $300+350 alone on just the 8s ESC (I would if it was the 10s capable one) And considering i want to run 10s or 9s for a silly setup, i am sure the new 10-12s castle ESC will be more along the $450-500 price range!!!!!!!

So i have been looking at alternatives.
I have yet to do anything cheaply on the savage and i am not one for doing things in this manner .. but $450 on a speed controller is crazy considering thus far, all the ones that have been used by people have basically blown up or had a few problems.... but at least castle are replacing them (i think)... (It seems they are having the same probs as when the MMM V1 came out.???.. Only till the V3 was available did less explosions occur )

Anyway i have been looking around and these HK ESCs seem to go for around $120-180 and handle 10-12s and 120-200amps rate.... Here are the options i have found. Your advice is appreciated.

I would like to maintain brake but reverse isnt completely necessary...

TURNIGY K-Force 120A-HV OPTO 5-12S Brushless ESC
http://www.hobbycity...?idProduct=8921#


This has gotten some very decent feedback and seems to be quite reliable when running big power... Primarily used by plane and heli users, the chip was designed originally for on road applications, so it could work very well...
It is rated to around 120amps and 180spikes. That should be enough to handle a 9-10s car considering amps drop with increased cells... right?
I would most probably add my own fan to it for cooling purposes as well


Turnigy Monster-2000 200A 4-12S Brushless ESC
http://www.hobbycity...idProduct=10332


Although the specs are impressive.. the reviews have been all bad and i have yet to read a good one... It does look impressive but im staying away from this one. It just doesnt seem up to handling the huge power



ESC-00180/INFINITE 120A-5TH-SL 5-10s
http://www.okhobby.c...id_product=1136


Kershaw designs have a rebranded version of these that they sell. But it goes for basically double the price!!! It may be a solid option to try as it is designed for car use???

What are peoples experiences with Hobby City and OK Hobbies in terms of their return and exhange policy? Because i have a feeling at some point it would blow...

If you can recommend any other option with similar spec or offer your experience with ANY of these items... please chime in.

THANKS

[brian015]

If you can run mechanical brakes (I know you'd rather not) - then the CC ICE HV 120 or 160 is a great option (they can be had for less than the XL on eBay or get a gently used one on an airplane forum for a bargain - that's what I did).

[Jahay]

it is something i would definitely look into now considering the prices of the new castle ESCs... i guess i can work out a way of putting Brake discs on my centre diff conversion.But i am worried about brake fade on a 70mph 18lbs truck....

Ill start looking into a braking setup...

[brian015]

I really like the fact that I'm only using the HV ICE esc for running the motor. It has no BEC, so you have to use an external. It has no braking, so the esc doesn't have to handle the brake spikes. This is obviously an issue for the car esc because they're only going to have esc braking up to 10s (from what I've read). So I'm not asking the esc to do everything - maybe this makes it a more reliable setup than the XL - I don't know. But I do know that I can go up to 12s now! (I only use 8s or 10s though)

[Jahay]

I know people have been having success with it running in road applications...
Considering this was made for air applications that are not subject to eh high spikes that road apps go through i wasnt sure that it would be able to take the "Take off" spikes. I guess you have had good success with it thus far though.

Could you link me to any of your vids brian?

I would definitely prefer to use an ICE HV Esc rather than a cheap o esc, but i guess i am going to have to look into a braking system that is reliable.

Can you also please link me to the BEC that you have been successfully using?

Does anyone want to chime in regarding the escs mentions above

EDIT
Brian, if i bought a second hand one or even a brand new one from ebay... if by some chance it did fail or explode when i use it, will castle replace it free of charge? would i need proof i bought it etc...??? How exactly would it work?

THANKS

[BrianG]

Also keep in mind that most aircraft ESCs need to see a different throttle signal (1ms neutral-2ms WOT) vs cars (1ms brake/reverse-1.5ms neutral-2ms WOT). If the ESC/radio cannot be set together for proper operation using a pistol transmitter, you either need a pistix adapter, or just use an aircraft radio. Back when I was using a HV110 on my old GTP and needed to use a pistix adapter with my Spektrum DX3r. Here is a link to the adapter if needed: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...rod=msw-pistix

Another issue, which Jahay spoke about, is the high current spikes that cars draw, but aircraft usually don't (except maybe Helis). Most air ESCs have constant and burst current ratings that were very close (basically, no headroom). The HV110 worked fine for me because CC tends to underrate their products, so I felt comfortable with using it in a car. But if I was to use a cheaper air ESC, I would definitely get one that had a constant current rating that was at least as high as the max burst I would expect to draw. Basically, adding in my own headroom.

If I was to use that Turnigy 120A ESC, I would use 12s and gear moderately to help keep those spikes down. And if your radio supports it, maybe some exponential curve on the throttle to further help.

[lincpimp]

Here is my take on it.

You need a good radio, something like a m11 with alot of adjustments for the throttle channel. M11 is also good cause it has a permanently slaved 4th channel for mech brakes.

You need a pistix to convert the throttle signal.

Of course you need mech brakes. Given the avialability of the MMM I see the application for these escs for 5th scale stuff. So you should have mech brakes that will stop properly already. With the baja and other 5th scales you can get mech front brakes too. Reverse is not an option, unless you have a mech reverse setup, which I have not seen for 5th scale.

With the radio adjustments, you can get great startup. My old savage that I ran a 60amp hv esc with a 14xl on 8s I used some expo adjustments to get the startup nice and smooth.

I had a pair of those k force escs that I had planned to use with a pair of neu 1521 motors in a baja 5b. Never got around to doing the conversion so I sold it all.

What options do we have for 5th scale motors these days? Other than the big CC motor, and the 22 series neus...

[Jahay]

Mr Pimp, thank you for chiming in haha

Would i really need decent throttle control on the TX??? couldnt i just do that via the usb linkage???
If you managed to use a 60amp HV on 8s then i am sure the 160amp HV ESC should run nice and cool under 8-10s power. Found new HV 160amp escs for $200... would these be replaceable under Castle warrenty if anything blew???

[lincpimp]

Originally Posted by Jahay

Mr Pimp, thank you for chiming in haha

Would i really need decent throttle control on the TX??? couldnt i just do that via the usb linkage???
If you managed to use a 60amp HV on 8s then i am sure the 160amp HV ESC should run nice and cool under 8-10s power. Found new HV 160amp escs for $200... would these be replaceable under Castle warrenty if anything blew???

I can see having the castle usb interface a big help in dialing the throttle control just right. I used pos exponential and fooled with the throttle endpoints and trim to get everything working as it should.

I used a great planes silver series 60amp hv esc. The savage was a stock 25 model with the 2 speed and mech brakes intact. I used a futaba 3pm with the 3rd channel controlling the brake servo. Both the 60hv and the 14xl ran fine, the esc never went over 110f, and with a rcm heatsink the motor stayed under 160f, during 30min bashing sessions.

The combo of lower 1st gear gearing and the radio tweaks helped startup. Without neg expo it was difficult to get a smooth startup with that esc, kinda like a light switch going to 1/4 throttle or so. I did get it starting up as good as most car escs, so it can be done.

[brian015]

Originally Posted by Jahay

Found new HV 160amp escs for $200... would these be replaceable under Castle warrenty if anything blew???

If it's an authorized dealer, yes; otherwise, I don't know.


I use a pistix with a cheap Tactic 2.4 tx/rx (2 channel) and have no problems - I use a y-splitter from the throttle channel to esc/mechanical brake servo. I didn't have to play with any settings to get good start-up on my 19lb truck with a 1527 - it worked great with no problems.

[Jahay]

i am already taking this esc into considering, i am seriously working out a way i can mount a braking system to my centre diff... But i am trying to get around how i can fit it all in as my motor doesnt sit parallel to the centre diff and the limited space in the tvps means i cant have a servo sitting directly next to the centre to control the brake mech.
Any advice would be much appreciated.






and consider how most systems operate...





any ideas where i could take a more appropriate system from?

[lincpimp]

Mount the diff bulks to one of the tvps, then you can mount the servo above it.

What diff bulks are those?

[Jahay]

Sparky... i got them here.. they are edit

http://www.hpiracing.co.uk/piw.php?partNo=ED010131

[lincpimp]

Looked at your pics some more.

I think you could easily modify your design and gain the necessary clearance to install the brake disks, and the servo/linkage.

What you need to do is make a new plate, move the chassis braces forward and backward to make room for the disks. Then you can mount the servo on the outside of the tvps and run the linkages thru the tvp transmission hole that is across from the center diff.

I am referring to this pic:



Move the square braces forward and backward and make the plate longer to gain clearance for the disks on the front and rear diff outputs.