Sidewinder trouble?
 

I have an rc12l4 with a futaba 3pm, sidewinder esc, 19 turn checkpoint brushed motor, and a new SMC 4 cell 4600 nimh battery pack. Everything works fine until I punch the throttle all the way then it will cut out. If I ease in to full throttle it works fine.

Does anyone know what would cause this?

This is a little know issue that has not been resolved as far as I know. Myself and a few others I have come across while snooping the forums have also had issues with.
We have been in touch with Joe at Castle, but that was a while ago. He has been great in forum convo's, but must be a bit tied up at present to sort the issue.
I had wired for high-power mode and got the same trouble with my Reedy 19 turn mod motor. Worked great in low-power mode with the old Tamiya 23 turn, but even that in high power mode would not work properly.
A few things I have tried that didn't work (so you won't waste your time):
1. Hard-wired the motor to the esc.
2. Made sure there were 3 capacitors on the motor.
3. All my wiring is Deans Wet noodle 12 guage, no current issues there!
4. Tried all 3 power wires soldered at the same point to the motor wire, as well as "staggering" them back from each other.
5. Hard-wired the battery to the esc.
6. Tried re-setting controller end-points, and using various end-point settings.
7. In desperation tried an AM radio set.
8. Tried a Tamiya 23 turn super stock (can't draw much less power than that puppy).
9. Twisted and wove the motor wires to eliminate EMF.

I use NiMh still, but they are good batteries and work fine with my 12 turn mod motor and the GTX esc, so I don't think that is an issue.

I don't have Castle Link, and don't think I should have to buy it to make the esc work properly.

I will post back on this if Joe gets back on the other forum.

Feel free to try anything I didn't think of and let me know!

I'm a little PO'd about it all and have ordered a Tekin R1 which is on it's way. I'm not recommending the Sidewinder until Castle can either enlighten me on how I cocked something up, or tells me how to "fix" the issue :)

I just installed mine 2 days ago and it hasn't been right for me either. So far I have tried 2 different brand new freshly charged 4 cell 4600nimh packs with all quality connectors and bars, castle link firmware upgrade, unsoldering the factory motor conectors and hard wiring without cutting anything, and have only wired as in the diagram labeled "brushed motor wiring", and numerous configurations on my futaba 3pm.

I think a capacitor may help but I want to contact castle for reccomendations first.

Yeah, I guess the capacitor thought was just wishful thinking and as instructed by caslte i *&^&er rigged some wiring that was supposed to make it work but that info was false as well. I also tried most of what was tried above by jr007 in addition to the other wasted time and money with no luck. I guess you can't make chicken salad from chicken SH^&! The tech support at castle will blame everything else but there own product. I just spent $75 4 days ago for this esc by castle creations to find out that it is junk. !!!!!!!!!!BUYERS BEWARE!!!!!!!!!! You definately get what you pay for.

I'll never buy another product from caslte creations and I will constantly let everyone else know about their crappy products.

JUNK sidewonder Junk castle creations junk junk junk

I guess I'll have to buy a LRP product for everything to work as it should.

I just installed my new LRP esc and guess what......That's right....... no more problems.

did you ever try the lipo cutoff??:rolleyes:

if not, wana sell the sidewinder??

Yep, sure did. I even adjusted all of the settings using castle link before I ran it.

How much you gimme for this piece of sh&%? It's less than 2 weeks old.

Did our tech support told you that since you're running a 4 cell NiMH you should disable the BEC on the speed controller and use a separate battery or BEC to power the receiver? Either that or jump the 4 cell pack straight into the receiver? Capacitor in the receiver would help as well, but isn't a guarantee.

I believe he did after I was told that both of my brand new batteries could be the problem and I should go and buy more new batteries, then I was told it must be my brand new 3pm futaba cutting off the receiver due to a votlage drop, and maybe a capacitor (4700uf electrolytic polarized capacitor) would help but no guarantee which i tried as well. I got tired of being given the "runaround" and I don't feel I should have to modify a brand new esc for it to work as it should. I even asked for a CC approved wiring diagram for these additional modification so I could do everthing exact but apparently you team has no such thing. So, before I got blamed again for something else I have or did, I purchased a new lrp esc and amazingly all my problems were solved.

I'm glad I didn't go buy all new stuff again as instructed by your tech.

I hope you see my frustration!

Joe, I have still not heard anything from you yet. What do I need to do with this brand new $75 non-working sidewinder esc?

Was this for a 1/18th Sidewinder or 1/10th Sidewinder? If 1/10th we do not state anywhere on the site that it works with 4 cell NiMH...only gives the "up to" ratings. Did you assume 4 cell operation was ok? Contact us prior? Trying to get a handle on the whole situation. Sorry it's taking time to get back to you. Been hectic at work lately.

1/10th sidewinder, Doesn't state anywhere on your site that it doesn't work with 4 cell nimh nor did you or any of your tech's at any time say that it wouldn't work but only a surprised response from you guys that it didn't work, YES, I did contact you guys, better late than never, I bet it has been "hectic" if there is that many unsatisfied customer's like myself.

What made you decide to use a Sidewinder in a 12th scale with a brushed motor? Why not use something more common for that application?

When you say common, Do you mean something that works?

It sounded like a good product from visiting the website (kinda like those infomercials on tv and I guess I was wrong). The way that it is advertised it sounds like it can be used for any application ex. (brushed, brushless, lipo, nimh).

Yeah... Like a Novak GTB 4-cell; something designed for use in a pan car. It's not like the product is faulty, it's just not designed for what you wanna use it for.