Hi,
I'm looking for a alternative to Castle's BEC because Castle's requires the use of their CastleLink software to change the output voltage....and for a few reasons I don't want to use the software - primarily I can't run it on my computers (Mac's - I know dual boot, etc....I just don't want to).

So is there a BEC that has a way to select the voltage without the use of software...and is a good BEC?

Novak used to make one... Not sure if they still do. I think it's a 6v/5a.

Yep it is...

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...iversal-BEC-2S

Western Robotics makes some.

Thanks guys.....looks like the novak ome is for 2s. Is there one like this for a 4s? I doubt ill run higher than that.

there are lots out there, however the castle one still seems like the best value. if you shop at a local hobby shop they likely have the castle link and can adjust it for you, or see if somebody in your local r/c community has a castle link, im sure somebody would be more than willing to help you out.

Ohh good idea. I didn't think of that...the LHS is about 45 min away and I don't go by it that often. However given the castle is seemingly the best/well-known one out there it's probably worth it to have them set it for me.

I'm probably going to have it set @ 6v.

The Turnigy high voltage one is great . It cost 8.50 I think. I have it in every car I have and haven't had any problems. You can set it at 5 or 6 volts. I run it at 6 volts. I even use it in my 5th scale Baja.

Which Turnigy one are you referring to? I found this one http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...or_lipoly.html

But I'm not sure if that would work for me. My truck would run anywhere from 2 to 6s (planning on 4s).

I'm still a little confused on how to wire an external BEC. I have another thread here about an alternative to the castle one but thats a different discussion...based on my reading they all should pretty much wire the same.

For this question assume I get get the Castle one (not the pro).

I'm mostly running 4s in my truck with the Hobbywing Xerun esc. That esc has two plugs for the batteries...in series.

Castle's wiring diagram pretty much says to wire the BEC into one pack (below diagram at the top). But doesn't that effectively only use half of the power available from the 4s pack (2 2s in series)?

Shouldn't it be wired to the positive and negative leads into the ESC? And if so how exactly do I wire this (from a plug perspective)?

Believe that diagram is only needed for setups above 6S total. You could wire it either way for a pair of 2S packs in series, that way or across both packs for 4S like the ESC.

Any ideas on how it should be wired from a plug perspective? Meaning the batteries and esc have deans. If wired across to get 4s I guess the only way to do it is manually soldering to each lead.

Otherwise I could put a splitter on one pack and plug the esc and bec into it.

Other ideas/best practices?

Just wire the bare positive and negative BEC leads to the positive and negative battery terminals on the ESC. Then servo tape the BEC to the side of the ESC and run a line of shoegoo down the side to further secure the BEC to the ESC.

On the receiver side, plug the BEC lead into any un-used channel. Remember to remove the positive lead (center wire) from the ESC connector.

jb, I agree with kcobra's post for the wiring. Do it on the ESC end, not the battery or along the leads, less chance of wire damage I would think.

Yeah, I was just trying to find an easier way to do it because its the Hobbywing ESC which already has the power leads soldered. Since this is essentially my first electric, I really didn't want to unsolder the motor leads from the ESC.

At this point there's a better chance of me messing up the esc due to my lack of skills soldering.

I see a couple options.

1) find someone at the LHS to help me do it...LHS is not really "local" for me
2) Attempt to do it myself...
3) Get/make two Dean's parallel y-splitters for each battery (similar to image below)....wire a separate plug to each wire of the BEC but only use one wire on each plug (appropriately). Not clean but may solve my lack of soldering skills...but may also add more resistance. Overkill perhaps???