Castle Creations Mamba/MM/MMM FACTORY Q&A thread!
#1591

I bet you it's due to a third reason, which i believe stems from a single company pushing their own motors to get approved. They likely acted like the 'experts' where instead of giving objective truth they gave a biased opinion. the BL motor approval reasons just did not make any sense. all these companies with motors; castle, neu, aon, tekin, align, etc and only one design that was wind based gets approved?
I never did like Novak much. a fan and heatsink on their esc's led me to believe it was an inefficient design and I was right. I'm seeing reports of their sensored BL esc blowing up left and right. To the contrary, I haven't had a single problem with my sensorless ESC's.
sensored motor=too many parts to fail.
I never did like Novak much. a fan and heatsink on their esc's led me to believe it was an inefficient design and I was right. I'm seeing reports of their sensored BL esc blowing up left and right. To the contrary, I haven't had a single problem with my sensorless ESC's.
sensored motor=too many parts to fail.

#1592

any1 put time in with a 21.5 on a MM or SW? have 1 still in my retired b4, and look to use it with a 21.5 if i can. in addition to brushed option
R
R
#1593
Tech Legend

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Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Castle Mamba Max Pro. Feel its power!!!!!!!!!!
Posts: 21,220
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We'll never have a ROAR legal motor. They're all copies of Novak's design. We're not willing to copy what we consider to be an inferior motor, and definitely not willing to dumb down our motors so they can run in races based on rules from an outdated racing committee. The rules need to be updated to current standards...they're living at least 5 years in the past. Cars are the ONLY part of r/c where sensored motors are still being used...we stopped making sensored ESC's about 7 years ago! The #1 reason our motors will not be allowed is because sensorless brushless is much more difficult and expensive to manufacture, and those other companies either don't want to invest the money, or don't have the know-how to do a sensorless system. It's easier to write the competition out of the rules.

ROAR has always been a day late and a dollar short. For the 20 some years I have watched them they always have catered to certain companies. They can act like everything is fine but all ROAR does is cause local racers more money to run at their home tracks and get zero in return other than to say I went to a ROAR race and spent extra money for nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#1594
#1595
Tech Adept

We'll never have a ROAR legal motor. They're all copies of Novak's design. We're not willing to copy what we consider to be an inferior motor, and definitely not willing to dumb down our motors so they can run in races based on rules from an outdated racing committee. The rules need to be updated to current standards...they're living at least 5 years in the past. Cars are the ONLY part of r/c where sensored motors are still being used...we stopped making sensored ESC's about 7 years ago! The #1 reason our motors will not be allowed is because sensorless brushless is much more difficult and expensive to manufacture, and those other companies either don't want to invest the money, or don't have the know-how to do a sensorless system. It's easier to write the competition out of the rules.
I have been telling this here at local forums for 2 years already.
But now Joe I would to ask you something.
Let me tell you first that I use MM with 6900 motor in local races and have to use a diferent motor at nacional events. Started with MM esc but soon had to move to one that allow sensors to use with the Legal motor, because the startup sometimes is not perfect with MM esc. and that motor.
Let me tell you I am not a Top driver too, I stay in the middle of list.
But my questions is. Here in local forums some of the top drivers say to me they have tryed Mambas but they found out the system is very inefficient, develops a lot of heat, burn the motors and they have not runtime with them. They mention this in comparison with novak, lrp and speedpassion 4,5T brushless systems
I have not this ideia about Mamba system. Is there any good special reason for this or just those systems are more efficient?
#1596

hmmm, a whole 2wd outdoor season on a single 4600. tire roaster, only played between 2T dependin on track size, ran same mild temps all year. hot/cold/clouds/sun. i'd roast b4 it did. and of the spectacular blowups, they were all the original LRPs. and hard to beat that speedo (maybe phelps' speedo can, but not the other companies lol).
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#1597
Tech Initiate

I bought a new sidewinder 5700 combo and cannot get it to connect to castle link. It works for my other 2 setups but will not work with this sidewinder ESC. On the Castle website I saw this.
1.18 Final 03/24/08
* Bug: Some Sidewinders were not recognized by Castle Link. Issue resolved.
This would lead me to believe that If my ESC is a firmware lower than 1.18 it may not connect to castlelink at all. I emailed support on this issue and was asked what type of ESC it was and what version software, etc. After answering these questions and pointing out that it is still not working and that I saw this firmware issue listed I figured they would say send it in or tell me someway to update the firmware other than using castle link but instead they pretended not to know anything about any such porobelm and said:
"Should work as long as you have the latest software in there. Let me
check with the engineers and see if there are any known issues with the
Sidewinder not linking. When did you purchase that controller?
Joe Ford
Product Specialist
Castle Creations"
and so far I have not heard back. Its only been 4 days but since its a known issue posted on their site it i assumed I would have gotten some response by now instead of a response indicating theres no issue. Anyone else have this issue?
It basically makes it useless for racing without being able to adjust any settings.
1.18 Final 03/24/08
* Bug: Some Sidewinders were not recognized by Castle Link. Issue resolved.
This would lead me to believe that If my ESC is a firmware lower than 1.18 it may not connect to castlelink at all. I emailed support on this issue and was asked what type of ESC it was and what version software, etc. After answering these questions and pointing out that it is still not working and that I saw this firmware issue listed I figured they would say send it in or tell me someway to update the firmware other than using castle link but instead they pretended not to know anything about any such porobelm and said:
"Should work as long as you have the latest software in there. Let me
check with the engineers and see if there are any known issues with the
Sidewinder not linking. When did you purchase that controller?
Joe Ford
Product Specialist
Castle Creations"
and so far I have not heard back. Its only been 4 days but since its a known issue posted on their site it i assumed I would have gotten some response by now instead of a response indicating theres no issue. Anyone else have this issue?
It basically makes it useless for racing without being able to adjust any settings.
#1599
Tech Initiate

yes, these were the questions support asked and I tried them all: It lights up grren when connected but states invalid controller connected.
"Which controller are you plugging in? Tried flipping the switch? Tried
plugging the ESC in, then the battery pack into the ESC?"
But the post on their website does seem to say that some Sidewinders of a firmware lower than 1.18 will not connect to castlelink wouldn't you agree?
heres the link:
http://www.castlecreations.com/downl...idewinder.html
Version Number Type Release Date Release Notes
1.18 Final 03/24/08
* Bug: Some Sidewinders were not recognized by Castle Link. Issue resolved.
1.17 Final 01/22/08
* Force a full re-arm after manual programming
* Bug: stick programming would not allow you to change the motor type
* Minor bug: setting drag brake via stick programming showed a custom value of 1% below the desired value on Castle Link
* Minor bug: Loading and saving programming information to a file did not properly update calibration data
"Which controller are you plugging in? Tried flipping the switch? Tried
plugging the ESC in, then the battery pack into the ESC?"
But the post on their website does seem to say that some Sidewinders of a firmware lower than 1.18 will not connect to castlelink wouldn't you agree?
heres the link:
http://www.castlecreations.com/downl...idewinder.html
Version Number Type Release Date Release Notes
1.18 Final 03/24/08
* Bug: Some Sidewinders were not recognized by Castle Link. Issue resolved.
1.17 Final 01/22/08
* Force a full re-arm after manual programming
* Bug: stick programming would not allow you to change the motor type
* Minor bug: setting drag brake via stick programming showed a custom value of 1% below the desired value on Castle Link
* Minor bug: Loading and saving programming information to a file did not properly update calibration data
#1600
Tech Master
iTrader: (12)

I had the same problem with my Mamba 25 esc's. Where the esc would just blink and the program would say that too. After a couple of days of messing with them I decided to plug the battery into the ESC and then connect it to the link and "presto" the program reconized the ESC. Maybe that would help you.
#1601
Tech Initiate

I had the same problem with my Mamba 25 esc's. Where the esc would just blink and the program would say that too. After a couple of days of messing with them I decided to plug the battery into the ESC and then connect it to the link and "presto" the program reconized the ESC. Maybe that would help you.
#1602
Tech Legend

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Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Castle Mamba Max Pro. Feel its power!!!!!!!!!!
Posts: 21,220
Trader Rating: 51 (100%+)

I hook up the MM or my Sidewinder with it turned off and not even hooked up to my car. I would try a different computer if you have access to one just to see if it might be that for whatever reason. I normally try to narrow the problems down.
If thats not the problem and the Castle link is hooked up correctly then the unit might have to be sent in.
If thats not the problem and the Castle link is hooked up correctly then the unit might have to be sent in.
Last edited by wyd; 08-16-2008 at 05:09 PM.
#1603
Tech Initiate

I tried it on my laptop and my wifes PC. I was hoping support would say to send it in but so far I have not gotten a reply from them.
#1604
#1605
Tech Initiate

actually yes, even though my other 2 ESC work fine and I did not get anyinstall errors, I tried it anyway.