castle bec 2.0 wiring

[Jerold]

I have a new BEC 2.0 from Castle and need someone that knows this better than I do to chime in.

The card says

But the model has mini servos that are limited on voltage, so this won't work. I need to NOT power there receiver (and mini servos) from the BEC, only the servo.

The BEC has red/black input and red/black output and an additional brown/red/orange group of three.

I've confirmed that I can talk to it via the 3 wires and Castle Link. I found another post (https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/castle-bec-2-0-with-rx-bypass-receiver.39893/) that says the 2 wires are for a fan and the three wires are for the RX. Which means I disconnect the signal wire from the BEC and substitute the signal wire from the RX CH1.

Assuming this is right, which is a BIG assumption, is there any reason I can just use the fan port and add a signal wire? Then just tuck away the 3 wire group someplace neat.

Any feedback or corrects are most welcome before I let the smoke out.

 

[Dan B.]

Not a direct answer, but consider this: the Castle BEC can regulate voltage from 4.7v so why not keep your setup simple (and better) by powering your receiver with it for everything including your “mini servos” at whatever voltage you need for them and use a small, dedicated LiPo for your main servo? That way you won’t be pulling your hair out with signal wires and can assign them to channels with your radio to function any way you wish. You can get a simple harness to power your servo with a LiPo.

 

[Jerold]

Not a direct answer, but consider this: the Castle BEC can regulate voltage from 4.7v so why not keep your setup simple (and better) by powering your receiver with it for everything including your “mini servos” at whatever voltage you need for them and use a small, dedicated LiPo for your main servo? That way you won’t be pulling your hair out with signal wires and can assign them to channels with your radio to function any way you wish. You can get a simple harness to power your servo with a LiPo.

I can do that, but I already have the BEC and it's more stuff to deal with.

Just more info, I'm running the HobbyWing 1080 ESC so I won't be able to disable the ESC. So even if I just wanted more current, I would need to follow the Castle diagram.

 

[Dan B.]

I didn’t realize you were running a brushed system, but even at that yes you can. Just disconnect the red ESC to Receiver wire at the pins and run your BEC into the receiver. And you’re not doing more, you’d actually be doing less with a much cleaner schematic.
Also, if you‘d provide more information on your build it would be easier to get advice. What rig is it? What electronics? Why so many mini servos? What are you doing, and what are you trying to accomplish?

I can do that, but I already have the BEC and it's more stuff to deal with.

I should have been more clear…. Use your external Castle BEC to power your receiver, use your aux ports for your mini servos, set those up with your radio any way you want, and keep your steering servo on channel 1 with a LiPo harness to power it. Simple, clean, and less wiring. Also at that point your steering servo gets a clean source of power.

 

[Jerold]

I didn’t realize you were running a brushed system, but even at that yes you can. Just disconnect the red ESC to Receiver wire at the pins and run your BEC into the receiver. And you’re not doing more, you’d actually be doing less with a much cleaner schematic.
Also, if you‘d provide more information on your build it would be easier to get advice. What rig is it? What electronics? Why so many mini servos? What are you doing, and what are you trying to accomplish?

I should have been more clear…. Use your external Castle BEC to power your receiver, use your aux ports for your mini servos, set those up with your radio any way you want, and keep your steering servo on channel 1 with a LiPo harness to power it. Simple, clean, and less wiring. Also at that point your steering servo gets a clean source of power.

I ohm'd out the Power and GND they are the same on both the 2-wire and 3-wire. Also the GND is connected back to the battery. So both red output wires come from the same source and all the GNDs are the same.

It's a crawler with hi-low trans and front/rear locker, thus the 3 additional servos. Brushed motor with HW 1080 ESC. The max voltage on the mini servos is 6V, I don't know about the RX, but would also assume it's 6V. So the only thing that needs elevated voltage is the steering servo.

I've updated the schematic to show the voltage/current path. The key is to make sure that nothing has two voltage sources... that would be bad.

Update: I plugged it in and it seems work fine. No smoke... thank God. Now I just need to make it look pretty.