Castle Creations Mamba Monster 2 Retro ESC issues

[jondilly1974]

So I think I am having issues with my MM2 Retro in my Typhon. I have already burnt up one 4S 2400kv motor, which I thought was due to either heat or over voltage, but now I am not so sure. I just made a few passes yesterday with the 6S 2050kv motor and think it is damaged now too.

From the beginning, this MM2 seemed to make the motor fight against itself. It is like one of the phases doesn't fire right. It will sometimes go backwards before it will go forward. Not every time either. Some times it is smooth and predictable. But more times than not, it is glitchy, if that is a good way of describing it.

I have recalibrated, used multiple motors, swapped motor leads, using a Ripple Killer, using a Turnigy Graphene Panther 5.0 6S LiPO, running XT150s on caps and battery, haven't had it over 140F when measured after a pass. My Futaba 3PV radio works just fine on my other models that its bound to.

I will be calling Castle today for some help, but thought someone else here might have another suggestion. If it's fried, then I am SOL because the Retro is sold as-is and I don't think there is a warranty. I will likely have to swap in my MMX8S instead.

 

[jondilly1974]

So I spoke with Castle tech support and after I mentioned that I get no startup motor chirps, he quickly said yeah send it back for us to look at it. I put the MMX8S in it's place and am back in business. I may get a pass in today if the weather holds. They had been forecasting rain, but it looks like it might pass.

 

[olds97_lss]

My old hpi F360C (MMv1) kind of did that with the 2200kv traxxas/castle motor and 2050kv blx motor. I just figured it was because it was old/less refined, now it's just a backup I'll use if I have no other option.

 

[KiTris ExtremeRC]

I ran my Infraction this weekend with the MM2 Retro and a TP4050CM and I also had the same issues you described. Seems to be a general problem with software version 1.24. I only managed to do a few runs and then the car couldn't start from a stand still. After recharging the batteries everything was fine but again after a few runs, it's just not possible to get the car moving from a stand still without pushing it. With higher gearing it gets even worse (which makes sense).
I didn't have my castle link with me so I wasn't able to play around with the start-up power setting. I will probably do some test with it this week to see if changing it will affect anything.
But I'll probably still get the MMX8s at some point.

 

[jondilly1974]

I ran my Infraction this weekend with the MM2 Retro and a TP4050CM and I also had the same issues you described. Seems to be a general problem with software version 1.24. I only managed to do a few runs and then the car couldn't start from a stand still. After recharging the batteries everything was fine but again after a few runs, it's just not possible to get the car moving from a stand still without pushing it. With higher gearing it gets even worse (which makes sense).
I didn't have my castle link with me so I wasn't able to play around with the start-up power setting. I will probably do some test with it this week to see if changing it will affect anything.
But I'll probably still get the MMX8s at some point.

I sent mine in to Castle and am now waiting to exchange it towards the MMX8S (which I already have for my other rig) once they allow trade ins. The MMX8S ran my Typhon 35F cooler with the same exact setup on 6S. Bonus is I can also run 8S and still be cooler.

 

[KiTris ExtremeRC]

I sent mine in to Castle and am now waiting to exchange it towards the MMX8S (which I already have for my other rig) once they allow trade ins. The MMX8S ran my Typhon 35F cooler with the same exact setup on 6S. Bonus is I can also run 8S and still be cooler.

Was the 35F difference on the motor or ESC? I generally think it's a great little ESC. But the software and the hardware are quite old compared to the MMX8s for example.
The problem I currently have is that I can't seem to find a great setup for my Infraction. Which I can use for bashing and some speed runs here and there. The retro runs motors so hot that you just can't use it for bashing (with stock gearing). I have a Max8 combo which runs great but then I can't use it for speed runs
I would love to run my TP4050CM with the stock gearing and then gear up for speed runs. But I'm almost certain that the HW ESC's have 10 degree timing or at least it's not at 0, therefore it gets hot really fast. But it does the same thing with the Retro because this one runs every motor hot.
Weirdly though the runs I did this weekend (first time with the limitless spool) went quite well. The Tp was way cooler than a few months ago with less gearing. I did a full rebuild before, so maybe there was something wrong with it before.
Anyways I think the MMX8s with the TP4050cm could be the solution to my problem. I could bash with it on the stock gearing and gear up for a speed run

 

[jondilly1974]

Was the 35F difference on the motor or ESC? I generally think it's a great little ESC. But the software and the hardware are quite old compared to the MMX8s for example.
The problem I currently have is that I can't seem to find a great setup for my Infraction. Which I can use for bashing and some speed runs here and there. The retro runs motors so hot that you just can't use it for bashing (with stock gearing). I have a Max8 combo which runs great but then I can't use it for speed runs
I would love to run my TP4050CM with the stock gearing and then gear up for speed runs. But I'm almost certain that the HW ESC's have 10 degree timing or at least it's not at 0, therefore it gets hot really fast. But it does the same thing with the Retro because this one runs every motor hot.
Weirdly though the runs I did this weekend (first time with the limitless spool) went quite well. The Tp was way cooler than a few months ago with less gearing. I did a full rebuild before, so maybe there was something wrong with it before.
Anyways I think the MMX8s with the TP4050cm could be the solution to my problem. I could bash with it on the stock gearing and gear up for a speed run

It was 35F cooler on the motor and probably close to 30F cooler on the ESC. I have a 4050CM 2700kv on the way. For now I am running Arrma motors.

 

[KiTris ExtremeRC]

It was 35F cooler on the motor and probably close to 30F cooler on the ESC. I have a 4050CM 2700kv on the way. For now I am running Arrma motors.

That's great to know, thanks.