WARNING: This is an extremely powerful brushless motor system. We strongly recommend removing your pinion gear for your own safety and the safety of those around you before performing calibration and programming functions with this system. Please keep your hands, hair, pets, fuzzy purple shorts and garden gnomes clear from the gear train and wheels of an armed high performance system. Rubber tires will “grow” to extreme size on a high speed vehicle.
QUICK START GUIDE 1. Solder a high quality battery connector to the ESC. 2. Mount the ESC and motor into the vehicle. 3. Plug in the 3 motor wires to the 3 motor wires on the ESC, or into the gold bullet connectors on your ESC. 4. Plug in the ESC Rx lead to the throttle channel (#2) on your receiver. 5. Make sure the ESC’s switch is off. NOTE: if no switch is present skip to step #7. 6. Plug in a battery. 7. Holding full throttle on your transmitter, turn the switch ON.
CONTENTS 4 Usage Warning.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 • Brushed Motor Wiring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Quick Start Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 • High Power Wiring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Radio Connection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 ESC Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• 1 . Brake/Reverse Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 • 8 . Motor Timing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 • 2 . Brake Amount.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 • 9. Motor Type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 • 3. Reverse Amount. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 • 4. Punch/Traction Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Technical Support.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 • 5.
EASY TO USE, SOPHISTICATED ENOUGH TO WIN EVERYTHING Castle controllers are extremely simple to set up and optimize for your application. Most users may simply plug the controller into their motor, radio and battery and run it immediately. Advanced users may wish to access the incredible tuning features using their Windows based PC and the Castle Link interface.
A WORD ABOUT BATTERIES AND CONNECTORS As with any extremely high powered electric power system, the primary limitations to ultimate vehicle performance are the batteries and connectors. Use the best batteries and connectors that you can find. The better the batteries, the more punch you’ll have! Recommended capacity for 1/18th scale vehicles is 1500mah+, 1/10th, 1/8th, and 1/5th scale recommended capacity is 5000mah+. Do not use 20C continuous discharge batteries.
will certainly allow your Castle system to put more power to the ground! Poor quality battery connectors can be a roadblock to performance. Avoid the common “white plastic” connectors commonly seen on many battery packs. A fast brushless setup will draw many times the power that these connectors can safely handle. Invest in connector sets made for high powered electric systems such as our CC Bullets, Castle Connectors, Traxxas® TRX® connectors, or Deans® Ultra plugs.
Proper polarity is essential here! Make absolutely sure positive (+) connects to positive (+), and negative (-) connects to negative (-) when you plug in your battery! If reverse polarity is applied to your ESC from the battery, it WILL damage your ESC. This WILL NOT be covered under warranty! CONNECTIONS Brushless Motor Wiring For brushless motor connection, the three wires from the ESC to the motor have no polarity.
motor wires to the three wires coming from the motor or directly to the ESC in any order. If you are using a motor other than a Castle Creations motor, you may need to either solder on matching male bullet plugs to your motor, or solder the ESC wires directly to the motor wires. If you choose to direct solder or to shorten the motor wires, you may do so on the Castle Creations NC14XX series, NC15XX series, NC1717, and NC2028 motors only.
Note: If running a sensored brushless motor with a sensored ESC, DO NOT change the wire orientation. Change the motor direction setting with Castle Link. Brushed Motor Wiring Reversing Brushed Motor Mode: Use this mode if you wish to use reverse. Make sure you change the Motor type setting to “Brushed Reversing” in the ESC before using a brushed motor. Use only the red and black motor wires from the ESC, or the outside connectors on the ESC.
connect to the red wire (or positive + side hood) on your motor, and the black wire to the black wire (or negative - side hood) of the motor. The white motor wire (or center connector on the ESC) is not used. After calibration, (explained later) you may need to swap the two motor wires to get the wheels to spin in the right direction. High Power Brushed Motor Mode: Using High Power Brushed Motor Mode will allow for the use of lower turn count brushed motors, and forward only operation.
Make sure you change the Motor type setting to “Brushed High Power” in the ESC before using a brushed motor. Connect all three of the ESC motor wires to the negative (-) side of the motor. You can either use a “Y” harness from the ESC battery input positive wire to connect to both the battery and the positive side of the motor, or use a single wire from the positive ESC input to the positive battery pole and then continue to the positive (+) side of the motor.
for positive and black for negative color scheme. Check your receiver documentation for correct connection polarity if it’s not marked. Note: most receivers use negative to the outside of the case and signal towards the inside of the case. ESC SETUP ESC/Radio Calibration Individual transmitter’s signals for neutral, full throttle, and full brake vary. You must calibrate your Castle ESC so that it will operate effectively with your transmitter.
If you are using a Futaba or Futaba OEM brand transmitter, you will need to set the transmitter’s throttle channel direction to the REVERSE (Rev) position. This is either an external micro switch on the transmitter or an option available within the computer programming of the transmitter. Please start by zeroing out any throttle trim that you may have set in your transmitter. Don’t plug in the battery yet! Make sure that the battery polarity and input polarity on the ESC are correct.
Step 2: Plug a battery into your Castle ESC. (NOTE: If your ESC does not have a switch, hold full throttle on your transmitter before plugging in the battery.) Step 3: Hold full throttle on the transmitter and turn the ESC’s switch ON. Keep holding full throttle on the transmitter. If all your connections are correct, you will hear one multi-toned initialization “ring” from the motor (all tones are played by the ESC vibrating the motor).
STEP 6: After accepting the full brake endpoint the ESC will then blink the yellow LED. Now relax the trigger to the neutral position. The ESC will now ring 4 times and flash the yellow LED rapidly to accept the neutral position. After accepting the neutral position, the ESC will ring twice, flash ALL the LEDs, and the yellow LED will illuminate (solid yellow for all ESCs except Mamba Max Pro which flashes).
application. If you have problems calibrating your transmitter with the Castle ESC, please see the troubleshooting guide on page 37 for more tips or visit our website’s FAQ pages. Once you are calibrated and armed, do one last check before going out and experiencing the Castle brushless difference. Slowly advance the throttle and check the rotation direction of the motor and the color of the LEDs on the ESC.
this ensures your Castle ESC will be the best that it can be. To use Castle Link™ Disconnect the ESC from the throttle channel on the receiver and connect the ESC to the Castle Link adapter chip via the ESC’s receiver wire. Castle ESCs may also be manually programmed using your transmitter and receiver. Manual programming may not provide access to all of the Castle ESC’s features. Manual Programming Follow these steps to change settings on your Castle ESC without a computer.
without a Castle Link or a Field Programming Card. For basic use these settings are usually enough to get you going. Transmitter programming is very easy, simply answering YES or NO to a list of options. These are grouped into 9 settings and each setting has several possible options. You can only accept one option per setting. By answering YES to an option you will jump to the next setting. If you answer NO to an option you will jump to the next option under that setting.
To get into programming mode on the ESC: 1. Turn your transmitter on. 2. Plug the battery into the ESC with its switch off. Note: if your ESC does not have a switch, hold full throttle on your transmitter before plugging in the battery. 3. Hold full throttle on your transmitter and turn the ESC switch on. 4. The ESC will go through its boot up sequence blinking green 5. There will be a sequence of melodic tones and the light will turn red 6.
trigger is returned to neutral the beep pattern will change to 2 beeps followed by 1 beep meaning that by selecting option 1 you jump to setting 2. If at setting 2: Brake Amount, you reject option 1. 25% by going to full brake/reverse the beep pattern will change to 2 beeps, meaning it’s still at setting 2, followed by 2 beeps meaning you are now at option 2 under setting 2. Look at the inside back cover of this guide to the Castle Car ESC Programming Guide.
all of the settings. The ESC will store your changes until you change them again. The ESC cannot change settings itself, it only does what it is told. The next section of the manual gives a description of each of the settings and options and what you can expect when you change an option from default. Before you make changes, it is a good idea to go over the Castle Car ESC Programming Reference, marking the options you wish to change. 1.
Use it for race practice sessions and bashing, but check with your race director to see if this setting is allowed for actual racing. Option 2: Without Reverse Use this setting for actual sanctioned racing events. Reverse cannot be accessed under any circumstances with this setting. Option 3: Crawler Reverse Reverse or forward is accessible at any time after the ESC brakes to zero motor RPM (even if the vehicle is moving). 2.
Option 1: 25% Power Allows only 25% of available braking power at full brake. Option 2: 50% Power (Default) Allows only 50% of available braking power at full brake. Option 3: 75% Power Allows 75% of available braking power at full brake. Option 4: 100% Power Allows all available braking power at full brake.
3. Reverse Amount Sets how much power will be applied in the reverse direction, if reverse is enabled. Option 1: 25% Power Allows only 25% power in reverse. Option 2: 50% Power (Default) Allows only 50% power in reverse. Option 3: 75% Power Allows only 75% power in reverse. Option 4: 100% Power Allows 100% power in reverse.
4. Punch/Traction Control This setting controls how fast the throttle position within the ESC can be changed over time. This smooths high power starts and limits punch somewhat. As explained previously, acceleration is a matter of battery capability, but you may not want 100% of what the battery can deliver in every situation. This setting is crucial to drag racing as it can be used as a “traction control” to match traction conditions. The lower the setting, the less throttle change limiting there is.
want to be gentle on the transmission. Option 2: Medium Medium acceleration limiting. Good for 2WD vehicles on soft dirt, and 4WD vehicles on hard dirt. Option 3: Low Light acceleration limiting. Good for 4WD vehicles on soft dirt. Option 4: Lowest Very light acceleration limiting. Good for most situations including 4WD vehicles on dirt and asphalt, and 2WD vehicles on asphalt. Option 5: Disabled (Default) Acceleration is only limited by battery ability.
high traction drag racing, or bashing where unlimited wheelie power is desired. 5. Drag Brake Sets the amount of drag brake applied at neutral throttle to simulate the slight braking effect of a neutral brushed motor while coasting. Option 1: Drag Brake OFF (Default) Vehicle will coast with almost no resistance from the motor at neutral throttle. Option 2: Drag Brake 10% Low amount of braking effect from the motor at neutral throttle.
Option 3: Drag Brake 20% More braking effect from the motor at neutral throttle. Option 4: Drag Brake 30% Fairly high braking effect from the motor at neutral throttle. Option 5: Drag Brake 40% High braking effect from the motor at neutral throttle. 6. Dead Band You may adjust the neutral throttle “width” of the controller with this setting. Smaller values make the controller enter forward or brake/reverse with a smaller movement of your throttle trigger for finer control.
your ESC will not respond to “Neutral” throttle, make this setting larger. Option 1: Large - 0.1500 ms Option 2: Normal - 0.1000 ms (Default) Option 3: Small - 0.0750 ms Option 4: Very Small - 0.0500 ms Option 5: Smallest - 0.0250 ms 7. Cutoff Voltage Sets the voltage at which the ESC lowers or removes power to the motor in order to either keep the battery at a safe minimum voltage (Lithium Polymer cells) or the radio system working reliably (NiCad/NiMH cells).
Applications: Any racing or bashing situation with 6-8 cell NiCad or NiMH packs. Use this setting ONLY with NiCad or NiMH packs. With continued driving, the radio system may eventually cease to deliver pulses to the servo and ESC, and the vehicle will not be under control. You will irreversibly damage Lithium Polymer packs with this setting! Option 2: Auto-Lipo (Default) This setting automatically detects the number of LiPo cells you have plugged in. It will automatically set the cut-off to 3.
for racing or bashing in any vehicle using 8-12 NiMH or NiCad packs. Option 4: 6v Cuts off/limits acceleration when the pack gets down to 6 volts. Option 5: 9v Cuts off/limits acceleration when the pack gets down to 9 volts. Option 6: 12v Cuts off/limits acceleration when the pack gets down to 12 volts. 8. Motor Timing Advancing the timing on an electric motor can have varying effects.
advance will reduce the amp draw, increase runtime, reduce motor/battery temperature, and may slightly reduce top speed and punch. Raising the timing advance will increase amp draw, decrease runtime, increase motor/battery temperature, and may slightly increase top speed and punch. If you are after maximum top speed, it’s better to “gear up” to get it rather than advance the timing too far. Option 1: Lowest A maximum efficiency setting giving long runtimes and cooler motor temps.
Option 3: Highest Increases amp draw, reduces runtimes, increases motor/battery temperatures, and may increase top speed/punch slightly. Use with care, and monitor motor and battery temps often! DO NOT use any setting above “normal” with 6000Kv or higher motors. 9. Motor Type This setting sets which type of motor you will be using with the Castle ESC. The ESC may be damaged if this setting does not match the motor type/hook-up method in the car, and this damage is not covered under warranty.
connectors) connected to all three of the brushless motor wires. If the motor spins the wrong way with forward throttle, swap any two of the wires to get the correct direction. (Applies to sensorless brushless only. Reverse motor direction using Castle Link with sensored brushless motors). Option 2: Brushed Reversing (See Reversing Brushed Motor Setup diagram on page 11). Uses the Red and Black ESC motor wires (or outside motor connectors on the ESC) to connect to the (+) and (-) side of the brushed motor.
use a “Y” harness from the ESC battery input positive wire to connect to both the battery and the positive side of the motor, or use a single wire from the positive ESC input to the positive battery pole and then continue to the positive (+) side of the motor. TROUBLESHOOTING If you’re still having difficulties with your Castle ESC after trying the suggestions offered here, please contact Castle Creations technical support at the e-mail or phone number in the next section.
transmitter to have the throttle channel set to the reversed position. Problem: My ESC calibrates for the full throttle and full brake positions but won’t calibrate to the neutral throttle position (yellow LED keeps flashing with single beeps). Solution: Try moving the throttle trim one way, then the other (usually towards the throttle side is best). If your transmitter has a 50/50 and 70/30 setting for the throttle, set it for 50/50 and retry calibration.
Solution: Make sure you’re using high quality batteries and a battery connector capable of high amp flow (40-100 amps). This behavior is very typical of a battery pack that is having difficulty providing the power your vehicle/system requires for top performance. Refer to page 7 for recommended battery capacity and C ratings for use with Castle Creations systems. For NiCad/NiMH packs, use copper bars to connect cells rather than welded tabs.
twist the bare wires together. If the ESC powers up you can attach a different switch or it is recommend to solder the wires together and cover the connection with heat-shrink. Doing this will not void your warranty. For more troubleshooting tips visit: www.castlecreations.com/FAQ TECHNICAL SUPPORT You may contact our world-class technical support department via e-mail, or phone. For tech support hours see our website at www.castlecreations.com/support. E-mail: support@castlecreations.
WARRANTY INFO Your Castle ESC is warranted for one (1) year from date of purchase to be free from manufacturing and component defects. This warranty does not cover damages caused to your motor or controller from abuse. Abuse includes, but is not limited to, the following: incorrect wiring, over voltage, overloading, improper gearing, improper motor selection, incorrect controller settings, insufficient batteries or connectors.
ESC PROGRAMMING GUIDE Option 1: With Reverse (D)* Option 2: Without Reverse Option 3: Crawler Reverse Option 1: 25% Option 2: 50% (D)* Option 3: 75% Option 4: 100% 2: Brake Amount 4: Punch Control 1: Brake/Reverse Type Option 1: 25% Option 2: 50% (D)* Option 3: 75% Option 4: 100% 42 3: Reverse Amount Option 1: High Option 2: Medium Option 3: Low Option 4: Lowest Option 5: Disabled (D)*
5: Drag Brake 7: Voltage Cutoff 9: Motor Type Option 1: Disabled (D)* Option 2: 10% Option 3: 20% Option 4: 30% Option 5: 40% Option 1: None Option 2: Auto-Lipo (D)* Option 3: 5v Option 4: 6v Option 5: 9v Option 6: 12v Option 1: Brushless (D)* Option 2: Brushed Reversing Option 3: Brushed High Power 6. Throttle Dead Band Setting 1: Large - 0.1500 ms Setting 2: Normal - 0.1000 ms (D)* Setting 3: Small - 0.0750 ms Setting 4: Very Small - 0.0500 ms Setting 5: Smallest - 0.
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