Ep 309: Castle Cobra 8 ESC Deep Dive + Castle Link V2 Tutorial
Vložit
- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- This DEEP Dive will give you my honest impressions of the new Castle Creations Cobra 8 ESC and walk you through the newly updated Castle Link ESC programming SW. This may not be the biggest ESC in Castle's line-up, but it is definitely one of their biggest releases in years. 😎
The Cobra 8 debuts Castle's new, modern 32-bit microcontroller architecture that promises a new world of advanced features. This 1:8 scale ESC has 8X as much internal storage as previous generations and can log telemetry 2X faster than its forebearers. it runs cooler and harder than the Mamba Monster X-6S that it replaces, which should also mean improved durability
Pick up your Cobra 8 ESC (and related gear) at the Affiliate Links below: It costs the same, but I get a referral commission for sending you their way. 😛
Stay tuned for more great RC Tech info. 😍
Buy the Cobra 8 ESC and motor combos at the links below!
Castle Website: www.castlecreations.com/en/cobra
Amazon Storefront Affiliate Links:
Castle Creations Amazon Storefront: tinyurl.com/rg4fveb
Radiomaster Amazon Storefront: amzn.to/3Se4x3c
Radiomaster Website: radiomasterrc.myshopify.com?sca_ref=5232206.4JP0VTbfYq
Boca Bearings Amazon Storefront: tinyurl.com/wwzabuh
Traxxas Amazon Storefront: tinyurl.com/ru83tvm
ARRMA Amazon Storefront: tinyurl.com/uyvyh24
Hot-Racing Amazon Storefront: tinyurl.com/tzsaah6
ATOMiK RC Amazon Storefront: tinyurl.com/rw24y4g
Venom Power Amazon Storefront: tinyurl.com/twyt74g
Join the conversation at the RC Physics Sandbox: / 804281383082531
For more, visit rhouse21 at
CZcams: / rhouse21rcphysics
Facebook: / rhouse21rcphysics
Instagram: / rhouse21
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:22 - Unboxing
04:00 - First Impressions
09:08 - Who needs this?
11:21 - Castle Link Programming Deep Dive
12:52 - Connecting the ESC
16:35 - "Basic" Tab
22:09 - Power Menu
25:37 - Motor Test
26:17 - Brake Settings
28:31 - Aux Channel
32:18 - Motor Setup
38:21 - Data Logging
44:21 - Throttle, Brake, and Reverse Curves
45:32 - Final Thoughts
Nice video!
Thanks!
HEY Rod…! Been a long time. Good to see a video again!
Thanks! It's good to hear from you. I was wondering how you've been doing. 🤓
Interesting on when you mentioned that castle should just include the castle link instead of offering the coupon . I live in Canada . I ended up just buying it off Amazon cause it was probably going to end up being cheaper than paying shipping and possible customs charges. These days I'm pretty sure most people (especially RC folks) probably have the appropriate cable so they could easily just throw it in the box with the ESC Little mini rant after forking out some good money for an ELX2
My ESC was a pre-release model, so I'm pretty sure they are just including the Castle Link with the ESC. Let me know if yours includes one when you get it.
Thanks for watching!
You should also mention start power will do harm to the esc as well if it can't get the power it's asking for.
Great point!
Great review and explanation! Nice job.. I just didn't need to be tempted to buy a new system!😅
😂 Thanks for watching!
Awesome ESC man, I have a Copperhead 10\1415 2,400kv combo in my Hoss and it was perfect for it and was super smooth even in sensorless mode now i plan to put Castle Mamba X or another Copperhead 10 combo in my Slash 4x4 Ultimate and an MMX8s combo for my XO-1 called Serena.
Sounds like you've got some pretty cool setups in the works. Can't wait to see them!
@@RCPhysics I sure do, but it will take some time to save up for them i also plan to do an Arrma Felony or Limitless maybe with another MMX8s\1717 combo same as Serena for the Felony or an XLX2\1721 for the Limitless.
Sweet!
@@RCPhysics How's it going my man? It's been awhile i recently bought my very first Arrma 1\7 on road car it's an Arrma Felony 6s as a rolling chassis and i also bought the stock Orange body along with it. And i pulled my MMX8s combo out of my XO-1 to put in it since she didn't perform very well and broke a couple days ago but late this year and early next year i'm planning to put in this Cobra 8 esc and another 1717 motor into my XO-1 as well as repairing and restoring her for the 2nd time.
Very good and informative video! Just be careful talking about bits :) Those are much more complicated than just 32 bits storage. But you talk about esc, not comouters.
For brushed option: I see it as an upgrade path for RTR. Get esc but keep brushed motor. Then, when motor dies or more speed wanted, get motor.
Good points. I could have went way down a rabbit hole talking about all the things that going to a 32-bit architecture can enable, but I figured that might be a little much for this video. You do have a good point about the upgrade path for a brushed motor. Sometimes going a little bit out of time is definitely the right way to play the game. Thanks for watching!
Nice upgrade Castle. R house broke it down
Thanks, Bro!
What set up do you suggest for me to tune mine to super duper turtle crawl mode I've tried for the past 3 days plugging and unplugging tuning and tuning and tuning I just would like the cheat code please on the exact numbers I need for a super duper snail crawl😊 thank you RC-FAMILY 🥂
There are a few ways to potentially get that kind of mode, but the best one will depend on your comfort level doing ESC tuning, radio setup, and the rig itself.
1) ESC Tuning: You could change the throttle curve in your Castle Link programming interface to limit the max RPMs of your motor. That would basically re-map your throttle inputs to give you tighter control over a reduced motor RPM range. You could then get a bit fancier by using an exponential (expo) curve that lets you keep a REALLY fine control over the lower rpm range, but steps things up dramatically at the high end of your throttle input so you can "dash" when needed. I talk a little about this here: czcams.com/video/6gpooI8DXu0/video.htmlsi=GnRI3NriJupsWlIp&t=2661
I use expo curves on most of my cars, but I tend to set it up though my transmitter... which leads us to...
2) Radio Setup: Most mid-to-high end radios let you set up a throttle curve in the transmitter so you can fine tune the feel of your rig while driving. This has advantages since you don't need to stop and plug into a computer to fine tune your settings. Some radios like my Radiomaster MT-12 even have the ability to set up different driving modes, so I can flip a switch and completely change the feel and performance of my rigs. This can get a little complicated to set up, but it is extremely powerful once you get it right. This also gives you the most flexibility. And lastly...
3) Gearing: Depending on your crawler, you may be able to go to a SUPER-LOW gearset that will give you a high-torque, low-speed setup. This could be extremely effective, but it will greatly limit overall speed of the rig. I'm guessing this is probably not your preferred method though since you specifically asked about ESC tuning.
Do you think I should do a video diving into this?
@@RCPhysics Yes I would love for you to do a specific crawler set up for the Castle Cobra 8 please 🙏 And thank you so very much for your knowledge well shared 👍
I have a Corally Asuga (roller) do you think the Cobra 8 combo would work well with that car?
This looks pretty comparable to my Typhon, so it would probably work great!
N the motor that comes with it whats ur take on it. I might up grade my system i just got an hobby wing max6 g2 combo how will it compare to it
The 15-series motors are all pretty solid. I've run 1515s and 1512s. You can beat on them pretty hard and they keep coming back for more. 🤩
What is the use of having an accelometer in the esc for drag racing or speed runs if as I was informed, Castle will void the warranty if something goes wrong with the esc or motor during drag racing or speed runs?
Are they building these esc just to go slow with them, or one can you use full throttle for a few seconds like what one do in drag racing?
You are actually touching on 2 separate issues. 1) Good usages of accelerometers and 2) Warranty issues.
1) From a purely technical perspective, there is so much tuning potential that you can tap into by using the simultaneous accelerometer and power data. Using this data, a good tuner can "walk into" a great setup that gets the most out of their setups without cooking their motors or ESC.
2) Castle will totally honor warranties of ESC that fail from defects in "normal" use. The problem is that competitive drag racing and speed running is NOT "normal".
Here's what I mean. In order to get the most out of a setup, you HAVE to take it right up to the edge of what it can do. If you don't, you are leaving performance on the table. This is great if you can walk right up to the line of performance, but inevitably, you WILL sometimes fall over the line and you WILL break equipment. Sadly, that is a cost of the game. NASCAR & NHRA racers blow up equipment ALL THE TIME, but that's a cost of going fast.
The reason Castle ESCs can deliver so much raw performance in extreme "pro" use cases is because they were "over designed" to give a lot of performance margin in "extremely fun" use cases. That margin means the ESCs can handle the average users' "fun" with an "acceptable" failure rate. However, if you routinely take an ESC to 90-99% (or 105%), the electronics accumulate exponentially higher levels of internal stress which dramatically increases the part's failure rate.
I've blown up / destroyed expensive equipment doing dumb stuff. It's really frustrating, but I understood that I was doing something dumb and didn't blame manufacturer for it. That said, I've also had equipment die in general use. Companies that are good to work with and honor their claims usually earn my long-term business. In fact, some of my first person-to-person interactions with Castle came through me filing successful warranty claims.
I completely get the frustration some guys have with Castle and voided warranties. Their ESCs are NOT cheap, and no one likes the feeling of seeing a project they poured their blood, sweet, and tears into go up in smoke. That said, there are methods tuners can use to find the bleeding edge of performance without "just sending" it into the abyss.
I can not understand why a company will void a warranty if one use full throttle for about two seconds in drag racing and about five seconds in speed runs when most escs are capable of high Amps for about ten seconds.
The same escs are also used in marine boats which are under load most of the time and with full throttle which is much worse!
This is something that Castle should be considering regarding drag and speed runs because it is absurd in my opinion!
@@josephcaruana9165 It's not a "full throttle" or "under load" thing. It's actually a gearing and current draw thing.
Batteries and ESCs don't "push" power. The motor "pulls" current based on the mechanical load it is experiencing. RCs that are set up to run at wide open for long periods (like boats and planes) are set up with props or gears that will give them a reasonable load at max RPM. A good example is a circuit racer that will be at 100% throttle for most of the track. Those RC are running wide open... at 30 or 40mph (ish), so they are generally only pulling one or two horsepower (on average). I beat the snot out of my Typhon basher, but it maxes out at ~5hp at the beginning of a power pull then falls off to ~2hp for the rest of the run.
Try as I might, I rarely see more than 150A current draw on that car. This happens at the beginning of a power-pull ant then the current falls of to 60-80A. This is because it's "only" geared for ~50mph and has a very efficient drivetrain. At that load level, I could probably run flat out for minutes at a time with no issues.
The problem is well-tuned speed and drag cars are geared MUCH higher, so they have exponentially higher current draws. It's pretty common for these cars to see current draws of 400-500A. That's more than twice the current of many 240V welders. waste heat in a circuit increases with the square of current, so the same ESC will produce 100X more heat in a 500A draw than during a 50A draw.
Poorly tuned cars (or EXTREME builds) can pull even more current. If the system doesn't have enough cooling, all that waste heat will can destroying the ESC, motor AND batteries.
This doesn't just affect Castle. TP motors recently made a post on their FB page giving tips to not fry their motors. Many high-performance batteries only warranty batteries for a few weeks and then just for workmanship issues.
Some professional drag racers do not even use any fans or cooling fins to reduce weight, but they only make race that it will only take about 1.5 seconds on full throttle, which should not damage the esc or motor because there would not be enough time to heat the components although they use around 400amps.
One of the things that I noticed is that the wires on Mamba are thin and it have seven capacitors, but still, when it is geared high, the ripple goes up to around 4v on 6s which is quite high so extra capacitors are needed. For example, the XLX2 haven't got capacitors, but wires are much thicker, and with the same gearing, it only makes around 1v of ripple on 7s, so it doesn't need extra capacitors.
Hope that Cobra escs would be much better!
Have the esc 8gage Battery wires or 10gage
They are 10 AWG. That's about right for this ESC since it's designed as a replacement for "200 Amp" ESCs. That said, it can peak MUCH higher than that for a few moments.
Deep dive... i tought he will dissasembly the esc, so we can see the inside components used in it...
I usually don't do tear-downs because they can seriously compromise the cooling of the ESCs afterward. I tore open an XL2 back in the day for a repair and it was never the same again. 😣
there have been reports of a firmware issue on this series of esc.
Really? What are you hearing?
@@RCPhysics some of the guys who use these reports the esc is cutting out.
After close inspection and elimination of other possible causes, they say its the esc, suspected firmware needs update.
I reached out to Castle and someone pointed me to a CZcams video highlighting the problem. In short, they found an issue under certain conditions with sensorless motors, but the sensored motors work perfectly. They said their engineers believe they have found the root cause and they will have and new firmware build that fixes this soon. I'll see if I can recreate this issue with my own ESC this weekend.
I'll keep you guys posted as I learn more and will post another video once I get my hands on the fixed firmware confirming it works as intended.
@@RCPhysics good work brother.
I try. 😎
Skeeter jean is that you?
Not quite. LOL!
I feel like its 120 dollars over priced.
The ARRMA BLX 200 ESC is $170 new, so this is priced about right. If you're looking for a serious upgrade versus stock equipment, this is definitely worth the money.
@RCPhysics Max8 combo bro. It's under 200. It can tear the wheels to shreds.
@@buysncharge To each their own. 😎 Lots of guys LOVE HW products. I personally love the data logging and tunability on the Castles, so I'm willing to pay the premium for them.
@@RCPhysics I'm offended at their lack of innovation and high prices and am willing to let them go. After years of loyalty.
@@buysncharge This ESC is their attempt to stay on the leading edge. I'm sorry that they've lost your loyalty, though. I can feed your complaints back to them though if you want to give me your list.