DO castle creations brushless ESC's-different frequency band versions?

[Speed E Freak]

Hi,
It's been said in another forum that some 72 mhz versions of the castle creations 35 and 45 amp controllers accidently got shipped to the uk, and that these are causing awful glitching problems with our 35 mhz band rx's.
Does anyone know if they also do a 72mhz version of the phoenix 25, as i've just got one from japan, and haven't used it yet. If it's gonna be usa spec, i'd best send it back sharpish!

I have just emailed my supplier to ask this question, but wonder if you guys knew.

cheers

speed

[Haldor]

Never heard of different freq/band. versions on ESC's......

[Mr Dipthong]

I don't believe radio frequency is in any way related to esc glitches. Escs get electrical signals from the receiver not radio waves. However if your receiver is glitching it will affect the esc.

[Speed E Freak]

hi guys,
your thoughts are exactly what mine were too. this info about the different freq versions has reportedly come from castle themselves.
What started this off is, a number of people have bought a deal with axi 2820/10, 35 amp castle esc, prop + adaptor, and a lot of them are having serious glitching problems. Changing the esc to another of the same has not cured the fault, but changing to a different manufacturers esc HAS cured it.
Now, i know that some people have suggested it the over current protection shutdown, but this problem is occuring on only 8 cells and 11x7 apc e prop, and there's no way that the set-up is drawing over 35 amps.
I believe the supplier involved contacted castle creations and this info came from them directly.
I was hoping someone patrick from castle might come in with a definate answer. maybe he hasn't seen this new forum yet.

thanks

speed

[BEC]

I'll defer to Patrick on the specifics of how he deals with it, and whether or not there are versions of his controllers for different radio bands, but I will say this:

All ESCs generate some RF noise from the shape of the waveform as the switch the MOSFETs that drive the motor on and off (or commutate it in the case of brushless motors). And all the microprocessor-based units (which means just about every ESC made today) also generate RF noise from the processor and its clock circuit. It is possible for some harmonics of this noise to lay on top of either the transmitted frequency of our radio systems or one (or two in the case of dual conversion) of the IF frequencies used in the decoders of our receivers.

Some makers are better than others about how they either make sure this noise is of insufficient magnitude to bother the receiver, or that it occurs in a frequency band that doesn't bother the radio system. If you have a power system that's fussy about where the receiver is relative to the ESC, or where you route your wires, then you are probably seeing this effect.

Bob Kopski has done lots of testing with a spectrum analyser over the years and has pictures of spectra of various controllers where this happens. He was alerted to it when he was having troubles with power systems when others he knew were not. He flies on the HAM band rather than on 72 MHz. He found some well known and liked units that put out clear interference on 53 MHz and has found some that hit a specific channel or two on 72 MHz as well.

Even without a spectrum analyzer I've seen these sorts of effects in all my years of messing with ESCS - but I've always tested/flown only on 72 MHz so can't address the other bands. And I've seen cases where design tweaks have fixed the problem as I perceived it. One example for me was the WattAge IC-30 brushed controller. My first test sample killed my radio range, but they took my results and tweaked the unit, and the later ones, which were the ones generally released, were much better.

I have no specific knowledge of how Castle Creations controllers address spurious RF energy and whether or not it requires different filtering for different radio bands. I am only suggesting that such a thing is possible.

Hopefully Patrick will pop in to this brand new forum and let us know - but since he's going to SEFF, it may not be until sometime next week (depending on when he's traveling).

[Speed E Freak]

Hi BEC,
Thanks for coming in with that info. The planes i know of with this problem aren't mine, but i do know that the guy who owns it has tried different rx's and moved things around as well, tin foil round the rx etc. I just didn't want to use my new phoenix 25 if there was a difference.
We'll wait to see what patrick says. Nippon dave is trying to contact him for me to check.

thanks

speed

[CastleQueen]

Patrick is back Monday from SEFF, but give him a bit to get regrouped from travel. There is an issue with some units shipped, but I'm not technical enough to explain it here. Speed: I spoke with Nippon Dave on Thursday.

Brenda
Queen of the Castle

[Speed E Freak]

Thanks Brenda,
I have tried the 25 amp one i bought from dave to go with my hacker B20 15L, and all seems fine and dandy!
However, we do definately have a glitching problem with the 35's.
Appreciate patricks response when he's back.

thanks

speed

[Shawn Palmer]

Hey Guys,

Patrick will get you all up on the technical side of things fairly soon.

We're shipping out two pools of Pheonix 25 and 35 controllers to our Japan and Europe distributors for free exchanges of old controllers to updated ones. The shipments will start going out this week, so contact the dealer it was purchased from for exchange info.

Shawn Palmer
CC Product Specialist
www.castlecreations.com

[Speed E Freak]

thanks shawn!

[Anks]

The problems I understand relate to the 35 & 45 controllers which share a common design, 10s & 25s plus 60 & 80s are unaffected as I understand?


Originally posted by Shawn Palmer
Hey Guys,

Patrick will get you all up on the technical side of things fairly soon.

We're shipping out two pools of Pheonix 25 and 35 controllers to our Japan and Europe distributors for free exchanges of old controllers to updated ones. The shipments will start going out this week, so contact the dealer it was purchased from for exchange info.

Shawn Palmer
CC Product Specialist
www.castlecreations.com

[Shawn Palmer]

Yes, my mistake - 35's and 45's.

Shawn

[Tom in Cincy]

I have 2 Pheonix 45 controllers. Both put out so much trash they are unuseable. I was told by CC that indeed they would interfere with 50mhz ham RC systems without a mod to the FET driver resistors. It was explained to me that the Pheonix was super clean on 72Mhz. So $200 later I had a new 72Mhz RC system but the interference was still there. With the antenna collapsed I get a reliable range of about 5- 10 ft. Servos and motor goes nuts and the controller locks up much beyond that. With the motor shut down range is 200 ft plus. The system has problems......
Tom