Discussion Castle Introduces PHOENIX ICE

[Alan Hahn]

Originally Posted by Looknup

Using the ICE 75 in a fixed wing with a Rimfire 42-50-800, latest firmware, I get pulsing at 75% of throtle and rattle noise at 100% which sounds to me like the timming is off. Talked to Castle support and they said it was softeware and a new version would be out this week. At their suggestion, I changed timing to lower and problem decreased. While working on it one of the bullet connectors on the ICE fell off. (I think they come factory soldered on--at least I don't remember soldering it) You might want to check that if you are having unusual performance.

Mine didn't come with connectors. Main reason is that the motor connectors are an unknown--as well as the battery too.

[jh2rc97]

Kate,
Will there be other sizes of the ICE ESCs? Maybe smaller and larger?

[RC Man]

Originally Posted by jh2rc97

Kate,
Will there be other sizes of the ICE ESCs? Maybe smaller and larger?

A smaller 25 or 35 amp version would be very nice. I like the 8s voltage but the 50 is just too large for some applications.

[W.W. Corrigan]

Hi all,

I just wanted to add my 2 cents to the Castle Ice discussion.

I have a PA Extra MX that uses the following. Icelite 75, Thrust 50 motor, Vox 15*7 woodie, Hyperion 6s 35C 2200 battery.

I was frequently losing sync between 1/2 and 3/4 throttle. Data logging recorded the following when I was able to get full throttle. Roughly 22 volts, 44 amps and almost 1000 watts. All of these numbers are well below the rated capacities of motor, speedo and battery.

I tried adjusting pwm and timing without success. I also did some snooping on here. I then called CC and spoke with Thomas for nearly 1/2 hour. He was extremely cordial and spent a lot of time reassuring me that this is a known problem and that the engineers are working overtime to come up with a fix. He stated that the problem has something to do with the iron in the motor reaching saturation and creating interference with the esc. While this gets quite technical in a hurry, certainly well above my understanding, he was careful not to blame the motor even though it does not appear to happen with all motors or brands.

He said the update should be out in a couple of days, lets hope that happens! He also said I could try rolling the firmware back from 2.18a to 2.16 but was doubtful that would cure things. On the off chance that it would I rolled back the firmware and it did in fact cure the issue for now.

Between the support on this forum and their willingness to support product with US based tech support and their avoidance of blaming my motor I feel like CC is doing their best to try and deal with a bad situation. In the end the verdict has to depend on their ability to get this resolved quickly.

Good luck CC,

Steve

[Manta1]

hehe funny how the iron get saturated with the new updates,but not with the older version huh?

[Fidelity101]

What is the max BURST current for the ICE 100A ESC? I am hoping to use it with my Storm 70 EDF on 5S rather than the Phoenix 125A ESC because I've had bad experiences with the older 80 and 125A models in the past.

[RC Man]

According to CC the ICE 100 can burst to 160 amps. http://www.castlespecialprojects.com...oenix_ice.html

[superbiker]

Hello,

.........Anyone tried this controller (CC Ice 100 amp) on a Align Trex 600??

Have now 3 brand new CC Ice's 100 amp. One of them will be for my Trex 600 but look forward now to hear your experiences and setting values when pc programming.

Have one CC Ice already in flight on my SJM 430 and I must say it is a superb cool controller especially that governor function makes this heli now a pleasure to fly. Only I noticed now that my tail is no longer stable in hovering.
Tail is always moving somewhat to the left and right. Seems gyro finds not his mid point to hold tail, unfortunately his locked (gy 401)
Tried to gain up the gyro, Ok, now tail is staying on its place, over with left and right dancing but in flight I noticed a heavy over-gained tail.
When I go to the gain-governor controller settings values, I have changed all I can, My experience with my "dancing" stail stays. Nothing helps, higher gain, lower, etc.
When I replace my CC controller by my standard SJM controller, tail is rock solid in hover and in Flight.

So, there fore my Question, anyone tried an Ice 100amp controller in governor function on a Trex 600, and what abouth the tail experience,
is your tail same as before you change from controller???


Look forward to see your experiences.
thx

[RC Man]

I have about 30 flights with an ICE 100 and Scorpion motor on my Raptor E550 (560 Rotor Tech Blades) with an 8s LiPo. It works great and always stays cool.

[RC Man]

The motor power out % parameter is the ESC internal throttle so you can see how much headroom you have. As you can see when I crank up the headspeed to 2200 I am hitting max power but it still holds headspeed so the setup is just the way I like it. The data logger in great for fine tuning your setup.



With a T600 and 6s LiPo you will pull more amps. A lot of T600 owners upgrade to 8s 5000 LiPo so they get more power and more flight time. The ICE 100 would be perfect for that setup.

[juza7479]

Originally Posted by RC Man

According to CC the ICE 100 can burst to 160 amps. http://www.castlespecialprojects.com...oenix_ice.html

hi!

i'm writing from ITaly.
I'm interested of this new esc, I would esc ice100A, using with 8cells 3700 neu 1515/2y , prop 7x6, max 100/105A and 2900watt. So a very HOT combo for rc pylon electric vendetta..
I hope to have not issues, with burst amps.
in the link you posted, there is a mistake about weight...57g ice100 -
62g LITE ice100.. this is lite??
So I'm not sure of this link....http://www.castlespecialprojects.com/csp_phoenix_ice.html[/url][/quote]

[scallybert]

Originally Posted by superbiker

Have one CC Ice already in flight on my SJM 430 and I must say it is a superb cool controller especially that governor function makes this heli now a pleasure to fly. Only I noticed now that my tail is no longer stable in hovering.

Using the governor mode with the 2.0 firmware, (Ph25 GAUI H200 & HV45 Outrage G5) I found the tail would twitch about once a second.

Upgrading the HV45 to 2.161 seesm to have fixd this - though my governor gain seems to be set a bit low.

[jh2rc97]

One item I don't see on the specs of the ICE controllers is the resistance. does anyone know what the resistance of the ICE controllers is? The only reason I ask is because the PHX45 on a current setup pulls 43 amps while an ICE 50 Lite pulls 42 and quickly reduces to 37 amps. This is using A123 cells and a Neu motor.

Alan

[RC Man]

Originally Posted by jh2rc97

One item I don't see on the specs of the ICE controllers is the resistance. does anyone know what the resistance of the ICE controllers is? The only reason I ask is because the PHX45 on a current setup pulls 43 amps while an ICE 50 Lite pulls 42 and quickly reduces to 37 amps. This is using A123 cells and a Neu motor.

Alan

I fly some A123 packs and pack temperature makes a huge difference. I pull a lot more amps after I fly once and charge the pack again. They seam to be much more temperature sensitive than standard LiPo batteries.

Also different versions of software run the motor differently. If you make a comparison you should have the same firmware version with the same timing and PWM on both ESC’s.

[jh2rc97]

Ok, good to know.