At the AMA Expo CC was showing the new Edge ESC. Did anyone get any photos or details?

I did a Google and got nothing.

I checked castlecreations.com news page and the last update was over two years old. Come on CC how about keeping things up to date.

First units are to be heading out in 2-3 weeks according to what I was told. Pricing and general specs are similar to the ICE but they do have a number of additional features for helicopters as well as data access. They also have better protection from motor faults and locked rotors.

Steve Neu

If they have the ability to log BEC-output voltage and amperage, in addition to the usual stuff, that would be great. Could answer a lot of questions about how many amps servos XYZ draw in flight, and how close you are to the BEC limits. Hopefully it will have BEC of the caliber of the Talon one.

More logging storage capacity would be great as well, along with the ability to automatically delete the old logs, so we don't have to manually delete them continuously.

Active freewheeling would also be nice. And I'd appreciate the ability to delay the return to Soft Start until it sees 0% throttle for, say, 2 seconds. So that if you touch 0% during flight (flipping in Normal vs IU, dropping the stick too far when landing in Normal, etc), you aren't doomed to lose power for several seconds (crash) during Soft Start.

The product is already done, of course, but we can all hope it meets our personal wishlists

I agree BEC logging is the most important improvement that they could make.

The Talon has some serious problems with he BEC. Mainly due to having cow current connectors and only one connector. Also it only has two voltages. I sure hope the BEC is much better than the one on the Talon.


I wonder what sizes will be available?


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Sorry, good points on the Talon. I was just thinking of the amperage rating of the Talon's BEC (much more reassuring these days than 3A/5A). I do like the fine adjustment of the Ice's BEC voltage, though.

Originally Posted by RedOctobyr

Sorry, good points on the Talon. I was just thinking of the amperage rating of the Talon's BEC (much more reassuring these days than 3A/5A). I do like the fine adjustment of the Ice's BEC voltage, though.

I see from the latest magazine adds that CC is now advertising the Talon as having a 9A BEC. Even with the new rating I don’t think that connector can handle 9 amps continuous. I wonder if anyone has bench tested this as sometimes advertising claims don’t match reality.

From Castle's site, it's listed as 20A peak, 9A continuous. Maybe they're just referring to the continuous number? But from what I've heard, servo connectors are not rated for this current, I think I've seen 5A. But if you expected to pull a lot of BEC current, I suppose you could solder on a second parallel set of leads. Would be nice if you didn't have to that yourself, but it's an option, at least.

The new EDGE has all sizes of LV and HV.
http://www.castlecreations.com/media...kits/edge.html
http://www.castlecreations.com/media...ts/edgehv.html





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Glad to see that they kept the wires on the motor end. I think that they realized putting connectors on the Talon was a mistake.

Notice that they all have dual receiver connectors – I wonder what that’s all about. I was unable to find any specifications. Hopeful CC will soon post them in their products section.


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Originally Posted by RC Man

Notice that they all have dual receiver connectors – I wonder what that’s all about. I was unable to find any specifications. Hopeful CC will soon post them in their products section.


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I guess it is a RPM sensor for Vbar gov.

hugo

Originally Posted by Hugeone

I guess it is a RPM sensor for Vbar gov.

hugo

I downloaded the media kit, hoping it would show specs. It does not. But the non-HV versions *all* show a 5A BEC on their case stickers. Even the 200A version Those ones are all 8S. The HV versions show 12S, and do not show anything for a BEC.

The second servo connector just has a single white wire. So presumably it's for a sensor. There are 4 wires going along next to each other, 3 go to plug A, and 1 goes to plug B.

Presumably these will be more expensive than the Talon. So it's disappointing they got a BEC with a lower current rating.

Originally Posted by RedOctobyr

I downloaded the media kit, hoping it would show specs. It does not. But the non-HV versions *all* show a 5A BEC on their case stickers. Even the 200A version Those ones are all 8S. The HV versions show 12S, and do not show anything for a BEC.

5A is all that a single connector can handle anyway so in reality it’s about the same as the Talon. Most of us use a separate BEC with two heavy-duty wires or a 2s LiPo so it doesn’t make that much difference.

What I want to see is a comparison of the differences between the ICE and Edge.


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True. Though if you just had an occasional brief current spike, like 8A, an "under-spec'd" connector (single servo plug) would still pass the current, you'd just get a bigger voltage drop, and some heat. But at least you wouldn't smoke the BEC/ESC & crash. That's more of my concern, rather than warm servo connectors. I can add another connector if I need to, like the Talon's situation

For smaller helis, like my 450, I'd prefer to simply use the internal BEC, if possible. I used an external one for a while, and I liked the added security (if my ESC fails, I'll at least maintain control), but the extra weight & wiring on a small machine was a drawback. With the servos I'm using, there have been suggestions that the Ice BECs are insufficient, though fortunately I haven't had problems yet. But I wouldn't mind a little more BEC capacity.

Though if the Edge has BEC logging, maybe we can finally find out how much of a load is on the BEC during hard flying. Maybe it's still within the rated limits.

I'm looking forward to the Ice/Edge comparison. And pricing, of course.

Does anyone know if the HV version has an anti-spark circuit?