So how many ICE2 ESCs have burnt up since the recall?

[dunkonu23]

...

[teshreve]

In the earlier days of the Internets, I started and operated a forum. It was a cool study in human psychology, which I am/was totally untrained with.
I learned a few things. About humans and subsequently myself.
The greatest power you can wield in this medium is the power of recognition.
Nobody, and I mean NO ONE continues to post when they are ignored.
Summon your Ninja ignore powers.

[WillJames]

Originally Posted by teshreve

In the earlier days of the Internets, I started and operated a forum. It was a cool study in human psychology, which I am/was totally untrained with.
I learned a few things. About humans and subsequently myself.
The greatest power you can wield in this medium is the power of recognition.
Nobody, and I mean NO ONE continues to post when they are ignored.
Summon your Ninja ignore powers.

Great advice! Thank you.

[paulmedford]

hey wbfair, did a castle esc destroy one of your helis?

[felborn]

Originally Posted by paulmedford

hey wbfair, did a castle esc destroy one of your helis?

Umm, thats not helping...

[paulmedford]

just asking to see if he had a bad experience with castle personally, trying to keep on topic of thread, he maybe had a failure that destroyed his heli, if he had he should not feel too bad since i am sure we all had a failure causing destruction of our helis at some point, its part of the hobby we have to accept , and discussing failures actually help with feeling better and getting the helis back up and flying, which is what we all enjoy.

[Mateyhv]

Originally Posted by paulmedford

just asking to see if he had a bad experience with castle personally, trying to keep on topic of thread, he maybe had a failure that destroyed his heli, if he had he should not feel too bad since i am sure we all had a failure causing destruction of our helis at some point, its part of the hobby we have to accept , and discussing failures actually help with feeling better and getting the helis back up and flying, which is what we all enjoy.

Yes, its part of the hobby but we as consumers don't have to accept it otherwise the market will fill with crap and this is a co$tly hobby so manufacturers must be up to the task!

I don't refer to Castle, my secondhand ICE100 has been flawless for about 5 months now.

[paulmedford]

i too have a cc ice and never had a failure. But it may be possible that WBA did have one and it may have destroyed his heli, hence he feels a certain way toward castle, which is understandable if your 1000 dollar or so bird went up in smoke. But what i am saying is that these things happen..and will continue to happen some are lucky and some unlucky, but I fully agree with you in that if a company refuses to work on a known problem we should make some noise. But between helifreakers like our selves, when we have a failure, in this case esc, we should not bash each other but sympathize and try to accept each other faults in the way we deal with the matter when upset, and work together to get the problem solved, in this case as has been done, let castle know how we feel about esc failues. I wish MBA and Scott would see that they both have valid points, dont take things too personal, but at least just agree that in the end we want to let castle know how much esc fires frustrate us ( like i am sure they know). So that we have an improved product so we can have more time flying and having fun. So MBA and Scott just remember our passion is flying so just bury the hatchet and lets talk about helis

[rickware]

My castle 120 v1 went up in smoke this weekend and caused a great deal of damage to my heli. so far I've had to replace all the digital servo's as they seem to have all failed, melted the main gear & autorotation, charred the canopy and melted the push rods. Does anyone know if castle are sympathetic to this and send out a new one so I haven't got to buy a new esc as well. I've written to them but not had a response yet. Also, is my new 530kv align motor likely to be damaged or do they survive. It will teach me as I learned about the recall last week but thought as I'd flown it about 20 times it would be okay!! Turned the govenor on (settings as per castle website) and on the second flight it went up in smoke. Luckily I managed to get it down so the servos must have worked for a while before they packed up.

[dunkonu23]

I can't answer for Castle, but if I were Castle, I'd send one out to you. What I would do is get an RMA on the Castle web site, send it back with a note explaining the situation to them, and just see what happens. It can't hurt. Twenty flights should be enough to see if a v1 would last, so yeah... send it back.

Scott

[Cailid]

Looks like another one has gone up in flames.

http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=416404

[salience]

Is there any data as to where and how the flaming ESCs have been affixed to the helis? A wild guess perhaps, but at this stage all theories are worth a think: mounted on the nose bracket, especially in one of the side pockets, and especially using a strap, might result in insufficient ventilation and lead to a little overheating... And since electrical resistance increases with temperature, a runaway heating syndrome may affect some ESCs.

[Justin Stuart]

The $300 you save by buying a Ice 120 vs a Jive 120 can cost you the entire $3500 helicopter. Not worth it in my opinion.

[band]

Originally Posted by Justin Stuart

The $300 you save by buying a Ice 120 vs a Jive 120 can cost you the entire $3500 helicopter. Not worth it in my opinion.

Doubtful, but you wouldn't be biased would you? I mean since you are a kon rep?
I say if you're not going with CC, then go with YGE, at least they are V-Bar gov ready, less expensive than Kon, and up to 16S capable...

[Justin Stuart]

Doubtful, but you wouldn't be biased would you? I mean since you are a kon rep?
I say if you're not going with CC, then go with YGE, at least they are V-Bar gov ready, less expensive than Kon, and up to 16S capable...

That's a "what came first, the chicken or the egg" kind of argument. And it is incorrect.

I developed a relationship with Kontronik only after I had a few years of flawless performance from their ESC's and realized they make the best product currently available on the market. Kontronik did not approach me while I was flying some other brand of ESC offering to give me free stuff in exchange for switching to Kontronik and lending my reputation to promote their brand. Unlike many others who blatantly jump from team to team in search of the better deal, my opinion and my reputation is not for sale to the highest bidder. I fly what I think is best, and I recommend to others what I think is best. And if the companies who I have chosen as the "best" on the market want to support me, I will accept their support. But nobody is going to buy my support. My reputation is worth more than a few hundred dollars worth of stuff. Brands come and go, but your reputation is the only thing which lasts. I wish others would realize this.

I would love to support an American brand of speed controllers. But how would I feel if a newbie listened to me, bought a Ice 120, and then had the thing catch fire taking out his entire helicopter? I would feel pretty bad. I know that I can recommend with confidence that a newbie buy a Jive 120 knowing with nearly 100% certainty he's not going to call me up in the middle of the night in tears because his ESC caught fire taking out 6-months worth of his hobby fund. And the last thing I want to do is screw things up for a newbie just entering the hobby.

I hope eventually we can forget about the "Castle Cremations" jokes, and forget about the "how many Castle ESC's have burnt up" threads. I would much rather recommend to a newbie they buy a $220 American made ESC than a $560 foreign made ESC. But the way things are right now, I simply can't recommend Castle Creations products to anyone. I wish things were different. I really do. I sincerely want to support Castle Creations.

[Scottyb410]

Originally Posted by Justin Stuart

I would much rather recommend to a newbie they buy a $220 American made ESC than a $560 foreign made ESC. But the way things are right now, I simply can't recommend Castle Creations products to anyone. I wish things were different. I really do. I sincerely want to support Castle Creations.

Well stated and absolutely correct.

Scotty

[band]

Originally Posted by Justin Stuart

That's a "what came first, the chicken or the egg" kind of argument. And it is incorrect.

That doesn't make much sense, since what I said has nothing to do with "what came first", but I'm wondering why you would recommend a $560 ESC(Jive 120HV) when you could recommend a $450 ESC(YGE 120HV) that is VB ready and 14-16S capable? I have run several(probably 6+) different Ice ESC's and have never had one fail. And I know lots of other guys that run them that have never had one fail. I have run at least 6 Jives, and had only one (120HV) fail. Kontronik replaced it under warranty. So all is well. I recently bought a YGE 120HV 16S capable ESC, and I have to say it is a excellent unit as I am running it on 16S. I am not a rep for any ESC manufacturer, so I know I can give unbiased opinions on them. Nothing wrong with being a rep, but you should not come on a thread where a competitors product is being talked about in a negative way and do the rep thing for your brand...

[Justin Stuart]

I'm wondering why you would recommend a $560 ESC(Jive 120HV) when you could recommend a $450 ESC(YGE 120HV) that is VB ready and 14-16S capable?

The YGE may be a wonderful ESC, but I personally do not have any experience with them and therefore cannot recommend them either. Honestly, if I was not flying Kontronik, I would probably be flying YGE. They seem to have a stellar record.

My only concern with YGE is that I have heard "rumors" that the people who started up YGE were disgruntled Kontronik employees. However I have no solid evidence for this rumor (same way I have heard BeastX is made of disgruntled Mikado employees but cannot find anyone to confirm it).

But from what I have heard and read, people are having fantastic success with the YGE brand of speed controllers. So I would certainly not advise anyone against using YGE brand ESCs.

I'm still waiting for a DARPA funded ESC from Raytheon or Lockheed Martin to come on the market. They've got to have developed bulletproof speed controllers for all of the drones they are flying. So when will this technology trickle down our way?

The ESC is definitely the "achilles heel" of the electric helicopter.

[paulmedford]

yup your reputation is the most important thing, it is your character. But can you try YGE or are you only supposed to fly the K ?

[Justin Stuart]

But can you try YGE or are you only supposed to fly the K ?

I can do whatever I want, but the next time I have an extra $450 burning a hole in my pocket, I'm probably not going to buy a YGE speed controller just to "try it out" since I am very satisfied with the Jive controllers I am currently using. Like my Apple computer, Kontronik speed controllers "just work". I'm sure the upcoming Kosmik series ESCs will be the same.

But what I would really like to see is an end to these "How many Ice ESCs have burned up" threads. There are a lot of us who have been flying or a long time, and I think us veterans have an obligation to help the newbies. Newbies don't need the very best equipment that money can buy since they are probably going to crash it anyways. But what they do need is equipment that is not going to cause them any problems.

I see newbies looking to the ultra-cheap HobbyCity/HobbyKing equipment. For a newbie, choosing between a $560 Jive or a $450 YGE is not a problem. Instead, they are choosing between a $230 Castle Creations ESC or a $180 HobbyWing ESC. With a HobbyWing ESC, if you have a problem, who are you going to call? China? At least with the Castle ESC, it is made in America so it supports American workers. And most of all, the newbies living in America can call up Castle for help. You don't get the same kind of thing with HobbyWing or any of the other "direct from China" ESCs.

But from my perspective, an ESC that spontaneously shoots out flames is simply unacceptable no matter how cheap it is. It's one thing to have an ESC fail, and quite another thing to have an ESC spit out flames which catches your entire helicopter on fire. And the last thing I'm going to do is to tell some 16 year old kid who has saved up all his money to get into this hobby to buy a Castle ESC if there is even a 1% chance the ESC is going to spontaneously catch fire.

So for a newbie, I tell them "If you buy a Castle, you're taking a chance on the ESC catching fire and destroying your entire helicopter, but if you buy a HobbyWing, you're taking the chance on the ESC failing without flames". When choosing between flames or no flames, the newbie usually chooses the HobbyWing. And I think given the circumstances, that is probably a good choice.

Then if the guy has been flying for awhile, I tell them, "I personally fly Kontronik speed controllers because I think they make the very best ESCs currently available on the market, but from what I have read the YGE seems to be very good as well". Since they are a veteran, they can make their own decisions.

So come on Castle. I am expecting a lot from you. And I know, eventually, you will deliver. There is a real market for an inexpensive 12s ESC.