Castle ESC's: Water resistant and/or water proof?
 

Interesting discussion going on here. Anyone care to chime in in regards to weather any of this is true? One guy at my LHS had a two day old Flux, rolled it into a puddle of water and fried the ESC within seconds. Others are claiming running in the snow with no probs. Soo...here we go again.

http://www.savage-central.com/module...wtopic&t=83275

Are you talking about the Hydra series? otherwise, none. Even the Hydra needs some silicone sealing to make it water tight.

This has been discussed before... CC has never claimed the ESCs to be waterproof, though they do have a thin layer which should make them somewhat waterproof.

As for the guy at the LHS... remember that CC doesn't claim them to be waterproof...

I heard about this Golden Shellback stuff awhile ago. Not sure where they are with it now, haven't heard anything about it since originally seeing the video. Would be awesome for RC electronics, especially ESC's as long as it could stand up to the heat. Sounds very pricey though due to the application procedure. Not likely to see it in RC any time soon, but nonetheless it's pretty neat stuff.

http://vimeo.com/1381538

P.S. The video is slow to start, skip ahead to 30-40 seconds in if you want to get right to the info.

I can vouch for the MM, it's as waterproof as I need it to be (completely submerged mine as well as run them in the snow all the time). As for their other ESCs I can't comment, the MM is the only one I've ever risked in the snow.

i know that some of the ESC's have gone underwater, as for the MMM...well it had an allergic reaction lol.

if Patrick is listening, waterproofness would be a good design feature to add to the ESC's.
this will boost sales i believe as people want power for their old brushed E-revo or E-maxx but don't want to lose waterproofness.

and a show of hands, who wants to try aquaplaning their 1/8th scale on a large puddle?

Per Patrick the circuit boards of the MMM have a water resistant coating on them but the unit itself is not made to be waterproof and will not be under warranty if damage is caused by water.

I dunked one on 2 seperate occasions, let it dry naturally for a few days and plugged her and drove it. No problems, luckily.

:yipi:heres my hands:na:

As stated above, we do not claim our speed controllers are waterproof. That being said, all of our Car and boat products are dipped in silicone conformal coating. We now dip the controllers in the coating, so it covers the majority of the components. Unfortunately we can't guarantee that every component gets completely coated, so we can't guarantee the controller is completely sealed.

The Mamba Max is actually the hardest to fully coat. It uses a dual board design (power and control boards) that uses 2 rows of pins to connect the 2 boards. It is nearly impossible to seal the inter-connectors. The newer method is to surface mount the control board directly to the power board. (Mamba Monster, Mamba Max Pro). This makes it easier to seal the controller and protect it from water damage.

I think someone already commented on this as well, but water damage is not covered by warranty. But the controller can still be replaced for our non-warranty flat repair fee.

Hope this helps clear things up.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

Get some liquid tape to be sure. Remove the fan and you have a very water-resistant ESC. I looked into my new Mamba Monster, and it does have conformal coating, but I will probably liquid tape over that. My question to CC is will the liquid tape void my warranty? I understand that failure due to water exposure cannot be warranteed.
I think it is awesome there is the $70 flat fee replacement (even if it gets wet or smashed). Also, CC is in Kansas, so no probs with overseas warranty claims. Someone even answers the phone when you call!

Generally we don't recommend adding compounds, liquids, adhesives, etc directly to the circuit board. If you decide to add anything directly to the ESC, just make sure it is designed for electronics and attaching directly to printed circuit boards. If any added protection leads to the failure of the ESC, or prevents us from repairing the controller, it will be considered a non-warranty repair and incur the flat repair fee.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

Thanks Thomas:
The 3M liquid tape is designed specifically for this purpose. I don't believe that it would prevent repair any more than the conformal coating, but it is red in color, not clear. I'll probably wait 'til the ESC is out of warranty to do this just in case.

As long as we can easily remove it to repair any defective or failed components, it shouldn't be a problem. If you're close to the end of the warranty, it's probably not a bad idea to wait; just to be on the safe side.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

I have never had to remove it, but I think I'll try it on an old mainboard and see if it is easily removed.
I am new to surface RC, and have been primarily with Scorpion motors and ESCs for my helis and acros, but I may switch. So far the change over to the MMM in my G4 has been a pleasant experience, due in no small part to the great (US based) customer service of CC. You guys have a great rep in surface stuff as far as I can see, and my experience (with CC) has reinforced the results of my research. I was considering EZRUN, Tekin, and CC. I am glad I went with CC.