Need response from a Castle tech for MMM question

[George16]

Originally Posted by lincpimp

I decided to use a rec pack, as i really do not feel like soldering up anything right now! I may invest in a novak regulator and use a 2s lipo pack, but atm I will be using a IB nimh pack...

Did you disconnect the red wire from the ESC?

[Bernie Wolfard]

PLEASE BE ADVISED, ANY MODIFICATIONS TO CIRCUIT BOARDS ON ANY CASTLE CREATIONS PRODUCT, WHETHER OR NOT THE ESC WORKS, VOIDS THE WARRANTY. IF A CASTLE CREATIONS ESC STOPS WORKING AND IT IS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD AND IT WANS'T ABUSED IT IS UNDER WARRANTY. IF THE ESC QUITS WORKING AND YOU MODIFY IT IT THE WARRANTY IS VOIDED. THE MOD SHOWN ON THIS THREAD PROBABLY WILL NOT WORK FOR MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IT TAKES SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT AND SKILL TO REMOVE COMPONENTS FROM OUR CIRCUIT BOARDS. WE USE LEAD FREE LIQUID FLUX HIGH TEMPRATUR SOLDER THAT DOES NOT WORK LIKE LEAD TIN FLUX CORE SOLDER. THIS MOD ONLY WORKS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES AND IN MOST CASES ONLY DAMAGES THE BOARD OR LIFTS COMPONENTS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BOARD.

We are seeing problems with certain set ups with the MMM v2. Most (over 2400) work great with no problems. We cannot recreate these problems no matter what we do here to the ESC and its BEC. The failure points are not consistent and we are trying to track down what the problem is. Whatever this is, it will be fixed. If you want to help, and have not already done so, fill out Thomas’s request for information sticky on the forum.

A failed MMM will be repaired/replaced at no charge within one year from date of purchase. If there is any work on the circuit board or other obvious modifications, or there is crash damage, the ESC is out of warranty and will cost $70.00 for out of warranty replacement.

[jhautz]

Originally Posted by Bernie Wolfard

PLEASE BE ADVISED, ANY MODIFICATIONS TO CIRCUIT BOARDS ON ANY CASTLE CREATIONS PRODUCT, WHETHER OR NOT THE ESC WORKS OR NOT VOIDS THE WARRANTY. THE MOD SHOWN ON THIS THREAD PROBABLY WILL NOT WORK FOR MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IT TAKES SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT AND SKILL TO REMOVE COMPONENTS FROM THE CIRCUIT BOARD. THIS MOD ONLY WORKS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, IN MOST CASES IT ONLY DAMAGES THE BOARD OR LIFTS COMPONENTS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BOARD.

We are seeing problems with certain set ups with the MMM v2. Most (over 2400) work great with no problems. We cannot recreate these problems no matter what we do to the ESC and its BEC. The failure points are not consistent and we are trying to track down what the problem is. Whatever this is, it will be fixed. If you want to help, and have not already done so, fill out Thomas’s request for information sticky on the forum.

A failed MMM will be repaired/replaced at no charge within one year from date of purchase. If there is any work on the circuit board or other obvious modifications, or there is crash damage, the ESC is out of warranty and will cost $70.00 for out of warranty replacement.

Thanks Bernie. Very clear.

Glad to hear you guys are on this.

The only thing I am having a problem understanding is the low percentage failure rates CC is currently reporting. I personally know of 4 MMM V2s in my local area. All 4 have failed. I know this is a very low sample size, but if all 4 of us got one of the 1.5% failure rate I am going to go and buy a lottery ticket right now. The odds on that are astronomical. (Edit: did the math... odds are over 19 million to 1 of this happeneing at 1.5% failure rate. I'm not that lucky, or unlucky)All 4 are running different setups in differnt types of vehicles. The setups on the setup data collection thread are all very different accross the board. The only common thing I see in all of the reports is that the failures were using the on board BEC to power the Rx and servos.

I just got a 2nd MMM V2 and am planning to run this one with an external BEC. So far in that data collection thread not a single faiure has been reported while using external BEC or Rx pack.

Do you know of any failures reported from people runnig the MMM V2 with an External BEC ort Rx pack and the red wire pulled on the rx wire? Id be wiling to run this way if it will insure reliability.

[jhautz]

Also,

Point your guys to this post.

http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/show...000#post211000

I certainly think the constant pounding the brain board takes due to the fan plug and case design could be contributing to the inconsistant component failure points on the board.

[myndseye]

Originally Posted by Bernie Wolfard

PLEASE BE ADVISED, ANY MODIFICATIONS TO CIRCUIT BOARDS ON ANY CASTLE CREATIONS PRODUCT, WHETHER OR NOT THE ESC WORKS, VOIDS THE WARRANTY. IF A CASTLE CREATIONS ESC STOPS WORKING AND IT IS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD AND IT WANS'T ABUSED IT IS UNDER WARRANTY. IF THE ESC QUITS WORKING AND YOU MODIFY IT IT THE WARRANTY IS VOIDED.

First let me say that I love Castle for the previous experiences I've had with them. My Mamba Max and Mamba systems have sold me to the point that even after a long wait, and countless returns of my first Monster, I still went out to purchase another one. Not only that, but I spent extra money with the company in the form of two ccbec's to try revive them when they died. When the mod came out on this forum, I thought it was a godsend. I did it to both of them as they needed it, and have continued to enjoy them. Unfortunately, my ccbec units have both since died and now I still can't use them. I know that my controllers still work because they fire right up with a reciever pack (which I have no room for on my cars). I knew beforehand that performing the mod would void the warranty if I messed up, but now you say that even if done successfully, the warranty is still voided on the fact that successfully doing the mods is unlikely. The only reason we do the mods in the first place is because it is the very definition of insanity to keep repeating the same cycle with the return process, and expect a different outcome with an identical controller. Not to mention the down time in between.

[brushlessboy16]

Originally Posted by Bernie Wolfard

PLEASE BE ADVISED, ANY MODIFICATIONS TO CIRCUIT BOARDS ON ANY CASTLE CREATIONS PRODUCT, WHETHER OR NOT THE ESC WORKS, VOIDS THE WARRANTY. IF A CASTLE CREATIONS ESC STOPS WORKING AND IT IS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD AND IT WANS'T ABUSED IT IS UNDER WARRANTY. IF THE ESC QUITS WORKING AND YOU MODIFY IT IT THE WARRANTY IS VOIDED. THE MOD SHOWN ON THIS THREAD PROBABLY WILL NOT WORK FOR MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IT TAKES SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT AND SKILL TO REMOVE COMPONENTS FROM OUR CIRCUIT BOARDS. WE USE LEAD FREE LIQUID FLUX HIGH TEMPRATUR SOLDER THAT DOES NOT WORK LIKE LEAD TIN FLUX CORE SOLDER. THIS MOD ONLY WORKS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES AND IN MOST CASES ONLY DAMAGES THE BOARD OR LIFTS COMPONENTS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BOARD.

We are seeing problems with certain set ups with the MMM v2. Most (over 2400) work great with no problems. We cannot recreate these problems no matter what we do here to the ESC and its BEC. The failure points are not consistent and we are trying to track down what the problem is. Whatever this is, it will be fixed. If you want to help, and have not already done so, fill out Thomas’s request for information sticky on the forum.

A failed MMM will be repaired/replaced at no charge within one year from date of purchase. If there is any work on the circuit board or other obvious modifications, or there is crash damage, the ESC is out of warranty and will cost $70.00 for out of warranty replacement.

my esc was received monday, before this post-i was told that it would be fixed free of charge... i presume thats still in effect

[BrianG]

AFAIK, you are the fourth one to do this mod. One user (brushlessboy) attempted and did something a little wrong. Another (TruckBasher) did it and it worked for a time, but eventually went south again (no idea why). Hopefully yours lasts a while, and if not, hopefully CC will honor the warranty.

[kulangflow]

Originally Posted by BrianG

AFAIK, you are the fourth one to do this mod. One user (brushlessboy) attempted and did something a little wrong. Another (TruckBasher) did it and it worked for a time, but eventually went south again (no idea why). Hopefully yours lasts a while, and if not, hopefully CC will honor the warranty.

Technically, I was the fourth, but it didn't work for me. Bleh.

[BrianG]

You actually said "the BrianG" mod? They're gonna hate me when I decide to stop by someday...

[George16]

Originally Posted by BrianG

You actually said "the BrianG" mod? They're gonna hate me when I decide to stop by someday...

Yes I did . Hopefully they'll give you something as a token of gratitude .

[TruckBasher]

Lito, no need to remove it...its for back feeding the MMM

Brian, just curious if USB can back feed brains while the switch is off/batts disconnected do you think we can back feed the MMM brain without your mod but leave the switch off?

BTW i got my 2nd MMM but not sure if I want to mod it cause the first one is already out of warranty and I dont want another junk.....I sure hope we can find solution to this mess

[BrianG]

Not sure what backfeeding the ESC while keeping the BEC intact will do. Depending on exactly what is bad (and how), it could basically short the external BECs voltage (which would send the external BEC into a cycling shutdown condition).

Back during my first mod, I was using an external BEC and didn't remove the red wire at first. Well, the KF voltage was ~6v, but the MMM BEC was ~5.5v and the KF heated up quite a bit. That tells me right there that the MMMBEC was heavily loading the external BEC because of the higher external voltage. So, even when everything is working normally, using an external BEC AND the internal one at the same time doesn't work.

[George16]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Not sure what backfeeding the ESC while keeping the BEC intact will do. Depending on exactly what is bad (and how), it could basically short the external BECs voltage (which would send the external BEC into a cycling shutdown condition).

Back during my first mod, I was using an external BEC and didn't remove the red wire at first. Well, the KF voltage was ~6v, but the MMM BEC was ~5.5v and the KF heated up quite a bit. That tells me right there that the MMMBEC was heavily loading the external BEC because of the higher external voltage. So, even when everything is working normally, using an external BEC AND the internal one at the same time doesn't work.

I did the mod and it didn't work. It let off a small puff of smoke after I plug the rx pack (the red wire was not removed) and lipos. The rx pack is 5-cell hump pack from one of my nitro trucks. It was also hot. I'm not sure if the lipo or rx pack caused the smoke .

So anyway, it's officially dead. That's my first V2 to die.

Back to the waiting game again

[TruckBasher]

Originally Posted by BrianG

Not sure what backfeeding the ESC while keeping the BEC intact will do. Depending on exactly what is bad (and how), it could basically short the external BECs voltage (which would send the external BEC into a cycling shutdown condition).

Back during my first mod, I was using an external BEC and didn't remove the red wire at first. Well, the KF voltage was ~6v, but the MMM BEC was ~5.5v and the KF heated up quite a bit. That tells me right there that the MMMBEC was heavily loading the external BEC because of the higher external voltage. So, even when everything is working normally, using an external BEC AND the internal one at the same time doesn't work.

This is what BrianG replied to me when I asked him about back feeding the MMM.

The main issue is that we dont know what is Dead on the MMM, if its the BEC then we might be able to revive it, since it is the same like removing the BEC unit, dead anyway...but if its a different component then we might kill other things...but the key is that the voltage regulator that feeds the brains must be something around 3.2v IIRC

[Arct1k]

This is what I think killed BrushlessBoy16's MMM as he did this for a while and even Brian's chip removal mod failed to revive the controller.