Castle Sidewinder ESC issue

[Charlesmtb]

Good morning, I recently had a sidewinder 3 installed on my RC truck. It is configured correctly and has been running great for about 5 batteries(8.4v Nimh)
Now, the throttle is next to nothing, barely spins motor and under load just coggs. The ESC led lights show solid yellow in neutral and when I squeeze the trigger the ESC give me a solid green (flutters a little) and a blinking yellow light. During trouble shooting this tells me that the ESC is in low voltage cutoff mode. I have checked twice and I'm programmed in NO CUT OFF because I'm using Nimh. Also, steering is fully functional UNTIL, I squeeze the trigger and steering becomes unresponsive. I'm completely stumped.

Again, I verified that I have a fully charged battery by a voltage test. Brand new 7 cell venom 5000mH.
Steering works perfect until I give throttle
ESC is calibrated and programmed correctly
ESC is in the correct spot on the receiver
Using EC3 plugs, all sound sodders
Gear mesh is good
ESC shows solid green light and blinking yellow when giving throttle, ESC IS programmed for low cutoff OFF

I don't have the field programming card or the software yet. I have been using the hobby shop for this service. Again, truck has been running well for awhile and this happened.

what are your thoughts?

Thanks for your help

[klavy69]

first thoughts are ditch the venom batteries. It might show a full charge but is this under a load? I've got several venoms and they end up doing the same thing. Shows a full charge but the second I put a full throttle run on them they drop by half the voltage...

Can't say I have any experience with the sidewinder 3 either though so someone will pry chime in with some actual info

Todd

[Coelacanth]

I'll second the battery possibly being the issue. I had the exact same problems with an 8.4V NiMH pack and a Sidewinder V2. I *had* fully charged the battery months ago, but NiMH batteries will lose their charge over time. Connected it, and it didn't quite work as it should. When I fully charged it, the problems went away, but it was enough to make me get into LiPo's. I just don't think modern ESCs work that well with outdated battery technology.

[Charlesmtb]

Thanks guys,


I will contact my LHS where I bought the batteries and see what he can do for me.

[Charlesmtb]

Does anyone know a way I can run a load test on my battery? I know for my automobile I could use the "toaster" and put on mock load to see if the battery is good. I'm not sure if I rig up something that would help me in my situation. The venom battery is literally a month old with less than 10 charges on it.

[bully]

When I first got back into rc years back tried venom nimh packs and what a waste of money they were,complete rubbish.. You can also try a glitch buster capacitor that plugs into spare receiver slot an helps stop brown outs... Which is under load dropping of voltage causing LVC to activate or steering/receiver to stop suddenly...

[yellowdatsun]

The Castle systems in general are good units. If it was the esc I'd be surprised. I've also had brand new (Turnigy) batteries die after one charge, and gave the same symptoms as you.

Can you just borrow someones battery to test with?

[RC104ever]

I'll second that. I've had nothing but great success with Castle units in ALL of my cars. They have been run hard in heat, cold, snow, sand and they just keep going and going. A couple times I thought they were toast and I left them over night and next morning they were good to go again, go figure.

Make the switch to Lipo - buy yourself some lipos on Hobbyking.com and call it a day. The software for the Castle is free and so is the adapter if you bought it from a LHS (I think you just mail in for it).

Lipos are SO much better then NiMh batteries in terms of voltage stability and power. You'll thank me later.

[Coelacanth]

I'll backtrack a bit following the last few replies...Castle makes great products, but the Sidewinders can be finicky with the other electronics used. My Sidewinder had low-speed cogging issues with a SpeedPassion brushless motor. I was using an older Futaba S3003 servo and FlySky GT3B radio/receiver, but I doubt those were the culprit. When I put the Sidewinder in another car with brushed motor, it worked fine. When I put an inexpensive Hobbywing 35A ESC in the same car with all the same aforementioned components, it worked beautifully. I've also read that others experienced similar issues with this finicky Sidewinder cogging behavior.

[DMAT]

I had an odd issue with mine a few years back, what it boiled down to was I had my antenna too close to the other electronics. but yea, steering and throttle would get messed up when it was too close.

[Charlesmtb]

Part of me wishes I had sprung for the mamba pro esc. I was having problems with overheating my sidewinder and emailed castle. They basically said it was a "sporty" esc and not designed for heavy duty use. When I asked them what the Amp ratings were I started to get a run around. I'm afraid to run a 3s. Some literature says it can handle it under proper hearing some say no. Maybe I can test one out at my hobby shop. But the "sporty" comment tells me no.

[DMAT]

the sidewinder 3 is primarily able to handle 3s in buggies. in trucks where the weight can be a chunk more, you usually need to dial back the gears a lot.

[Tamlok]

If you are dead set on using NIMH batteries, I second the Glitch Buster. When I first put a Sidewinder 3 in my 10T, it would "brown out" using NIMHs. What type of charger do you have? If it can cycle batteries, try doing that. About a year ago I got back into the hobby after a 20 year break and was leery of LIPO batteries. Finally broke down and got a set and will never use NIMHs again.

[RC104ever]

I have a Sidewinder in my RC10 buggy and it was fine for the most part but if we ran it hard for a long time, it would cut out early due to high temps. So I just added a fan for it and now its fine. For your issue though, I'd say you probably have a battery problem.

[Lonestar]

Same answer as here...

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=40771

ditch the 7cell NiMH. and the LHS