Decent Brushless ESC?

[Maverick]

I have an X400 (I know, boo hiss, sharp intake of breath!) which flies absolutely lovely and has a CC Pheonix 35 esc, and until recently I thought I had got over it's BEC shutdowns by sticking an aluminium plate over the chip as a heatsink.

Not so, though!! Had three shutdowns now, all in quick succession over two flights. I admit I don't have the latest firmware in it, and am not convinced it would cure it if I did.

What brushless esc's is everyone else using on this size of heli??

I'm not a stick banger so motor currents aren't huge and a typical flight is about 10 minutes, so I need something that can last this long per flight without shutting down for any reason!!

[Smoothound]

If it's started happening all of a sudden are you sure your packs are still up to the job?

I know it's unlikely as you are probably using Soft Cutoff but I have seen it happen. I run a P35 on one of my Trex and it works fine as long as the packs are good but it is a later one that does have a stronger BEC I believe.

If money is no object get a Kontronik Jazz, I have one on my 4s Trex, miles better than the P35

[Nutz]

Junk the CC, I had a nightmare when I had mine, also with 400 size electric helis I strongly advise you to move over to 2.4Ghz and away from 35Mhz.
The best ESC on the market is the Kontronics Jazz but at +£100 you pay for what you get. You could try to get hold of an Align 35A, they are not too bad.

[Jamez]

Yep I'd go with a Jazz if you can stretch to it.

[Sao]

Kontronic all day, I wouldnt use another Esc in heli s now

[moyesboy]

Plenty of people are running the Align 35A ESC that comes with the new trex450SE v2. note it has a 6v BEC so you need step downs for the tail. Thats probably the most cost effective one to get.

The Castle shut downs can be the BEC overheating. when that has a volts collapse the rx shuts down. Becausae there is no throttle signal the ESC closes the throttle. When the Rx comes back the throttle opens again.
One thing to try is a separate BEC. That might make the castle reliable - dunno if nutz tried that?

The jazz is supposed to be the best but is expensive.
I have a quark 33A which was 79.99 dollars in the states but is expensive here. My quark has been very good indeed and significantly cheaper than the jazz (though its BEC won't cope with 4 cells like the jazz). The setup of the governor is very peculiar - though in my opinion it works well once it is set.

Do go for the 2.4Ghz. I managed to get my 35Mhz setup quite reliable with a 7CAP and 146ipcm rx. After a while though I got some tail glitches and a motor shutdown in quick succession. It must have done 60 odd trouble free flights before that. After that I just got the spectrum and had no problems since, but I did find a very rough top main shaft bearing that was probably the cause of the 35Mhz glitches. The odd thing is that they did seem like glitches rather than lockouts despite the PCM rx.

I also think the metal frame on the x400 exaggerates the 35mhz glitches - I wonder if this is reflected on the trex 450s?

[Smoothound]

I had a Quark ESC and it worked OK but the setup process is over complicated. I also had it replaced FOC when it decided to let the magic smoke out for no reason one day when I switched it on!!!

It's now left here attached to my Dragonus on it's way to France, I'd probably not buy another.

[moyesboy]

sorry to hear that about your quark.
Mines been excellent. Mine is a v2 (white wires to the motor), the v1 had some issues i think.
I do wish I could change the governor rpm from the tx though.
I might try it without the governor soon, but as you say the setup is a bit complex so I'm reluctant to fiddle with it!

[Smoothound]

Yeah mine was a V1, I had heard the V2's were better

You can setup a second headspeed as far as I remember, I certainly had 2 set on mine via the Flight Mode switch, I'd re-read the instructions i'm sure its there somewhere but like the rest it's slightly confusing. I'm sure I had some help from Ian Contessa at some point on RR<Hawk Spit>

[pompeyjohn]

I use whatever comes in the kit!

for planes I tend to use blue arrow stuff, and never had any problem with any of them.

[moyesboy]

Yes, on the quark I have two head speeds, 2700 and 3000.
I was just thinking of going a bit higher, but it might be better to just setup without the gov and see what my packs and motor can do with the 15t pinion. when JK was using the quark he just disabled the brake and left everything else on default.
Regarding the kentronik, I just have to go through the therapy of using cheap stuff before I'm ready to buy the best.
But for me the quark has been good.

[3dbasher]

I have an X400 (I know, boo hiss, sharp intake of breath!) which flies absolutely lovely and has a CC Pheonix 35 esc, and until recently I thought I had got over it's BEC shutdowns by sticking an aluminium plate over the chip as a heatsink.

Not so, though!! Had three shutdowns now, all in quick succession over two flights. I admit I don't have the latest firmware in it, and am not convinced it would cure it if I did.

What brushless esc's is everyone else using on this size of heli??

I'm not a stick banger so motor currents aren't huge and a typical flight is about 10 minutes, so I need something that can last this long per flight without shutting down for any reason!!

try a separate bec?

[Maverick]

Thought about that, too. Can you recommend one?

Thanks for the replies, guys.