RE: To BEC or not to BEC.
Castle Pro BEC failure.
Last week-end I was setting up a BEC system in a new EF 78" Extra 300. (OK, not a pattern model, but this is still relevant.)
The system was made up by: CC BEC Pro, CC ICE HV80 regulator, JR 10ch. SPCM receiver, 5x Hitec DS5955TG digital servos. 10s5ah li-po with a arming shunt to the ESC/regulator. Bec connected between the battery and the arming shunt to allow the radio to be operated without powering up the regulator.
I had connected/disconnected the system about 8-10 times already during the week-end, and it was working fine.
When connecting the battery to make some servo adjustments, there was a big spark (I mean BIG, not the tiny one you normally get when you install the arming shunt) After that, nothing worked. Testing later with a separate NiMH battery, the receiver is dead, 4 of the 5 servos are dead, one servo is working but the center is offset by about 20 deg. (??), regulator is not working. When powering up the regulator the motor beeps like normal, but there is no throttle response. Connecting the regulator to the Castle Link, the indicator ligh goes green when installing the link, but the "device connection status" indicator remains red when powering up the regulator.
I think the CC BEC Pro is a rather expensive experiment!!
(I have of course sent a mail to CC informing them about this incidence, but they have not replied.)
Magne