ORIGINAL: DaveL322
Jim,
Several years ago, Castle had an article on this topic in their periodical newsletter, ''Scrye'', which has not been continued and is no longer on their website. According to the article, reducing the endpoints did not reduce the peak load seen by the battery, and lower voltage (from the higher load) from the battery generated more ripple current to the ESC, making the ESC work harder, in particular the capacitors on the front end. I don't remember the article being technical per se, but if it were, I'd be stretching to accurately convey more than the concept.
You know far more about the workings of this stuff than most, so maybe this concept fits with some possible scenarios you might have for how the ESC is working.
Regards,
The data log seems indicating that the voltages are relatively stable (even drop) whenever there is current-drawn spike (see [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7905478/mpage_38/key_/tm.htm]Post #945[/link]. I would think those moments correspond to the advance of throttle.
With a watt meter, one probably can easily find whether the current reading is linear to the position of the throttle.