ofna_kyle

Well this is great news to hear the the V2 MMM's are out and doing well. Anyone else who recieves a V2 in the next week or so (or even already has a V2 MMM) please share with us the experience so far. Pros and Cons.

phatmonk

I also have 2 MMM v2s and both work great

ofna_kyle

Awesome, I can't wait untill I get mine!

joepapa

Sorry to say it. My local shop got 1 new V2 Monster and it just died with in 2 minutes. A call to Castle confirmed that the new ones are not 100% and that "2% of the new shipment are expected to fail" due to a BEC issue that is still apparently not completely resolved. An external BEC will pretty much eliminate any issue but even Castle agrees you shouldn't need that. Well, they are shipping me a new one over night delivery (expected on Monday) and I am not taking any chances. I am just going to disable the internal BEC and use a Castle external. I will keep you posted.

ofna_kyle

Ahhhh man we were on a roll!!!! That sux to hear. Well 2% expected failure is better than 70% failure, right? Plz keep us posted.

SD2006

I can't figure these guys out, their motor drive design seems to be the best in the world but they still can't make a reliable BEC? I wonder how they came up with a 2% failure rate.

joepapa

Yeah, I'm not sure what the issue is either. I was supose to have the new one Saturday, but it looks like its going to come in Monday (today). I am dying to get it in. I just bought an Eagle data logging system up to 150 amps so I can monitor current draw and temps from the batt, motor and speed control. Talk to you all soon.

joepapa

Well, to make a long story short, the new one also had an issue. Number 2 no good. Castle is overnighting a 3rd at their expense.
Here is the long story:
Installed unit and disabled BEC as a precaution. You do this by removing the center wire from the plug going into the receiver from the ESC. Car ran long enough to go by me at half throttle one time. Then it seemed like the throttle stuck on for a moment, then it died. No power anywhere. So I chased this down to a blown Castle external BEC.
Now I had no choice but to hook up the V2 monster in default config with the internal BEC. With a 3s pack the car would run if held off the ground, but on the ground it had no power at all, like a lipo cuttoff was engaged. With a 6s pack, the ESC wouldn't even power up. Castle spent 10 minutes troubleshooting with me on the phone and had me checking voltage at the pins of the receiver harness. No luck. Whatever happened to this one seemed to puzzle the tech and he said it was strange and no common. Lets hope the 3rd is a charm. If not, I am buying a MGM controller rated for 240 amps. At over $500 bucks, I really hope I don't have to go down that road.

piccorevo.26

i got mine today installed it and got about a minute and a half and went to turn off the power switch and it wouldnt turn off,fan turned on wasnt even warm, had to unplug batteries to remove power,tried to turn back on and its dead ,,,now it wont do anything i guess i gotta join the crowd ,..... wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy bummmmeeddddddd

piccorevo.26

i got mine today installed it and got about a minute and a half and went to turn off the power switch and it wouldnt turn off,fan turned on wasnt even warm, had to unplug batteries to remove power,tried to turn back on and its dead ,,,now it wont do anything i guess i gotta join the crowd ,..... wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy bummmmeeddddddd

SD2006

This is really disturbing, they must be having some fabrication problems.

Access

It does seem a bit strange b'cos it really is a pretty common type of circuit. It's practically everywhere. Maybe they got a bad batch of ICs or something like that.

SD2006

Maybe they're going beyond the typical Buck converter for the BEC circuit, who knows. I'd be a bit surprised if this was caused by faulty components, that seems pretty rare these days.

Access

Nothing really surprises me anymore, likely or not. There are a lot of counterfeit components out there and sometimes they can sneak into the supply chain unknowingly. It might be rare overall, but it does happen. Who knows really, I mean we're not in Castle, Patrick the only guy from there to have posted here, and only very rarely. It could be process problems too, it could be anything.

Syncronous buck converter (which eliminates the diode drop) is about as efficient as it gets, there really isn't any reason to go beyond that and and the canned solutions that already exist. Realistic 90-95% efficiency which isn't going to be beat by something 'new'.

I never lost one of these unless it was my fault. And by now I must've built about 30 different permutations...
http://f3.yahoofs.com/blog/4660f238z...Y64sIBOMBiSN2u
Unlike a lot of the other things I've built, they have been super-reliable and I've never had one just die on its own.

SD2006

Synchronous or freewheeling diode, either way it's a simple topology. I'd like to know why Castle is having so much trouble. Hopefully my Monster V2 will last more than 30 seconds once I get a chance to test it with my Neu 1515...

BigShrimpah

Well hopefully this BEC issue won't arise in my VXL Rustler running 3s. I just ordered the MMM from B-p-p.com, now the problem will be getting it to fit somewhere in the Rustler.

SD2006

I've done some brief testing with the Monster in my 1/10th scale buggy and it's doing great so far. I've got a fairly wimpy steering servo so I haven't really pushed the BEC. I'll sleep a little easier once I run a few 6s packs through it after I get it installed in my 1/8th scale conversion.

joepapa

Update. I received the 3rd one this morning. I have bought a Eagle Tree data logger so I could monitor current draw. The new monster programmed instantly and with a blip of the throttle i got a 14 amp draw and hit about 5000 rpms. Thirty seconds later it shut off. Never even drove it. Another one bites the dust. I called Castle and now Thomas practically knows my voice. He told me that out of 1500 only about a dozen are bad (I got three of them) which I don't believe. At this point, so all of you know Im not the problem, in an effort to drive my car I bought a "Common Sense RC 90 amp" controller for an aircraft. it works fine except for it getting hot (no fan). I told Thomas that this is really enough and that I don't even want another one. But he has promised? that its an isolated thing and there really isn't much else to do but try a 4th. I said, take the thing out of the box, put 6s lipo on it and beat the crap out of it for 10 minutes for me. He agreed.

Access

Unless you have 'magic hands' or something that is unbelieveable. Have you been using proper electrostatic handling procedures (grounding wrist strap and all?)

12 bad out of 1500? Assuming random selection, if you do a mathematical analysis 3 of (12 bad, 1488 good) for anyone who remembers probability, permutations, combinations, etc. the first pick would be 12/1500, the second pick would be 11/1499, the third would be 10/1498, the product of all three would be: (0.00800)(0.00733)(0.00668) = 0.000000392 probability, 0.0000392%, not even half a chance in a million.

From a combination point of view, 3c12 / ((2c12 + 1c1488) + (1c12 + 2c1488) + (3c1488); I'm too lazy to calculate it right now but be assured it would also be infinitely small. Not a mathematical possibility, someone is fibbing here and I don't think it's you.

I mean if half the units were bad the chance of getting three bad ones from three picks is only 1/8th or 12.5%. If one fourth the units were bad the chance would be roughly 1/64th. I could prove it with a chi-square analysis but I don't think I have to, suffice it to say that there's many more than 12 bad ones in that batch of 1500. I mean there are 300 million people in the US and if every single one of them picked three at random from that batch, putting them back afterwards for the sake of sanity (otherwise you would run out), likely ONLY ONE OF THEM would be so unlucky and unfortunate to have all three of his be bad.

SD2006

Proper electrostatic handling procedures? If this were an individual component, sure, but this is an assembled product. If ESD from typical handling is causing these problems then Castle needs to hire new engineers.

tuclai

I am sending in my third MMM V2 this week. Just got home from the tracks on two are dead. My first one is still at CC waiting for replacement. This is my setup:

Losi 8ight T-
Tekno RC 8ight T Brushless Conversion Kit w/ clutch and 13t Pinion
MMM V2
NEU 1515 1.5d (2700kv)
JR 9100T Steering
JR 9100S Brake
NEU 4s 5000mah 25c lipo battery
Airtronics 2.4 Receiver

Losi 8ight B-
Tekno RC 8ight B Brushless Conversion Kit w/ clutch and 14t Pinion
MMM V2
NEU 1512 2.5d (2050kv)
JR 9100T Steering
JR 9100S Brake
NEU 4s 5000mah 25c lipo battery
Airtronics 2.4 receiver

The first MMM I had on the Losi 8ight T and it worked fine for a day at the tracks, temps on motor never got more than 140, temps on ESC never more than 130 and temps on battery was around 120 all after about 20 mins of running. Next day took it out in front of the house ran it up and own a few times and it just died. After some troubleshooting and talking to CC they said Im the 5% having this issue with the V2 MMM. If I have it plugged into the receiver it won't turn on, however if I disconnect it from the receiver it will turn on. So had to ship it back to CC for repairs.

The second MMM v2 I have on my Losi 8ight B, well ran it at the tracks and after about 20 mins the car died. So I brought it in and temped everything. Motor about 150, ESC 130, battery about 125. I thought at first it may be lipo cut off, but thought why is the ESC not on though? Even though lipo cutoff I should still see some lights but I dont. So I unplugged the battery to try to reset everything, and as I plugged it back in flame came out of the top of ESC! Fortunately, the flame stopped right away. No signs of wiring issues, or anything. All wiring were still clean (I used 10 guage all the way around).

So I took out the Losi 8ight T with the third MMM v2. Ran it up and down the track and it died. So I brought it in and discovered the ESC had came off from its base and as it did it pulled the on/off switch wires and fan wires off the circuit board!

I dont know what's up with this. I am using all high quality stuff and I still have issues. I know its not heating issues because everything is well below range, its just the ESC that goes out.

I will be giving CC one more chance. If after getting all the ESC's back and I still have problems I will be switching over to Losi's new conversion.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562025697XGWJlX

UF DUB

anybody have any more stories about the mamba monster? has anyone bought things from bishop power products? http://b-p-p.com

BigShrimpah

my v2 failed once I ran a 5s through it in my buggy conversion. I order from b-p-p.com all the time. He is sometimes slow to ship and respond to emails, but I have always got what I ordered.

fastxr

Castle Creations has release the V3 monster and will replace any V1 or V2 monsters free of charge, just ship it in to them. The have also released new firmware that can be downloaded from their site that is supposed to fix any issues in any of the early and the current monsters to that they will not fail either. Hope this info helps people out

Evader ---> MGT

B-p-p sucks. Took him a week to send the ESC!