Asuga Horatio's Sworkz S35 T2E Pro Build

[VaporTrail]

Took the T2E out for a spin today. All seems good - however - randomly, MMX is doing 2 short beeps and not delivering full throttle.

Wiring and drive train are all good, battery is freshly charged, although it's the first run in 2 months.

I've re-calibrated the ESC, but still getting random 2 beeps.

Other times, I'm literally pulling wheelies. I'll have a good look tomorrow, but I can't find any mechanical reason behind this glitch. It's Castle related though. I might try the Onyx battery and see if it still happens.

Interesting. The MMX in my Shogun will give me the beep beep beeep sequence. According to your chart, it seems there's an issue with the throttle cable? I guess I'll clean that out and see if helps any.

Regarding the LVC, some speed run folks toe the line and remove the LVC completely. Not that I'd recommend it, but I have read about it. Small wonder that there's more instances of fires.

Me I like to treat my batteries gentle for the most part. LVC is usually set between 3.5 and 3.8 volts per cell. I have a pair of 3yr old NHX 3S packs that are showing 2.1ohms resistance for each cell, so I think I'm doing something right.

Sadly, I think I'll be phasing them out in favor of 5000mAh LCoG packs. My EB48.3 shows a marked difference in handling when I run those.

And interestingly enough, my Gen 2 XR8 Pro doesn't seem to be as finicky as the MMX. I'll give credit where it's due; the Castle escs definitely seem to have more punch, but I've had less trouble/protests with my HW ones.

 

[Horatio]

So I ran the Sworkz today down the 1/4 mile strip. In fairness, the car itself was almost flawless. 2 M3 screws got loose, but I noticed and dealt with accordingly. One was on rear chassis brace where it goes into the silver threaded ball. Why they arrange it like this when a nyloc nut hold it instead never know. Unfortunately as the steel ball isn't drilled M3 all they way through, I can't easily drill it out so will just live with applying liberal amounts of locktite.

My experience today with the castle proves that it's not my batteries - I think it's something to do with the sensor wire and it's connectors - so I'll be investigating that tonight.

The issue of beep beep and throttle cutting made it near impossible to do 0-50mph. It's done it with both batteries.

Bizarrely, when it let me have any throttle to play with - it gave me 54mph no trouble.

0-50mph attempts look like this:

Because it might take 2,3,4 or more attempts to get proper gobs of power.

Now the motor sensor wire is 'delicate' and has a shield around it. I'm beginning to wonder if my crammed-in wiring 'style' (in the very limited amount of space available) might have something to do with it. If this is the case, it's more a me issue than it is a castle problem.

Temps today were mid 20's and the 1515, despite being damned awkward, had the audacity to get hot. So it needed a fair amount of chill time in between runs - the lazy f√¢×€®. Still - at least nothing burst into flames! So the 1515 will need a fan mount after all. Especially if I increase the rollout.

Handling of the Sworkz was impeccable and in fairness, despite the weirdness from the Castle Cremations MMX, it was so much fun blasting through the dusty, loose parts of the area.

The land owner was preparing for an equestrian 'car boot' sale, so stopped and had a chat to see how I was doing. She often asks how the cars' speed runs are going and 'had I broken the world record yet?'

Today I explained that I may have broken the world record for the number of times I said 'b°||°¢×$' in the same sentence as 'Castle Cremations'.

They still seemed impressed with my 54mph speed runs though.

 

[VaporTrail]

Sounds like a fun time...when the MMX actually let you have a say. I wonder if the sensor wire has to have the minimal amount of bends on it? Usually my sensor wires aren't coiled up, but then again it's rare that I run sensor. Mostly in my onroad stuff. Sorry to hear your 1515 is being a bit difficult. I have one as well, and it doesn't really like going above a 13/52 ratio. It's happy enough there, but it doesn't take much past that to send her in a tizzy.

Have you given any though about the TP Power motors? I can speak from experience that they have the power. I have two of their 4080 cans, and they're both monsters. At least in the torque department.

54mph is a pretty nice clip, especially for a 1/8.

 

[Horatio]

Sounds like a fun time...when the MMX actually let you have a say. I wonder if the sensor wire has to have the minimal amount of bends on it? Usually my sensor wires aren't coiled up, but then again it's rare that I run sensor. Mostly in my onroad stuff. Sorry to hear your 1515 is being a bit difficult. I have one as well, and it doesn't really like going above a 13/52 ratio. It's happy enough there, but it doesn't take much past that to send her in a tizzy.

Have you given any though about the TP Power motors? I can speak from experience that they have the power. I have two of their 4080 cans, and they're both monsters. At least in the torque department.

54mph is a pretty nice clip, especially for a 1/8.

Yes, it was still fun but the system was glitchy. I'm certain it's something to do with the sensor wire - I'll investigate properly soon.

The TP motors look interesting.

I was just looking at their 4082. They seem similar in output to the Kuron 825 motor. Around 3200 watts. For speed/acceleration I suppose I'd be looking at another 2200kv, but need to keep things below 150A.

 

[Horatio]

The sensor harness wire (and it's rather feeble, vague feeling plug) was indeed the cause of the issues.

I was checking for kinks or splits in the sensor wire, and whilst obsessing where the wires plug into the motor, whilst removing the MMX ESC from the chassis, the sensor harness parted company completely from the sensor wire plug.

Basically when I was inspecting the wires (all bunched together) whilst they seemed like they were plugged together - it obviously wasn't firm at the harness side.

So in fairness to Castle, it's fairly amazing it ran at all!

In my defense, Castle's sensor harness is.......less than optimal. It's flimsy, vague, difficult to see and physically different to their own diagrams.

The end of sensor wire plug is actually black, but in the diagrams, is shown as white the same as the harness. It may seem like nit-picking, but the harness plug looks different in reality as well - the only similarity with the diagram is the colour, but the shape is wrong.

Did nobody raise their hand and say - this plug is flimsy and vague - perhaps we should use a better one. Ideally with something that works!

 

[CCB-MN]

The sensor harness wire (and it's rather feeble, vague feeling plug) was indeed the cause of the issues.

I was checking for kinks or splits in the sensor wire, and whilst obsessing where the wires plug into the motor, whilst removing the MMX ESC from the chassis, the sensor harness parted company completely from the sensor wire plug.

Basically when I was inspecting the wires (all bunched together) whilst they seemed like they were plugged together - it obviously wasn't firm at the harness side.

So in fairness to Castle, it's fairly amazing it ran at all!

In my defense, Castle's sensor harness is.......less than optimal. It's flimsy, vague, difficult to see and physically different to their own diagrams.

View attachment 6044

The end of sensor wire plug is actually black, but in the diagrams, is shown as white the same as the harness. It may seem like nit-picking, but the harness plug looks different in reality as well - the only similarity with the diagram is the colour, but the shape is wrong.

Did nobody raise their hand and say - this plug is flimsy and vague - perhaps we should use a better one. Ideally with something that works!

I’m glad that you were able to sort it out H! It’s frustrating when you see and find a common concern and wonder why it was not addressed by the manufacturer, especially when it’s not their first attempt at the wheel!

That being said, I’ve had very few issues with Castle overall. I absolutely love the cobra in my Tekno. Apparently there are others out there, lol but for my money it’s Castle or HW all day, every day.

 

[Horatio]

I’m glad that you were able to sort it out H! It’s frustrating when you see and find a common concern and wonder why it was not addressed by the manufacturer, especially when it’s not their first attempt at the wheel!

That being said, I’ve had very few issues with Castle overall. I absolutely love the cobra in my Tekno. Apparently there are others out there, lol but for my money it’s Castle or HW all day, every day.

Cheers buddy.

Intermittent faults are a pain. I'm vaguely disappointed that the sensor wire was loose, but I suppose I can secure it with .... something.

And nothing burned!

I've just seen this....

 

[CCB-MN]

Cheers buddy.

Intermittent faults are a pain. I'm vaguely disappointed that the sensor wire was loose, but I suppose I can secure it with .... something.

And nothing burned!

I've just seen this....

View attachment 6045

Do it!

Do it!

I don’t have the fancy “gold” motor, but I love my cobra 8 and to boot, I have not needed to add fans!
(And I now want the gold motor)!

 

[VaporTrail]

Yes, it was still fun but the system was glitchy. I'm certain it's something to do with the sensor wire - I'll investigate properly soon.

The TP motors look interesting.

I was just looking at their 4082. They seem similar in output to the Kuron 825 motor. Around 3200 watts. For speed/acceleration I suppose I'd be looking at another 2200kv, but need to keep things below 150A.

Their TP4050 2100KV is an absolute beast. To be honest, I don't really like running that motor. In my experience, the TP motors have great punch, but man are they hungry. They definitely tax my batteries unless they're geared conservatively. The 2100KV motor can puff a battery pack in one run. That one has a rated draw of 151A, so maybe that might just squeak by for your criteria?

I've only ever ran them on 4S, so maybe a higher voltage was needed to slow down that amp draw.

The sensor harness wire (and it's rather feeble, vague feeling plug) was indeed the cause of the issues.

I was checking for kinks or splits in the sensor wire, and whilst obsessing where the wires plug into the motor, whilst removing the MMX ESC from the chassis, the sensor harness parted company completely from the sensor wire plug.

Basically when I was inspecting the wires (all bunched together) whilst they seemed like they were plugged together - it obviously wasn't firm at the harness side.

So in fairness to Castle, it's fairly amazing it ran at all!

In my defense, Castle's sensor harness is.......less than optimal. It's flimsy, vague, difficult to see and physically different to their own diagrams.

View attachment 6044

The end of sensor wire plug is actually black, but in the diagrams, is shown as white the same as the harness. It may seem like nit-picking, but the harness plug looks different in reality as well - the only similarity with the diagram is the colour, but the shape is wrong.

Did nobody raise their hand and say - this plug is flimsy and vague - perhaps we should use a better one. Ideally with something that works!

glad you were able to get that sorted! And yes, you'd think for as much as they cost there would be more attention paid to the components. My MMX8 has two broken fan blades. Meanwhile, my XR8 Pro and Max6 have suffered no such tomfoolery.

I’m glad that you were able to sort it out H! It’s frustrating when you see and find a common concern and wonder why it was not addressed by the manufacturer, especially when it’s not their first attempt at the wheel!

That being said, I’ve had very few issues with Castle overall. I absolutely love the cobra in my Tekno. Apparently there are others out there, lol but for my money it’s Castle or HW all day, every day.

Yanno, I've been curious about that Cobra. I'll give it another year or so and then maybe I'll try it out. I usually wait for about a year or two for the growing pains to be sorted out. Then I'll get one to see if it works for my purposes.

I learned my lesson with the first Mamba Monster. I burned up 3 of em.

 

[CCB-MN]

Their TP4050 2100KV is an absolute beast. To be honest, I don't really like running that motor. In my experience, the TP motors have great punch, but man are they hungry. They definitely tax my batteries unless they're geared conservatively. The 2100KV motor can puff a battery pack in one run. That one has a rated draw of 151A, so maybe that might just squeak by for your criteria?

I've only ever ran them on 4S, so maybe a higher voltage was needed to slow down that amp draw.



glad you were able to get that sorted! And yes, you'd think for as much as they cost there would be more attention paid to the components. My MMX8 has two broken fan blades. Meanwhile, my XR8 Pro and Max6 have suffered no such tomfoolery.



Yanno, I've been curious about that Cobra. I'll give it another year or so and then maybe I'll try it out. I usually wait for about a year or two for the growing pains to be sorted out. Then I'll get one to see if it works for my purposes.

I learned my lesson with the first Mamba Monster. I burned up 3 of em.

lol, I was gun shy myself but there was a mix up when I ordered it and I ended up getting a hell of a deal on it. I can’t complain, however I rarely run anything other than 4S and on the track with my Tekno. I have enough others for fun and my driving skills are too erratic and deplorable to trust that I won’t hit something with it.

 

[Horatio]

Ran the Sworkz again this afternoon and the Castle system ran flawlessly. The motor was much cooler too.

I'm now starting to think that if your sensor wire is only half plugged in - motor temps may rise because of it.

I now feel the need to build a Tekno - which may happen fairly soon as my work bench is being built here in the UK and should be ready in a week or so. I wanted it 900mm high (36"), the manufacturers standard height was 840mm, so I got it 2000x900x900 (79"x36"x36").

My workshop vice will be a Clarke swivel based 150mm x 180mm opening 18.5kg.

I'm hoping to add a grinding wheel, lazer cutter, 3D printer and pillar drill over time.

That should keep me busy for the rest of my days! I'm in dialogue with a chap that re-makes RC aircraft kits that have been discontinued. The plans are digitally entered using software that he assures me is a doddle and the Lazer cutter produces impeccable parts. Voila!

Then I need to look at lathes and milling machines.

In other news, I spent last Saturday dogfighting anything that flew. It was during the CME and apparently the sun was very strong because I have an unexpected tan!!

 

[CCB-MN]

Ran the Sworkz again this afternoon and the Castle system ran flawlessly. The motor was much cooler too.

I'm now starting to think that if your sensor wire is only half plugged in - motor temps may rise because of it.

I now feel the need to build a Tekno - which may happen fairly soon as my work bench is being built here in the UK and should be ready in a week or so. I wanted it 900mm high (36"), the manufacturers standard height was 840mm, so I got it 2000x900x900 (79"x36"x36").

View attachment 6062
My workshop vice will be a Clarke swivel based 150mm x 180mm opening 18.5kg.

I'm hoping to add a grinding wheel, lazer cutter, 3D printer and pillar drill over time.

That should keep me busy for the rest of my days! I'm in dialogue with a chap that re-makes RC aircraft kits that have been discontinued. The plans are digitally entered using software that he assures me is a doddle and the Lazer cutter produces impeccable parts. Voila!

Then I need to look at lathes and milling machines.

In other news, I spent last Saturday dogfighting anything that flew. It was during the CME and apparently the sun was very strong because I have an unexpected tan!!

View attachment 6063

That bench is dope H! My cheap benches are definitely jealous.

I’m jealous of your fly time! I haven’t had anything up in the in a long time!

That looks unbelievably fun!



…….., hey H, speaking of a new Tekno, I bet that Cobra 8 with a shinny gold motor would look pretty amazing in a new Tekno rig!!!

 

[Horatio]

That bench is dope H! My cheap benches are definitely jealous.

I’m jealous of your fly time! I haven’t had anything up in the in a long time!

That looks unbelievably fun!



…….., hey H, speaking of a new Tekno, I bet that Cobra 8 with a shinny gold motor would look pretty amazing in a new Tekno rig!!!

View attachment 6067

I really liked your bench setup - looked at Amazon but unfortunately I didn't have the same choices as yours without paying lots of shipping. What I've done instead is pay a lot for the custom made steel bench, but have zero shipping costs. Just as well because this thing is bloody heavy.

Flying was great, I had my glider up for about 45 minutes too - kites and buzzards were happy to thermal with me, without any aggressive behaviour.

Looks like work will be getting fully onboard with drones and hopefully I'll be 'piloting' the scheme. I'm pushing for FPV use, because they're faster and can be flown into spaces that would otherwise present risk to life.

I have all the necessary certificates, but it looks like there might be some other sign offs. Meeting is tomorrow.

 

[XashBE]

Ignore me

 

[Horatio]

Ignore me

Ignore who, sorry?

 

[XashBE]

Ignore who, sorry?

Posted something wrong, couldn't find delete

 

[Horatio]

Posted something wrong, couldn't find delete

Sorry, did you just say something?