Castle Creations Talon 90

[Anthony7820]

After seeing the huge BEC specs on the Talon 90, it was very clear that this would be a great ESC setup for any high preformance airplane/ helicopter.

Here are a few specs from the Castle website:

Retail price: $89.95

Item number: 010-0097-00

Input voltage:3S to 6S

Max continuous amperage at full throttle: 90 amps (rating determined with 5mph airflow across the ESC)

BEC voltage (voltage regulator for powering radio and servos)

User selectable choice of 6 or 8 volt output

BEC output: 20 amp peak or 9 amp continuous

Dimensions

Width: 1.7" (43mm)
Length: 3.14" (80mm)
Depth: 0.7" (18mm)

Mounting bracket adds 2mm depth and 8mm width

Weight: 3.0 oz. (84.5g) with 150mm power wires and no battery connectors


Items needed for operation or installation:

•Battery connector (sold separately)
•Female motor bullets are built into the ESC
•Matching male bullets are included

Programmability

Fully programmable Castle feature set using Castle Link USB adapter (coupon for free Castle Link adapter included in package) and freely downloadable Castle Link Windows software.


The reason I chose this ESC over some of the others is because of it's large BEC for the high torque servos in todays power systems.

Features

The ESC comes in a very nice, sleek box. Included is the ESC, ESC mount, instruction manual, and male connectors for your choice of motor (for me it will be the Scorpion 4020-1350kv).

The ESC comes in a plastic shell to protect the cooling fins and other components from getting damaged in the event of a crash, the other nice feature of this ESC is the fact that it comes with a mountable bracket that you can mount on the side of your helicopter or inside your airplane and then simply snap the ESC in place. Very useful if you ever need to remove your ESC for maintainance.

The programmabilty that comes with the Talon is also very useful. Using the Castle Link adapter you can program your ESC (BEC 6v to 8v, startup, RPM governor mode, brake, and lots more). The software that Castle uses is very user friendly and the ESC can be easily programed to many different settings. There is also a data log function which lets you view amperage outputs, as well as the RPM of the motor through various points during the flight (I plan to use this later when testing the Goblin 500).

Another really cool feature I have not seen in many ESCs before is the integrated female connectors IN the ESC. You simply plug the motor wires directly into the ESC itself, which limits the amount of wires on any aircraft.

Overall for the price, quality, and function of this ESC makes it a great option for high powered 3D airplane or helicopter setups. The huge 9amp BEC with 20amp max is a nice addition to the already popular Castle ESC.

In addition to this speed control I will also be using the Scorpion Backup Guard, which is a regulated 2s lipo that plugs into your reciever. If the BEC on the ESC would ever drop below 5v for any reason, the Backup Guard will automatically bring the dropped voltage up to 5v, giving you enough voltage to finish your flight.

The Scorpion backup guard is a great "safety" feature to any aircraft, and can be found here, for an extra $25 this really is the way to go on any R/C model.

The only feature that I dislike about this product is the fact that you have to "mail in" for the Castle Link system which is basically a female servo connector to a mini usb port. Castle could've easily integrated a mini usb into the ESC itself for fast and easy programming. Other than that this looks like a fantastic ESC and at a reasonable price.

As I build, mount, and setup the ESC I will continue to update this post for more pictures and finally the flight test. Hopefully all goes well. Thanks!

 

[AZAerobat]

Thanks for the review so far. I am personally interested to find out if having the female bullets built into the ESC is a good or a bad thing. I always heat shrink my bullets together for added security but you clearly cannot do that with the Talon. Are you going to be using it in a plane or a heli Anthony? I personally would like to see it in a plane. Good luck with your flights.

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

I really like what they are doing with the HV bec and it sure looks robust. I might have even bought this if I saw it before buying my ZTW but for now I will sit back and see if there are no fires for a year. Please keep us informed.

 

[djmoose]

I don't understand why they don't have dual power leads. Servo connectors are only rated at 3A (5Amax)

If the BEC Pro needs two leads...why doesn't this?

 

[quadracer]

I don't understand why they don't have dual power leads. Servo connectors are only rated at 3A (5Amax)

If the BEC Pro needs two leads...why doesn't this?

Good question!

 

[Anthony7820]

Thanks for the review so far. I am personally interested to find out if having the female bullets built into the ESC is a good or a bad thing. I always heat shrink my bullets together for added security but you clearly cannot do that with the Talon. Are you going to be using it in a plane or a heli Anthony? I personally would like to see it in a plane. Good luck with your flights.

The bullet connectors that come with the Esc are a little different than the average ones. They fit super tight, if a wire comes out of the esc, you might have some bigger issues

It will be in a helicopter, but the stress put on the ESC during a helicopter flight versus an airplane flight is much greater. So if it works in a helicopter, it should work fine in an airplane .

We should be pulling pretty close to 90amps max with this motor and ESC, as for the servos and BEC. They are all HV servos so we will see how the BEC holds up to them.

 

[Anthony7820]

I really like what they are doing with the HV bec and it sure looks robust. I might have even bought this if I saw it before buying my ZTW but for now I will sit back and see if there are no fires for a year. Please keep us informed.

Will do. We still have to wait for the helicopter to come. It is due February 12th. We will see.

I don't understand why they don't have dual power leads. Servo connectors are only rated at 3A (5Amax)

If the BEC Pro needs two leads...why doesn't this?

Not sure, maybe we should email/call Castle and see what they say.

 

[HugoCraft]

I don't understand why they don't have dual power leads. Servo connectors are only rated at 3A (5Amax)

If the BEC Pro needs two leads...why doesn't this?

I want an answer from castle about this. They say the bec can handle 9a continuos but why did they just put one servo lead that is only good for 5a!!!!!

 

[Anthony7820]

Just called castle and the tech support guy told me that they are good for 5amps, which I already knew. He said to send an email and he will forward it to the engineers regarding the question. So I am waiting for a reply from that.

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

I don't understand why they don't have dual power leads. Servo connectors are only rated at 3A (5Amax)

If the BEC Pro needs two leads...why doesn't this?

Thats a great point and that would really add value.