TEST BENCH

The Latest Products Tested & Evaluated

Text & Photos by Kevin Hetmanski

Castle Creations has been making cars faster since 1997 and at this point in time, they have a very big fan base. Their systems can be bought for various platforms and they’re easy to setup and use. There have been recent changes to the Castle lineup and a lot of improvements have been made to bring the products up to modern times and to offer a better customer experience. Let’s take a look at the Castle Creations Mamba Micro X Extreme combo with 4100KV brushless motor. It’s designed for use in 1/18-scale vehicles, it’s waterproof, you can make adjustments on the fly and more. I have a Losi Mini-t 2.0 that needs a bit of a power boost so let’s get this system installed and see what it’s all about.

FEATURES

The electronics that make the Mamba Micro X go are packed into a thin injection molded plastic case and items like the wires and cooling fins protrude out the top. One side has the three wires with 3.5mm bullet plugs for the brushless motor and they’re marked with an A, B and C on the side of the case. On the other side are the power wires, switch and receiver wires. There are 3 wires and a plug that goes into the number two port on your receiver and a second plug with a single wire is placed in an auxiliary port and that’s used to make adjustments to features like Max Throttle and Max Brake through your radio.

The sensor port is next to the receiver wires and they’re cleverly hidden by a plastic plug. The sensor wire is an optional piece

and needs to be purchased if you choose to run a sensored motor. The cooling fins are 1.3mm x 1.4mm and they are widely spaced which allows plenty of air to flow over them. It’s a waterproof speed control but Castle does warn that it’s not intended for operation while submerged in liquid. The Mamba Micro X is also telemetry ready and it can be adjusted, updated and more using Castle Link software.

The included sensorless motor is a 4 pole 0808 series unit that can be used for on-road and off-road use. Its three 3.5mm bullet connectors match the ones used on the speed control. The can is aluminum with several fins that increase its surface area and aid in cooling. Castle made it a universal fit by including 2.5mm tapped holes with .5 in, .55 in. and .63 in. spacing.

INSTALLATION AND SETUP

I decided to try the Mamba Micro X out in my Losi Mini-t 2.0 and that required a slight change to the electronics in the chassis.

The truck comes with a receiver/speed control combo so that required a separate receiver and different radio in order to get the system to work in the truck. I removed the stock receiver/speed control and installed a Spektrum DSMR receiver and I paired it with a Spektrum DX5 Pro radio.

Of course you don’t have to go with a high end radio in order for the system to work. Before installing the speed control, I had to add a connector and since I didn’t have an EC2 connector to match the one on the battery so I ended up going with some Star connectors for the speed control and battery. The receiver and speed control combo going back in the Mini-t chassis takes up about double the space of what was in there so I had to do a little thinking.

The receiver was mounted to the top of the steering servo with two pieces of double sided tape to raise it up enough to clear the truck’s servo saver and the speed control went right on top of the battery hold down. Setting the speed control up couldn’t have been any easier to do. I held the trigger in the full throttle position and turned on the speed control. After a few beeps, I held full brake and waited for more before letting off the trigger all together. Ready to go.

TESTING

When I headed outside to run the Mini-t with the Castle Creations Mamba Micro X system installed, I expected a hair raising experience thanks to a truck that was ballistic fast and hard to drive. I eased on the throttle and two things happened. I was happy to see that there was no noticeable cogging at low speed and I was relieved when I saw that the system was not that crazy. The top speed of the stock speed control and brushed motor was 12MPH.

I kept the stock gearing and used the same battery for my Mamba Micro X testing. The top speed with the 4100Kv motor ended up at 19MPH. That’s a 7MPH jump and for some that may not be enough but for me I think it’s perfect for a truck of that size. Acceleration was also improved from stock; I grabbed a handful of throttle, the slipper clutch screeched and the truck darted off. Overall the system has a smooth feel.

There’s more to this system than a higher top; you can also adjust features such as throttle curve, brake curve, punch control and more. Unfortunately the way you make those adjustments is by entering programming mode, listening to some beeps and using the trigger on your radio to say “yes” or “no” to get through the menu. It’s not exactly the easiest way to make adjustments but they can be made. You can make things easier on yourself by getting a Castle Creation’s Castle Link programmer and I happen to have one.

After making the connection to the speed control, I was able to easily make some tweaks to the setting and get a very different feel out of my Mamba Micro X. Since I connected a radio with multiple channels to the receiver, I was able to use it to make adjustments to the speed control’s settings on the fly. I gave it a try and used Castle Link had to be used to set that feature up and used it to adjust max throttle. It worked as advertised and could be used to alter the truck’s performance to work better on loose surfaces or to quickly adjust the throttle and slow it down for someone with less experience.