attaching water cooling lines to Hydra 240

[properchopper]

After much testing, I just found a leak in the cooling lines on my Hydra 240 LV. The design of the cooling plate/tubes doesn't lend itself well to attaching the cooling lines : The shrink extends close to the ends of the tubes & needs to be trimmed back to get good mating. Once trimmed it lessens it support to the caps which will fatigue and break off if they get flexed too much. I pointed this out to Patrick at CC while at RCX; he said he'd address this but my last 240 replacement a few weeks ago was unchanged. Worse yet; the tubes are so close together that after one silicon tube slides on it's rather hard to find the clearance to slide the other one on and absolutely no clearance to use a cable tie to keep the seal leakproof. Anyone have any ideas on how to get a good seal given this situation ?

[H&MWill]

I had the same problem with mine. I have used thin safety wire that I get from work. I use a pair of safety wire pliers and twist the wire around the tubing. Cut off the excess and your done

[properchopper]

Good idea, Thanks !

[H&MWill]

No problem.

[Doby]

On mine I use a pair of needle nose pliers and bend the tubes either up, down or slightly outward (just a touch) in whatever direction is needed. It helps to allow more room for the silicone tubing to be slid on.

I wonder what Castle was thinking when they designed them so close together????

[properchopper]

I just checked with Harbor Freight & they have a 6 " safety wire plier for $ 6.99.
Good stuff, thanks again !!

[properchopper]

I wonder what Castle was thinking when they designed them so close together????

Another example of how they don't "think like boat people". Don't get me wrong, I have 5 Castle speed controls and since I quit de-weeding Legg Lake with my props and learned to program/re-calibrate I'm pretty happy. Wouldn't it be nice, 'tho to have a round table discussion with their design/engineer staff to really give them the lowdown skinny on the reality of the FE experience. I know this; the FE market for them represents a small portion of their overall sales and likely is somewhat of a headache, which of course wouldn't be if they devoted more effort to understanding us all. My dollars are just as good as the car/plane/heli folks dollars for sure !

[rcflysal]

NEAT Fair in New York State

Hi:
I know Castle will be at the NEAT Fair at Pleasant Valley Camp Grounds in Downsville NY on Sept. 18,19,& 20. I'm sure Patrick will be there and possibly Joe Ford. Castle hosts a big tent in which chat sessions will be held on many topics. If there are enough boat guys within driving distance, who could represent your concerns, you could work through me and get a one hour chat about boat ESCs in the tent.
Thanks
Sal B.

[properchopper]

Sounds good, Sal. I did have a chat with Patrick at RCX recently and voiced my concerns about the tubes. Hopefully a re-do will eventually result. When the new marine Ice controllers launch it would be nice if this is a feature they addressed.

[Raydee]

I have def done my fair share of swearing trying to get 8 cooling tubes on my controller when the cooling tubes were almost touching each other.

[Fluid]

Using small silicone tubing I don't find fitting them on the tubes much of a problem....as long as I use a bit of soap on the outside to help the second piece of tubing slide into place. This lubricates it so the silicone slides easily, and when washed off the tight clearance holds the tubing in place. I have been using the Hydra 240LVs since they came out and I have never had a piece of small silicone tubing come off. I see this particular design as a good one, not one that didn't understand boats. It just takes the correct technique, not whining. But a more imaginative solution would be nice so that no one has trouble.

If you just have to bend the aluminum tubes don't use pliers, you risk bending them out-of-round and the silicone will leak. Slip a piece of music wire or a nail with a rounded end into the tube and bend it just a little very carefully to maintain its round cross section. Too much effort or angle and it will break (with or without the pliers) as the metal is rather brittle.



.

[bustitup]

If you just have to bend the aluminum tubes don't use pliers, you risk bending them out-of-round and the silicone will leak. Slip a piece of music wire or a nail with a rounded end into the tube and bend it just a little very carefully to maintain its round cross section. Too much effort or angle and it will break (with or without the pliers) as the metal is rather brittle.
.

I used the end of a flex shaft to slightley bend them I forget if it was .150 or .187 but the flex works awesome