Castle Creations Talon 15A ESC

The tiny Talon15 (15A) ESC with 3A/8A BEC (BLH3442).

The Castle Creations Talon 15A ESC is the other half of the brains on this heli - and it's the half you can do some very cool things with.  It's programmable with CastleLink hardware (shown below, around $25.00) and software (free from their website).

CastleLink programming dongle and USB cable (010-0005-00).

You'll also need one of these adapters in order to connect the CastleLink to the AR6335:

Standard female servo to male Ultra-Micro servo adapter cable (EFLRA100).

Here's a link from Castle Creations explaining the deal:  LINK

Step 1.  Unplug ESC from AR6335.

Step 2.  Connect adapter cable to ESC connector.

Step 3.  Remove CastleLink hardware from packaging.

Step 4.  Connect CastleLink hardware to adapter cable & run CastleLink software on your PC.

Or, you can remove the micro-servo connector from the Talon 15 and replace it with a standard servo connector, then make your own custom adapter that you leave on the heli to make disconnecting the ESC and attaching the CastleLink easier, and vice-versa (this is how my 180 is set up).  Very similar to the the bind plug adapter already on the heli, except with thicker wires that can handle all of the BEC current from the ESC during normal operation.  You have options!   (Possible topic for another blog ...)

Depending on your experience with RC helicopters and Castle Creations ESCs there may be some initial confusion with the Talon 15A on the Blade 180 CFX.  The Talon is capable of operating in a few different governor modes in addition to standard non-governor modes (i.e. 'user throttle curves').  Out of the box it utilizes throttle curve values differently than most other ESCs so an understanding of what's going on here is essential.

This ESC is very small and very light-weight.  It packs a lot of smarts that most other ESCs do not so it comes with a learning curve if you want to understand it's capabilities.  Understanding the Talon 15A and the CastleLink tool is key to taming down the Blade 180 CFX as presented here.

Here's a video from Castle Creations explaining how to calibrate throttle endpoints.  You may need to do this when selecting Fixed-Endpoints mode later in this blog: