Australian RC Forums banner

Turnigy Trackstar 150A ESC

87K views 231 replies 39 participants last post by  AssociatedRC8 
#1 ·
Well I don't have any pics as I already handed the cars over to their owners but I installed them into two different GV Cages. One of them had the original ESC go up in flames 30 seconds after power up (taking out the lipo and most of the plastic in the rear) and the other my friend bought as a roller.

Anyway first impressions weren't all that good. There is no real way of mounting this ESC to your car other than Velcro or servo tape. I guess you could make some sort of a bracket to hold it but there are no screw holes on the bottom of the ESC or any tabs on the side that you could use to secure it. Everything else don't look too bad from the exterior.

Interior was a bit of a let down too. Some of the traces on the PCB looked a little iffy and one of the ESCs had a loose piece of solder inside of the casing. That could have been disastrous if ran like that. Could have easily caused a short circuit. Other than that it looks just like any other ESC but I have to say that it looks a lot like a Castles MMM internally. Well to me anyway.

Soldering was next and the included 10awg wires seem pretty good quality and gave no issues being soldered to the posts. Just make sure you use a pretty powerful iron. I put some heatshrink around each post which made the whole thing look very neat and factory looking.

On the programing side of things it resembles the MMM ESC even more. In fact you can pretty much just use the Castles instruction manual and no, I am not kidding. Tx end points are set the same way as the MMM, it can also run brushed motors and the wiring setup for that is same as the MMM, it also beeps every ten seconds just like MMM......the list of similarities just goes on. Not that it is a bad thing but I can understand if Castle is a little ****ed off with the manufacturers of this ESC. Anyway ESC is easy to set following the instructions (yes you get them and they aren't too bad. Not the usual Chinglish) and the programing card.

Running it was another deja vu. I swear you can close your eyes and gently ease onto the throttle and it sounds like your motor is being driven by a MMM ESC. I mean it has that typical MMM smoothness (well about as smooth as non sensored ESC gets). My Xerun and ZTW ESC kind of lurch forward with the smallest throttle input wheres my MMM can move very slowly without cogging. Same here with the Trackstar. It just does that little squeal and ever so slowly rolls forward. Brakes were very smooth and progressive. Very easy to control but if slammed on hard will lock up. Honestly if you swapped one of these with your MMM you probably couldn't tell a difference in terms of operation. Also it really has a nice and smooth power curve. Feels very controllable. Response to the throttle input is instant but smooth. Was very pleasantly surprised here.

So is it worth the $68? Hell yeah (and then some) but don't expect the same quality as the Castle MMM just because it has similarities with it. Yes they share a lot in common but I doubt you are going to get the same level of quality with an ESC that goes for more than twice the price of the Trackstar. Also you are going to get much better support from Castle if you do have any issues but the Trackstar will be pretty much a throw away job if anything was to go wrong. Also QC wouldn't be even close here given the fact that there was a loose piece of solder in one of them. Still a surprisingly good unit for the price IMO. If it holds up I might even favor this ESC over my ever dependable HW Xerun. It is definitely smoother start up than the Xerun in non sensored mode. I might get one my self and really put it through it's paces to see how it stacks up to some abuse.

I will try to post some photos of the ESC installed next time G-VWOW comes over to my place. Till then just refer to Hobbyking website.


Edit: On Hobbyking site this ESC is listed as 150A with 250A burst ratting. According to the instructions that is wrong. The burst rating is 950A which is more like it for a car ESC. Just thought I would throw that in there.
 
See less See more
#78 · (Edited)
How did you guess mate? Yeah a well known issue there that Castle just keeps ignoring. I have tried to talk to Patrick through RCM forum and everything was sweet till I said that I was having constant problem with the BECs on my MMMs. He sent one email back saying to get an external BEC and never answered any other ones. And I was being pretty nice about the hole thing too. My argument is why the hell even have a BEC in the MMM at all if it struggles with one average servo. Knock off $10 of it's price and make it a opto so people will just use an external BEC and it would save so many failures.

I didn't even bother replying to the above post BB and i won't either.

it's all good i think it's just the BEC, I did notice the steering servo struggle so i would say the BEC isn't up to heavy loads.
Well keep me updated on how it goes. I have a ACE 1015 servo and 8 LEDs (of course the Rx too) running of the Trackstars BEC. I really have to find my external BECs. I know as sonn as I buy couple of new ones the old ones will pop up. Mehhh.....off to ebay I go.
 
#80 ·
Well out of the numerous people who have bought the trackstar ESC i believe that one (or maybe two) have gone up in smoke.

Mine is running perfectly and actually better than the MMM it replaced.

PLEASE show some facts or evidence that backs up your claims. If this is all YOUR OPINION then please keep it to yourself or start your own thread where you can express your opinion.
 
#85 ·
Gold!
Anyway, I have been using the trackstar for a couple if weeks now with a leopard 2000kv and 4s 5000 turnigy lipo in my hyper 8.5. All I can say is wow! Bang for buck is fantastic this thing flies. For the lowly basher this hobbyking stuff is great and just because some wankers speak I'll of it, you shouldn't be discouraged from buying it.
 
#87 ·
Come on mate lets get this thread back on topic. We all know your thoughts on hobbyking products and although I do not agree thats your opinion, and your entitled to it.
But if you don't have anything constructive to ad to this thread then don't post in it.
 
#89 ·
Come on mate lets get this thread back on topic. We all know your thoughts on hobbyking products and although I do not agree thats your opinion, and your entitled to it.
But if you don't have anything constructive to ad to this thread then don't post in it.
thank you..

all i did is quote another post and put down "another quality hk product". i would of left it like that and this thread alone. but there were some who took offence to it. and they know it to be true . so they start attacking people's character if they don,t agree with there views on certain products or hobbycrap stuff...

great work you boy's..
 
#88 ·
wtf is your problem. How many people have had good success with HK products on this forum? How many have had none?

Work out the figures and you will soon see if is good value stuff. Its not the worlds best and either is the price the worlds highest so just STFU and take your useless posts elsewhere.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BIG-block
#90 ·
Are you a politician by any chance. The crap you spin sounds like it. I know HK stuff is resonable. EVERY product in the RC world have failures so I still can't see how you justify what you are saying.

your a tool and well you know it so how about just leave the thread and let it be what it is meant to be about.
 
#91 ·
Are you a politician by any chance. The crap you spin sounds like it. I know HK stuff is resonable. EVERY product in the RC world have failures so I still can't see how you justify what you are saying.

your a tool and well you know it so how about just leave the thread and let it be what it is meant to be about.
i may be a tool, thankyou. tools are the foundation of building 99% of things you use everyday..

you don,t even come close to anything i can think of
 
#92 ·
when being stubborn :argue: i often cop a "Drop It" :director:from my parents

I suggest we all do so and move on.:frusty:

so i hear the :focus:
Turnigy Trackstar 150A ESC



is a good option for the price your paying, similar to most esc's probably advisable to run a BEC but not bad for its price.
 
#93 ·
its great how you only highlight the bit that suits you. What about where it says "how about just leave the thread and let it be what it is meant to be about." and "But if you don't have anything constructive to ad to this thread then don't post in it."

It is a free world but it is pretty clear your opinion is not wanted because it is not warranted in any way possible. Just because you have something against HK and 1 failure on a cheap servo yet you feel qualified to tell everyone HK make all ****. Seriously mate get with it..
 
#96 ·
can you read. read the post above your last..i type it again just for you in bold.i would of left this thread alone, all i did is quote from this thread and ad '' another quality hk product"
you blokes are the ones bagging someone character.. just because they don,t agree with hobbycrap products,.. if you didn,t start with insults then i would of left it at that..

some of you are a real piece of work. great effort
 
#94 ·
lol
+1 for the gold :) i secretly enjoy forum fights.
I've got 4 trackstars, been running them on 4s relatively conservatively for about a month. 3 are powering castle 1518/1520s and 1 is powering a 1717 and so far so good.

I've not tried 6s yet, too wussy.
 
#97 ·
well technically you added 'another well made quality product from hk:flame:'

The reaction people are having are not due only to this comment. They are from the comments you posted a while ago, that the mods removed (not having a go at the mods), people remember these posts where you were saying that Hobbyking only sells $2 cr4p. Now i have bought a decent amount of stuff from hobbyking, i won't lie, so far nothing has arrived damaged or not working. The only issue i have had is that one battery wasn't balanced properly. Two hours on the charger and it was fine. That battery was used over and over again and was awesome. Never let me down. In the end i accidentally shorted it when changing connectors. Then i shorted it on purpose in the hope that it would catch fire, but, it didn't.
 
#98 ·
well i think your an idiot and you think similar of me but I dont care what u think of me.

i just still can't see any evidence OR proof etc etc about what you are saying. So I think I will leave it at that. Not worth the effort.
 
#101 ·
this is not me taking sides or wishing to offend

Out of the interest of both the vols and the sols maybe everybody should stop this bickering or take it to pm's. Opinions are exactly that opinions perspective on the clubs should not have this sort of negativety hk fan or not you may as well be arguing holden and ford post your experiences and observations and not your opinions

Ambro I respect that you are trying to save somebody being burnt but any buyer who does their research wil be aware of the risk any that doesn't will learn that the quality control isn't to the same standard across all the products.

Back on topic!
 
#102 ·
Out of the interest of both the vols and the sols maybe everybody should stop this bickering or take it to pm's. Opinions are exactly that opinions perspective on the clubs should not have this sort of negativety hk fan or not you may as well be arguing holden and ford post your experiences and observations and not your opinions

Ambro I respect that you are trying to save somebody being burnt but any buyer who does their research wil be aware of the risk any that doesn't will learn that the quality control isn't to the same standard across all the products.

Back on topic!
luke this has nothing to do with either club vols or sols or any for that matter.

its about a pic that some couldn,t handle the comment i put down.. so they resort to other way's to try come back at you.. real great effort from those few,..
 
#107 ·
Jeff, nothing else was damaged just the ESC. A new one is on it's way along with an external BEC just to be safe.

I'm not one to get into any of what's been going on in this thread but i did just want to say that the picture i put up of the melted ESC wasn't to make the product look bad in anyway, it was simply to show everyone what a melted ESC looks like.

If someone has said something that upsets you in anyway, your best just to leave it alone and ignore it, this is a hobby guy's nothing more nothing less enjoy it from it's cheapest lowest quality to it's most expensive and highest quality. I didn't buy it because i can't afford anything else, i brought it out of curiosity and i'm not worried at all that it melted on me, **** happens hey.
 
#111 ·
What's the equivalent in castle cost?

I'm itching for something like a cage ot Xtm rail for thrashing the ****e out of since the ebajas are still way to expencive.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top