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How to Program a Mamba Pro ESC

The Mamba Pro series is compatible with a wide range of radio-controlled cars.
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The Mamba Max Pro and Mamba Micro Pro ESCs, from Castle Creations, a leader in innovative products for the radio-controlled hobby market, are programmable speed controls for model cars and trucks. You can use your Mamba Pro ESCs with Castle Creations' brushless engines when you enter radio-controlled vehicle competitions as well as for pleasure. The Mamba Max Pro models fit 1/10th scale cars and trucks, and the Mamba Micro Pro is for 1/18th scale vehicles. You can program all functions of your Mamba Pro with your radio transmitter or with your personal computer and the exclusive Castle Link software.

Transmitter Programming

Solder the contacts of a high-quality battery connector to the battery leads of your Mamba Pro using rosin core solder and a low-wattage soldering iron. Mount the ESC and motor to your car before you connect the three wires on the motor to the three motor leads on the ESC.

Turn on your transmitter and make sure your ESC is turned off. Clear the memory of your transmitter and make sure to erase any previous throttle trim settings according to the reset or clear procedure for your particular make and model of throttle. Consult your transmitter owner's manual for directions to fully clear all of your previous settings from the throttle.

Plug the ESC Rx (receiver) lead into the Channel 2 jack of your receiver. Attach a battery to the battery connector you soldered onto your ESC. Make sure to match the positive (+) and negative (-) leads of the battery to their corresponding positive (+) and negative (-) terminals on the connector.

Switch the transmitter throttle to full, and hold it in full position as you turn your ESC on. Keep holding the throttle in full position until you hear a multi-toned confirmation signal that sounds by means of the ESC vibrating against the motor.

Move the throttle to the full brake position after a few seconds when the green LED on the ESC flashes rapidly and the red LED lights up as the motor sounds four short "rings" in a row. Hold it in full brake position until the red LED flashes rapidly and the motor rings four times once again.

Wait a couple of seconds for the yellow LED to blink. Release the throttle into neutral position, and wait for the motor to ring four times and the yellow LED to flash rapidly.

Wait a few seconds until all three LEDs light up and the motor rings twice. Now you are ready to begin programming the specific function settings of your choice for your ESC.

Switch the ESC off and disconnect your battery. Plug the battery back into its connector, turn your ESC on and hold the throttle of your transmitter to full throttle until you hear two sets of four rings. After the second set of rings, relax the transmitter throttle to neutral and wait until the ESC beeps twice, pauses and beeps twice again to indicate that you are in programming mode.

Wait for the ESC to beep once and then once again. This indicates the first option in the first group of settings, which is "reverse lockout" in the "reverse type" group. Move your throttle to full position after one beep if you want to accept this setting, or pull it to full brake until you hear two beeps for the "forward/brake only" setting. Accept this setting by moving your throttle to full position or pull it to full brake to hear the three beeps for the final "forward/brake/reverse" setting.

Wait for a few seconds after you make your selection for the first setting. Listen for one beep followed by two beeps to signify that the next function, which is the "brake amount" function, is ready for programming.

Repeat the process in step 10 for the four settings of the "brake amount" function as follows: One beep - 25 percent braking power - full throttle to accept, full brake to decline Two beeps - 50 percent braking power - full throttle to accept, full brake to decline Three beeps - 75 percent braking power - full throttle to accept, full brake to decline Four beeps - full braking power - full throttle to accept, full brake to decline

Wait until you hear one beep followed by three beeps as soon as you have made your selection and proceed to step 12.

Repeat the process detailed in step 10 for functions 3 and 4 as follows: 3. Reverse Amount: one beep - 25 percent power in reverse; two beeps - 50 percent power in reverse; three beeps - 75 percent power in reverse; four beeps - full power in reverse

  1. Punch/Traction Control: one beep - high control; two beeps - medium control; three beeps - low control; four beeps - lowest control; five beeps - no traction control (full free-form movement)

Repeat the process detailed in step 10 for functions 5 and 6 as follows: 5. Drag Brake: one beep - drag brake off; two beeps - 10 percent brake strength; three beeps - 20 percent; four beeps - 30 percent; five beeps - 40 percent

  1. "Dead Band - Neutral Throttle Width": one beep - large - 0.1500 milliseconds (ms); two beeps - normal - 0.1000 ms (default); three beeps - small - 0.0750 ms; four beeps - very small - 0.0500 ms; five beeps - smallest - 0.0250 ms

Remember to accept the setting you want by moving your transmitter throttle to full throttle after the number of beeps that correspond to your choice and to reject all others by pulling the throttle to full brake. Wait for the next set of beeps before moving on to the next function. Do this for all remaining functions as well.

Continue to repeat the process detailed in step 10 for function 7 as follows: 7. Cutoff Voltage: one beep - no cutoff - for NiCd and NiMH packs only; two beeps - auto-LiPo (default) - automatically detects the number of LiPo (lithium polymer) packs you are using; three beeps - 3.5 volt cutoff; four beeps - six-volt cutoff (choose only this setting for 7.4-volt 2-cell LiPo packs); five beeps - 9 volts (choose only this setting for 11.1-volt 3-cell LiPo packs); six beeps - 12 volts (choose only this setting for 14.8-volt 4-cell LiPo packs)

Repeat the process detailed in step 10 for function 8 as follows: 8. Motor Timing: one beep - lowest; two beeps - normal operations (default); three beeps - highest (Note that this setting increases draw and engine temperatures for only slight performance improvement.)

Connect your motor to your ESC as follows: Brushless motor - all three ESC wires to all three motor wires - swap wires to change direction. Brushed reversing motor - red positive and black negative wires of ESC connect to corresponding wires of motor - reverse polarity of wires to change direction. High-powered brush motor - connect all three wires of the ESC to the negative (-) terminal of the motor, and use a single wire or harness to connect the positive ESC, motor and battery terminals.

Repeat the process detailed in step 10 for function 9, which is the final function, as follows: 9. Motor Type: one beep - brushless (default); two beeps - brushed reversing; three beeps - high-powered brush motor.

You are now ready to use your Mamba Pro ESC along with your motor, battery and vehicle.

Programming Via Computer

Delete all versions of the .NET framework by clicking "Add/Remove Programs" in your computer’s Windows control panel. Download the appropriate version of .NET for your operating system from the Castle Link FAQ page and install it by right-clicking on your downloaded folder.

Download the Castle Link software from the Castle Creations download site. Right-click on the file to open it, and follow all prompts on each window to install it.

Plug the Castle Link adapter into the receiver lead on your controller and insert the mini USB cable included in the kit to the mini-USB port on the Castle Link adapter. Connect the USB cable to a free USB port on your PC.

Follow the screens to program all available functions. Remember to keep in mind the type of battery and motor you have when you choose your voltage cutoff and motor type settings.

Solder the contacts of a high-quality battery connector to the battery leads of your Mamba Pro using rosin core solder and a low-wattage soldering iron. Mount the ESC and motor to your car before you connect the three wires on the motor to the three motor leads on the ESC. Use your transmitter to operate your remote-controlled vehicle as you normally would.

Things You'll Need:

  • Rosin core solder
  • Low-wattage soldering iron
  • ESC battery connector
  • Radio-controlled hobby vehicle
  • Motor and battery for vehicle
  • Castle Link USB adapter
  • PC running Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Windows 7

Tip

Remove your vehicle's pinion gear according to its manufacturer's directions if possible before you begin programming your Mamba Pro with your transmitter.

Pay attention to manufacturer-recommended settings for your equipment as well as any settings that may be required or forbidden by the organizers of any competition in which you are racing your vehicle.

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