Castle Creations Castle Link Quick Connect
About this part
This is the Castle Creations Castle Link Quick Connect. Experienced modelers go to great pains to tie down their servo and throttle leads, and some find unplugging a Castle controller from the RX disrupts all their work. Many have asked for something like a Y connector that gives an open lead for easy Castle linking, but a traditional Y harness doesn't work when the other branch of the Y is connected to an RX, the signal line must be disconnected from the RX.
Castle Quick Connect does just that. It detects the presence of a Castle Link adapter on the free lead and switches the controller's signal line from the RX to the Castle Link. Easy as that.
- Specifications:
- Weight: 0.25 oz (5.4g)
- Connector Type: Universal
- Wire length:
- to RX: 4" (13cm)
- to CL: 12" (35cm)
Reviews3.8 · 6 reviews
I've got one of these on each of my helicopters, and they work as advertised. Since this a an electric heli, with many electrical parts, I won't be landing in the water anytime soon.
The reason for a 3-Star rating... It's not even moisture-proof! This is NOT water resistant at all!!! After a complete submersion in the local creek for about 1.5 minutes and a receiver box that didn't prove to be fully waterproof, the Quick Connect got damp (my fault - I didn't silicone grease the seals & o-ring often enough after opening it to keep it waterproof). Why CC didn't make this product waterproof is beyond me. My Sidewinder3 4600Kv and my CC 10amp BEC went thru full submersion and this Quick Connect only had a little moisture (NOT WET, but only moisture) and it seems to be dying (car works thru it but can't connect to the computer thru it)... But, after cutting off the heat shrink and two days with a small fan blowing on it, it is working again.
Great addition to a Castle ESC, setup and changing of parameters through a laptop with Castle Link installed is extremely easy. The big plus is that you don't have to open up your receiver to program it with this cable installed.
This is a great little item. I installed a new Sidewinder 4 in my Stampede and tucked this in the receiver box routing the castle link connection to an easy to access place in the chassis. Now when I need to make an esc setting change I just plug the castle link in and I'm ready to go. No more unscrewing the receiver box lid and unplugging the speed control to make adjustments!
Pretty much useless if your ESC has the AUX wire, as you still have to unplug that from the RX anyway
Reviewers generally find the Castle Link Quick Connect easy to use for ESC programming via a laptop, letting owners adjust settings without opening the receiver box. Several praise its convenience in installation, particularly for keeping the link accessible in the chassis. Criticism centers on water resistance: one reviewer reported moisture ingress after a full submersion and that the unit appeared to fail afterward, though this reviewer attributed part of the problem to unsealed receiver box seals. Another reviewer said the unit is pointless if the ESC uses an AUX wire, since that wire must still be unplugged from the receiver. One reviewer noted it cannot function as a standalone unit with the field card and requires a computer.
- + Easy ESC programming via laptop
- + No need to open receiver box
- + Convenient access in chassis
- + Good build quality
- − Not waterproof; moisture after submersion
- − Possible failure after water exposure
- − Pointless with AUX wire ESCs
- − Requires a computer; no field card use