CC BEC Pro delivering inaccurate voltage

[johnahamelv]

I just tested different voltage settings for my CC BEC Pro Rev2(1.03) running the Castle Link(3.411 software version). These are the results:


4.9v delivers 4.12v (very bad)
5.0v delivers 5.03v (right on the money)
5.1v delivers 5.16v (great)
5.3v delivers 4.49v (very bad)
5.4v delivers 4.62v (very bad)
5.5v delivers 5.53v (right on the money)
5.7v delivers 5.66v (very close)
5.8v delivers 4.97v (very bad)
5.9v delivers 5.10v (very bad)
6.0v delivers 6.01v (right on the money)
6.2v delivers 6.14v (very close)
6.3v delivers 5.48v (very bad)
6.4v delivers 5.60v (very bad)
6.5v delivers 6.51v (right on the money)
6.7v delivers 6.64v (very close)
6.8v delivers 5.96v (very bad)
6.9v delivers 6.08v (very bad)
7.0v delivers 7.00v (perfect)
7.5v delivers 7.50v (perfect)
8.0v delivers 7.98v (right on the money)
8.5v delivers 8.49v (right on the money)
9.0v delivers 8.91v (close)
10.0v delivers 9.89v (close)
10.5v delivers 10.39v (close)
11.0v delivers 10.87v (close)
11.5v delivers 11.38v (close)

This showed me that the BEC Pro is very accurate for the following voltages: 5.0v, 5.5v, 6.0v, 6.5v, 7.0v, 7.5v, 8.0v, and 8.5v. However, the voltages in between and outside these voltages can be off by as much as 0.84 volts lower than the set voltage.

I contacted Castle about this issue. I was told that my BEC Pro was working properly. The tech, Bernie, mentioned that they put their effort into making sure that the "standard" voltages are accurate, but they do not spend much time with the in-between voltages. He went on to mention that he and other techs have tried to remove those other "non-standard" voltage options from the software, but the bosses want to keep these non-functioning voltage settings in the software.

Considering this issue, I strongly recommend testing your BEC Pro voltage output with a digital multimeter before exposing your electronics to the BEC Pro.

[K2Freak]

I'm running a pretty recent build and it is still happening. I was running 5.8v and getting 4.95 and getting worried really fast!

Thanks for posting this. It isn't an ideal situation, obviously, but it's great to know that what I see is "normal."

//edit - didn't notice where we were. Maybe this should move to the CC forum?

[satgod]

seems like getting off the .5 volt step is where it looses calibration and I can see that in a small unit using a ic for reg

I just run mine and 6v and i'm happy
why where you running at 5.8 anyway

[03silver]

"but the bosses want to keep these non-functioning voltage settings in the software"

That's so wrong on so many levels. Thanks Johnahamelv for sharing.

[johnahamelv]

It seems that the newer BEC Pro's deliver more accurate voltages when set to the non-standard voltages.

[Commodore8888]

Does it say v2 on the casing?

Tempted to go hook mine up for curiosity's sake. Running it at six and only when I've loaded it pretty badly it sags about .3~.4v

[johnahamelv]

All 4 of my BEC Pro's are V2. I did the original voltage test on my older two v2 BEC Pro's with the square case. I performed the recent voltage test on the v2 BEC Pro with the rounded case design, and have not retested the older BEC Pro's. I understand that Castle claims that all the v2 BEC Pro's have the same internal hardware despite looking different outside, but I am just posting voltage test results at the bench.

Older v2 BEC Pro with square.


Newer v2 BEC Pro with rounded design.