Issue with my VXL-3S/3500kv in my e-jato

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olds97_lss

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I have run the truck many hours since the conversion and as recently as a week ago, I ran it for a couple hours pretty hard without issue. I hadn't changed anything on the rig before taking it out this weekend. From the start, it was acting strange.

It's like it's getting power, then not, intermittently. It even seems to try to throw itself into reverse and jerk itself around. I tried re-calibrating the esc to the receiver, not sure if I did it right as I didn't have my phone with me and couldn't remember the steps. It did work ok after I did that for a while, then started doing the jerking again. The servo also loses power it seems. Since the ESC supplies power to the receiver, I'm assuming the ESC is having issues.

It is a used motor/esc and considering the lack of care the previous owner had with the truck I took it from, odds are, it the motor/esc were neglected pretty badly as well. I've had it thermal on me a couple times when it was in my stampede, but it goes into limp mode until you unplug it and let it cool. I've only had that happen once or twice in the jato, once was last weekend. It was 85F outside and I was running it pack after pack... it finally overheated on me at the new skatepark where grip was minimal. So, lots of wheel spin without a lot of moving air. I let it cool off and it seemed fine, but I switched over to my stampede at the time shortly after and didn't run it again until this weekend.

Thought perhaps someone else has seen this happen and could give some insight. I'm pretty new to electric RC's, so I'm not well versed on the issues they have yet. Other than over heating and keeping an eye on motor bearings... didn't expect there to be too many issues to be had.
 
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Is there a power switch involved here somewhere? I would Def verify it didn't take a shot and is the culprit. I have also had (older type) escs get so hot that solder melted. I assume that to be the case anyways. Its either that or it was poorly assembled to begin with as I found bad solder joints internally. I know you tend to watch your runs so I'm assuming you would have caught high temps LONG before solder melt!

I should have watch the vid of your run first.... Assuming you have rebound the radio to the receiver correctly for sure... Verify the power output from the esc to the receiver... volts and amps. Check that. Are you running caps? Check them. It seems like you're experiencing a brown out situation. I suppose it could always be a torn wire, chewed insulation etc too...
 
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I'll see if the esc comes apart. It's a traxxas OEM esc. The wires are soldered to it directly and I can't see them. The switch is a built in press/release type switch where you have to hold it for 2-3 seconds to turn it on/off.

Makes me wonder... could also be the battery pack being weird. Wish I had taken a photo of it so I knew which one as I have 4 that all are the same except where I wrote A/B and the date of purchase on them.
 
That could be. I would hope your charger would pick up on a battery issue tho.
 
Did I spy a Spektrum transmitter? Not sure what model it is but I copied a response from a forum regarding some issues about the transmitter.

"Brownout can occur when the voltage to a receiver drops below the critical threshold. This is different with each manufacturer's radio but it is around 3.5v. It is usually the result of a voltage spike caused by high servo drain on the RX battery. Early Spektrum receivers had a slow reboot time so a Brownout could be mistaken for a Failsafe Event ( where the TX signal is blocked from the RX but the RX still has power). This is also called a Hold. All brands of radios can experience this Brownout. Spektrum redesigned the firmware in their Rx's so the reboot time was less than a second. RC radio owners have been educated to recognize when their RX power is inadequate. Using 6v RX batteries rather than 4.8v or using external BEC's that can handle 10a or 20a instead of 5a or less. Most Spektrum receivers have blinking lights that indicate a Brownout or a Hold. Spektrum has tools such as the Flight Logger or Telemetry that keeps track of antenna Fades, Frame Losses, and Holds to help with proper receiver placement"

According to some of the further discussions a firmware update was provided to certain Spektrum radios that required a firmware update to fix the lag time upon reboot. I'm not familiar with the newer electric tech but I am electrically inclined. It's a possibility that the BEC circuitry on your ESC is not properly regulating power to the individual electronics and possibly causing your receiver to go on failsafe mode causing the radio to reboot. Unfortunately the only way I can see to test this is to install another compatible ESC.
 
I'm using a knock off spektrum. The old spektrum receivers I had get horrible range and just as I was about to give up on spektrum... I found these $8 orange receivers from China that let me go a bit over 100 yards without issue. Regardless, I ran this thing hard for 2 hours the week before with everything the same in the truck. It was working fine when I ran the last pack in it.

Then the first pack I ran the weekend following had this issue. So, in my infinite wisdom, instead of trying to run another/different pack, I just ran the snot out of my stampede. Swapping out the receiver is annoying because I don't have a receiver box. It's in a balloon that is fully taped up and zipteid, then velcro'd to the chassis. So, it's not a 2 minute thing to swap that out. It's totally exposed, so I'm not inclined to run another receiver on it without taking 30 minutes to rewrap and whatnot. However, I may not have a choice. I'll take the balloons, tape and velcro with me along with a couple receivers and packs. I may have a glich buster cap laying around as well... although, the new receiver I ordered is only 2 channel, so nowhere to plug it in, but I have a second 4 port $8 receiver that is brand new that I can try, which I can use a cap with.

Will see what I can sort out next weekend if the rain holds off.
 
The Orange receiver is actually well received by Spektrum owners for their range and their price. Keep us updated on the issue and what fix you come up with. I'm really interested to find out what the issue is. One of my hobbies include customizing real cars including audio and video. Especially the audio video. I'm what you can call an advanced DIY shade tree installer so this kind of stuff is a big interest to me.
 
Lol! I do the same a/v work on cars as well... I also did pro audio and lighting for years professionally! Spooky!:nailbiting:
 
Ha ha dang it's like the Twilight Zone. I did a nightclub a few years ago as well Did a set of 10 Robe rotating heads with a Hog Controller Installed Crown Amps in an aluminum enclosed rack, Pioneer Mixers., 4 sets of Video Projectors, multichannel soundboard, EV speakers and Subs. Uncanny!!! Lol
 
Was were using Ashly amps and processing almost exclusively, some Rane. Rane and Pioneer mixers and CD decks, of course the technics 1200's. If you wanted real vinyl, that was the ONLY deck I would install. Urie mixers were still in VERY high demand then. I would restore them as I had a GREAT source for the original ALPS potentiometer. So even though the repairs were costlyRCF, EAW and JBL mainly. High End lighting fixtures. The Hog was an AMAZING board!!! During the time, we were THE sound company in Bosget,ton and all around new England but Boston was home for sure. That was a surreal time in my life I gotta say. Not often that you get paid to drink beer for work!!! :hehe:
Being part of that crew had some very cool perks indeed!
One of my all time favorite day and night times in that job were when I would go out on a cruise with the spirit of Boston. Boston harbor cruise line. Very nice boat ride around the harbor. Watching the city light up at night at sunset was really cool! (not technically a ship but it was a huge boat!) Of course, working at centerfolds was a pretty good gig too! ;)
I ran the rental dept, was on call repair, did in house electronics repair and service dept and did system installs... Very much a Jack of all trades... Master of some. :)
Funny because I look back at that time in my life and shake my head as to how I was able to do that work. I could NEVER keep up with that now! A young(er) mans game for sure! :rolex:
 
Yeah for sure. I actually ended up managing the nightclub for a year that was after my divorce from my first marriage so the job fell into my lap at the perfect time lol. It was the best part time job ever. Paid to entertain, party and drink lol.
 
The Orange receiver is actually well received by Spektrum owners for their range and their price. Keep us updated on the issue and what fix you come up with. I'm really interested to find out what the issue is. One of my hobbies include customizing real cars including audio and video. Especially the audio video. I'm what you can call an advanced DIY shade tree installer so this kind of stuff is a big interest to me.
I had one die on me not too long ago in my stampede 4x4. Range went from 150-200+ yards to 100 feet. Tried replacing the antenna, but nojoy.

I installed a new spektrum 2 channel DSMR receiver that appears to have a coaxial antenna. I took the little case apart and drilled a hole in it so I could run the antenna out of the top vs the side so it would be less likely to get kinked. It's soldered to the board vs a nice micro F connector, which means if it gets damaged, that will not be fun to fix.

Upon removing the orange receiver, I found that the antenna was smashed about the middle of the antenna. It was very flexible there, so I think either the center lead or outer shield may have been damaged. Which would give intermittent results. The 2.5ghz antennas are very particular about the exposed core length, so a cut in the core wire or shield would really mess it up.

Hopefully it doesn't rain all weekend so I can get it out and run it to see how it does. I routed the new receiver antenna differently to avoid it getting pinched again. Also hoping I didn't just spend $30 on crappy spektrum range I had with the old single wire receivers.
 
I hope it works out. My Futaba 4PV has proven to have amazing range and so far it's been worth every penny. Keep us posted on how it goes.
I had one die on me not too long ago in my stampede 4x4. Range went from 150-200+ yards to 100 feet. Tried replacing the antenna, but nojoy.

I installed a new spektrum 2 channel DSMR receiver that appears to have a coaxial antenna. I took the little case apart and drilled a hole in it so I could run the antenna out of the top vs the side so it would be less likely to get kinked. It's soldered to the board vs a nice micro F connector, which means if it gets damaged, that will not be fun to fix.

Upon removing the orange receiver, I found that the antenna was smashed about the middle of the antenna. It was very flexible there, so I think either the center lead or outer shield may have been damaged. Which would give intermittent results. The 2.5ghz antennas are very particular about the exposed core length, so a cut in the core wire or shield would really mess it up.

Hopefully it doesn't rain all weekend so I can get it out and run it to see how it does. I routed the new receiver antenna differently to avoid it getting pinched again. Also hoping I didn't just spend $30 on crappy spektrum range I had with the old single wire receivers.
 

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