Servo or radio on Slash?

[Pete09]

Hello All, first post on the forum. I have a Slash 4x4 that I bought some years back and haven’t really ran much in a long time. I previously just used nimh batts but all mine have died from age. I did charge one up last week but it only ran a few minutes. The truck did work fine while the battery lasted however. I ordered a couple of Zeee lipos since I have been wanting to get back into the hobby some but when I power the truck on with the lipo, the wheels immediately turn full right and won’t turn back left. I worked with the trim and did a reset on the radio but still doing it. I did quite a bit of searching on the web but not finding anything on this particular problem. Thought I would ask before I start taking stuff apart. Any help greatly appreciated!

PS - I did make sure the servo horn is tight and servo moves when I manually turn the wheels. Thanks.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Hi Pete, first thing you should do is set up your ESC. Sounds like it needs to be recalibrated. If you went from Nimh batteries to Lipo then you need to do just that. If you still have your manual, it will show you how to set it up with Lipo's.

 

[DavidB1126]

I would use this video:

to recalibrate your ESC. Also if you switching to lipo I recommend to turn on LVC (Low voltage cutoff) by this video:

 

[Pete09]

Hi Pete, first thing you should do is set up your ESC. Sounds like it needs to be recalibrated. If you went from Nimh batteries to Lipo then you need to do just that. If you still have your manual, it will show you how to set it up with Lipo's.

Hello Tunedpipe, I did set it up the sec to recognize low for lipo usage but sounds like you are saying I may need to go through the whole setup like for steering endpoints, throttle, etc. Am I correct? Many thanks!

I would use this video:

to recalibrate your ESC. Also if you switching to lipo I recommend to turn on LVC (Low voltage cutoff) by this video:

Hi DavidB, I did the power mode but didn’t go through setup. I think that’s what Tunedpipe is recommending as well. I’ll give that a try. I remember that not being exactly fun from way back. Thanks!

 

[Pete09]

Hello Tunedpipe, I did set it up the sec to recognize low for lipo usage but sounds like you are saying I may need to go through the whole setup like for steering endpoints, throttle, etc. Am I correct? Many thanks!

Hi DavidB, I did the power mode but didn’t go through setup. I think that’s what Tunedpipe is recommending as well. I’ll give that a try. I remember that not being exactly fun from way back. Thanks!

Ok. So the esc calibration is actually not very involved. I was thinking about where you have to click the radio buttons a zillion times. Unfortunately resetting the esc didn’t fix. Wheels still slam to the right as soon as you power it up. Throttle works fine forward and reverse. This just seems weird. Never had anything like this happen before. I think I will try to charge up one of my old nimh batts and put it on just long enough to see if it is definitely the difference in the lipo batteries or if maybe something has happened to the esc or the servo. Thanks.

 

[Tunedfrog]

Could be a bad steering servo.

 

[Greywolf74]

Test it with a NiMH pack. If it works with a NiMH pack but not the LiPo then I would investigate how much voltage is going to the receiver. Its possible that its a 6V servo and it might not like getting 8.4V if the ESC is passing the full lipo voltage through the ESC ot the receiver itself may be getting too much voltage.

If it does the same thing on a NiMH pack then Id test that servo with a stand alone servo tester or test a known working servo in that kit at the proper voltage

 

[Pete09]

Hello Greywolf, I actually tried the nimh batt late last night and it did the same thing as with the lipo, so it appears something went bad while the truck was just sitting there within the last two weeks. It shouldn’t really surprise me being a computer guy, because things quit working when they quit working, but it still does seem odd. I also accidentally discovered something even more odd to me last night. With esc powered off, if I manually move the wheels from right to left rather briskly, the truck powers up and the wheels shoot back to the right. This may not be as unusual as I think but I have never seen it before. It’s like the servo is back charging the esc. I know an electric motor is a potential generator but I don’t think it should work like this. Seems like something is shorting out. I’m going to work on it some more this afternoon and see what I can figure out. Thanks for reply.

 

[Pete09]

Hello Greywolf, I actually tried the nimh batt late last night and it did the same thing as with the lipo, so it appears something went bad while the truck was just sitting there within the last two weeks. It shouldn’t really surprise me being a computer guy, because things quit working when they quit working, but it still does seem odd. I also accidentally discovered something even more odd to me last night. With esc powered off, if I manually move the wheels from right to left rather briskly, the truck powers up and the wheels shoot back to the right. This may not be as unusual as I think but I have never seen it before. It’s like the servo is back charging the esc. I know an electric motor is a potential generator but I don’t think it should work like this. Seems like something is shorting out. I’m going to work on it some more this afternoon and see what I can figure out. Thanks for reply.

Hello All, so I finally got around to checking out my truck some more and I think I have narrowed it down to two possibilities. I switched the channels on throttle and steering and steering works fine using the throttle, so not the servo. Throttle however, does not work using steering, so my thought is a bad steering channel on the receiver. Either that or possibly the steering input on the radio. I’m leaning toward receiver but looks like the receiver is actually out of production and the only new one in package I could find on eBay is $91. Instead of guessing receiver and it winding up being the radio, I’m thinking it might be better just to buy a more modern radio with receiver. What do the experts say? If I go this route would you stick with Traxxas or something else? Thanks for the input from everyone so far.

 

[Greywolf74]

Hello All, so I finally got around to checking out my truck some more and I think I have narrowed it down to two possibilities. I switched the channels on throttle and steering and steering works fine using the throttle, so not the servo. Throttle however, does not work using steering, so my thought is a bad steering channel on the receiver. Either that or possibly the steering input on the radio. I’m leaning toward receiver but looks like the receiver is actually out of production and the only new one in package I could find on eBay is $91. Instead of guessing receiver and it winding up being the radio, I’m thinking it might be better just to buy a more modern radio with receiver. What do the experts say? If I go this route would you stick with Traxxas or something else? Thanks for the input from everyone so far.

Well, it definitely could be your RX or TX. Id look at a Flysky GT3b. Theyre about $50 and come with 1 RX. The RXs are only about $10 each. Theyre pretty decent budget radio and can be modded to use LiPo and the steering wheel bushing can be replaced with a bearing for a smoother feel.

 

[Pete09]

Well, it definitely could be your RX or TX. Id look at a Flysky GT3b. Theyre about $50 and come with 1 RX. The RXs are only about $10 each. Theyre pretty decent budget radio and can be modded to use LiPo and the steering wheel bushing can be replaced with a bearing for a smoother feel.

Thanks. I’ll definitely add it to the list to check out. I’m not competing or anything so budget sounds pretty good just to get driving again and see if the reflexes still work. I’ll update when I get it going. Might help someone else down the line. Thanks again to everyone.

 

[Sebkauff]

Hello All, first post on the forum. I have a Slash 4x4 that I bought some years back and haven’t really ran much in a long time. I previously just used nimh batts but all mine have died from age. I did charge one up last week but it only ran a few minutes. The truck did work fine while the battery lasted however. I ordered a couple of Zeee lipos since I have been wanting to get back into the hobby some but when I power the truck on with the lipo, the wheels immediately turn full right and won’t turn back left. I worked with the trim and did a reset on the radio but still doing it. I did quite a bit of searching on the web but not finding anything on this particular problem. Thought I would ask before I start taking stuff apart. Any help greatly appreciated!

PS - I did make sure the servo horn is tight and servo moves when I manually turn the wheels. Thanks.

Could you turn the car on, let the wheels turn full right, the take the servo horn off and put back on straight? Or is the problem more involved than I'm understanding haha

 

[Pete09]

Could you turn the car on, let the wheels turn full right, the take the servo horn off and put back on straight? Or is the problem more involved than I'm understanding haha

Hi Sebkauff, thanks for reply. I think I’ve got it narrowed down to either the radio or receiver having a bad steering channel. The steering works when you swap with throttle channel but not the other way around. I’ve got one of the Flysky radios suggested in post above by Greywolf on order ($39) and it comes with a receiver, so that should prove or disprove my theory. The Flysky has great reviews for the price point and I’m not out a fortune if it doesn’t fix the problem. I think it has to be either tx or rx though. We’ll see in a few days. Thanks.

 

[Pete09]

Update: I got the Flysky gt3b a couple days ago. It’s a pretty impressive radio for the price but I am still having a problem that I haven’t been able to figure out. With the new setup I only have brakes in reverse. Reverse also seems a bit more aggressive than forward. I went through and set up the esc to 100% F/100%/R/100%B, but no change. I tried swapping motor wires and reversing throttle channel with no change. I was able to calm reverse speed down with endpoint setting but still only have brakes in reverse. Brakes were excellent with the old Traxxas radio. Is there a setting I’m missing on the Flysky? Oh, and the antilock brake settings didn’t help with braking power either. Thanks for any help!

 

[Pete09]

Just adding a bump to see if anyone has any ideas on my braking problem described in above posts. I’ve searched high and low but nothing is working. Still have killer brakes in reverse and none in forward. I think it is related to the new Flysky radio but I can’t find any settings that help. Thinking I may have to send it back and maybe just get another Traxxas radio or possibly one of the lower end Spektrums. Any input welcome. Thanks!

 

[RustyUs]

Sure sounds like your fwd/rev is backwards, 'cause I've never heard of having brakes while in reverse. Brakes should only work when RC is going forward, and you push/pump trigger forward. A second push/pump of trigger, after motor movement stops, should get you reverse.

Update: I got the Flysky gt3b a couple days ago. It’s a pretty impressive radio for the price but I am still having a problem that I haven’t been able to figure out. With the new setup I only have brakes in reverse. Reverse also seems a bit more aggressive than forward. I went through and set up the esc to 100% F/100%/R/100%B, but no change. I tried swapping motor wires and reversing throttle channel with no change. I was able to calm reverse speed down with endpoint setting but still only have brakes in reverse. Brakes were excellent with the old Traxxas radio. Is there a setting I’m missing on the Flysky? Oh, and the antilock brake settings didn’t help with braking power either. Thanks for any help!

After you reversed channel 2 on the radio, did you go through and recalibrate the speed control's throttle settings?

 

[WickedFog]

If all else fails, if this is a sensorless brushless motor, simply reverse two of the motor wires. But I agree with Heavy. Sounds like you might need to recalibrate. Can you take a video?

 

[Pete09]

If all else fails, if this is a sensorless brushless motor, simply reverse two of the motor wires. But I agree with Heavy. Sounds like you might need to recalibrate. Can you take a video?

Hey Guys, I have tried swapping two of the motor wires, reversing the throttle channel and recalibrating several times. Doesn’t make any difference. Still no brakes in forward. Only way it would work is using the trigger backwards, which hardly seems like an option. Also rebound tx/rx and went through calibration and wire swap but nothing changes. I did find a thread where someone had this same problem with the same radio and they took it back and got an identical radio and all was well. I would have thought the wire swap would do it but I guess if something is backward in the radio it is always backwards no matter what you do. I might try to go through it again tonight or tomorrow and get a vid but not very optimistic that it will be any different. One question, as I understand it, any two motor wires should work, right? I’ve swapped yellow and blue every time, haven’t tried the white. What I’m doing does reverse the motor, just doesn’t fix the problem. Thanks for your help.

 

[Greywolf74]

I would call Traxxas tech support. Maybe they can pin point the issue.

 

[Pete09]

I would call Traxxas tech support. Maybe they can pin point the issue.

Hello Greywolf, I think that’s a good suggestion. I messed with the slash a little more last night and it looks like the esc is doing some wonky stuff. I tried to go through calibration a couple of times just to make sure I was covering all the steps and it wasn’t giving me two blinks to set reverse. Just for giggles I hooked up the old Traxxas tx/rx and it let me calibrate but it still had the original steering problem that started all this and was running in reverse. That tells me that somehow binding the Flysky tx has programmed the esc in reverse. I guess the esc could just be bad but forward and reverse were good before the Flysky. I have no idea how to switch it in the esc so I think a call to Traxxas is probably the best plan. I found a chart that says they will replace the esc for $50 plus $5 shipping if it comes to that. Dang man! I just wanted to drive my old truck a bit! Maybe I should just stick with guitars! I’ll update after I get with Traxxas. Thanks for your help!