The Journey, The Saga....

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Bullwinkle

RC Newbie
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I'd like to post what I have done since I've gotten into the RC scene and I'm hoping for any tips or suggestions.

I started off with a Colt Thunder 4x4 RTR thing that was great, but whenever I hit something the front dog-bone would pop out. I was looking for options when I decided I'd just make it go as fast as I could and see what happens.
I put in this Hobbywing Xerun Combo, with this higher voltage ESC fan, as per instructions. I also used this 3 cell Lipo

The speed improvement was simply mind blowing and if I had the chance to learn how to control it, I would have been happy. But, the excess speed caused the Colt to disintegrate :cool:

So, rather than stuff around with cheapo cr4p like the Colt, I upgraded to the Team Associated SC10 Kit.

I built the kit and put in the Hobbywing combo and the RX & servo from the Colt to complete the SC10.

The SC10 with that setup was pretty nice - I was happy with it all. the second time I tried it out I got maybe 5 metres into the fun when I lost all power to the motor. :confused:

I then got a 10.5t Speed Passion motor and put it in it's place and still nothing happened. I found out that it was due to my battery going under charge (even though the voltage cut-off was set on the ESC)

I charged my battery without the balancer and the charger set to 7.4v rather than the 11.1 (trying to bring the battery to the point where the 11.1v charge would start) then once that was done, I charged and balanced at the full 11.1v setting.

That took the normal amount of charging time and no errors showed on the Swallow charger so I'm ruling the battery out of the problem.

I plugged everything in. There was noise that sounded like the vibrating that you get when the servo needs trimming and I turned the trim to try to stop it before I went onto the track. The noise wouldn't go away - sometimes getting louder. Then the ESC went PUFF into a cloud of smoke! The Heat-sink melted into the unit and the whole thing got hot enough to de-solder lead A to the motor and the Positive Battery wire :mad::confused:

At this point I'm stuck.

What do I need to do next to get this thing on the track? Obviously a new esc at least, but I need direction into what would work best

I've only had the car for a week and have had nothing but trouble

Thanks for reading such a long post, but I wanted to get all the details in..

Hope to hear your opinions soon !
 
It sounds like the cheap hobbywing combo killed your lipo. I wouldn't trust the battery anymore, when you replace the esc try it with a different pack.
 
Ok, is there any way to test the battery?

Also, I'm reluctant to buy an esc without knowing what to get - if the 60a one burnt out like that and it wasn't the battery for some reason, how many amps would I have to use?

Cheers :)
 
I just took a look at the system you are using and I can guarantee you that a 3s lipo on a 6000kv motor should not be used in any off road rc...It will get too hot. To be honest the 6000kv motor shouldn't be used in any of road rc regardless of the battery you use. You need to stay with a lower kv motor and take the time to properly gear it, if you just set everything up for top speed you will eventually smoke something.

From what I have read about the speed passion set up it's good for a 2wd on 2s, running it on 3s in a 4wd rig will most likely over heat it and cause you more headaches.

Get yourself a mamba esc (not a sidewinder) and a traxxas vxl motor, take the time to gear it properly and you should be happy.
 
x2 on a Mamba or a vxl esc. Hobbywings have a bed rep with me too. I bought a $600 rtr buggy that came with a Hobby wing esc and after 2 packs it fried! Took, literally, almost a year to get it replaced too!
 
I've been running an xerun 120A esc / 3200KV motor combo for a couple of months now and it's been absolutely fantastic.

The one thing I noticed is that the low-voltage cut-off which I have set to 3.6V actually stops around 3.4V. So that might be part of your problem if yours is set to 3.4V it might be actually allowing it to go down below 3.2V...

In any case, it sounds to me like you're running way too much power and probably overheating your motor.

I had mine geared 24/86 on 2S and the motor was getting too hot. I'm down to 22/86 and now it's running perfect - Temps around 150-170F. They say if you reach temps over 180F you will start to damage the magnets of the motor and probably the bearings too...
 
I've been running an xerun 120A esc / 3200KV motor combo for a couple of months now and it's been absolutely fantastic.

The one thing I noticed is that the low-voltage cut-off which I have set to 3.6V actually stops around 3.4V. So that might be part of your problem if yours is set to 3.4V it might be actually allowing it to go down below 3.2V....


I think that was my problem... both parts. I had the 60a esc so it couldnt handle the load and the voltage cutoff problem sounds like the cause of the battery failing.

I'm going to buy a new esc this thursday so I'll see what happens on the weekend :)
 
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