Help with possibly dead venom brushless system?

[Carl160180]

So last night I took out my slash, baja and hong nor sct. After about 10 mkinutes running the hong nor sct it stopped, It still powers up and has steering but no power from the motor, IT's currently got a venom 4200kv brushless system in it and it look like either the esc isnt sending power to the motor or the motor is dead?

 

Normally it would start up and beep 5 times and flash the led on the esc then your off, BEEP....................BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...........BEEP to say its detected the 3s lipo but now it just flashed the led as normal to say its detected the lipo bu8t no noise and no power to the motor, Tried to plug the motor out of my slash into the esc but still nothing?? IT has seperate capacitors in this esc could it be these that have gone or what? Sorry but im not that clued up on brushless systems.

 

This is the combvo that im running

http://www.rcpitstop.co.uk/venom-v550-4200kv-brushless-motor-with-80a-waterproof-esc-combo-ven1395-3106-p.asp

 

Thanks in advance for any help

 

Carl

[Tamiyacowboy]

if in doubt smell it 

 

yes get your nose in there smell the esc. 

if its been magic blue smoked you can smell the burntness.

 

not sure what to smell for the second best way to find out is ......

grab a screwdriver, and un-house the esc , we need to get to the main board section.

 

with it in your hand and all parts in a container so not loose around,

we want to check the esc, one side will have a section of black square like objects

bout the size of a 5mm-8mm led, these are the power gates ( in simple terms) and usually its either one of these

that has fried up, so check them careful for a scortch mark. 

 

looks good ? flip it over do you see a controller chip and lots of little resistor like mini oblong devices,

these are resistors and sometimes one of these little suckers lets go, it then messes with the controllers head

and the powergates on the other side..

 

the only true way is to open her up and have a look at the internals, you can only go so far

diagnosing a problem esc via motor testing. as in somethings not working and needs a more finer look.

 

the capacitors, think of them as a kers system on an f1 car.

when you plug in they get energized , a capacitor stores electric.

so we are driving along nice and slow when some hoon like hebby comes roaring past in his hyper nitro,

you wind up the power to the brushless and it starts to draw more amps from the esc.

the batterys voltage will drop a little and the esc responds ( less volts = less power, more volts more power)

remember our capacitors those two electric power banks, the will release all there energy

when the motor demand a  hard draw of amps, they slowdown/ negate  the voltage sag and you roar off leaving hebs standing.

 

without capacitor hebs would have won the drag race, your voltage drop would hinder your top end speed and punch

that omph you feel when you release the beast in brushless, its just raw amps and volts at work

Edited August 14, 2014 by Tamiyacowboy

[Carl160180]

Excellent write up mate. I'll work through that and see what I find. Had a quick sniff and it doesnt smell burnt tho..

[shaun17]

Tamiya.. I do love reading some of your write up, makes me feel like I know what I'm on about after reading it lol

[Tamiyacowboy]

yes sometimes you may not smell a burning/burnt out resistor or power gate. 


a long time ago we would look for a replacement and try to fix it ourselves.

these days with electronics so cheap esc's have become a more so throw away item.

 

what once commanded 50 of your hard earnt english pounds  now commands a price of around 10 english pounds

 

a resistor is but a few pennys to a pound, but the shipping and/or bulk order buy can push the cost

high enough that its cheaper to purchase a new device and not repair it.

[J450n]

Have you tried RE-Calibration?

 

It's not unknown to lose Calibration for no apparant reason what so ever!

 

My hpi kit does it sometimes, as well as random lockups.

 

Also check wires going into all plugs/connectors, as the plugs/connectors can look good with a wire coming adrift inside.

Edited August 17, 2014 by J450n