UKRobster

OK, thanks for the tips. Worth a £1 punt to compare results with Kodak batteries (i know the ones you mean). Do you mean to try and 'push' the servo past the travel performed by the transmitter? ie. move steering on transmitter, then push servo to see if it moves any further. Or is it if the servos stop but there is still room to move the steering control? Have seen this hump pack, as I do need a charger with it. Seems like it will do the job. https://www.modelsport.co.uk/modelsport-uk-6v-receiver-battery-and-charger-pack-hump-pack-/rc-car-products/24135 Have seen the HPi mini fail safe, but there doesn't appear to be any stock anywhere. (probably due to HPi's current administration scenario). The 2.4Ghz system I have seen is this one: https://www.modelsport.co.uk/index.php?product_id=376271 & does include a fail safe on the receiver. It's only £15 more than buying the HPi fail safe on its own. So it doesn't really make sense to get the stand alone one. I knew taking up this hobby again was going to get expensive. 🤔

I have confused myself a little with the multimeter results from yesterday. But I have tested some more this evening. Battery pack 5.4v Back of throttle servo only while at idle 5.3v Back of throttle servo with both servos plugged in 5.3v Operating servos the lowest it dropped to is 4.5v in back of throttle servo plug. Meter set at 200mA with paper in battery pack it draws 60mA while idle. Under load it varies but I think it couldn't read it high enough, as it would flick to 140, 170 then no display. Tried setting multi meter to 10A but this was too high to get a reading. Single battery Old 1.34v New 1.59v New batteries in battery pack 6.3v Back of throttle servo while idle 6.15v (both servos plugged in) With both plugged in and servo moving it didn't drop lower than 5.5v I draw from those results that the 'original' batteries are not functioning. However the slightly confusing part is that the new batteries were ones that I tested in the car on Sunday and it still went out of control. So 'if' the newer batteries are still powering everything with the correct voltage why did it still go out of control? I'm still concerned that a hump pack may not actually resolve the issue. I think I will look to get a hump pack and a failsafe first of all & go from there. Hump pack seems a reasonable investment so will not be wasted. If issues persist then it must be due to the radio gear & that will be another chapter. Shudson, thanks for all of your input I appreciate the effort from you. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

First test on the battery pack was unplugged. TBH after what you indicated above I was expecting it to be more like 4.8v. Should the test direct from the battery pack be 6v? I can't actually remember if i did test with the servos moving. Rather fiddly to hold the multimeter in place and use my third hand to operate the transmitter 😃 Think i did try to test the servo pins connected to the reciever whilst operating. Still seemed to be the same as when idle, 4.5v Batteries are Duracell Industrial Alkaline. Purchased only a couple of months ago, still well within use by date. I did only use the exisiting batteries for the test. I do have new ones from the same delivery which i can try. Must say i didn't test each battery to check what that was. Will try again tonight. Sounds like a hump pack is going to be a worthwhile investment to rule out any voltage discrepancies. Regardless of any other issues that may be occuring.

I had a look at the car last night. Checked some voltages in various places. First off checked what voltage was coming out of the battery pack: 5.45v Checked what was on the pins that connects to the reciever (so going through the on/off switch): 5.45v Checked the pins coming out of the reciever to the servos: both servos were 4.5v So there is a little voltage drop between the battery pack and what the servos recieve. Tried operating the steering and throttle continously for around 10 minutes. All functioning OK throughout the test. Checked the voltages again and all were the same. Servos appear to be functioning OK. Steering servo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmgzfx0fV9o Throttle Servo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3x53WMpZTg Hopefully you can hear the servo 'chatter' on the throttle video. This is the noisiest of the two. Is this normal? The battery pack does have a small flat spot on the cable - it must have been squished at some point when putting the lid on the battery compartment. Upon a closer inspection I noticed that there is also some corrosion on one of the terminals. Also a small crack in the plastic casing over another terminal. But no matter how much I shook it, or tapped it on the bench the voltage didn't alter. I have striped the front end down to check for damage to the steering components. One of the last runs I did on Sunday the steering appeared damaged as it was not responding to input in one direction. Making me think it was damaged. This must be another symptom of whatever the actual issue is, as the steering components seem OK. The top deck was badly damaged as you can see from these pics 😮 Luckily I had seen a second hand top deck on ebay for £6 a couple of weeks ago. So glad i bought it! The steering may not have responded properly due to the damage to the deck, obviously this pulled in a lot of the front end to a position/angle it shouldn't have been in. With the deck off I was able to inspect all of the wiring. Everything looks ok, no indication of any breaks or shielding stripped off. Summary: Not able to replicate the loss of function, Voltage checks seem OK, Wiring appears ok, Battery pack does have a small area of corrosion and the wire has been trapped at some point.

Thanks Shudson, not going to be purchasing anything just yet. Will do the voltage tests and check the servos. Also have read this afternoon that the wires themselves may be causing a short. Will check all of them for any kind of bare wire exposure. Or may be some kind of break in the actual wire. Will be sure to 'wiggle' them while doing the voltage checks.

Thanks for the replies, I will run some checks with multi meter tonight, see what results i get. OK, so a hump pack may provide a more consistent output at 6v, but the battery pack has been working OK. Whilst the servos are obviously causing load, surely this load is reasonably minimal. If RC cars are sold with the ability to use normal 'AA' batteries then it 'should' function OK with them. Im not disputing that a 'hump' pack will provide a better power source, but rather having to justify to myself the additional expense. Im not a Yorkshireman, but my family on both of my parents side are from Yorkshire & I certainly encourage the tight hold on my wallet 🤣 I would rather not just throw money at this to mask over the underlying issue. So far the most worthwhile investment I can see is a failsafe (didn't realise they existed until this weekend). Depending on the results of voltage tests will determine what else I will need to buy. Going for a 2.4Ghz setup would likely be a wise move, but I would rather this was a planned upgrade rather than a knee-jerk reaction to attempt to fix an issue - that may not even exist!

When left, I do turn both transmitter and receiver off. I will check with a multi meter, I presume just a voltage check on the back of the plug on the car side (as opposed to the battery pack side of the plug). It may take a few days to check this. As it only seems to happen after running the car for a few minutes - so maybe due to parts and / or batteries warming up. I think the damage to the front end has broken something in the steering components, so need to strip that down and repair it first. I do have standard batteries in the standard battery holder. Just wondering why you are so against such a setup. I have spare batteries ready to put in and like that conveince rather than having to remember to charge something when flat. Although the suggestions to replace the radio gear would most likely help long term. If there is a voltage drop or battery pack issue this would still occur after replacing receiver / transmitter. So thank you for the suggestion to check for voltages. This is certainly a more logical troubleshooting step, rather than simply replace the radio gear and hope everything is ok.

I know why you would think it was interference, but the first time it happened, last week. I was on a green space on the top of a cliff (luckily it was fenced off). The nearest buildings were a good couple of hundred yards away on one side. The sea on the other. The week before I had been out in a car park 50 yards from a housing estate. Which was fine. Today I was outside my house, if it was interference why does it 'reset' itself after 5-10 mins & work. Before eventually cutting out again? If this is purely a 27Mhz issue (I'm still struggling to get my head round the fact that it could just be interference) what is required for an upgrade? I presume it's a new transmitter & receiver? Are there any recommended kits? Car is a HPi Firestorm 10t, if that makes a difference. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I've got a nitro car but this is a control / servo issue. The car suddenly goes out of control. As in, the servos stop responding. The throttle suddenly jams open, steering stops responding. Unable to use the brake. So the car careers off, unfortunately twice into a wall today. The top deck is bent upwards and part of the steering mechanism is cracked [emoji21] I don't know what's wrong with it. If left a little while everything seems to reset and start working ok. Making me think it is ok and try using it once more. But after only a few minutes this happens again. Once I've killed the engine various attempts to turn off / on the transmitter & car. Nothing is responding still. I've tested the batteries and they were all ok. I did change them for brand new ones and the same thing happened. So it doesn't seem they are the issue. The crystals are the same frequency & unfortunately I don't have access to another car to test. I hope someone has some ideas to try, as I don't know what to do next. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

LOL 😂 Hopefully I'll have something more worthwhile to post one day. Perhaps even help someone out, you never know...

A lot of people post here looking for help. I'm posting here just to say THANKS 👍 I didn't post looking for help. Instead I searched and read & searched some more and read. So thanks to all the members who offer advice and help. You've helped me too! A little background: I have a HPi Firestorm 10T that has been in the garage for about 9 years. Unloved and just stashed away. I had last tried to start it about 5 years ago and didn't manage it, so back in the garage it went. This time around I have: Removed top deck and engine, gave everything a good clean (wire / nylon brushes to get all the grime & 10 year old grass off - yuck!) Removed fuel tank and washed out with detergent to remove residue nitro fuel which had congealed, left to dry out Replaced fuel lines Purchased new Glow Plug starter as old one wouldn't charge, along with new glow plug Managed to get car started, but wheels were spinning as soon as engine fired up. Removed clutch and slipper gear, cleaned all components (clutch shoes seemed greasy) and roughed over the clutch shoes and slipper pads with sandpaper. Now I've had it running and did a little tuning, had to lean it a little. Was running really well, idling OK and I'm pleased with myself for getting it running myself. Took it out twice this weekend. 😍 Which reminded me how much fun these are! Looking forward to a summer of bashing! Come on here today and saw the news about HPi going into Administration. Wasn't aware of the issue the business has been having. But I'm a little sad to see that the company has been struggling so much. Hope there will still be spares available for a few more years yet, now I've revived my interest!

Thought I'd pop in here to say hi before diving into the main forum. First quick look around is impressive. Plenty of relevant content and active topics ? Have got a HPi firestorm 10T that has been sat in the garage for around 9 years. Have decided enough is enough and I'm claiming back some 'me' time & going to get my car back up and running. Have ordered some new batteries and a new glow plug today. Viewed a few vids on you tube on starting up after a period of storage. Quick question while I'm here (there'll be more I'm sure) but will the fuel I've got still be ok after this length of time? It's Tornado 25 fuel in the metal tin. Lid is nice and secure and has been stored upright. Does it "go off"? Looking forward to some nitro action soon ?