Anonymous Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 So like the title says, I received my first rc in the mail today. A redcat volcano epx pro. It did well through the first nimh pack and the next two 2s lipo packs. On the third lipo it produced a huge could of smoke and caught on fire lol. I figure it's a faulty esc from the factory but would appreciate other's opinions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Javier Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 That's great and it sucks at the same time. I remember my first pro rc. I thought it was so fast compared to my radio shack and Tyco rc's. But at the time battery tech wasn't that good. I would only get 11 minutes runtime although they would charge quickly in 15 minutes but I'd still be down like 4 minutes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankiegarcia19 Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Dang, me and superfan matt where commenting on rc cars.. I want one, has warranty right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 RC cars are cool and all, but I know absolutely nothing about them.If you wanna know about hand tools, trains, or 4 wheelers, I'm your man, beyond that.....not so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 That's great and it sucks at the same time. I remember my first pro rc. I thought it was so fast compared to my radio shack and Tyco rc's. But at the time battery tech wasn't that good. I would only get 11 minutes runtime although they would charge quickly in 15 minutes but I'd still be down like 4 minutesIt was definitely a bittersweet experience but I already know I'm just getting started. I had a blast today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Dang, me and superfan matt where commenting on rc cars.. I want one, has warranty right?I think it's fairly obvious that it was a faulty part to begin with, hopefully the dealer sees that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigmikez Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 I bought one for my son in March and was back in the store a Couple days later buying parts for it, me and my son were haveing to much fun, now it just sits in my boys room looking pretty, but there hella fun!! Enjoy mike! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 RC cars are cool and all, but I know absolutely nothing about them.If you wanna know about hand tools, trains, or 4 wheelers, I'm your man, beyond that.....not so muchAhh it all boils down to interest, you'd have it all figured out within the hour.. On a side note though... my old man has a 1/2" drive proto ratchet that slips every now and again. I'd bet it's been abused seeing as how the handle is about 18" long, any chance of a warranty? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Ahh, the Proto 5450 no doubt. Toughest ratchet ever made. The design is like 80 years old, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The repair kit you seek is part # J5449RK. You can call 1-800-800-Tool and tell them you need one, but they usually don't send out repair kits for them (that's where the Mac premium comes in handy). Don't fret though, you can pick one up for a mere $10 at Zoro Tools HERE. Or…you can box it up and mail it to Conductor's Home For Unwanted Mac & Proto (CHUMP). > 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEtwidget Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Hard to tell from the pic but was it the ESC that caught fire or a battery? The ESC, electronic speed controller, uses MOFETS to PWM power. A MOFET is an electronic component that acts like a switch, PWM = pulse width modulation, it's the "speed" (duty cycle) ... A ratio of the time a switch is 'on' vs 'off' ... PWM at 50% duty cycle means the motor is 'on' for 1/2 cycle and off for 1/2 cycle. If you stretch out time, in order to understand PWM, assume 1 second. So a motor that is on for half a second and off for half a second appears to be running at half speed for 1 second. In reality the time is much faster the. 1 seconded but I think you get the idea. Voltage is not modified, just the "time" voltage is high/low. (Note: brushless is a bit different but the electronic components function similarly) Anyway, every time the MOFET 'switches' you can hear a high pitched sound. That's the high pitch squeal motors and RC cars make, even some drills. In everything electronic heat is dangerous! When you flip a switch, really fast, a bunch of times ... You generate heat. The MOFET has a small heat sink that can dissipate heat, even sometimes a fan. If you ran a few batteries back to back to back without giving your ESC time too cool it's going to fail. It might be because it's cheap Chinese junk or maybe you just pushed it too hard, exceeding the thermal limits or loading the circuit with too many amps.Good news is, spare parts are easy to find and upgrading is just a part of the RC hobby. The bad news, your new hobby gets expensive quickly. Breaking stuff happens often... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan - TIA Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Damn, I have never seen an ESC get that hot. Mike I would contact RedCat and see what they say. Also not that this has anything to do with it burning up but when you run Lipos you need program the ESC for Low voltage cutoff so you don't burn your lipos. Get a temp gun and make sure you are not overheating. Also an ESC fan helps. Your ESC fried hard core damn! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicholasShetley Posted August 1, 2014 Report Share Posted August 1, 2014 Does yours have a brushless motor? My cousin has a traxxas slash and he went through a ton of brushed motors. He now has a brushless motor and he has had it for over a year and it is still working great. It runs noticeably cooler and the runtime has more than doubled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEtwidget Posted August 2, 2014 Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Look at that, you talk about RC and Dan comes out of the woodworks. I just built a robot for a client. I had only a week so it was RC controlled, no brains. I'll have to take a picture or the thing, it's pretty much a laptop bolted to a unistrut frame. It looks cool because we used the laser cutter to make a body and cladded the bot. Motor drivers are good up to 30 amps, geared motors have a load rating of +60 lbs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Damn, I have never seen an ESC get that hot. Mike I would contact RedCat and see what they say. Also not that this has anything to do with it burning up but when you run Lipos you need program the ESC for Low voltage cutoff so you don't burn your lipos. Get a temp gun and make sure you are not overheating. Also an ESC fan helps. Your ESC fried hard core damn!yea, everything was in good working order the esc was actually running cooler than the motor and then poof, up in smoke. I'd bet it was an internal short of some kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Does yours have a brushless motor? My cousin has a traxxas slash and he went through a ton of brushed motors. He now has a brushless motor and he has had it for over a year and it is still working great. It runs noticeably cooler and the runtime has more than doubled.Yea, I went for a brushless one from the get go. It's 3300kv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Hard to tell from the pic but was it the ESC that caught fire or a battery?The ESC, electronic speed controller, uses MOFETS to PWM power. A MOFET is an electronic component that acts like a switch, PWM = pulse width modulation, it's the "speed" (duty cycle) ... A ratio of the time a switch is 'on' vs 'off' ... PWM at 50% duty cycle means the motor is 'on' for 1/2 cycle and off for 1/2 cycle. If you stretch out time, in order to understand PWM, assume 1 second. So a motor that is on for half a second and off for half a second appears to be running at half speed for 1 second. In reality the time is much faster the. 1 seconded but I think you get the idea. Voltage is not modified, just the "time" voltage is high/low. (Note: brushless is a bit different but the electronic components function similarly)Anyway, every time the MOFET 'switches' you can hear a high pitched sound. That's the high pitch squeal motors and RC cars make, even some drills. In everything electronic heat is dangerous! When you flip a switch, really fast, a bunch of times ... You generate heat. The MOFET has a small heat sink that can dissipate heat, even sometimes a fan. If you ran a few batteries back to back to back without giving your ESC time too cool it's going to fail. It might be because it's cheap Chinese junk or maybe you just pushed it too hard, exceeding the thermal limits or loading the circuit with too many amps.Good news is, spare parts are easy to find and upgrading is just a part of the RC hobby.The bad news, your new hobby gets expensive quickly. Breaking stuff happens often... I'm kinda familiar with how pulse width modulation works, I hear people talking about frequencies, megahertz, duty cycles and what not. Still don't have a clue on how to work on it though lol, when it comes to electronics, I'm just a parts changer. Like I told Dan, I was keeping a pretty good eye on stuff. The esc was cool to the touch just before it gave up the ghost. Internal short of some sort, you should've seen the smoke and fire, it was a pretty good show. Only thing that really sucks is that it melted most of the connections attached to the esc, also left a little discoloring on my pretty blue anodized motor lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous Posted August 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2014 Ahh, the Proto 5450 no doubt. Toughest ratchet ever made. The design is like 80 years old, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The repair kit you seek is part # J5449RK. You can call 1-800-800-Tool and tell them you need one, but they usually don't send out repair kits for them (that's where the Mac premium comes in handy). Don't fret though, you can pick one up for a mere $10 at Zoro Tools HERE. Or…you can box it up and mail it to Conductor's Home For Unwanted Mac & Proto (CHUMP). >A proto aficionado indeed, thank you sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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