My Clod Is An Electrical Basket Case... Need Help

[Ebola Monkey]

TX: TQ3
RX: Traxxas 2215
ESC: Futaba MC 210CB
Motors: Trinity Speedworks Blueprint Series (Mystery Motors)
Servo: Hitec HS645MG


I have a feeling this all comes down to motors.

The rear motor is flaking out big time. It doesn't run as fast as the front , and has cut out a few times, only to cut back in randomly. I can't for the life of me find any information on the motors, so I don't even know what I'm dealing with. I think the timing might be fixed at something other than zero, but could just be a bad motor.

Something is up with the other electronics, and I don't know if the motor is to blame.

The ESC is constantly creeping up the forward throttle, I mean just enough to make noise, but if we don't adjust the trim it will start moving. It's not consistent, just random. Tonight the steering did the same. It started off centered, and within a few minutes we had adjust the trim to full right, and it was still steering slightly left.

I don't know if the motors might be causing this too.

Lastly, the batteries are coming out of the truck HOT. We ran 2 batteries through it tonight. The first (an old 1500 6 cell) ran for 6-7 minutes, seems like it just doesn't have any life left, and came out pretty warm. The second a new venom 1800 pack ran much better, 8-9 minutes, but came out HOT. I would guess 140+ degrees.

This is my 9 yr olds truck, I just built/maintain it (I swear I don't like driving it). I just haven't dealt with electrics in so long that I don't know where to begin, well I guess I know that, but not much more. I need help from guys that run this stuff all the time.


Thanks In Advance

 

[soilwork]

Some pics of your setup and motors will help. Are the motors or esc getting extremely hot. It could be that the motors are not timed at zero degrees or the brushes could be getting hung up. As far as the problem with the receiver and the problem with you steering, it could be a number of things like radio interference, a bad receiver..ect...ect. ARe you runnig dual steering?

It's normal for batteries to be warm after use. I would invest in a good 4200 mah or 4600mah nimh pack, it could be that the batteries you have are weak and can not handle the load.

 

[Ebola Monkey]

Thanks For the reply.

I need to get some pics, don't have any right now. There's nothing special about the setup though. It's a stock chassis with a 4-link suspension around 13" wheelbase, 4 Maxx shocks, stock wheels/tires. Thundertech style front steering. 13 tooth pinion.

To answer your questions. The Motors and ESC are barely warm after running, and it only has front steering. I did try a 3300 nimh pack a couple weeks ago, and it got hot enough to split the heat shrink on it after 1 run. My charger isn't really optimized for nimh packs (hitec 335) so I downgraded to the (2) 1800 nicd's.

I thought about just soldering on some caps to see if it helps with the "glitching" but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna replace the motors. I just wish I could get some info on what they are exactly so I don't end up replacing them with faster or slower motors.

It does have Tamiya connectors at both motors, as well as the original kit motor leads so I may start with hardwiring the whole thing and eliminate all of the connectors except the battery connector. That way I can eliminate the wiring as the problem. If I rewire it should I twist the motor wires? I remember something about that helping with interference.

EDIT: I didn't realize you could check timing by looking at the mounting holes in relation to the endbell. Without removing the motors and measuring it, I can tell that the timing is advanced quite a bit. So that would make the rear engine retarded I suppose. Being sealed motors I guess it would be advantageous to just replace them. Now I need to figure out what inexpensive motors I can slap in there.