Help! ESC Melted

[Ptrb]

Dear Readers,

I was driving my E-Maxx Brushless edition on a sandtrack here in the Netherlands, when suddenly alot of smoke came from under the hood.

So i ran too the truck and saw that my ESC had melted.
Afther unplugging my Lipos i took everthing home too investegate.
I noticed that my one of my Lipos(this lipo allways worked on my other cars) had died = 0.0volt, and the other one was just fine!
Afther carefully trying to see what wrong with the ESC i plug in another lipo and pulled it off a second later since the ESC gave huge lightning.

So what can i do now? Im kinda bummed since i had too save long for the truck.. (its $ 930,- new over here in the Netherlands, i bought a usted one (for $600,-) witch looked as new.)

Specs:
2 Lipos in Series giving 6s total.
20/68 gearing.
Full Stock (except for the upgrade drivelines).
Mamba Monster version: 1.32

I hope that this isn't the quality that traxxas will provide without some guarantee work.


A new mamba monster combo costes about $420,- so i don't want to buy that especially becauses who can tell me it wont happen again!

Thanks for reading,
Kindly Regards,
Peter vd Berg

sidenote: I'm from Holland so my typing might not be as good as i want it to be. Al the prices have been calculated from € to $.

[titan_rw]

About your LiPo at 0.0 volts, I would suspect it's simply got a wiring problem. A bad solder joint or something similar. Sounds like something caused a huge current draw, which damaged the ESC, and caused an open circuit in the battery. Hooking back up the good battery to the esc and getting sparks tells me the esc is shorted. The 'bad' battery might very well be a good battery with a bad connection / wire. You'll have to get the heatshrink off the battery and inspect everything. A multimeter is good here to measure voltages along the way. (if the battery has a balance connector, measure the individual cells this way first, although the balance wires could have come disconnected along with the main wires) If you do cut the heatshrink off, be very carefull. Don't cut into the LiPo cells.

As to the root cause, I have no idea. It's possible the esc was the main cause, leading to the battery 'opening up'. Or its possible something else caused the esc to fail, which caused the open circuit battery. Either way I imagine the ESC should go back to castle creations. I doubt they'll be able to fix it, but it might still be under warranty.

[Ptrb]

Thanks for you anwer,
I measured the balans cable, 1 cell is working the other not.
So there is a open circuit for sure.

As is with the ESC, you can see the sparkes, so its open for sure.
I'm not sure how i should contact castle yet, i think i'll visit a local dealer tomorrow too start with.

Is it smart to buy another Mamba Monster?
Or is something like Tekin more reliable?

[titan_rw]

I've had nothing but good luck with castle controllers. I have probably 15-20 of them. Mostly airplane controllers, but I've never had one fail. The biggest one I have is a Phoenix 85HV, can handle 85 amps on 12s LiPo.

I don't have any experience with other brands of car controllers. Sorry.

[87 GN]

See what the dealer says. But I would start here http://www.castlecreations.com/index.html or call them. You might be able to send it in & have it replaced for $70-$80?? Figure out your batt prob. One might have taken out the other.

[The VXL]

what brand are your lipos because it would be smart to contact the manufacturer first

[ArmyofDarkness]

Don't bother visiting dealers, go straight to castlecreations; you can get the esc replaced ( non-warrenty repair/ replacement ) for only ~$75 + postage to them ( they normally pay return postage back to you ):

http://www.castlecreations.com/support/repairs.html

I would also ask what brand/ specification your lipos are exactly, and if you had any issues before the esc died, such as throttle or control issues. So long as neither of your lipos has swollen up or gone soft, sounds like you will just have to open up the shrink wrap and re-attach a wire maybe, simple enough job to do.

[Ptrb]

The Lipo's were hardcase Zippo's.
Not easy to open them.

Unfortunatly i can't send them back, (got no creditcard) and shipping will cost $40,- totaling $110,-
I got a nice offer at a locale store, i can trade my ESC + $140,- for a new ESC.
Still thinking about that offer..

Thanks for all the advice =)
Kindly Regards,
Peter

[ArmyofDarkness]

That's a very bad offer- warranty repair/ replacement is free, you just have to pay postage to the USA ( cant be more than $30-40 tops for recorded delivery ). Dont worry about opening up the lipos, just split the plastic case with a dremel ( carefully... ) or a screwdriver etc etc- you can check the connections and then cover the cells with a layer of shrink wrap, or even duct tape will work fine.

[Ptrb]

Can't send it because you'll need a creditcard witch i do not have.
(its not commen to have one in holland).

That's a very bad offer- warranty repair/ replacement is free, you just have to pay postage to the USA ( cant be more than $30-40 tops for recorded delivery ). Dont worry about opening up the lipos, just split the plastic case with a dremel ( carefully... ) or a screwdriver etc etc- you can check the connections and then cover the cells with a layer of shrink wrap, or even duct tape will work fine.

[87 GN]

Call them & see if they will take a money order. Castle is good to work with... Call them first...

[ArmyofDarkness]

Yes, if you dont have a credit card they can still setup a paypal payment, contact them before giving up completely & see if thney can arrange something.