New XO-1 owner. A few Q's and problems.

[benlee1908]

Hi, I just got my XO-1 posted to me in Australia 3 days ago. I must say that it's the coolest R/C I've owned! I have a few questions and problems regarding it.

1. One cell in one of the LiPo's won't charge to 4.2V. It was 3.93V on first attempt. Discharged it via charger and balance charged again (on different charger). This time 4.03V. The other 2 cells were perfectly balanced at 4.21V. The 2nd LiPo had all three cells perfect. This is very annoying as I looked forward to running it but I'm scared to do so if there's a bad cell. I've heard of batteries going up in flames when you pull high amps from a bad cell. What do you guys recommend me to do? I don't want to have to post it back to Traxxas internationally if there's steps I can take to rejuvenate the bad cell. I don't suppose TRaxxas would reimburse my postage costs?

2.I've noticed that the wheel arches on the body doesn't match the wheels as in the wheels don't sit anywhere near the centre. The front wheels are too far back and the rear wheels are too far forward. It not only looks bad but the back tires are actually slightly rubbing on the body when the road is slightly bumpy. I know it's an easy fix but is it supposed to be like that? Can someone post up a side-view pic of their XO-1 please?

3. What rpm is the telemetry display showing? At first, I thought it was the motor rpm but now I think it's the spur gear/centre shaft rpm. It doesn't seems to work out either way as I got a maximum of about 22,000rpm at 50mph. 22,000 motor rpm would equal 30mph but 22,000 spur gear rpm would equal 98mph?!?! Am I making an error in my calculations?

I would very much appreciate it if someone could answer all my questions. Thank you.

Regards,

Ben.

[padrino]

Not all of the answers but I'll tackle #1.

That is definitely troubling, what charger are you using? I'm asking to see if you know how it balances since you may have had a weak cell but the charger is having trouble closing the gap. Suggest running 2-3 cycles on your charger to see where it ends up before running it.

[RC-Fan]

Q #2, are you refering to toe in? rear tires has more toe in, that will help the car to keep in on a straight direction.

[ducati777]

1. I'd still run it. If it comes back puffy, no more.

2. Check the spur/pinion count in the app. See this supports my theory that despite peterv's claims the rx and esc aren't talking. The app is just counting the spur and multiplying by the gear ratio to calculate motor rpm. It certainly isn't asking the esc directly, because the esc would know the exact rpm.


The app comes loaded with the wrong ratio.


3. Rear wheels have a total of 7 degrees toe in. You could flip the carriers to reduce toe. But it might Not track as well. Form vs function, it's your choice.

[kwitty]

#3 as a maybe, is the correct tooth count of your gear set correctly in the set up telemetry, not sure what the defaul is but someone mentioned it recently?

#2 really sounds very odd??

Also there are several pics from side views on the forum here to give you a look....

[benlee1908]

Thanks everyone for helping me out. I actually had decided to run it anyway just not at 100mph with speed pinion. I'll try a few cycles and see if the battery gets better. I decided that even if the battery fails after a few uses, Traxxas would still warrant it. Thr charger I'm using is a V6AC balance charger. I bought I from my LHS. It's not any fancy brand charger. Still cost me $90 though. I've got 2 identical ones.

For problem 2, I'm not referring to toe in. I'm referring to wheel base. Chassis wheel base doesn't match the body. Front wheels need to be extended 3mm (1/8 in) and rear needs 3mm also. If anything, the toe in is actually helping the rear tires clear the body better. If you look at the car directly from the side, the rear tire is 0.5mm from the wheel arch towards the front and 7mm from the wheel arch towards the rear. I'll try to post a pic up.

For no. 3, I know what it is now. Thanks! It really was the gear ratio. The app had a 25 tooth pinion set up. So the real rpm would be about 39,000. I didn't know it was calculating motor rpm via spur speed and gear ratio. Speaking of the app, does anyone have issues with it on an IPod gen 2? The "minus" button doesn't show up on the warning level selection screen!? It works fine on an IPhone 4.

One more thing. There seems to be a delay in throttle response. The castle manual says u can fix it with adjusting the "deadband" but apparently the mamba monster extreme is not compatible with castle link yet. Is that right? The TQI doesn't have that adjustment to take up the "slack" like high end computer radios right?

Regards,

Ben.

[BL-Bob]

You are correct no castle-link support. Have you tried a lower throttle sensitivity yet? That's all you have to adjust your "100 MPH SUPERCAR" ESC with.

[XO_1FREEEK]

Why would traxxas put a firmware block on a Castle product? Before I bought the xo-1, I have been running a mamba monster set up in a 1/16 erevo. With proper Castle link tunning and gearing it will run with my unlocked xo-1, but not beat it. I was very disappointed when I tried hooking my xo-1's esc up to Castle link. Is traxxas going to fix this? Also my xo-1's motor shaft pulled out, they are sending a new one, in the mean time I jb welded and balanced it. Runs great, but it was only two days old, also my tqi transmitter failed after two uses, no power up. It is currently being looked at by the Traxxas engineering department. Not the best first impression. But I still love watching my ox-1 fly past, kicking up dust, at over a hundred with the batteries I'm using. Best feeling ever. I drive it as hard as I can. Whole thing is held together by glue, no parts available. Had a rear tire blow out, I rebelted it and glued back together, works great. Also I ran 1/8 buggy tires while the glue was drying. They balloon at high speeds but you can still drive your 1000$ car while your waiting for part to release.

[FloJo]

my battery chargin out at 4.19 4.19 4.18

[benlee1908]

Hi, I've got some photos showing each wheel and it's clearance to the body. The more I look at it the more I hate it! I didn't think it was something that's so hard to get right! Does everyone else's XO-1 have this issue? I think I'll have to cut more of the wheel arch than I'm comfortable with to get it looking right.

Right rear: You can just see the reddish-white mark on the side skirt where the body somehow got knocked out of place and over the side skirt causing the rub mark.


Right front:


Left rear: The worst one =(


Left front:


Am I just too picky? I'm treating this like a real car!

[BL-Bob]

No your not being picky those are off. The front wheel wells appear to be oblong shaped. Are your holes even drilled square to the body?

[vision]

You trim the arch's a bit to make them more even with lexan scissors

[KingZacharyV]

When I plug one of my batteries in it sparks what could be causing that?

[tornlogic]

When I plug one of my batteries in it sparks what could be causing that?

That's normal for 6s and up. It sucks but it's just the way it is.

[snellemin]

You can use a precharge resistor on the ESC to prevent the connection sparks. The sparks come from the Caps charging up. The ESC HAS TO BE OFF WHEN USING A PRECHARGE RESISTOR. Don't do do it unless you know what you are doing. If you think 6s is bad, wait till you see a 24S spark.

[padrino]

You can use a precharge resistor on the ESC to prevent the connection sparks. The sparks come from the Caps charging up. The ESC HAS TO BE OFF WHEN USING A PRECHARGE RESISTOR. Don't do do it unless you know what you are doing. If you think 6s is bad, wait till you see a 24S spark.

Castle has come out a number of times and said not to use a precharge resistor on their ESCs due to how they are set up. I can't say why myself but I'm sure if you ask Patrick will explain it if he hasn't already done it on another forum.

[snellemin]

Castle has come out a number of times and said not to use a precharge resistor on their ESCs due to how they are set up. I can't say why myself but I'm sure if you ask Patrick will explain it if he hasn't already done it on another forum.

Check on the other forum and you'll see that Castle has finally confirmed it.

[BL-Bob]

Snellemin, I read it over there also. Something like "be sure the switch is off while charging the caps".

Padrino: Pat said it was the motor beeping while charging the caps that causes the esc damage overtime.

[benlee1908]

I know I can trim the arches, but then it will look wonky because I'm cutting away some of the flat portion of the arches. I'm very big on aesthetics, especially on a road car. It will mostly be on the shelf being admired. It's a shame that it doesn't look perfect. Oh well.

[FloJo]

I would mail the body back to traxxas and hope they would send u a replacement or call their 1-800 number they were actually pretty cool over the phone. Or if u bought online retailer contact them and see what they can do

[benlee1908]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I really appreciate it. It's not worth the effort and cost to post a body shell that size back to the US from Australia. I've already spent over $1100 to get the car. I don't want to spend more to get what I was supposed to right out of the box. I just wish that if Traxxas is to continue offering their cars as RTR, that they would build each and every one of them like the owner of the car would. Otherwise, offer them as a kit so that I can build them to perfection!

On the same note, the SUmmit I bought about 1 1/2 years ago had a slightly wobbly wheel. I thought it was just due to the type of tyre (rc monster truck wheels don't spin very true anyway). What I found really ****ed me off. The screw pin which holds the 17mm hex on the stub axle was actually the wrong size!!!! The head of it was sticking out 1mm which meant that it doesn't fit onto the wheel properly (screw head hitting wheel hex spline). The person who put my summit together obviously knew this but decided to force the wheel onto the hex anyway, using the 17mm nut to push the wheel onto the hex. My LHS didn't carry any hex pins so I had to pull out the Dremel to grind the head down. I'm not a person who likes to complain, so I didn't at the time since I got it working anyway. In hindsight, I should have, so Traxxas can pick up their game.

I really like the quality and innovation of Traxxas products but sometimes they are not built to the quality standards I expect. Maybe someday, Traxxas products can be made to the same quality standards as Tamiya. I own 4 Traxxas and 2 Tamiya R/C's. I have much more fun with my TRaxxas cars but I always stare and admire the quality and attention to detail in my Tamiya cars.

BTW, I just got my Ken Block VXL today. The body feels quite a bit stronger than the XO-1!? The roof seems thicker than on the XO-1. I find it a bit odd since the XO-1 can find itself sliding on the roof at 70+ mph. It should be made stronger than the Ken Block. I think my Losi LST XXL (sold) had the thickest, strongest body of any 1/8 scale or smaller R/C I've owned.

[mattbaillie22]

Hey Ben where are you in Oz?


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-27.618068,153.042591
R/C is more than a hobby it's a way of life, please check out my YouTube channel bulldogmatt22 thanks

[losinut56]

Matt
I have sent you a PM - I am in Brisbane as well

[benlee1908]

Hey, I'm in Sydney.

[ddaniels]

for some reason my body came the same way and im not sure what im going to do to resolve the issue. i would hate for this to decrease my tire life by the tire rubbing the body constantly.

[losinut56]

for some reason my body came the same way and im not sure what im going to do to resolve the issue. i would hate for this to decrease my tire life by the tire rubbing the body constantly.

Mine were the same as well - needed to trim up the arches with scissors to stop the tyres rubbing - I wanted the arches to look the same all round - no major dramas

[ddaniels]

Cool so i guess ill start trimming mine

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