Cold weather?

[CandyCaner]

Long story short, I took the Slash out at work during lunch time when it was about 26 degrees F and it seemed to be a little sluggish. I've Googled all I could on the subject and couldn't find a solution. Does cold weather affect its performance? I was using the stock NiMH battery, if that's of any use in terms of information on how I was running it.

[TraxxasTuesdays]

I've never had problems in cold weather. The only things that change are the shock oil will thicken up a little so you want to drop the shock oil weight as it gets colder and the tires will get a little less traction due to being cold and stiff.

[ksb51rl]

Was the battery 26°F or was that just the ambient temperature? Chemical reactions occur more slowly in cold temps. Batteries will definitely have different performance in sub-freezing weather. This goes for NiMH, LiPo, Li-Ion, etc.

[zball94]

What temperature was the battery when you started? Like did you store the battery outside in your car?

If your battery is warm (room temperature) when you start, it'll perform much better than if its cold (26°F)

[CandyCaner]

Yeah, I left it in the car. Thanks, guys! I'll be more careful next time (or perhaps wait 'til it gets warmer at night...gloved hands can't work the transmitter very well), I wasn't aware it'd do something like that. For a minute, I was worried I'd managed to kill it in less than two weeks of having it on my doorstep. Whew!

[JustinThyme]

Nope, very common. Batteries do not have the same discharge rate when they are cold. Same reason a car battery will not turn over the engine as fast in the winter. Chemical reaction is slowed so discharge rate is less. There are actually battery warmers for the hard core enthusiast.

Colder batteries=less current discharge and longer lifespan.
Warmer batteries= more discharge current and shorter lifespan. For every 10C above 25C the battery lifespan is cut in half.

[CandyCaner]

Welp, I think I may have killed the battery...many hours later and the red light's still showing, the battery's a tad warmer than usual whilst charging, so I pulled it off before going to work. I came back, put it in the truck, and it's still running slower than normal. I figured it might be because there's little bits of leaves under the cover, so I removed the cover, airdusted the crap out of it, and wrapped it back up with electrical tape. I stuck it back on the charger, waited around for a few hours (didn't run it a whole lot when I saw how slow it was going), still glowing red and the battery's warm. Popped it in and tested, still slow. I'm tempted to plug it into the charger that came with Digger to see if it's the charger that's having problems (and I wasted my time by stripping/rewrapping the cells). This is frustrating, considering I haven't run it all that much, it's so nice outside today, and here I am with a stressed-induced headache because of a toy!

[ksb51rl]

Check the voltage when fully charged and report back.

[CandyCaner]

Ha, I guess the charger saw me checkin' prices on an EZ-Peak Plus, because the light turned green. Time to stick 'er together and see if cleaning it out again did the trick.

ksb51rl, I haven't a multimeter, but that's one of the things I should think about purchasing when it turns spring again, I'll be goin' all-out as soon as school's done for the summer and I can ravage the parking lot again.

[ksb51rl]

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-multimeter-98025.html
For $4.99, no excuses!

[CandyCaner]

Hellooo new bookmark. Next payday, it's mine. Thanks!

[Dknuckles]

Cold weather depletes your batteries faster than warmer weather. I've ran mine @ 20 below and I don't think I'll do that again. Rpm is easier to break then lol...

[CandyCaner]

Yeah...sorry to resurrect an old thread, but...it's still having problems, and I still think it's the battery's doing. I charged it using the charger that came with Digger instead, the light turned green, I popped it in, and it's still not running very well. Could it be a dead cell? Is there something else I should be checking that I've overlooked? It's quite a bummer, considering I'd just picked up a lil' skateboard ramp to send it sailing off of when it's barely puttin' along, much less having enough speed to get airborne once it reaches the end of it.

[zball94]

Nimh's will wear out quickly in brushless systems. I think your battery is just worn out. I'd look at getting a Lipo.

[CandyCaner]

Nimh's will wear out quickly in brushless systems. I think your battery is just worn out. I'd look at getting a Lipo.

It's only a month and a half old! Digger's brushless and hasn't given me a problem yet, and I've run it pretty hard since I got it this past summer. With the holidays, car insurance, and whatnot, I won't be able to afford a LiPo (or two) until February. I was hoping the NiMH would hold out 'til then.

[tomasw1]

I had the same issue with my son's Stampede. Called Traxxas, they had me switch the battery to verify it wasn't the ESC. Then I was told to deplete the battery fully and put it on the slow charger over night to see if it would take a full charge. Finally they said send it in and they'll take a look. Might be worth a phone call to Traxxas. They have always been VERY helpful with my issues.

[CandyCaner]

I had the same issue with my son's Stampede. Called Traxxas, they had me switch the battery to verify it wasn't the ESC. Then I was told to deplete the battery fully and put it on the slow charger over night to see if it would take a full charge. Finally they said send it in and they'll take a look. Might be worth a phone call to Traxxas. They have always been VERY helpful with my issues.

It's weird, because after I'd taken the casing apart and blew all the leaf pieces out of it, it worked fine for a couple of runs, but petered out on the third. I'm hoping to get an EZ-Peak Plus for my birthday (which is today! ) and see if that'll fix the situation, but if not, I'll definitely call Traxxas! Thanks!