Slash steering started glitching yesterday

[Duck Hunter 117]

I recently got my slash over the holidays and have been almost constantly reading online forums to get the most out of my truck. Everything had been going great with my truck until yesterday evening at the track. Throughout practice the truck was fine, a couple laps into the first heat the steering started becoming "glitchy." It would seem to stick at times when going through a corner and then not respond when landing off some jumps. The issue seems to get a little worse throughout the night. The folks at the track were helpful but we couldn't seem to figure it out. During the main the truck would also seem to lose throttle for a split second upon landing during the same time that there was no steering input.

I am running a 2s Lipo and have seen the truck on one occasion shut down after a hard crash with another car due to the low voltage detection. This was not occuring last night so I don't think that's the problem. I do have a new Spektrum DX3S on my truck, last night was my second time running it. I didn't have any issues the first time I ran with it but it could be a possibility. I have seen where a steering servo going bad could cause the esc to go into "safe mode." Would that cause an intermittent problem like this or just totally kill it unitl restarted?

I'm hoping someone here has a good troublshooting checklist to go through so I can start to eliminate some things.

[billy-bones]

First I'm no expert,but I would check the wires from esc to receiver,and or try a rebind,this exact same thing happened to me Sunday at practice,strangely enough,with the same transmitter receiver system,but this was my first time,except testing,I ever used the Spectrum system.But the rebind seemed to help,at least it went the next hour with no trouble.

[snookerd1206]

Unplug the servo from the rx and check to see if you are losing power, maybe your servo is going bad, it happens and when it does it causes the system to glitch.


Sent from my iPhone 5

[bigdodge44150]

I have seen servos shut down esc's but it's always been when the servo is toasted. And the esc wouldn't even turn on for more than a second or two until I unplug the servo.

[Abyss]

Another thing I've heard of is sometimes the cheaper systems interfere with the spectrum for some strange reason. If it only happened at the track may be that's it. Just speculation from me as I have only run the traxxas ones this is just something I've seen a few people write about on forums. Also seems to be happening a lot with spektrum lately.

[billy-bones]

You may be onto something there Abyss?

Another thing I've heard of is sometimes the cheaper systems interfere with the spectrum for some strange reason. If it only happened at the track may be that's it. Just speculation from me as I have only run the traxxas ones this is just something I've seen a few people write about on forums. Also seems to be happening a lot with spektrum lately.

[Duck Hunter 117]

I did check all the wires last night and even pulled the servo cover off to make sure nothing was obviously wrong. I will look into doing a rebind and see if that helps.

I don't think its any interference just because I seemed to only have problems when landing from jumps or taking a sharp corner and having some good weight transfer. I did turn the truck on in the pits just to watch it and made sure it wasn't getting any interference or phantom signals from anywhere.

[bigdodge44150]

What kind of 2s pack are you running. I had a similar problem only with a 7 cell venom battery those connectors they come with are junk !!!

The only reason I figured it out I came off a jump nose down did a couple end over ends and the truck was turned off. Got the multimeter out and tested it no power on the esc side of the connector.

[Duck Hunter 117]

I have 3 different packs that I run. 2 Gens Ace 5000mah 50C packs and 1 Duratrax Onyx 5000mah 25C pack. I only ran the Duratrax in practice and didn't have any issues then. I ran had trouble with both Gens Ace packs during the event. Never had an issue with either one of them prior to last night.

[bigdodge44150]

How old are the gens packs.

[Duck Hunter 117]

I've had 1 pack since I got the car about 3 weeks ago. The 2nd pack I just received last week. I ran it this past weekend without any issues and through practice with no issues.

[Abyss]

Gens ace connectors are horrible you need to change the part that plugs into the battery solid bullets. The ones it comes with are only meant for charging those birdcage like connectors could very well be causing the problem. Had a similar problem when I had those.

[Duck Hunter 117]

I did some looking last night trying to recreate the problem at home but was unable to. When I bought the receiver the hobby shop offered to install it for free. I looked over their installation and think I found a few things wrong. First of all the antenna was pulled all the way through the tube, bent over, and ran back down the tube. Next the antenna was pulled tight enough that it made a few 90 degree bends inside the housing. Finally, the Rx was not taped down and was partially floating free in the housing. I fixed all of these issues and will be returning to the track to night to see if there is any improvement.

Gens ace connectors are horrible you need to change the part that plugs into the battery solid bullets. The ones it comes with are only meant for charging those birdcage like connectors could very well be causing the problem. Had a similar problem when I had those.

Could you recommend some connectors that would work well?

[Shaky17]

I did some looking last night trying to recreate the problem at home but was unable to. When I bought the receiver the hobby shop offered to install it for free. I looked over their installation and think I found a few things wrong. First of all the antenna was pulled all the way through the tube, bent over, and ran back down the tube. Next the antenna was pulled tight enough that it made a few 90 degree bends inside the housing. Finally, the Rx was not taped down and was partially floating free in the housing. I fixed all of these issues and will be returning to the track to night to see if there is any improvement.



Could you recommend some connectors that would work well?

Pro Tek 4mm Part #PTK5035

[Abyss]

Castle creations sells some that you can solder on. They seem to be real popular. Not sure what size you need though.

[billy-bones]

Know wonder they did it for free.And again,I find myself agreeing with ABYSS Gens ace are as good as what you pay for them,IMO,and the connecters,even if you can order them with your preferred plug end,are poorly done.
If you want to save money,by SPC,a good low priced dependable battery.
Out of my 21 or 24 lipos,I have,one 6500 mah Reedy 2s 65c,one 3s speedway 4200 mah 30c,one venom 2s 30c,all the rest are thunder power 5400mah 2s,from 35c(most common)to 65c.
The venom is the only one to give me trouble,and that was with the connecters,the 3s barely ever gets used,in fact i should cycle it once,before it goes bad.

I did some looking last night trying to recreate the problem at home but was unable to. When I bought the receiver the hobby shop offered to install it for free. I looked over their installation and think I found a few things wrong. First of all the antenna was pulled all the way through the tube, bent over, and ran back down the tube. Next the antenna was pulled tight enough that it made a few 90 degree bends inside the housing. Finally, the Rx was not taped down and was partially floating free in the housing. I fixed all of these issues and will be returning to the track to night to see if there is any improvement.



Could you recommend some connectors that would work well?

[Duck Hunter 117]

I ran at the track last night and still had the issue. However, I believe I have narrowed down the possible causes. The glitching occured with many cars on the track and when I was the only car running. It also occured on both of my Gens Ace battery packs as well as my hardwired Duratrax Onyx pack. FWIW: The connectors on the Gens Ace packs are not the "bird cage" style. They look exactly like the ProTek PTK5035 connectors.

I then reinstalled my Traxxas Rx & Tx and didn't have any issues during a 10 minute run. I also ran the second Rx that came with my Spektrum Tx and didn't have any issues during another 10 minute run. So right now it seems as if its a problem with the original Rx.

It's also worth noting that when I was running by myself I could hear momentary losses of power while running on a smooth straight.