Outcast ARRMA OUTCAST ESC CAUGHT FIRE

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Yeah sure... After receiving the ESC they emailed me and asked for the motor back because it may have been the problem. I did make a rant about someone should have initially asked for all of the items needed and he apologized and then i also apologized for my frustration. They should receive the motor on friday i think UPS estimated. They did however agree to warranty all items but need both the motor and esc in hand before sending replacements. Maybe i will receive the replacement parts late next week at the earliest however i will keep everyone updated. BTW looking like a three week process. If this does occur to anyone else i would suggest sending the entire truck back for service!
 
I'm pleased to hear that ARRMA are investigating the cause of the electrical fire, not just issuing a replacement of the damaged component.
Sure, it's inconvenient because of increased downtime and shipping costs, but you're less likely to have another incident.

If your car catches fire whilst driving it, do you ask for a replacement of the damaged component, or do you ask for an assessment and fix/correction?

It's the sensible thing to do...

If this does occur to anyone else i would suggest sending the entire truck back for service!

If a product caught fire during use, i would send it back and ask for a refund, and start asking questions. This is what we, in my industry, call near-miss scenarios.
 
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After you returned the electrics (motor + ESC), at the end, could they determine what cause the fire?
 
The ESC did burn up but they said the ESCs have almost never tested bad so they think the issue was the motor. Both items have been replaced and installed. Nasty weather but everything has tested good so far
 
Hmm. No, it's not the first reported fire in an ARRMA vehicle.
https://arrmaforum.com/threads/esc-shorted-and-caused-LiPo-to-catch-fire.885/

That user who posted that hasn't been seen for over half a year. My only hope is he woke up and stopped using the offending product, and that his absence is not because he's been injured by the product, or put under a NDA by ARRMA.

I think we should all be asking questions from the manufacturer(s). Why or how did this happen? Is there a specific set of circumstances that make this more likely to happen? And I don't mean in an angry, or entitled way, although it might be hard not to feel that way. Can we stop it happening?

Personally I'm surprised it happened to warbux, abut more so some of the responses to his video.

Electronic failure is one thing, but fizzing out, smoking up and getting ALIGHT ON FIRE!?
Is a free ESC replacement under warranty the only thing that matters?
Why are we willing to accept a replacement product, and play Russian roulette again?
Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result.

Are we really willing to accept the risk of injury and/or property damage the next time we run the vehicle? I can see we're all fans/enthusiasts of ARRMA products, but I don't think "respect(ing) these things" is going to prevent a fire. It also looks like warbux was being very safe (running new 4S batteries (not 6S), above 35C as recommended by ARRMA? It also doesn't look like he did anything to provoke the fire. I'm glad warbux wasn't hurt. But his kick reflex was a fight or flight reaction to perceived immediate danger.

Or are we putting our collective heads in the sand and hoping that it was bad luck- hopefully it doesn't happen to us?

Where there's smoke there's fire. And this has proven to be so. I've read or heard that some (experienced) hobbyists have even replaced the stock electronics in their vehicles with something else to avoid potential failure. Maybe by the 3rd burnt ESC, you've become desensitised to the potential fire, now growing impatient waiting for replacements products, and just to drive again.

But to the ARRMA apologists- sorry but the only thing that's going to stop this problem occurring is a real engineering solution, not a replacement uniy. It is apparent to me that the issue with the 1/8th scale ESCs has not been solved- you can call it a BLX185, but where's the evidence it's doesn't fail catastrophically? Yes, ARRMA has shown they have good PR by honouring warranty replacements. But they have failed to show their technical leadership on the fundamental engineering, which is fixing the problem.

Look, I like to have fun as much as the next guy. And I understand risk-there's an element of risk to everything, from crossing the street to boarding a plane. But I'm not talking about a snapped wing mount, or a broken shock body causing inconvenience or lost playtime. When playing with these cars what are the chances of the vehicle becoming uncontrollable because of faulty ESC, or catching fire from a burnt ESC? Some of us aren't able bodied like warbux who can respond immediately. Some of us may have adolescent children driving these toys. If we know the risks, we can make decisions about what to do about it. (Knowing what we now know about lipos, would you still charge your lipo overnight it unattended or without a lipo sack?)

I love my ARRMA Outcast, at first sight. But think of it from an outsiders perspective. Would you still use a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, even if someone gave it to you for free, knowing that it can rarely, but devastatingly, caught fire spontaneously? I'm sure there were Samsung fans who did, or still are, even in face of the slowly mounting evidence. Brave, foolish, or fanatical?

If this, let's call at its best -minor ESC malfunction- became a accepted trend, or generalised to other makes/models, or worse- picked up by mainstream media as a "RC cars fire" issue, what would happen next? Would they become banned from parks, car parks or sidewalks etc (like those fireprone hoverboards), or even banned from sale? We hobbyists would all suffer as a result.

We should be asking the right questions to get this fixed. We should be mobilising to prevent these fires. Not surmising what happened, or debating what's best to do AFTER an electrical fire (sand, water, fire extinguisher, disconnect the lipo, or perhaps using the 'no look' method)
I like the way you think but do you work for Traxxas?
 

Just raising awareness everyone be safe out there respect these things.
I just got a max 8 combo and it was awesome for 1 rum and it blew up when I went to go at it again hours later and turned it on and poof I did everything correctly I hope that they will send a fresh one . See the pictures and you can see it's installed near and correctly wired and 1st run blew the tire bead it was awesome. If I had something wrong it would have blew immediately. Idk what happened
 

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Yeah sure... After receiving the ESC they emailed me and asked for the motor back because it may have been the problem. I did make a rant about someone should have initially asked for all of the items needed and he apologized and then i also apologized for my frustration. They should receive the motor on friday i think UPS estimated. They did however agree to warranty all items but need both the motor and esc in hand before sending replacements. Maybe i will receive the replacement parts late next week at the earliest however i will keep everyone updated. BTW looking like a three week process. If this does occur to anyone else i would suggest sending the entire truck back for service!
What set up are you running? I just had the same thing happened to my rig yesterday with a max 8 combo 2200kv on 6s esc blew and I had already ran a pack with the new set up. I don't understand why and I'm pissed
 
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