BLX185 esc acting odd.

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olds97_lss

Bash Break Repeat!
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Arrma RC's
  1. Kraton EXB
  2. Outcast 6s
This is for a traxxas truck... I know... but the issue is with a BLX185 esc. An issue I never had before.

2020-0526-Stampede-Traxxas-Castle-2200kv-4074-Installed-19TPinion.jpg


With the 19/54 (mod .8) gearing in it, 2200kv 4074 traxxas/castle motor on 3S... it's quick. I took it for a quick run and ran a couple packs through it. Started in my parking lot, just getting a feel for it to see how it did. After 5 minutes, I started walking it to the park a couple blocks away. I'm sure it's quite a site seeing a 40yo dude wandering around following a toy truck that appears to have satan himself in side it screaming down the sidewalk at 40mph.

Anyway, got to the end of my alley after about 5 minutes of hammering on it and all of the sudden, no motor power. I can steer, but I cannot brake or go forward. I walk up to it, pulling/pushing the trigger as I walk and it takes off again. I cruise at about 1/4 throttle, brake hard, cruise 1/4 throttle, brake hard, seems fine. Then I roll up to 1/2-3/4 throttle down the alley and it does it again, coasts to a stop. I gave it a few seconds, it started working again. I tried it again up to full throttle, went like a screaming idiot down the alley, then when I went to apply brake, nothing, just coasting at 40mph. 5 seconds, then it was fine again. So, I rolled it back to myself at 1/4 throttle, picked it up, pinned the throttle, pinned the brake about 5 times for 5 seconds or so at WOT and FULL brake. Worked perfectly.

Then I proceeded to drive it for 40 minutes and no issue the entire time.

This kind of happened at the end of my second or 3rd pack on Sunday with the 3660/3100kv motor in it. Except with that motor, it would chatter like one of the motor leads was disconnected after giving it full throttle. I'd wait 10 seconds, it would be fine for a bit, then chatter.

On a side note, I think I'm going to give up on my SMC lipo's. I built them out of 2 pairs of 2S packs that I used to run in my outcast/erbe/savage paired together in the same pairs. One pair was never used. The other was used for over a year. All 4 were purchased in 2018. I tore them apart and built 3S packs out of them to use in my stampede and ejato.

They are just taking waaaaaay to long to balance, don't stay close to balanced when running (over .5V difference, usually one cell) and take forever to get to storage charge. It's really odd though as one of the packs I made were out of brand new, never used packs. It was a pair I never actually used. The other pack, which I made out of packs I did use as a pair (in the ERBE, outcast, savage flux), works better, but not much. I'm tired of them taking 2 hours to charge... and getting crappy run times. Even though the one pair weren't used, they sat at storage voltage all that time. I'd check them every couple of months to make sure they were still at a safe storage voltage.

Ordered a pair of CNHL 5000mah 3S black series to try out. Will likely repurpose a pair of my hobbystar 6200 3S 45C packs for my eJato and stampede, then use the new pair of packs in my outcast/erbev2.

Anywho, anyone ever have this weird issue with the blx185? I reset it to factory when I got home, put my settings back in and recalibrated it to my receiver. Will see how it does now.

EDIT:
Just had a thought as I was reading https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/what’s-your-lvc-low-voltage-cut-off-for-your-stock-blx-185.23153/#post-320889, maybe the blx185 is not handling the 3S pack properly. I know it says it can use 3S, 4S, 6S with the LVC enabled... but I wonder how many actually run 3S through this esc. Maybe the next time this happens, I'll disable the LVC in the esc for a bit just to see if the issue goes away. Then if it does, I'll have to figure out a decent lipo alarm that I can mount in the truck that's waterproof.
 
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I have ran the snot out of my blx185 and it is still kicking. It's my guinea pig. It started in my kraton 6s running 6s with no issues. I moved it to my granite and ran it on 4s with a 22t pinion and 3.8 tires. No sweat. I ran it on 3s 13t/15t pinion and 3.8 tires no sweat. I ran it in my limited project on 3s and 4s using 27t pinion. My blx185 is still kicking. Sounds like your esc is hitting thermal shutdown and it might also be on its way out from the other issues you stated.
 
The part about “walking your RC” is funny to me because I think about this all the time when I’m walking behind mine on the sidewalk. As people drive by thinking “oh looook, a grown man walking his RC like a dog. He must be soooo lonely” ?

To the BLX185 point. Do you think it could be Rx/Tx related? It sounds like it runs fine when you’re close to it? My GT-5 has acted like that once before. I switched bash spots and the issue went away.
 
is there even a way to disable the lvc in the ESC. If so how... all i've ever seen in the manual is you can change the lvc mode from lipo to NIMH, but no option for off. Correct me if im wrong.
 
Blx185 esc can not turn off the lvc and it does not have nimh option. Only way to turn it off is on aftermarket escs that allow it.
Yes, that's what lipo/nimh, setting #1 is. Lipo turns it on, nimh shuts it off.

I ran it yesterday for 2 packs, 25 minute each and I ran it pretty hard the entire time. Not a single hiccup. Not sure if resetting it to defaults, recalibrating fixed it or if it was the fact that I used better packs for it. I'm repurposing a couple hobbystar 3S 6200mah long packs to use with it and ordered a couple CNHL packs to try out in my outcast/revo to replace them. Regardless, I'm going to retire the SMC packs I built. They take forever to balance and come off the truck the cells way out of sync with each other... not worth the headache.

Yesterday's run:

I put a lipo alarm on it set for 3.3V or 3.4V and when it went off, I'd drive the truck to the car. I made it about 75 yards and then LVC on the esc kicked in. It did it for both packs.

It was 85F outside and the grass around the skate park was taller than the truck... the motor got pretty warm. I need to put a fan on it. Not sure if I'll try gearing it any higher as it's pretty quick and I don't want to constantly worry about heat. Kind of why I did this to begin with. lol!
#ziptiegameonpoint
What’s that poop on the motor wire
You choking the wires out, the esc Tapping out bro. You bash in water huh
Permatex Ultra Copper high temp/sensor safe silicone. The wire insulation is all busted up/gone right at the motor, so I wanted to put something on them to keep them from shorting out. My tube of black silicone dried out on me... so that's what I had.
The part about “walking your RC” is funny to me because I think about this all the time when I’m walking behind mine on the sidewalk. As people drive by thinking “oh looook, a grown man walking his RC like a dog. He must be soooo lonely” ?
They do look at you weird... then they stop and watch it for 10 minutes and cheer/clap when you do a backflip. :)

To the BLX185 point. Do you think it could be Rx/Tx related? It sounds like it runs fine when you’re close to it? My GT-5 has acted like that once before. I switched bash spots and the issue went away.
I don't think so as I still have steering. It did the same thing when I was coming at myself and it was only about 15 feet away and I was trying to stop. The throttle was dead stick and it smacked me in the shins.
 
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My blx185 has no other options for setting 1 (lvc). I checked. Getting into the settings section and selecting the lvc section it only allows lipo, no other setting. My manual says it has lipo and nimh for lvc but the esc says otherwise.
 
Huh, just figured since the manual for it says there are two options that there would be 2 options. lol!

I never tried to change it with my program box.
 
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