Felony ESC restarts when I activate steering (Felony) - HELP

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Mr.Vylan

If you're in control, you're not going fast enough
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Location
Bay Area, California
Arrma RC's
  1. Felony
  2. Kraton 6s
  3. Senton 6s
  4. Senton 3s
I've owned the Felony for less than a couple of weeks. I've been driving it with a single 6s Smart battery and have not pushed the limits (yet).
The car is restarting the ESC every time I input steering from the radio.

  1. Tested the servo
  2. Rebound
  3. Recalibrated ESC
  4. Tested with different batteries
Below is a video of what is happening. Appreciate any help, comments, feedback.

 
That is definitely not normal.
I can't see anything moving, besides servo/wheels but I'd check the wire between switch and ESC, any kinks in it? Any movement into that wire when applying steering? I couldn't see anything though. Is there anything underneath the servo maybe?
If there is nothing visual, my guess would be a bad ESC. There is no signal that should do this to an ESC coming from the receiver.

What I would try to isolate it further.
1. Pull the fan plug out of the ESC, see if there is a repeat, maybe a short in the fan wire, highly doubt it though.
2. Open RX box and remove steering servo plug. Try again, does it still happen? Obviously no steering at that time.
3. If 2 is working. Do you have a spare servo? Plug that in (not connected to steering) and see if it repeats.
4. Try a rebind.

Honestly, none of the above should do this.

Failure on
1: short in fan/wires (doubt it since they seem to run fine)
2: something in the steering electrical interface is wrong if it doesn't fail
3: if no repeat, that installed servo is possibly shorting out somehow and causing a reset
 
That is definitely not normal.
I can't see anything moving, besides servo/wheels but I'd check the wire between switch and ESC, any kinks in it? Any movement into that wire when applying steering? I couldn't see anything though. Is there anything underneath the servo maybe?
If there is nothing visual, my guess would be a bad ESC. There is no signal that should do this to an ESC coming from the receiver.

What I would try to isolate it further.
1. Pull the fan plug out of the ESC, see if there is a repeat, maybe a short in the fan wire, highly doubt it though.
2. Open RX box and remove steering servo plug. Try again, does it still happen? Obviously no steering at that time.
3. If 2 is working. Do you have a spare servo? Plug that in (not connected to steering) and see if it repeats.
4. Try a rebind.

Honestly, none of the above should do this.

Failure on
1: short in fan/wires (doubt it since they seem to run fine)
2: something in the steering electrical interface is wrong if it doesn't fail
3: if no repeat, that installed servo is possibly shorting out somehow and causing a reset
I will try all of the above. I'm desperate because I'm jonesing to get her back out on the pavement.
That is definitely not normal.
I can't see anything moving, besides servo/wheels but I'd check the wire between switch and ESC, any kinks in it? Any movement into that wire when applying steering? I couldn't see anything though. Is there anything underneath the servo maybe?
If there is nothing visual, my guess would be a bad ESC. There is no signal that should do this to an ESC coming from the receiver.

What I would try to isolate it further.
1. Pull the fan plug out of the ESC, see if there is a repeat, maybe a short in the fan wire, highly doubt it though.
2. Open RX box and remove steering servo plug. Try again, does it still happen? Obviously no steering at that time.
3. If 2 is working. Do you have a spare servo? Plug that in (not connected to steering) and see if it repeats.
4. Try a rebind.

Honestly, none of the above should do this.

Failure on
1: short in fan/wires (doubt it since they seem to run fine)
2: something in the steering electrical interface is wrong if it doesn't fail
3: if no repeat, that installed servo is possibly shorting out somehow and causing a reset
Do you think an electrical short can act as if the start button is getting pushed?
 
Yes, I doubt it's a short as you would see other evidence but could be an open in the switch that gets activated by even the slightest movement.
Easy to check, just tap in the area with a tool.
 
Was the dx5 bound to the rig the whole time? Typically the Rx has a lag to it before you can steer because its intitializing the gyro.. but I see yours steers immediately...
 
After rebinding the receiver, did you do the whole AVC calibration (full throttle, reverse, full right, full left)?
yes
Was the dx5 bound to the rig the whole time? Typically the Rx has a lag to it before you can steer because its intitializing the gyro.. but I see yours steers immediately...
As in, "have I always used the DX5"?
If so, yes. I have only been using the DX5 radio since the beginning. There was nothing new introduced in the system when it started acting this way. One day it was working fine and in the middle of a session, it started doing this.

@Camaroboy383, if this is not what you meant please explain. --> "bound to the rig the whole time?"
Was the dx5 bound to the rig the whole time? Typically the Rx has a lag to it before you can steer because its intitializing the gyro.. but I see yours steers immediately...
BTW- I might have the AVC set to zero.
 
Last edited:
DISCOVERED ISSUE:
Okay, after several troubleshooting techniques I've narrowed it down to the Servo. I plugged in the servo from my Senton without having to remove it and "voila", it stops doing the restart.

IMG_3013.jpg
 
DISCOVERED ISSUE:
Okay, after several troubleshooting techniques I've narrowed it down to the Servo. I plugged in the servo from my Senton without having to remove it and "voila", it stops doing the restart.

View attachment 100070


So the servo is shorting out the bec circuit.. glad you found the issue...

And yes I was asking if the dx5 was used right from the beginning..?
 
So the servo is shorting out the bec circuit.. glad you found the issue...

And yes I was asking if the dx5 was used right from the beginning..?
Since I'm a newbie, the electrical architecture is a bit above my head.

As much as I would like to claim I understand the description pasted below (bold), I must admit it's a bit foreign to me.
So, without going into too much detail.
The servo is sending a signal that is causing a "short", or is it simply an electrical communication error? I'm fine with replacing the servo even though it is only a few weeks old. But, I like to understand the root cause and the architecture. I'm not looking to get an electrical engineering degree but like to know my stuff. :)

Last but not least, is this an opportunity to upgrade or should I stick with the stock servo?


In an electric-powered radio controlled model, the BEC is typically part of the electronic speed control (ESC). BEC allows such a model to carry only one battery (the motive power battery) instead of two (motive power, and a separate battery to operate the R/C equipment). A BEC-equipped ESC meant for airplane use often incorporates a low-voltage-cutoff (LVC) circuit which can sense the voltage drop caused when the battery has little charge left. It then cuts the power to the 'drive' motor in order to provide the 'steering' servo(s) with enough power to be able to bring the model safely back to the operator. The power to the propeller is cut but the operation of the control surfaces would be maintained in order to perform a dead-stick landing. Without this feature, all control would be lost when the battery expired, probably resulting in the destruction of the model. In some cases, the BEC is part of the radio control receiver, instead of being part of the ESC.

WHEW!~
 
It is a dead short in the servo.. most likely in the potentiometer/ board..

The bec (battery eliminated circuit) of the esc supplies voltage to the receiver for operation, instead of using an external power source (battery) ..

Something in the servo is shorting ground to power, ground to signal, power to signal...(which ever it may be) faulting the circuit and causing the esc to shut down and restart...

Warranty the factory servo through horizon, or replace with anything you like...?
 
It is a dead short in the servo.. most likely in the potentiometer/ board..

The bec (battery eliminated circuit) of the esc supplies voltage to the receiver for operation, instead of using an external power source (battery) ..

Something in the servo is shorting ground to power, ground to signal, power to signal...(which ever it may be) faulting the circuit and causing the esc to shut down and restart...

Warranty the factory servo through horizon, or replace with anything you like...?
I think I will replace with the factory servo for now and contact the hobby store regarding the warranty. I suppose I could replace with the aftermarket and have the factory as a backup.
 
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