Granite Brushed ESC Smoke

[Prisma]

Hello everyone,
After a month of running my Granite Mega V3, I noticed my motor cables started acting up. The connectors were overheating to the point of melting the sleeves around them. This was about a week ago. I made sure the connection was okay and the problem mostly seemed to disappear. Anyways, today, it cut the power on me after about 5 minutes of runtime. I recharged the battery and tried again, this time though, only reverse throttle was working and smoke started to come out of the ESC.
What should I do? I haven't exposed the vehicle to any extreme conditions, maybe a bit of snow, cold weather, etc.
I wouldn't expect a brushed ESC to give out after a month of usage.
Any advice greatly appreciated

 

[Harriot10]

Hello everyone,
After a month of running my Granite Mega V3, I noticed my motor cables started acting up. The connectors were overheating to the point of melting the sleeves around them. This was about a week ago. I made sure the connection was okay and the problem mostly seemed to disappear. Anyways, today, it cut the power on me after about 5 minutes of runtime. I recharged the battery and tried again, this time though, only reverse throttle was working and smoke started to come out of the ESC.
What should I do? I haven't exposed the vehicle to any extreme conditions, maybe a bit of snow, cold weather, etc.
I wouldn't expect a brushed ESC to give out after a month of usage.
Any advice greatly appreciated

Call HH and see if they'll warranty your esc, if you're sure that's the issue! Wonder why the wires were getting hot?

 

[Prisma]

Call HH and see if they'll warranty your esc, if you're sure that's the issue! Wonder why the wires were getting hot?

Thanks for the reply! I'm not sure the ESC is the issue, although it's the only part on fire, so I just assumed I killed it somehow.

 

[Mr.ArrmaBasher]

Call HH and see if they'll warranty your esc, if you're sure that's the issue! Wonder why the wires were getting hot?

If you have a kink in you wires and high power flow the wires will easily get hot.

 

[L3phturn]

What terrain do you run on? Have you been cleaning the motor and oiling the bushings after you run it?

 

[Prisma]

What terrain do you run on? Have you been cleaning the motor and oiling the bushings after you run it?

I mostly ran on flat ground; tarmac, short grass, parking lots. I was mostly focused on getting as much runtime from the stock NIMH, so when I ran on rough surfaces, I mostly went slow. Didn't stress the car much.

What terrain do you run on? Have you been cleaning the motor and oiling the bushings after you run it?

And I didn't oil anything, kinda too new to the hobby to even have those chemicals. I ordered them today just to have the ESC burn on me.

 

[RC_kid]

i do reccomend this esc, it's what i use in my granite (v2), it works very well and comes with a fan to mount to the esc and it is a dual motor, but it does nto matter just use one of a blue wires, and one of the yellow wires and it works great
PS: it's an 880 brushed esc for 1/8 and 1/10 scale rigs so it works perfectly with the granite
https://www.amazon.com/HOBBYWING-QUICRUN-Waterproof-Brushed-Motors/dp/B07NYBF6MQ
i also reccomend the traxxas titan 12T as a replacement to the stock motor if you don't want to go brushless (i also use it and it performs much better than the stock motor even though they are both 12T)

 

[Prisma]

i do reccomend this esc, it's what i use in my granite (v2), it works very well and comes with a fan to mount to the esc and it is a dual motor, but it does nto matter just use one of a blue wires, and one of the yellow wires and it works great
PS: it's an 880 brushed esc for 1/8 and 1/10 scale rigs so it works perfectly with the granite
https://www.amazon.com/HOBBYWING-QUICRUN-Waterproof-Brushed-Motors/dp/B07NYBF6MQ
i also reccomend the traxxas titan 12T as a replacement to the stock motor if you don't want to go brushless (i also use it and it performs much better than the stock motor even though they are both 12T)

Thanks for the recommendation! These Hobbywing systems look like a great option. Although I'm looking to upgrade to a max10 sct brushless combo in a few months, so I don't know which one makes more sense.
Thanks a lot anyways.

 

[L3phturn]

I mostly ran on flat ground; tarmac, short grass, parking lots. I was mostly focused on getting as much runtime from the stock NIMH, so when I ran on rough surfaces, I mostly went slow. Didn't stress the car much.

And I didn't oil anything, kinda too new to the hobby to even have those chemicals. I ordered them today just to have the ESC burn on me.

Grass, even short, is a very high drag and high traction surface. It kills motors, especially brushed (lower power) smaller rigs with small wheels and tires.

Even without anything at all, you have to clean a brushed motor. You should be blowing it out with compressed air or using a can of “duster” from your dollar store after EVERY run. Take your motor off and clean it properly with electric contact or parts cleaner every 3-6 runs depending on how much dust or dirt you have been running in, Your local hardware store will have what you need, no need for a special RC product. After cleaning you MUST oil the bushings at each end of the motor. Just a drop of any light oil. NEVER WD-40. That is not a lubricant and never spray it on your bearings or bushings. Regular 3-in-1 household oil works fine. It’s cheap and available at any hardware store. You can use just about any oil here, a drop of motor oil works great, just use a toothpick or something to only put a drop on it.

 

[Prisma]

Grass, even short, is a very high drag and high traction surface. It kills motors, especially brushed (lower power) smaller rigs with small wheels and tires.

Even without anything at all, you have to clean a brushed motor. You should be blowing it out with compressed air or using a can of “duster” from your dollar store after EVERY run. Take your motor off and clean it properly with electric contact or parts cleaner every 3-6 runs depending on how much dust or dirt you have been running in, Your local hardware store will have what you need, no need for a special RC product. After cleaning you MUST oil the bushings at each end of the motor. Just a drop of any light oil. NEVER WD-40. That is not a lubricant and never spray it on your bearings or bushings. Regular 3-in-1 household oil works fine. It’s cheap and available at any hardware store. You can use just about any oil here, a drop of motor oil works great, just use a toothpick or something to only put a drop on it.

Thanks a lot for the advice! I will give much more attention to those from now on. Do I understand correctly that you believe that the motor killed the ESC because of overloading? I'm still hesitant of buying a new one mainly because I don't know if it won't get burnt up again.

 

[L3phturn]

Thanks a lot for the advice! I will give much more attention to those from now on. Do I understand correctly that you believe that the motor killed the ESC because of overloading? I'm still hesitant of buying a new one mainly because I don't know if it won't get burnt up again.

Heat can kill both motors and ESCs. I don’t know exactly what killers yours, but managing heat is always a key to keeping your rigs running. Get a $20 infrared temp gun and monitor your motor and ESC temps every 10 minutes or so until you know you aren’t overheating.

 

[Prisma]

Heat can kill both motors and ESCs. I don’t know exactly why. Get a $20 infrared temp gun and monitor your motor and ESC temps every 10 minutes or so until you know you aren’t overheating.

Alright, thank you a lot!

 

[RC_kid]

Thanks for the recommendation! These Hobbywing systems look like a great option. Although I'm looking to upgrade to a max10 sct brushless combo in a few months, so I don't know which one makes more sense.
Thanks a lot anyways.

yep all good. And the ezrun max10 is the brushless kit i get when im going to upgrade to brushless ive heard very positive things about it by the way. (basically all hobywing products are top shelf quality)

 

[Prisma]

yep all good. And the ezrun max10 is the brushless kit i get when im going to upgrade to brushless ive heard very positive things about it by the way. (basically all hobywing products are top shelf quality)

Absolutely, they're also incredibly well priced; half the price of larger manufacturers who mostly just rebrand their products
I hope my improper treatment of the electronics won't break them too fast lmao