Infraction Infraction fire today

[Motosickness]

Hey y'all, my infraction esc caught on fire today. I was half way through my pack ,2 lectron pro 3s 7600 75c, when, flames occurred and kept going until I was able to get the body off, and the packs disconnected, then still had to blow out the flames. All stock with senton front arms ,shafts ,stock gearing, 53/107 hoons all around. Cool day today, I didn't even expect to have any heat issues. 3rd run ever w this car and battery packs as well. Scorched the body just a little. Unfortunately no video. Any ideas as to why?? Anyone? I never had a issue w any of my other arrmas.

 

[Cheez]

The hot spot seems to be there.

I’m still learning… but maybe ESC failure?

 

[Starfox2005]

Man that sucks... I'd try to Warranty that ESC.

 

[SrC]

^^^
I did the same with a fairly new all stock Notorious. Used 4s from the start. My very first time with a brand new 6s lipo, it fried within seconds of driving it about 50 feet. Stopped dead in its tracks and went up in smoke, fire and all. like yours. Maybe worse. I sent video to HH and they asked for the rig back and rebuilt it with over $300. of new parts, Sucker still smelled of fire for months. HH could have just replaced it for cheaper. Just that it was still on B/O being a new model release at the time. sent me a New body and all. All electrics. etc. ruined. They didn't pay for the lipo however. Which was just fine. Just needed a new connector. Easy enough. Luckily I pulled the plug quickly enough. I put dirt all over it to extinguish the fire. ESC's can do this. Clearly a defect. Call HH and see what they will do for you. Much more was compromised than you may think. Make a list of all the parts that were melted and damaged even the Servo, body and plastics, center diff, Belcrank etc.
They may try to fix it for you. They paid for my shipping both ways. Asked me to use the Original Box for return shipping and sent me a prepaid mailer to them. You Infr. is very new also. They should cover you 100%. IMHO.
OE ESC's suck IMHO. Its always a crap shoot. Firma ESC's?? IDK.... That's why the 2 year Arrma warranty is in place to use. Good that you didn't get hurt.

https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/notorious-6s-blx185-went-ablaze-on-fire.11675/
Looks like the 3 surface mount Caps inside the ESC or the Mosfets shorted out. A Defect. Same as my BLX185 ESC. Same areas that burned up. Mine was worse though. More surrounding damage and all. Alll motor leads and servo wires damaged. Center diff too. Steering belcrank melted also. Roll cage melted.

 

[Motosickness]

Yea I will give a call Monday and see what's up. My 1st warranty issue w a arrma. I have only had it a couple months, just finished checking out my batteries and they are all good, glad about that.

 

[TriggerHappy]

Hate that happened. As @SrC stated prob. Faulty esc. Im no fan of the spektrum esc/motors. I have never owned one nor will i ever.HH will warranty this.Keep us posted what they do for you.

 

[Motosickness]

Definatly will update as soon as I know more, and definatly a bummer. This is my 1st spectrum esc. I personally never had a issue with any of the 3 blx185 that I have. Thanks y'all.

 

[Boggs3010]

Running felony tires with stock gearing and running 2x (heat) may have played an issue. Or the ESC was junk. But I never run 2 packs. I usually bring 2 or 3 cars. Advise a temp gun if doing that. Or a long break in between running. When I run again 2 cars I alternate.

 

[SrC]

From what I understand there were a few bad production runs of the BLX185's. Fires were common for a short while, till HH/Arrma got a grip on QC. With the OE maker. (HW)
The last thing any Brand wants a bad reputation for, is burning up ESC's. A bad liability for the end user.. If very common enough, they can be forced into a recall notice and have to eat thousands of ESC's. Big $$$ loss. I am sure HH will address your issue. And quickly.

 

[aahwhatever2]

I can only speculate on the exact cause of failure of this ESC… I have had SEVERAL ESC’s fail throughout my journey with RC’s. Most have been in airplanes or quads. Ever since I stopped using the BEC for the servo’s and RX, I cannot remember ever losing one. The servo’s in the larger trucks that are using more and more amp’s seem to be the highest failure point.

I now run a separate 2S A123 pack for my servo and RX. These batteries don’t care if you leave them fully charged or almost dead. Back in the day, we use to power a plane with a gas motor and ran a battery for the servo’s and RX… and it was done with the nitro trucks, as well. I know that it is easier to just use one battery to run everything, but I would gamble that most of the BEC’s are rated around 5Amps and our servo’s alone can max that out.

It would be interesting to test this theory….but it won’t be me! LoL. I know HH will take care of you, but you might want to think about what I am saying and quit using the ESC BEC.
Just my 2cents.

 

[Edough13]

That's sucks to say the least! Unfortunately this has became a common thing with the newer spektrum esc's/electronics in all the newer rigs. This is just another reason Arrma/Horizon needs to drop the spektrum garbage from their products. After having to replace all the esc's, body's, servos, and other parts that are faulty or damaged due to faulty spektrum electronics they have to make absolutely nothing off these rigs in the end. I just don't get why they continue to beat the dead horse and continue to stand behind such faulty, bad and useless spektrum products that end up costing them money and sales. Pretty bad when we have seen it time and time again a brand new servo out of the box is dead or receivers dead and then this constantly seeing esc fires ruining body's, lipos etc.

 

[Yonic]

Can help much but encourage you to warrent it.

I just had the same issue with my Infraction, for me it was on the 2nd battery. it didnt caught fire, just puffed the capacitor where yours caught fire. 3 of my friends had the same issue with their Infraction.

This is just bad, never had an issue with my BLX185.

 

[Motosickness]

Running felony tires with stock gearing and running 2x (heat) may have played an issue. Or the ESC was junk. But I never run 2 packs. I usually bring 2 or 3 cars. Advise a temp gun if doing that. Or a long break in between running. When I run again 2 cars I alternate.

I use 2- 3s to make1- 6s , in the infraction, even weight setup. I was only 1/2 way, maybe less thru the packs, they only took 221, and 219 mah to get to storage charge. Actually just went out in front of my house to run the batteries down, had em charged up that morning and didn't have the time to go play like I wanted to. I can't even hit full throttle, not enough room, and I have it set up to handle, wasn't burning em off at all. So I was very surprised see flames.

Running felony tires with stock gearing and running 2x (heat) may have played an issue. Or the ESC was junk. But I never run 2 packs. I usually bring 2 or 3 cars. Advise a temp gun if doing that. Or a long break in between running. When I run again 2 cars I alternate.

I use 2- 3s to make1- 6s , in the infraction, even weight setup. I was only 1/2 way, maybe less thru the packs, they only took 221, and 219 mah to get to storage charge. Actually just went out in front of my house to run the batteries down, had em charged up that morning and didn't have the time to go play like I wanted to. I can't even hit full throttle, not enough room, and I have it set up to handle, wasn't burning em off at all. So I was very surprised see flames.
And no update yet, have a case # and waiting for further contact.

 

[Motosickness]

Update: after a little email run around, I took it back to Fast Track Hobbies ,they called horizon, and they are replacing it for me. A big thank you to FtH, my lhs. So, the big question is do I dare try and use it again, or just swap out the system for something better?

 

[SrC]

You got a fluke. As luck had it. A Bad ESC. Not your fault. Or How you drove it. Try the new rig out. Stocker ESC and all.
You will still have a 2 year warranty if it happens again. Even an upgrade ESC can torch the whole rig. If your CC or HW ESC did the same and crapped out. You would be SOL, because the rigs damage wont be covered, only the ESC, if its still under warranty by the specific brand of that ESC.
Just run the Stocker in your replacement rig.
Its like a terrible Plane Crash that recently took place. And you are worried now becaue you have a plane to catch now and afraid of dying in another crash.
Odds are very slim your flight will end in a crash. I have many friends who are plane mechanics for several airlines. They back this up.

 

[Motosickness]

You got a fluke. As luck had it. A Bad ESC. Not your fault. Or How you drove it. Try the new rig out. Stocker ESC and all.
You will still have a 2 year warranty if it happens again. Even an upgrade ESC can torch the whole rig. If your CC or HW ESC did the same and crapped out. You would be SOL, because the rigs damage wont be covered, only the ESC, if its still under warranty by the specific brand of that ESC.
Just run the Stocker in your replacement rig.
Its like a terrible Plane Crash that recently took place. And you are worried now becaue you have a plane to catch now and afraid of dying in another crash.
Odds are very slim your flight will end in a crash. I have many friends who are plane mechanics for several airlines. They back this up.

I will give it a go. I got lucky I was 1 house distance away when it lit, this time. Does make me nervous for the future though. Will have a extinguisher handy for a bit Thanks again to everybody here, aways good info and super helpful.

 

[synic]

I just had my Infraxtion esc fry today (third time taking her out).
Called Horizon Hobby and they are sending a new ESC.
I’ve never had this kind of issue with any other manufacturer, but as I look at my Outcast, Kraton, and the like, I now wonder if this is something that will happen again.
Here’s video showing my aftermath.