Granite Mega V3 has two forwards and no brakes or reverse

[AaronF]

Hi guys,

I was driving my MEGA around the skate park it was working fine, then I went up and ramp and stopped, afterwards I have no reverse \ brakes and 2 forwards. Forward = Forward and Reverse = Forward.

One thing i have noticed is when i power the truck it, it used to beep twice, but now it will just engage forward for a second, then after another second it does it again. Steering and everything seems fine and I've tried to rebind the radio but that hasn't done anything.

It is the brush less motor.

Any ideas? seems kind of odd.

 

[Jerold]

I would check all of your wiring first, look for shorts, broken leads, loose connections. Then reset all the radio settings to default and re-calibrate the ESC.

What radio/esc is it?

 

[AaronF]

it is just the spektrum stl3 radio with that red mega esc. I haven't seen any way to re-calibrate it so I'm thinking it is just dead and I need to send it back, its probably only 2 months old...

In the manual, under troubleshooting it has if the car has no reverse the esc is dead so I'm thinking that's probably what the problem is.

 

[AaronF]

Made a video of the problem

 

[Jerold]

A few thoughts.

You want to turn on your receiver first. It's good practice and makes sure the ESC has something controlling it. That's probably what the tone and the light are for - lost signal. I doubt that is the issue but it's worth a try.

Make sure you battery is charged well above the low cutoff voltage (LVC). You might also try a different battery. Each ESC acts differently once the LVC is activated.

It's hard to see it in the video, but do you have all the jumper in and correct positions? You might make sure they are fully seated, they may have slipped. Good engineering practice dictates that they should have default positions if the jumpers are missing but we assuming it's design by good engineers and if it was, we don't know the default state.

Make sure that your receiver switches are default positions, especially the TH. I would push them both direction to make sure they are fully in the correct position. It's hard to see in the picture but is that forwards? Steering looks like it might be slightly out of position?

The same with the Trim knobs. It's hard to see, but looking at the dots, are they all maxed out? See defaults above.

 

[slick2500]

A few thoughts.

You want to turn on your receiver first. It's good practice and makes sure the ESC has something controlling it. That's probably what the tone and the light are for - lost signal. I doubt that is the issue but it's worth a try.

Make sure you battery is charged well above the low cutoff voltage (LVC). You might also try a different battery. Each ESC acts differently once the LVC is activated.

It's hard to see it in the video, but do you have all the jumper in and correct positions? You might make sure they are fully seated, they may have slipped. Good engineering practice dictates that they should have default positions if the jumpers are missing but we assuming it's design by good engineers and if it was, we don't know the default state.
View attachment 229832

Make sure that your receiver switches are default positions, especially the TH. I would push them both direction to make sure they are fully in the correct position. It's hard to see in the picture but is that forwards? Steering looks like it might be slightly out of position?
View attachment 229838
View attachment 229833

The same with the Trim knobs. It's hard to see, but looking at the dots, are they all maxed out? See defaults above.
View attachment 229839

Not sure on that esc but others with jumpers default to reverse on and lipo with the jumpers removed.

To me it sounds like something in the esc went haywire.

I would contact Horizon Hobby as the car does have a 2 year warranty on it and they should replace the esc free of charge.

 

[AaronF]

Good tip about the radio, i couldn't remember if it was truck first then radio or the other way around. Issue persists in both directions anyway.

I'm charging the battery up as we speak to eliminate that as a potential issue. All the jumpers, switches, and, trims are in the correct positions.

I'll just send it back to the place I bought it from and they can sort it out for me, they'll probably just send me a new ESC.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll update this thread once I have an update.

 

[AaronF]

The hobby store sent a replacement ESC and we're back in action again.

I got this truck at the start of June and it has already been through a steering servo and ESC...

 

[kiwijunglist]

Which hobby store did you buy it from? (I ask because I'm also in Wellington).

 

[AaronF]

Which hobby store did you buy it from? (I ask because I'm also in Wellington).

I bought it from rchobbies.co.nz but they take like a week to ship anything. My go to is hobbyhangar.co.nz as they'll ship it within an hour or two plus they're good to deal with. RCHobbies have been good to deal with regarding warranty issues I have had, they just take too long to ship stuff is my only problem.

Both are based in Auckland and Hamilton. I found hobby hangar to be a bit cheaper usually for parts and bits and pieces.

In Wellington there aren't really any stores that i have found besides hobbycity in Thorndon, it doesn't really have much though compared to their stores in Auckland. There is also Top Shelf RC in lowerhutt but it looks like it is run from a residential location and not a shop.

 

[kiwijunglist]

do you know if hobby station is any good? They seem to be the only local shop stocking rival mt10 which is what I think I'm going to buy now.

 

[bt224]

What batteries are you busing? I noticed your running a brushless motor through a ESC designed to run brushed.

 

[Velodromed]

What batteries are you busing? I noticed your running a brushless motor through a ESC designed to run brushed.

If you watch the video you’ll see towards the end that it has a brushed motor in it.

Hi guys,

I was driving my MEGA around the skate park it was working fine, then I went up and ramp and stopped, afterwards I have no reverse \ brakes and 2 forwards. Forward = Forward and Reverse = Forward.

One thing i have noticed is when i power the truck it, it used to beep twice, but now it will just engage forward for a second, then after another second it does it again. Steering and everything seems fine and I've tried to rebind the radio but that hasn't done anything.

It is the brush less motor.

Any ideas? seems kind of odd.

Have you ever gotten it wet or even possibly a little bit wet? I started off with a mega and had the ESC die fast just driving it through wet grass.

 

[AaronF]

do you know if hobby station is any good? They seem to be the only local shop stocking rival mt10 which is what I think I'm going to buy now.

I bought my Helicopter from them when I lived in Auckland in 2012\13 and they were good. I got some MIP screw drivers from them a week ago and that was fine. They seem to stock the random kinds of RC Stuff from Asia, like KDS and OMP.

They charge far too much for KDS parts though so just make sure you find a decent place for parts, I can buy a servo for $12 from MonkeyHobby (China site) and hobbystation want $30 for the same thing, similar experience with other KDS parts. KDS is kind of a dead brand now so that might have something to do with it.

If you watch the video you’ll see towards the end that it has a brushed motor in it.

Have you ever gotten it wet or even possibly a little bit wet? I started off with a mega and had the ESC die fast just driving it through wet grass.

I think I just cooked the ESC in the end,probably got too hot. Got replaced under warranty.

I have noticed that driving it around in long grass gets everything really hot to point you need to stop. The motor starts to smell like burnt circuit board, ESC seemed fine though. This was on the weekend I was driving it around a park with grass the height of the wheels.

 

[Velodromed]

I bought my Helicopter from them when I lived in Auckland in 2012\13 and they were good. I got some MIP screw drivers from them a week ago and that was fine. They seem to stock the random kinds of RC Stuff from Asia, like KDS and OMP.

They charge far too much for KDS parts though so just make sure you find a decent place for parts, I can buy a servo for $12 from MonkeyHobby (China site) and hobbystation want $30 for the same thing, similar experience with other KDS parts. KDS is kind of a dead brand now so that might have something to do with it.



I think I just cooked the ESC in the end,probably got too hot. Got replaced under warranty.

I have noticed that driving it around in long grass gets everything really hot to point you need to stop. The motor starts to smell like burnt circuit board, ESC seemed fine though. This was on the weekend I was driving it around a park with grass the height of the wheels.

Driving your car through heavy grass will absolutely overheat things. If you don’t have a temperature gun you need to get one. you also need to allow it to rest and cool every 7 to 10 minutes depending upon temperatures outside. The brushed models electrics are touchy. Can’t get wet, can’t overheat, need to clean out the motor after every run practically…