Senton Senton 3s ESC died AGAIN! What´s the next best thing?

[ViljoBash]

Ok,hi all!Bought Arrma senton 3s 4x4 blx while ago...and I´m REALLY loving it!!!Wonderful thing this is!
But now she´s giving me hard time.Drove across a puddle of water several times,and nothing.Drove yet another battery after that,all fine.

At morning wanted to drive more but nothing happens,it just studders a while and then nothing at all.So I read about it and problem seems to be in the ESC.
Ok,I ordered another one.Installed it and IT GOES AGAIN!Happy days....or....minutes!I´ve aslo read that people have had many problems with these ESC´s.

So another fresh ESC died.It wasn´t rough driving either.It went couple of time over,and kind of seized for a moment.Then the last tumble killed it...it rolled few times and stopped completely.Now the ESC won´t even go on,nothing happens.Full battery and everything of that nature should be in order.

Tired of this!!What is the next best thing to this???Plug and play.I really like this machine but fresh ESC right out the box did this,lost my faith with these.

Sorry about the language,english isn´t my native language.

All help preciated,
Thank you
-Viljo

 

[jondilly1974]

You sure it’s not a wire, motor, or battery problem?

 

[crimsonfancy]

Welcome! Your english is easy to understand. I agree with above that maybe there could be a short in the electrics wiring or similar that could cause a new esc to fail. If everything is in good shape, maybe consider warranty on the new esc?
Otherwise, you can find many options here in the forum for alternate electrics than what comes stock. I've not had any trouble with my vehicles in this case but expect it could happen at any time. I rarely run in water, snow or wet conditions though. Not opposed to running in water or mud and plan to build something soon to handle it....just haven't yet.

 

[sentonist]

Ok,hi all!Bought Arrma senton 3s 4x4 blx while ago...and I´m REALLY loving it!!!Wonderful thing this is!
But now she´s giving me hard time.Drove across a puddle of water several times,and nothing.Drove yet another battery after that,all fine.

At morning wanted to drive more but nothing happens,it just studders a while and then nothing at all.So I read about it and problem seems to be in the ESC.
Ok,I ordered another one.Installed it and IT GOES AGAIN!Happy days....or....minutes!I´ve aslo read that people have had many problems with these ESC´s.

So another fresh ESC died.It wasn´t rough driving either.It went couple of time over,and kind of seized for a moment.Then the last tumble killed it...it rolled few times and stopped completely.Now the ESC won´t even go on,nothing happens.Full battery and everything of that nature should be in order.

Tired of this!!What is the next best thing to this???Plug and play.I really like this machine but fresh ESC right out the box did this,lost my faith with these.

Sorry about the language,english isn´t my native language.

All help preciated,
Thank you
-Viljo

That sounds very similar to the issue I had with mine. I figured since it was such a common issue with it, that I just ended up getting a castle sw4. Since I declined horizon sending me a new ESC, I had them fund me online credit towards their propitiatory products. But yeah, I was bashing mine really hard, and it all the sudden started to stutter, and sometimes it would act on it's own. I took it to a hobby shop, and they said that a capacitor was fried. There's nothing you can likely do, but you might just try doing what I did, and look into another ESC and get Horizon to credit you on it.

 

[ViljoBash]

Tried again this morning with all the batteries I have.It flashes red like one second and then nothing.Wiggled the wires and stuff,one of the batteries makes tiny spark when connecting,normal??
Will look at the connections and wires later and
Will try to change the other busted esc and see if that still does the stuttering...that would rule out the motor,I think?

 

[SrC]

Set ESC to default settings if they are not and were changed at some point.

 

[ViljoBash]

It didn´t let me reset or anything,one brief red flash and that was it,the fan spun little and nothing.ON-OFF-ON-OFF did nothing,only was I was able to get the red flash again was to remove battery and connecting it again.

I did all the magic to the first esc too...reseted and all that,checked the settings.I think that one is really toasted.I think the water puddle did the trick on it,waterproof...not so!And it wasn´t like submarine stuff,just a puddle and it drove fine after that too.

Ok,but I just went with high hopes and tested the new one again,and it worked!!!But only with one of the batteries.

So what the heck??I tested it with all the batteries yesterday and nothing happened.Now two of the batteries had same result and with third one it worked.Could I really have two bad batteries?They are new and have been charged and handed like they should.
I try to charge them to full,and see what happens.Although they were pretty full,atleast so that the esc should have turned on.

By the way,it says in the instructions that battery requirement minimun is 50C 5000mAh.Is that like performance wise or what?What would happen if you used,say 4300mAh 25C battery??New to this so it might be stupid question.

 

[gramser57]

If you are using a low C rating than recommended you run the risk of not giving enough juice to your ESC which will cause it run hot and will shorten the life span of your ESC. I run SMC hard packs, they are 90C and they have good pricing.

 

[Adamj804]

Plug the ESC into the receiver port where the servo is plugged into. If you don’t get any power there then it is mostly the ESC and not the receiver.

 

[ViljoBash]

Ok,thanks for the info guys.Seems little counterintuitive that thing with C-ratings and mAh´s...is it only the C-rating that counts or mAh as well??

Got much more info about these things,thanks to you all.And good news,I tried again tonight and it worked.Don´t have the opportunity to drive untill tomorrow but seems alright.Again only one battery worked good,other one might have some issues with the wiring.It worked a bit and had to wiggle the wires,at the connector...it has adaptor plug and I don´t like it.Don´t seem very reliable.The 2s battery that I have also did nothing,will try to charge it up again tomorrow and see if it´ll come up.
Must get more decent batteries,and with the other plug,not deans.Suggestions?5000mAh and 50C minimum

 

[razorrc]

Maybe your charger is not charging them full. And you're hitting low voltage cutoff. A lot them come with a preset to a max mah they will charge (or time) and it's too low and they won't charge your batteries fully. I've seen several people run into that. Sounds like you're not sure what your batteries are actually charged to, get a tester and check the voltage.

 

[ViljoBash]

Yeah,something is wrong with the batteries.Or charger.I drove this morning one of them,then tried to charge it...charger says its full and reads 15.6v.Measured it and its 11.18v.But the car wont go anywhere with it.Ill try to storage charge it later.
Another battery says connection error.Measures at 7.82v
One of the batteries charges and goes fine,measures fine.
Charger cut-off is at 10.000mAh,120mins

But something good,got to drive two full batteries and the car seems to be working.Bended shock,from an encounter with solid obstacle...no biggy.

 

[ViljoBash]

Ok,the other battery is somehow gone.Charger wont charge it,it flashes the right voltage and jumps to too much and says its full.
Tried to discharge it too,did nothing.Tried to storage charge it and now the charger thinks it has 17.8v.How this can be??
Now I have only one functional battery,thats a real bummer.