Senton Senton 3S slowed after running through the grass just fine.

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hello all -- i seem to have the same issue. i am new to the hobby ( again - had a frog and wild willie in the mid 80s as a 6 year old) and i was running my senton blx in a park yesterday while my dog chased around after it. i have the same issue -- maybe about 5 minutes in the senton basically went it like half throttle - with me pulling 100% on the transmitter. if i let on and off of the throttle quickly it would start back up. however a flip of the one and off switch would take care of the problem immediately.

i kept seeing a limp mode being discussed here on this topic -- pardon my ignorance but i would assume that would mean that the car goes into a safe mode preventing overheating of the engine and will throttle down? about how many minutes at 75% throttle should limp mode kick in?

as far as my batteries i also have also purchased lectron pros 11.1 5200mah. i have two of them, and on both batteries the issue happened.

i do have video on my go pro that i stuck to the senton with my dog chasing that shows the issue happening first hand.

WD
 
Alarm on order, but even with prime amazon 2 day is now 5 days out, cyber Monday rush.

As a side note, how long do you wait to cut off the ec5, I plan on running XT60's, and shorten the wire, to much in there, will they warranty after 6 months on electrics? Should I wait till 2 years up?

If it's a IC5 you just have to pull the plastic piece back and unsolder no need to cut. IC5 solder like XT connectors. If you actually shorten the wire I am not sure they will still warranty it. Sometimes they don't even tell you to send it back for warranty but they might. I would switch to XT90 on the esc and one of the good 3s batteries you have then use a adapter down to XT60 for use in like your crawlers.
 
If it's a IC5 you just have to pull the plastic piece back and unsolder no need to cut. IC5 solder like XT connectors. If you actually shorten the wire I am not sure they will still warranty it. Sometimes they don't even tell you to send it back for warranty but they might. I would switch to XT90 on the esc and one of the good 3s batteries you have then use a adapter down to XT60 for use in like your crawlers.
Thanks for the feed back, and yes it has the ic5. I will have to rethink the connector issue, if I end up with a bigger battery it would be to big for use in the crawlers, the smc battery only fits the trx4 with a lcg battery tray, it does not fit in the axial's. If I get a 6000-8000mah 2 or 3 s I would not use it in the crawlers anyway.
Mike
i kept seeing a limp mode being discussed here on this topic -- pardon my ignorance but i would assume that would mean that the car goes into a safe mode preventing overheating of the engine and will throttle down? about how many minutes at 75% throttle should limp mode kick in?
/QUOTE]

Limp mode is low voltage cutout to protect battery and esc. Over heat protection just shuts it down I believe. Once I hit lvc I turned truck off then on and ran at 75% on radio to finish out battery. LVC is supposed to be 3.4 volts per cell. You need a Low Voltage Buzzer Alarm to be sure thats what is shutting it down. Many options available thats what I just ordered.
 
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Ok, got 3 tattle tale alarms, set one for 3.6 volts and the senton trips before the alarm on 3s, still was at 4v per cell, reset truck and ran at 75% on radio after a while the alarm tripped, 3.85v on ea cell, then made a couple more passes before senton tripped. Battery was 11.30v or 3.77 a cell, 30%. Made a run with 2s and ran to alarm at 3.6 v, forget what v battery was, pulled alarm and ran until senton tripped, 6v 3.0 per cell, not good, very inconsistent. 2s is old maybe getting week but ran for 25+ min, went into limp at far end of yard and drove back 200 ft before I pulled battery. At the same time my son ran his granite and the alarm tripped well before it went into limp mode, and when it did it had 3.1 v on 2s. Will defiantly go by the tattle tale on 2 s from now on with these batteries.

Next I switched the badlands to the tires from the granite, full charge smc battery again, and the truck and tattle tale went off very close at about 3.85v. 50-55% Ran better, easier to control.

Maybe the aggressiveness of the badlands are drawing more amps since it hooks up more, wheelies every time I floor it, with the granite wheels it rarely wheelied must slip more on the grass?

Will try the granite with the badlands and see what happens, hard to get home in daylight this time of year in Michigan.

Quick pic of paint job, more in painting forum.
 

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Ok, got 3 tattle tale alarms, set one for 3.6 volts and the senton trips before the alarm on 3s, still was at 4v per cell, reset truck and ran at 75% on radio after a while the alarm tripped, 3.85v on ea cell, then made a couple more passes before senton tripped. Battery was 11.30v or 3.77 a cell, 30%. Made a run with 2s and ran to alarm at 3.6 v, forget what v battery was, pulled alarm and ran until senton tripped, 6v 3.0 per cell, not good, very inconsistent. 2s is old maybe getting week but ran for 25+ min, went into limp at far end of yard and drove back 200 ft before I pulled battery. At the same time my son ran his granite and the alarm tripped well before it went into limp mode, and when it did it had 3.1 v on 2s. Will defiantly go by the tattle tale on 2 s from now on with these batteries.

Next I switched the badlands to the tires from the granite, full charge smc battery again, and the truck and tattle tale went off very close at about 3.85v. 50-55% Ran better, easier to control.

Maybe the aggressiveness of the badlands are drawing more amps since it hooks up more, wheelies every time I floor it, with the granite wheels it rarely wheelied must slip more on the grass?

Will try the granite with the badlands and see what happens, hard to get home in daylight this time of year in Michigan.

Quick pic of paint job, more in painting forum.
I like the paint job! As far as your cell voltage, are you simply dividing the total voltage by cell count or are you actually checking the real voltage of each cell? I only ask because you seem to imply above that you are just dividing. That would not be an accurate way of knowing. You could have one cell that is 3.0 and two at 3.8 and you would think they all were 3.5.
 
I like the paint job! As far as your cell voltage, are you simply dividing the total voltage by cell count or are you actually checking the real voltage of each cell? I only ask because you seem to imply above that you are just dividing. That would not be an accurate way of knowing. You could have one cell that is 3.0 and two at 3.8 and you would think they all were 3.5.
All 3 cells are the same to the tenths, hundredths off a couple but close enough, the tattle tale shows ea cell and total, it does not say which cell tripped alarm, I also have a cell checker that shows % and voltage of each cell. Everything shows accurate to the tenths against my fluke 87 IV.
 
Your method is flawed unfortunately.. the standing voltage your reading doesn't mean anything.. your looking for voltage dip under load... so your standing voltage is deceiving you..

The blx100 has a lvc of 3.4 per cell for limp mode...

Limp mode is a safety cutoff for the battery.. not temps... the temp cutoff if engaged will cut all power.. 2 different things...

The 3.4v limp mode only has to get there for a split second to engage.. if your alarm goes off at 3.6v it doesn't mean it stopped there, especially if it entered limp mode..
 
What method is the right one? What records voltage dip under load?

I do not have a camera to mount and look at voltage real time and do not know of any lv alarms that show what cell dropped first and what that voltage was. Maybe there out there but I didn't see them. I can only use the tools available to me.

I am getting lvc, limp mode, on senton without lv alarm being tripped when its set at 3.6, they might only look at one cell at a time or total voltage divided by 3, I don't know.

I have found many on this forum and others that are having similar problem with this newer style blx esc with the caps vs the older style without..
 
Yes correct.. I'm one of those people ..bigger batteries seems to solve everyone's issue.. I'm currently trying to devise a plan to lower the lvc to 3.2v through firmware.. but for now bigger c ratings fixes the issue for pretty much all..

You answered your own question, camera would be the only way to monitor voltage under load, unless you made some sort of chassis dyno...

I beleive the esc's are more sensitive on thier lvc compared to the alarms low voltage alarm time wise..
 
I made a Y adapter with 12 Gauge wire and ran both Power hobby 5200mah 50c 3s batteries and it didn't trip until it hit 3.85 v. Gave me only 10 min run time. I don't believe its a battery issue, I will be calling them to see what they have to say, I tested it every way I can.

I really didn't want to buy more batteries but may end up with 2 smc 8000mah batteries, it is plenty fast on 2s but I do enjoy pulling wheelies on 3s.

Thanks for all your input to resolve issue.

edit, I will add that it didn't wheelie with all that weight until full speed and I think that was just from the fusion body lifting it.
 
I made a Y adapter with 12 Gauge wire and ran both Power hobby 5200mah 50c 3s batteries and it didn't trip until it hit 3.85 v. Gave me only 10 min run time. I don't believe its a battery issue, I will be calling them to see what they have to say, I tested it every way I can.

I really didn't want to buy more batteries but may end up with 2 smc 8000mah batteries, it is plenty fast on 2s but I do enjoy pulling wheelies on 3s.

Thanks for all your input to resolve issue.

edit, I will add that it didn't wheelie with all that weight until full speed and I think that was just from the fusion body lifting it.
If we are taking about a Senton with stock wheels and tires, I think it would be hard to get a ton of wheelies with that small of tire. Have you checked your slipper clutch? It’s also possible that is loose and not giving you all the power available. Sorry if this was already discussed.
 
If we are taking about a Senton with stock wheels and tires, I think it would be hard to get a ton of wheelies with that small of tire. Have you checked your slipper clutch? It’s also possible that is loose and not giving you all the power available. Sorry if this was already discussed.
Not stock wheels, Badlands 15T pinion with 1 3s battery its hard to keep front end down, running 2 batteries the extra weight keeps it down.
 
Not stock wheels, Badlands 15T pinion with 1 3s battery its hard to keep front end down, running 2 batteries the extra weight keeps it down.
I’m surprised there is enough room for a second pack. ??
 
Arrma customer service is amazing, I called a week ago or so and they sent email asking for pics and full description of problem. I replied with pics and details, they replied ESCs sound bad and will send replacements. Christmas Eve fedex dropped off 2 Senton’s, New unopened trucks. My kids and I were floored. I swapped out esc from new truck and ran all my batteries through my Senton and Lvc tripped at 3.7 v or so per cell. Perfect.
Ran old esc through new truck and it tripped at 4v per cell proof it was not my batteries. 2 s batteries with lvc alarm works so I ordered parts to convert 1 of the sentons to a big rock for my daughter. About $120, Couldn’t be happier....I will only use Oem parts only for future breaks.

They probably had no esc’s in stock so they sent what they had most of but huge win for my family.

On a funny side my wife thought I bought 2 new trucks, took a few to convince her it was warranty...
 
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