Kraton Some issues during bashing, need help.

[habs0nut]

Hi!

I have a Kraton 6S v1 which I've had since 2016 but has been in storage until recently. I took it out for a test run a couple of weeks ago after buying some new batteries and everything went great. Today was a bit of a different story and I'm hoping to get some help on figuring a few things out. Everything is stock on it except the the RPM front bumper and read skid plate.

Took it to a large empty parking lot to do some general bashing. Nothing crazy, no jumps, just running around the lot. First issue occurred about 15 minutes in when the car decided to just veer right on me. Problem was I was at full throttle and when it turned, it was stopped by the concert pole it eventually hit. The lower pivot ball popped out and the eyelet thing that connects the shock to the a-arm broke. I don't what happened by I'm assuming the Kraton went out of range but I'm not really sure. It wasn't even that far away from where I was standing, maybe about 100 metres but I'm thinking it was less than that.

Luckily there's a hobby shop close by, so popped over for parts. I was able to fix it on site and get it back up and running. Everything was great until I had to change batteries. I put in my second pair of 2s batteries and continued. After I stopped for a few minutes, when I pulled on the trigger on my remote, nothing happened. I walked over to the truck and could hear the fans running so I knew there was power and I could turn the wheels, I just couldn't get it to move in either direction. I popped off the body and the blue light on the ESC was blinking 4 times, stop, 4 times, stop, etc... I didn't know what this meant so I did a quick search and saw that it's the low voltage warning. I figured it might be the batteries. This was my first time running them and thought maybe there was an issue with them (Zeee 2s 5200mAH 50C). I popped in my third set and things were good again until I stopped and let it idle for about a minute and the issue happened again. I switched it off and back on and everything was fine after that. That is until it was t-boned by a friend's Kraton. My pivot ball popped out again and I just figured it was time to call it a day.

For the issue where the truck just decided to make a hard right, is that an out of range issue? It seems really limited and this was the first time running it in such a wide open space. The guy I was with, he has an upgraded radio (not exactly sure what he has) and he definitely had a lot more range than me. I was also finding that there was a bit of a lag when trying to steer at higher speeds.

Do pivot balls pop out often? I had the same one do it twice. There doesn't seem to be any damage to the housing and it came out clean on both impacts.

As for the low voltage warning kicking in, could this mean I need to replace the ESC or is it possible it could be the batteries? I have three pairs of 2s batteries. One pair of gensacearespammers 2s 5000mAH 50c which run fine and I picked up 4 Zeee 2s 5200mAH 50c off Amazon and those were the ones that I started to have this issue with.

Thanks!

 

[FatCatRC]

you need new steering nuckles to stop the balls falling out. The radio could probably be the issue for the random turn, I would toss a ne dumbo rc radio in it they are dirt cheap and a good upgrade in general. Range for days with those radios. If it's the stock servo then you might want to toss in a amazon cheapo in it and get a 20kg or up servo. And it's a v1 so the esc might be the issue for the battery problem, but at the same time leaving a rig "idle" for more than a few seconds is not great. If you are low on voltage and not notice the fans and reciever will quickly drain that battery to dangerously low volts.

 

[RC&recteq]

I second the dumbo radio. And very sorry to hear your day was issue after issue. I’ve had similar days with a few of my rigs and know it can be frustrating.
Also figured I’d chime in and let you know I had an issue with my Zeee 2s lipo this past week. I bought a 2 pack and just recently discovered one of them has a damaged cell and will only charge to 50-75 percent. If you have other batteries that work fine, I’d call Amazon and have them replace it. They’re sending me a new 2 pack no questions asked. Although I currently have weird feelings about the one battery dying early, I do have 2 other 3s Zeee batteries that run great in my Mojave.

 

[habs0nut]

Thanks for the replies! I took it out a couple of more times since Saturday. Did a bit of asphalt and grass yesterday and things seemed to be pretty good. I only ran through my gensacearespammers pair and it was just a quick 30 minute session.

Today I found a nice big empty parking lot and ran through all three sets of batteries. Everything was good and no low voltage issues. That said, I did have one issue on my third run when the Kraton stopped responding at one point. Instead of turning, it just kept going straight ahead and hit a curb head on. I was expecting some broken parts or at least that pivot ball to have popped out but nothing! Not sure if the RPM bumper I just installed had anything to do with that but I'll take it.

I'm not sure what happened. At first I was thinking it might have lost contact with the radio but I didn't have a single issue where it seemed like it went out of range. Is a radio something I should just go ahead and replace now anyway? I took a look for the Dumbo RC and I don't believe they are available in Canada. I did take a look at the Flysky FS-GT5 which I can grab off Amazon or my local hobby store. I also see Radio Link on Amazon, not sure if that would be a better option or not.

As for the servo, is there any of the Amazon ones I should be looking at or are they all basically the same as long as I get a 20kg+?