WTF HAPPENED

[FatCatRC]

and this is why I am done with the hobby......

 

[Jon NC RC]

and this is why I am done with the hobby......

Say it aint so, Fat Cat !!??!!??
Say it aint so...........

 

[Edge71]

Bummer don't give up buddy. Same happen to me. I got away from the cheeper batteries. And moved my on and off switch

 

[FatCatRC]

Say it aint so, Fat Cat !!??!!??
Say it aint so...........

Both my rigs are up for sale. I haven't had time to post pictures on the ad but ya they are for sale. They didn't catch fire but I'm tired of fixing something every run and I barely use them. I did have a battery explode but not in the car just in the storage bag.

 

[Surchaufeur]

Starting to think the best way to get a refund is to not ask for one. Wrote Zee and asked about hardcase high burst 4s lipos and sent pic explaining why. Even stated it was likely a failsafe failure. Just got this email response:View attachment 167013View attachment 167012
I think they misunderstood. I was asking for a better hardcased option recommendation.

Thats why i loved amazon lipos

 

[kreeg]

That is one reason that I do not use soft packs.

#HardPacks4Life

 

[Greengaunja]

That is one reason that I do not use soft packs.

#HardPacks4Life

Granted, hard packs ARE better and safer. But that smack could have had the same result. In fact I'm surprised about something I've been concerned about.

The Hot Racing battery mount has what I would consider a flaw. The front and side rails are small and shaped in a manner that can pierce objects. I know that smack would crack a hard pack and send sharp plastic thought the lipo. When the lipo burned, I was sure it was the bottom one. I plane to cut some carbon fiber pieces, fit them against front and both side rails, drill and tap through rails and secure CF to rail with bolts for added protection.

 

[jkflow]

FYI, on your initial problem. Just tried something with my Radiolink RC6GS V2.
I was playing with throttle expo etc with a servo installed into the throttle channel, but long story short:

If the transmitter is off, and you just turn on the receiver, the throttle (servo) advances ~ 30% travel for the first ~2s until the receiver initializes.
This gets increasingly worse if you power cycle quickly on/off i.e. the servo was at max after 3 power cycles. This is with fail-safe at 0. One time is enough though to send the rig flying.
Servo/throttle etc will go back to normal after you turn on transmitter and stay in fail-safe when you turn it off.
Very poopy radio design tbh.
Yes, receiver was properly bound etc. Try it out yourself, with just a servo connected. I have never seen this on any other radio type. So much for cheap electronics.

 

[Megasty]

FYI, on your initial problem. Just tried something with my Radiolink RC6GS V2.
I was playing with throttle expo etc with a servo installed into the throttle channel, but long story short:

If the transmitter is off, and you just turn on the receiver, the throttle (servo) advances ~ 30% travel for the first ~2s until the receiver initializes.
This gets increasingly worse if you power cycle quickly on/off i.e. the servo was at max after 3 power cycles. This is with fail-safe at 0. One time is enough though to send the rig flying.
Servo/throttle etc will go back to normal after you turn on transmitter and stay in fail-safe when you turn it off.
Very poopy radio design tbh.
Yes, receiver was properly bound etc. Try it out yourself, with just a servo connected. I have never seen this on any other radio type. So much for cheap electronics.

I was wondering the same thing with my RC6GS. I don't like radios with long initialization pauses where it acts like it has to go on a literal walk through memory lane just to find the rx - while the servo is doing its own thing. I just had a PM1373 go poof during a start up. I knew it had something to do with the damn radio. I'm going back to the dumbo. I just wanted to try it out but I lost a Primal for it, never gave me a problem with the dumbo either.

 

[Dan B.]

Weren’t those Zee 5200’s hard case lipos? They look just like mine, and mine are hardcased. I just got 2 3S gensacearespammers basher batteries and they’re soft case. Makes me a little nervous, especially after a tumble that managed to eject them once. I’ve been cinching the crap out of the Velcro straps since then.

 

[Greengaunja]

FYI, on your initial problem. Just tried something with my Radiolink RC6GS V2.
I was playing with throttle expo etc with a servo installed into the throttle channel, but long story short:

If the transmitter is off, and you just turn on the receiver, the throttle (servo) advances ~ 30% travel for the first ~2s until the receiver initializes.
This gets increasingly worse if you power cycle quickly on/off i.e. the servo was at max after 3 power cycles. This is with fail-safe at 0. One time is enough though to send the rig flying.
Servo/throttle etc will go back to normal after you turn on transmitter and stay in fail-safe when you turn it off.
Very poopy radio design tbh.
Yes, receiver was properly bound etc. Try it out yourself, with just a servo connected. I have never seen this on any other radio type. So much for cheap electronics.

You ARE right on that part. My RC was looked over and tested for a warranty claim at the LHS. Their tech guy wasn't familiar with Radìolink and spent two days fiddling around with it because they are swamped with repair orders atm. Even installed my receiver in another car to familiarize himself with its functions. Horizon was good about this. Just wanted to be sure the failure was with Max 6 and not the transmitter, I was told that the way they spoke with the LHS, this has happened before. There will be no warranty claim, however they are putting new battery connections in for free. They feel the Max 6 will function properly and was undamaged(other than
Battery leads). Will know tomorrow.
Interestingly, he liked the Radiolink. Said there are drawbacks in the programming yet its a nice setup for those on a budget as it gives more options than most.

Weren’t those Zee 5200’s hard case lipos? They look just like mine, and mine are hardcased. I just got 2 3S gensacearespammers basher batteries and they’re soft case. Makes me a little nervous, especially after a tumble that managed to eject them once. I’ve been cinching the crap out of the Velcro straps since then.

No, mine were soft case. Yet I will recommend ZEE just for their customer service. I wrote and asked if they had hardcased versions as I saw none on Amazon. They DO make them but had no stock. And refunded my Amazon account (didn't even ask). So I ordered a pair of HRBs 6000MaH 50-100Cs. Yeah, soft case again but I'm going to mod up my Hot Racing battery mount with some carbon fiber plates. Basically make front and side walls mounted to the tiny ones already there.

 

[Greengaunja]

Guess whose BAAACCCKKK?

Not me. I mean, I was last night. For maybe a minute. Instead I'm back with another mystery

Remember the burnt side rail and skirt? Ditched them. Got my batteries mounted side by side now. Don't know know if anything changed for the better yet though.
Let's see, usually the best place to begin is the beginning so let's take up events after my last post.
Played arts and crafts with carbon fiber plates. Made me a nice esc mount that I might scrap in favour of a sideways mount. Also made 4 pieces to incorporate into my HR battery mount. So I have side by side batteries and lower center of gravity now. Sounds good, right.
Last weekend I actually finished it all, and did calibrations and endpoints but rain, time, and work prevented me from going for runs.
So last night, I take her out to get rid of that itch I've had. Get to the lot, set up everything, TURN ON TRANSMITTER FIRST, and then the esc. All seemed fine and I set the truck on the ground. Now I'm fully expecting to tune my steering so I give a small light pull on throttle only to have it go backwards. No biggie. I reverse throttle on the transmitter...and ka ka hits the fan.
The second I reverse throttle....look for two weeks I was testing the crap out of this. Full throttle with no front lifting. Last night she flipped. And that's a good thing as it was only 15/20 feet away. I rushed forward to shut it off, getting beach slapped by pieces of fine GRP threads.
It FLIPPED! Not only that, much like the time just before the fire, it was screaming and spinning like never before. 16.2(plus the carbon fiber) pounds FLIPPED from standstill.
I even "damaged" the body for the first time and she's been to hell and back more than once. I assume a piece of tire snagged it. Minor detail, yeah.
Here's my dilemma:
LHS swears Max 6 is fine and functioning as it should. He blames the Radiolink and only because he admits not knowing alot about them. He has read feedback from both jkflow and Alan about Radiolink and says they would know more than him and what they say didn't sound wrong to his knowledge. He said maybe receiver is issue but this receiver was pulled from my 3s because I wasn't too sure if second antenna was fried(was blistered from heat as it ran under the mount).
I'm being advised to put the idea of Radiolink to pasture.
But why? It performed remarkably well for me for 10-11 months. Maybe it's the radio? Time for a new one?
In all this time, it's has never done this while changing settings. It didn't do this when I calibrated and set endpoints. I'm curious about the reversed polarity. I won't swear it, but I'm sure I would have noticed forward was going backwards when I did the initial setups before I took it out to test.
So here is the mystery: two receivers, same radio, same esc both took off when they shouldn't have. Both times the truck throttled like it had a fresh blast of nitro. Both times truck responded well testing on bench but went balls up when placed on road.
ESC or Radio?


Damage isn't "set back" bad. Two ruined GRPs. Small body tear. Broken rear link. Lost dog bone(way it throttled I'm sure it hit Mars by now,) More "character scuffs"

 

[*420+3RC*]

Of course I am no help here for the problems. But wanted to send some good vibes bro. Hope u get it figured out.

 

[Greengaunja]

Of course I am no help here for the problems. But wanted to send some good vibes bro. Hope u get it figured out.

Hell even that comment helps.
I have no issue buying another Radiolink radio. Yet I don't have these same problems with the Senton 3s. Which is why I'm leaning towards it not being the problem.
The Max 6 can and does take 8s. But is it possible the receiver is being overloaded? I don't know enough about these systems to conclusively say so. But something is happening and the only new thing introduced before the fire was a proper calibration. And that was done to solve the issue of reverse being so much faster than forward.

 

[SrC]

FYI, on your initial problem. Just tried something with my Radiolink RC6GS V2.
I was playing with throttle expo etc with a servo installed into the throttle channel, but long story short:

If the transmitter is off, and you just turn on the receiver, the throttle (servo) advances ~ 30% travel for the first ~2s until the receiver initializes.
This gets increasingly worse if you power cycle quickly on/off i.e. the servo was at max after 3 power cycles. This is with fail-safe at 0. One time is enough though to send the rig flying.
Servo/throttle etc will go back to normal after you turn on transmitter and stay in fail-safe when you turn it off.
Very poopy radio design tbh.
Yes, receiver was properly bound etc. Try it out yourself, with just a servo connected. I have never seen this on any other radio type. So much for cheap electronics.

I notice this with some radios. Radio ON 1st. Radio Off last. I don't rely on FS at all. Especially when initializing any ESC.
Had a runaway at full throttle that traveled far and almost into a highway. A rain ditch/swail saved it. wrecked it bad. My Kraton. OE Radio.
Could have caused a highway pile up. OMG. What a mess that would have been.

 

[Doom!]

@Greengaunja Not sure what the heck you've got going on. Sounds like you did everything in the right order this time. You've been using the radio link for a while so it's not that you are just unfamiliar with it. At this point I don't even want to venture a guess, I'll let the guys with brains chime in.

OK, just remembered to ask, have you created a new profile, and set up the radio from scratch, instead of using the setup you already have? some times it helps to clear it and create a new one. just a thought.

 

[Ginglehopper]

"THE GREAT RE RE REBUILD!" Lmao

So true. So true. I wasnt sure what I was dealing with when I grabbed it and stuck my fingers between body and fenders to shut it off. And when I took the body off, left it for over an hour didn't even attempt to remove battery(the rc isn't worth whatever could happen if second blew up). The officer approached it until I told him there was a possibility of the second lipo going off. By this point I already had my fire extinguisher from my truck ready.
That's just it. I expected an explosion but got the slow hot burn instead. And im very surprised the second didn't go up. It even looks usable, although I'm chucking it. Can't ever trust it.View attachment 166949

Charge 'em up and shoot 'em. Use a junk charger and charge it outside.

 

[SrC]

@Greengaunja Not sure what the heck you've got going on. Sounds like you did everything in the right order this time. You've been using the radio link for a while so it's not that you are just unfamiliar with it. At this point I don't even want to venture a guess, I'll let the guys with brains chime in.

OK, just remembered to ask, have you created a new profile, and set up the radio from scratch, instead of using the setup you already have? some times it helps to clear it and create a new one. just a thought.

^^^This.

 

[Greengaunja]

@Greengaunja Not sure what the heck you've got going on. Sounds like you did everything in the right order this time. You've been using the radio link for a while so it's not that you are just unfamiliar with it. At this point I don't even want to venture a guess, I'll let the guys with brains chime in.

OK, just remembered to ask, have you created a new profile, and set up the radio from scratch, instead of using the setup you already have? some times it helps to clear it and create a new one. just a thought.

Alan gave me advice on calibration issues I had before. Just before the fire incident, I reset everything to zero and calibrated. I did keep my other profile for the 3s though and even though I switched receivers, I used a different profile for new 6s setup

*8s

 

[jkflow]

"Now I'm fully expecting to tune my steering so I give a small light pull on throttle only to have it go backwards. No biggie. I reverse throttle on the transmitter...and ka ka hits the fan"

Oh boy, classic failure on throttle adjust. Add the DO NOT EVER use the 'REVERSE' switch while it's live, to the list, at least not the throttle. Steering is harmless if it does go wrong. The only proper way would have been is to flip 2 motor wires.

Don't feel too bad, I fell into the same trap, but I do this with wheels up and know better to flip that silly little switch. Actually happened to me on my RC boat, and it almost played submarine.

You must follow the 'Futaba' setup for Radiolink for any ESC. Nail this to your forehead
"For Futaba TM radio transmitter, the direction of throttle channel shall be set to “REV”, while other radio systems shall be set to “NOR”.
Next, you do the full throttle range adjust.
Last, IF your motor is spinning the wrong way, either flip 2 motor wires OR you have to go into the ESC menu and reverse rotation. Anything else will result in disaster.

That is your current problem, nothing to do with Radiolink specifically.

Flipping the Reverse/Normal introduces a new off-set to the ESC, and it goes ape-kaka. That is on Spektrum as well, I dare anyone to try it but be prepared for a nasty surprise, i.e don't try this just for fun. Most likely, nothing will happen unless you have a ESC offset that is on a borderline of a dead zone (not visible to anyone).

Other comments
I'm not a friend of re-using profiles, and I have all models/receivers set to a specific ID.
1. Did you ever accidentally mess with the failsafe menu? Check that it's all at zero.
2. Was throttle trim at zero when calibrating? If not, it would off-set during loss of reception and fail-safe would no longer be zero in reality.
3. Brown out. What servo are you using? Seemed like your problem started when you were on surface, i.e. high stress on servo, while you probably had them dangling in the air when inside. If the servo kills the BEC voltage all kinds of bad stuff can happen.