Broken RC-M battery tray
 

Hey guys, I was driving my truggy yesterday, pulled in to check temps and noticed my battery was moved back about 2cm. The entire back of the tray broke out. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, and no jumps either. It was just on the street, and the worst crash I had was the truck just flipped over onto its feet again. Here is a pic of the tray:

The same thing happened to mine. It tore the end just like yours. It happened in one of the jumps and I didn't even flip it or anything. I was just surprised that the truck just stopped and I was thinking it might had been the MMM going bad.

Did Mike replace yours?

Maybe it's just the picture, but it looks like the sides of the trays are much thinner than they use to be. The sides of mine are almost 4mm thick. I have one of the FP 5000mAh trays that I bought about a year ago. Or, maybe Mike has been using a different material?

My tray is much thicker looking than the broken one in the pictures and its holding up great, seems plenty strong.

The tray walls have gotten thicker over time, but we have probably got 1000 or so trays out there(average about 50 per month). Some of these will break, but it is not what I would call common. Return the broken tray and we replace it for 1/2 price(with a thicker-walled tray if deemed necessary).

Great! Thanks Mike! Should I send the velcro straps with it as well?

You can send them with the tray and we will send them back. Or, wrap the velcro straps around your chassis brace so you don't lose them. :)

Also, I doubt the broken trays described here actually broke during the described activities. A rolling truck won't likely brake the tray unless there is a big, heavy battery in it that is pretty loosely fixed and can slam back and forth into the tray walls. Most likely scenario would be that the trays broke the previous time out when the user "porked the landing on that big jump" or "nosed the big triple at 30mph", but didn't notice(or completely break) the broken tray. I haven't broken a tray in 2 years - I don't crash a lot, but I do crash - and sometime pretty spectacularly!
Getting a tray that fits the batteries is a good precautionary step. Cinching the velcro straps down tightly is also wise practice. A small pack in a big tray that is loosely held is a recipe for failure - there is a lot of inertia when a pound+ of mass is slammed into the tray end. Of course this isn't good for the battery, either. :)

The battery is heavy- a 6s 4900. But, the tray is the correct size (48x168mm) and the battery straps were cinched as far as they'd go.

Yep, the tray is the right size - probably cracked on a previous run with a more serious crash, but went unnoticed. I wasn't implying that you were guilty of any of these things, either - I was only trying to discuss "what not to do" and likely causes of failure to help avoid any future failures from new and existing users. :)

My battery is huge too. Polyquest 5S 6K. I'll shipped mine once our ship gets back inport in about a week (we're somewhere in the Pacific Ocean right now).

That is probably what happened. A hairline crack formed from a previous crash and the tray gave way under normal driving. I will ship the tray tomorrow- do you want me to put a note in the package saying why I sent the tray back? Or will you know by seeing that it is broken?

Please include a note so everything is clear - I tend to email and converse with LOTS of people, so without a note I may be temporarily confused. :)

Will do- thanks Mike!

industrial velcro on the bottom of the tray and the battery helps stop lateral movement...

Ironically I was going to do that after that run.

Thats what I do to my trays!

Joselito(George) - your tray arrived here today. The tray is an old one(likely a year old or more, as it is the old style tray). I also suspect it was procured 2nd hand by you, as I can't find a purchase record from you for a tray. I assume you have the spacer still attached to the chassis? Our newer trays have the spacer built in - would you like the newer style or the older flat bottom style for a replacement? The inside was also modified slightly on one wall - do you need some extra room on the inside to prevent it from bowing out?

Ian(BL_RVO) - haven't seen your tray yet.
:)

Thats service! Good job Mike!

that above and beyond service. kudos, mike.

Mike- I actually bought another tray used from my lhs (some guy was parting out a BL truggy there, and just happened to have one of your 48x168mm trays in it so I bought it for $15. I'll get around to sending in the tray one of these days... :oh:

Mike, I bought the battery tray from a forum member last November when I did my ST RR conversion. The spacer is still attached to my chassis :intello:. If you don't mind, I'd like to have the newer style. I do need an extra room on the inside. Can you make it 168mm x 48mm instead of the stock 168mm x 45mm?

We are currently out at sea and scheduled to return to port in a couple weeks for about 5 days. I hope to be able to receive it by then because after 5 days in port, we'll be on our way to our deployment and first stop is Perth, Australia for the 4th of July and hoping to be able to run my truck (along with others from the ship) with the locals:party::party::party:.

Thank you very much. Let me know via pm if there are any additional charges.