Why doesn't my MMM work anymore?
 

Hi guys,

Recently I was jumping my RC8Te in my garden when the car suddenly stopped. It didn't do anything anymore but the magic white smoke was still inside. So I decided to check the switch and what do ya know, it failed on me. So after removing the switch it worked perfectly again. But just before I wanted to call it a day the car did.

I brought it inside and to my surprise I couldn't get the ESC to turn on anymore (tried different LiPo's, disconnected and connected all the cable but nothing worked). The switch cables were still solidly together and all the other cables seem to be fine as well. I tried the ESC in my Flux XL but no response there either.

I just hooked it up to my PC and it works flawlessly on there (first I loaded standard settings but that didn't help, after that I upgraded the firmware from 1.21 to 1.24 Beta but still no response). So I decided the check the inside for any damage or what ever but everythings looks perfectly fine.

Does anyone have the golden tip for me to get this thing running again??

Thanks!
Greeting from the noob.

From your description, you may have cracked a part or a solder joint. Send it in, we'll get you fixed up.

Patrick

Is there a way I could visually check that before sending it in ?

How long would it app take to check/fix it going from a cracked solder joint? Since I saw you guys were also planning on moving and all ;)

You don't have to worry about the move -- we are keeping our building that we are in now.

If you have a good quality microscope you can visually check it - -but you won't be able to see a cracked via (which is another possibility...)

-Patrick

aka: no I can't check it myself :lol:

Well I'll be sending it in than. Will read the website concerning the procedure. Thanks Patrick!!

Shit, I can't find the damned receipt anymore (I'm finding receipts of $2 items I purchased and stuff but not the MMM one, don't understand where it's gone to, if I ever had one).

How to proceed? Is there a way you can check if this thing is still under warrenty via a serialnumber of something similar? It's not modified except for the removal of the switch.

Do you buy it with a credit card? How about an online source? Most places keep copies of receipts these days so I would check those avenues first. If not don't worry, PDC/CC will take care of you. Patrick has always gone above and beyond.

Nopes, I bought it from someone else. I believe he also gave me the receipt but starting to have questions about that now. Normally I'm freaky about those stuff and I always keep receipts and boxes and stuff... I will try to contact the seller, though I don't have high hopes from that (in his email response it seemed like had a screw loose).

There is a manufacturing date sticker on the circuit board, so we can at least check the date of manufacture for you.

Just state that you lost the receipt, and we'll check to be sure it's within a reasonable age.

Thanx!

Patrick

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_oXx8nzDDQME/S9...4/P1050541.JPG

Is it from 10-2008 :o ?? I bought it on 20-10-2009 and he said he had it for half a year. Either he was lying or is was lying in stock for a long long while.

Yes, that is an October 2008 manufacture date.

Kinda hard to see if anything looks obvious from the darkish picture, but things look ok except maybe the discoloring on the BEC coil, but that could be natural or just dirty. Maybe the BEC died? You can check that with a voltmeter.

Is it me, or is there a component missing right there???

Yup, looks like there is a component missing. The only decent picture (pay no attention to the arrow/circles) I have of that area doesn't show the value though.

So, I guess your choices are:

- See if it will be warrantied

- If not, try to find a replacement component and solder it back on. At worst, it still won't work or you mess it up more. Either way, if it wasn't covered by warranty, you still have the $70 replacement plan cost, so might as well try to see what you can do.

Send it in with the $70 - its over the year... and looks like it was shock damage...

Can't afford for Castle to go bust.... :)

@ Pdelcast / Patrick, thanks for the confirmation.

@ Brian, will take a better pic tomorrow. No idea where the BEC is located, will go search for that now :)

@ What's_nitro?, damn, even with the picture of Brian it took me time to find that thingy is missing...

@ Brian, I will see what Pdelcast says :). Any idea where I could find a replacement component? It's my second time that I've seen an ESC from ''the inside'' so it's all magic to me, haha.

@ Arct1k, can't have that, but can't have myself go bust either :lol: (yeah, that's what you get for being a student @ 24 years of age)

The bec coil is that large black square component with the circle in the middle- you can test it by hooking up the esc to a battery & rx, then test the voltage coming from the rx or throttle lead pins. If you dont get lights on the esc when you give it throttle input then the esc is fubar ( same as no bec output voltage = fubar ).

Do I have to pay shipping costs back to my on top of the $70?

Shipping to the US will cost me $30+, so if I would have to pay $30 + $70 + $30 .. than perhaps I'm better off buying myself a new one.

ps. the $ if getting more expensive :(

Nope, no missing components. I had my MMM apart this morning to replace the fan but every thing else works fine.


http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/a...c4/D8/0012.jpg

The $70.00 flat repair fee for the Monster includes the new controller, shipping back to you and a new one year warranty.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

Sounds good, thanks Thomas!

Some other stuff came up but I finally had some time to figure out the shipping back. Is it right I can only pay with Credit Card (no PayPal or bank transfer) ?? I don't have a CC so I would have to borrow one from my dad or something.

We accept Credit Cards (Visa, MasterCard and American Express), Money Orders and Personal checks.

Thomas Porfert
Castle Tech Support

No idea how those last few work so I will borrow the CC from my dad, super service!

I recieved a new ESC today. Will solder on some EC5's and test it out asap. Thanks Castle!!

YEA!Castle rocks!

+1 :party:

They just recieved one of mine yesterday at there new location.I have plenty of MMM on other cars so it's fine.PERFECTION is the key:lol:

I got my new monster about a week ago. Gotta love that awesome cs.

wouldnt it just be better if you all had ones like mine which dont break :P