Help Please Castle - My Ice HV ESC is behaving weird
 

Hi Castle!

Hope you are all well!

I have just got my truck running and my ESC (ICE HV 160) is now behaving weird...

I was doing a speed run last night and the truck was pulling harder than ever on 6s, it has been running nicely for the past few days with the ESC performing flawlessly on 6s and 9s and not going above 113 degrees F or 45degreesC

As i was running it on 9s yesterday on some 5000mah nanotech lipos 45/90c, i was building the speed of the truck up to around 50mph and then suddenly LOSS of power...

I ran to the truck thinking something would go BOOM, but everything was fine... The ESC was normal temps, motor was normal temps around 120F...

I unplugged the lipos, and plugged them back in... But nothing. So i tried plugging 6s worth of lipos in.

The ESC turned on! started beeping and then after all the beeps had completed, it TURNED OFF?

I then tried it on 3s and the ESC turned on, did the beeps, and then i drove it very slowly around, and it seemed fine... ALL of a sudden, it turned off, and then turned it self back on... did the beeps, and then turned off...

Basically it isnt staying on? Very funny...

I havent had time to had a closer look, but is there anything i should look out for???

THANKS A LOT CASTLE!!!! PLEASE HELP ME GET THIS TRUCK RUNNING AGAIN!

for your reference the ESC has only been used 8 times MAX and not even full runs as my pinions keep on snapping haha


Thanks

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...6-04154347.jpg

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...6-04154443.jpg

¿motor? ....... ¿temperatures of the motor?

The motor is a 1520, temperatures were 113F. Not hot at all... It is a fairly brand new motor. i would say no more than 15 packs of lipos run through it

Isn't it an opto ESC - Are you sure it isnt the BEC or do you still get steering...

Could be as simple as a loose connection on rx cable.

Arctic

when you say "opto ESC" - what do you mean?

My BEC is fine, my steering worked yesterday.

It could be a loose connection, but i would understand i had crashed and it started behaving like that... but i was just driving in a straight line when it started to cut out ???

Arctic

when you say "opto ESC" - what do you mean?

My BEC is fine, my steering worked yesterday.

It could be a loose connection, but i would understand i had crashed and it started behaving like that... but i was just driving in a straight line when it started to cut out ???

Edit: I had time to check my set-up and when I turn the BEC off, the ESC doesn't go through it's start-up beeps again - so it doesn't sound like a BEC problem would cause exactly what you are seeing.

Now you could lose power if the BEC dropped off, because it powers the rx, but that wouldn't explain why you get the start-up beeps again.

I think the ESC must be losing power from the lipos to exhibit that behavior, or the ESC itself is faulty.

Thanks for clearing that up brian... i will make sure my connections are still good. But there is no reason why they wouldnt... i havent had any large crashes or anything

I think the instructions say not to hard mount the ESC. How does the bec feed the HV ICE? Through the RX? Sounds to me like he is losing main HV power. Loose cap maybe? Cold solder joint? Did you wiggle the wires to look for shorts?

Sorry bud... but what do you mean by "hard mount" the esc?

I havent had time to look at the esc this evening...

but i believe the ESC is being powered from the lipos?
The BEC just powers my servo...

The esc wire connects to my Pistix which then connects to the Y harness and then to the RX....??? it has been working absolutely fine for the last few runs, so why would it mis behave now?

"hard mount" means that it is mounted directly to something via screws or a ziptie. Maybe mount it with just some double sided tape for some cushion, or put some foam under it and secure with a ziptie but not super tight.

Is that really going to make a difference?? I mean, in a car when it crashes, is a 2mm bit of double sided tape really going to cushion a 40mph crash?

I edited my above post after checking my set-up by turning my BEC on and off.

It's not so much for impact protection, but vibration absorption. Sustained vibration causes problems with all sensitive electronics. I mount my ESC's and receivers with doublestick foam, even if they're in an Rx box.

Thanks for all your input guys!

I do appreciate the help!!!

When i get some time... i will have a closer look.

Ill check that everything is securly connected and soldered. Ill check the RX Box to make sure the wires are not loose again, and i will mount a thin piece of foam under the ESC...

Ill go through it all and see what happens...

I personally think it may be a faulty ESC... but i hope not :(

Ill come back and tell you what i find!

THANKS AGAIN!

Let us know what you find out. Thanks

Solder job?
 

May be a break or bad connection/connector, loose?

STL RC DRAG RACING

Im so annoyed... i still havent had the time to look at my truck since this problem!

But i just want to double check something with you guys...

The ESC gets its power from the BEC right????

So that means i do not disconnect the red wire from the following image?

http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/w...ng_diagram.jpg

An opto ESC isolates the high-power side (battery and motor) from the signal side (connection to the receiver) by internally transmitting the receiver throttle signal from the input side to the output side of the ESC through an opto-coupler. That's basically an LED sending a light signal across a small gap to a photo cell which receives it, so no electrical connection between the two sides.

A true opto-isolated ESC will not work if you cut the red wire. It needs 5V from the receiver to power the input side of the optocoupler.

From another thread on opto esc. by abenn

Leave the red wire in, plug in some power(12-50volts) and start wiggling wires and connectors on the main power.

In brackets it says 'disregard if using pheonix hv escs'. Is that what you have Jahay? or is it a mamba xl?

Do not disconnect the red wire.

Ok GUys... i had time to have a closer look and found 2 very small problems!!!

Firstly the ESC is absolutely fine...

Secondly the problems..
So many wires are now being used, BEC, Pistix etc... that one of them was bound to come loose, and it turned out to be the ESC wire to pistic connection...

I then found, one of my lipos to have a terrible solder joint...

So now that was all fixed, i ran it on the weekend, and it was the HOTTEST day of the year so far, and the motor and esc did get hot, but not as hot as other peoples did...

IT ran like a champ and i will have vids of the 1520 motor running hard on 9s :)

Thanks for the help guys!


Pic taken from the weekend

http://i878.photobucket.com/albums/a...oie/avatar.jpg

That's good news :yes: waiting for vids :yes:

Now go scare some kids at the park with that wicked looking Savage.

I win... :party:

+100 internets for Chris!:yes: