Some good and some bad
 

So last time i ran my E-revo i got through one set of 4s packs and was about half into my 5s set when the lvc kick in and limited power. These packs were freshly charged, so i knew something was up. Initial inspection turned nothing up, i plugged in my other batteries and it worked (i generally dont run close to the lvc, so there was a bit of juice left in them). i then took out the 5s that i left in when testing the 4s setup and noticed that one was slightly hot and the other was cold....not good.

i immediately put both batteries on my charger to check voltage and one was at full charge (21V) and the other warm one was at 16.5V, so to me it was obvious that it was the only one being drained when i was running it.

This also means that mikes batteries take abuse like champs!!!! the temp on the pack was only 105 degrees!!! i think thats pretty good for a 5s 2500mAH "25c" battery in a E-revo, not too mention i was geared for 48mph AND i was running in grass. this thing still had the oomf to pull the front wheels up at speed, very impressive!!

I figured that the only way that this could have happened was that something was wrong with my parallel connector. Instead of taking the one apart i decided to make another one, well i got it all built and hooked up my now freshly charged 5s setup and there was a huge spark....due to my dumb *** reversing the polarity on the deans.

Upon correcting the polarity i connected my maxamps 3s 5000mah just to see what will happen, and so i don't risk any damage to my good batteries. Initially everything was alright, i got the correct number of tones and the usual monster start up noises, then a cloud of smoke billowed out of the Monster. CRAP!!

This is the SECOND one that I have killed, forst was from using wrong connector (series instead of parallel...10s plus MMM = death) and now this stupid mistake...lol.

AND Finally the good news, I initially had filed for a flat fee replacement, but after looking at my financial situation i decided that eating was more important than RC, so i called Castle and basically told them that i couldn't swing it and ill have to wait. The lady on the other line (Jenny?) said that she could warranty this esc one time, so i wont have to pay for it. this means that if i have any problems that aren't my fault with the new esc it wont be covered and ill have to pay the flat fee of 70.

well anyways I thought that was awesome, and it gets my E-revo rolling a whole lot sooner than i thought possible, so i just wanted to say Thanks to castle for giving me awesome customer support.


and Sorry for the really long post, alot of crap happened!!

That's great to hear about Castle's service, very personal. And amazing about Mike's packs! :surprised:

no doubt the 2500 cells in mikes packs are the best on the market bar none......

Measure twice.
 

Your post reminds me of that old saying. Measure twice and cut once. We all tend to get in too much of a hurry in the excitement of wanting to play, and that is when we make little mistakes that can cost us big time. Sorry to hear of your losses, but maybe your thread will force others to doublecheck things as they go, and make sure that their connections are correct. This is also another reason that I prefer the TRX connectors over the Deans. It is too easy to hook the Deans up the wrong way during soldering. The TRX are also a little bit easier to plug and unplug. Good luck with your next MMM. Great to hear about your customer support with Castle, and the strength of the RCM packs. Money well spent.

More proof that running packs in series is better than in parallel...

"still had the oomf"

I believe the correct spelling for that nonexistent word is oomph (American) or oomphe (Old English), just an FYI.

"due to my dumb *** reversing the polarity on the deans"

May be wise to refrain from listening to 'too' much Bob Marley while soldering....

Sucks about the ESC tho, I've done it with an older "br*shed" esc:lol:

you can never have too much Marley, just makes you sleepy and hungry:)