Smoked 2nd esc in a row...

I got a stampede that I'm converting over to a mild setup. I went with an LRP A.I. Pro brushless esc and a vector x-11 9.5 motor. Going to the extreme limitations of the esc with that motor, so I figure I'd toss a fan on and all would be well. It comes time to install when I get the motor. Tape everything down, mount the motor, plug in a battery. All of the sudden the wires on the battery got really hot and had to unhook the battery. The esc was really hot. Messed around, tried turning the switch on and then hooking a battery, it seems to work, not problem with heat, but the motor is acting up. When giving it throttle it jitters and cogs real bad. I send the esc back lrp and they replace it saying it had damaged fets or something.

I get the new one. I lay everything out on the table and hook it up before mounting. Turn it on, esc powers up with no issue, fan turns on, motor seems to work ok. Disconnect and mount to vehicle. Took the time to make a nice clean install, tuck/taped wires in. Hooked up the battery, turned it on. ESC powers up, flashes a couple times indicating that it isn't set up for lipo cut off mode. I turn it off. ZZZZZZZTTT and smoke comes pouring out. I havent even driven this thing yet. What gives??

You can't possibly screw it up or hook it up wrong. It's totally automatic setup and a drunk monkey on acid could do it. I'm using lunsford short motor screws 6mm. I'm using a known good rx,good lipo. Could a faulty motor be causing all this to happen? LRP freaked when I told them it happened and now they want my esc,motor, and battery that I used. It seems weird that it would work ok outside of the truck, but once it was installed all hell breaks loose. I'm using stock motor plugs,deans plugs, stuck the esc down with double sided tape, using firm pressure but not too much. Stuck the switch to the side of the esc with double sided tape.

When I was waiting on a new esc, I did try out the 9.5 on my mamba in my rustler. I don't use motor plugs so I did a halfassed solder job to the motor plugs. It worked but cogged really bad, I figured it was from the way it was hooked up. So now they'll see I got solder residue on the motor plugs and wonder what the hell I did to the motor and probably take the easy way out and deny me any replacement. Any ideas why this would happen? 1 in a million shot I get two bad escs in a row? Something to do with the motor or perhaps the sensor wire?

[suicideneil]

Pass. If you are saying the motor is on the very limit of what the esc can run, then thats probably the issue; doing bad solder joints just for testing the motor on another esc isnt a good idea either.

I would say you need to use a decent stadium truck esc and motor for your pede, and not a little LRP thing ment for.... 1/10 onroads?

Always do decent solder joints and correctly setup the radio and esc etc, even just when testing things out- better safe than sorry.

Right, but the esc is supposed to be able to handle the motor. The minimum requirements for that motor is the a.i. pro. The thing is, it goes up in smoke before I even get to use it. It does it when the switch is turned OFF. No current draw coming from the motor or anything else. Yeah, I know soldering it up that way wasn't cool, but I didn't want to cut the plugs off, but that happened after the first esc anyways. As far as I know this esc is made for 10th scale stadiums and the 9.5 was more for a blend of power and controllability. I didn't want balls out power, I got the rustler for that. A 13.5 is slightly underpowered for what I wanted, so I figured a mild mod motor would do the trick. Either way I was looking for <300 watt sensored setup for as cheap as I could go. I know this setup is outside the norm of your guys' unsensored multi-celled realm, but I figured you guys had alot of speed controller experience and maybe could relate to a esc going up in smoke without even giving the motor any throttle and might have an idea as to what is causing this aside from being a weak cheap system.

I suggest double checking the motor, and soldering it up PROPERLY to test it. Soldering it up half assed is not a great troubleshooting technique. If you experience severe cogging on the mamba max (what firmware- that makes a difference). If I remember right, the X11 is rebuildable, so you should be able to open the motor up and check the windings where the motor screws may short out the wire. A shorted motor would explain a FET failure from over current or something.

I've owned brushed LRP ESCs, and I've had one be DOA (new-in-box too!). They replaced it with a second one, and that one was dead as well. Third time was the charm.

Thank you joe. I did not solder it to the mamba to troubleshoot. I did it just to see how what the motor was like, ie. how powerful etc. But if the motor is in fact killing off the esc, wouldn't it have done the same to the mamba? Or maybe, maybe not? BTW, mamba is up to date on firmware. Also as far as I know, the motor screws are not too long, the motor turns freely and the recommended size is like a mm or 2 longer than the screws I'm using.

Third time is a charm indeed. I finally got my repaired ESC and a new motor. I'm convinced now that it was totally the motor that shorted out the last two speed controllers and probably was coggin on the mamba because of it. I put it in, geared it up two teeth than previously and cruised around with it some. Pretty decent power, pulls wheelies and stuff which kinda sucks, but I can control it at low speeds real nice and smooth with that hall sensor. I didn't run it very much and it was out in the cold dead of night. ESC never hit 70, and the motor I think got up to 90. I'll be sure and see how I am with gearing/temps after I really get to run it. But for now a loose slipper made me tighten it a little and blew out the tranny. I really didn't think that the plastic gears wouldn't hold up to <300 watts, but I knew I was going to replace it with steel gears soon anyways, so I already have a complete transmission awaiting the swap.