Closer look at Losi Xcelorin 1:8 esc

[florianz]

yeah, that's what I think, too. but someone told me, when the voltage-rating is too high, the FETs might get stressed by higher voltage-peaks. dunno if that makes sense.

after all, I think the capacity of the caps of most of the car esc's are quite small, compared to some boat-esc. further, cars have more partial load, so a higher capacity would be better. whatever.

[MindThoughts]

I bought the Losi 1/8th scale Electric when Losi first offered the 1/8th scale electric with the 2100kv motor and the Excelorin ESC and complete buggy built. I just add a receiver, battery and servo. Over the course of owning this buggy for almost two years- I've sent the Electronic Speed Control(Pictured Above) in to Horizon/Losi about 30 times. I finally gave the entire buggy to my wife and she has a blast with it. I now run the Hyper 9E with the Mamba Monster- which I've sent in three times in one year- and I've not had to send in the Mamba Max Pro (I now use in my Hyper 9E) esc at all over the course of many months of use.

I do believe that Losi has a truly high quality- super strong and well made esc- I really don't know why it always broke. It would just stop and not work anymore. Or significantly slow down. Every time I called in they told me "This time we fixed the problem", and I believe them. I think these were released before sufficient testing was done. Maybe testing should also be done by beginner racers- and not just the pro racers. Pros are not near as hard on buggies and electronics as a beginner that is constantly on and off full throttle and literally pushing the entire buggy and electronics to extremes far beyond the smooth driving of a pro. If Losi ever works the bugs out- I would be happy to run this esc. Though my Mamba Max Pro has been working problem free from the time I first put it in my 1/8th scale Hyper 9E. Though because my buggy is so lightweight- I'm able to run a 1/10th scale motor(1409 1Y 3600kv) which is much easier on the esc as well. Although- when I run this buggy- I run it all day- back to back battery packs almost nonstop- and the esc just keeps on going(MMP).

Note: I must say- Losi/Horizon customer service is the best or at least among the very best in the industry. And I'm extremely grateful for all the tech support and help Losi customer service has given me. Great Job Losi- Well Done :)

[florianz]

I agree with your statements, mindthoughts. This ESC looks really high quality, but still there are these problems.
last October I have received the replacement esc, which worked well for a few batteries. Then, all of a sudden, stopped working.

After that, I took the 150a Hobbyking esc, which worked just fine for many months - until last weekend, as it went up in purple smoke, must have been a damage or so. Bad luck I guess.

So I had an other try with the xcelorin, as I had some runs with the xcelorin in a 1/10 buggy, surprisingly it worked on 2s.

Well, it stopped after a few meters, then worked again, the red light blinked like empty battery, but they where fully charged. and after a while, nothing worked.

so I send the esc to horizon the second time. What a pity, as the overall impression in the first run was very good. I hope they work it out one day...

[lutach]

Originally Posted by florianz

yeah, that's what I think, too. but someone told me, when the voltage-rating is too high, the FETs might get stressed by higher voltage-peaks. dunno if that makes sense.

after all, I think the capacity of the caps of most of the car esc's are quite small, compared to some boat-esc. further, cars have more partial load, so a higher capacity would be better. whatever.

I used my 100A and 200A ESC made by the same manufacturer with 6S without any issues. The FETs they used on mine is the IRF 6635: http://www.irf.com/product-info/data...ta/irf6635.pdf. It's the FET they used on previous Xcelorin 1/8 ESC.

[florianz]

hey lutach,

I don't doubt the quality of the FETs is goot. the overall quality looks very good, and the esc as a very different layout comparted to other esc. I think it must have been quite some work to design it, it has layers and a massive body made of aluminium, and it's at least dust-proof. things other esc don't have, and dust/sand inside can become a real problem.

that's what makes me angry too, on the one hand it's really solid build quality, but on the other hand the esc fails very often. in most cases it's impossible to find out why they fail.

just recently a guy in our german forum has problems with the xcelorin, too. when it's faulty, it almost never goes up in smoke. I don't know what the problem is, but they have some problems.

[lutach]

Originally Posted by florianz

hey lutach,

I don't doubt the quality of the FETs is goot. the overall quality looks very good, and the esc as a very different layout comparted to other esc. I think it must have been quite some work to design it, it has layers and a massive body made of aluminium, and it's at least dust-proof. things other esc don't have, and dust/sand inside can become a real problem.

that's what makes me angry too, on the one hand it's really solid build quality, but on the other hand the esc fails very often. in most cases it's impossible to find out why they fail.

just recently a guy in our german forum has problems with the xcelorin, too. when it's faulty, it almost never goes up in smoke. I don't know what the problem is, but they have some problems.

The one problem I see with going with these wonderful FETs is the fact they (The manufacturer) needs to x-ray the quality of the solder bond between the FET and the copper trace on PCB. As with the ESCs I had made, a few of the FETs were not completely set on the PCB. The other problem might just be with the brains or the BEC of the ESC, specially for a design not copying anyone else's.