BL Savage woes.......

Okay, first off, I got a BL Savage from bigair78 a while back, and just recently got a 9920 for it and have taken it out for a few runs. I've been asking Serum and MetalMan for help with the issues I've been having, but could take any help I could get at this point.

I've kinda been having issues with my Savage running a 9L and 9920, it just isn't working right. From a dead start, it stutters bad, even with a freshly charged rx pack (thought it was the BEC at first), and I can't even get it going good without either having it stutter or rolling the throttle painfully slow. It has this problem on both 12 and 14 cells, even with matched GP3300's with 1.185 or better voltage cells. I think the gearing might be off, the spur is a 49t but I don't know what the pinion is right now......I could check though.

Oh yeah, and most disturbing of all, the whole stupid system overloads and shuts down after being on for 2 or 3 minutes......no idea why. Everything still has power, but the steering servo will turn to the right (or left sometimes) and hold there, while everything falls silent and won't take any input from the rx. I know it's not a voltage issue, all batts are charged (rx, tx, GP3300's)........I've got no idea on that one.

Any help would be great!

[squeeforever]

i think it might be thermalling. you might want to gear it a little lower or higher. not sure. what kinda temps are you getting?

[MetalMan]

Gearing higher wouldn't decrease cogging. I suggest checking the gear mesh.

[Serum]

yeah, and what gearing do you use. No binding in the drivetrain?

[crazyjr]

If the servo is hanging like that without your holding the wheel you may have a bad reciever

Originally posted by dabid
Oh yeah, and most disturbing of all, the whole stupid system overloads and shuts down after being on for 2 or 3 minutes......no idea why. Everything still has power, but the steering servo will turn to the right (or left sometimes) and hold there, while everything falls silent and won't take any input from the rx. I know it's not a voltage issue, all batts are charged (rx, tx, GP3300's)........I've got no idea on that one.

Any help would be great!

Dont know about the rest but this one sounds like maybe an interference problem, or something wrong with the reciever or control maybe? If you have a spare control and reciever you could try and swap them over.

Whoa! Lots 'o replies, lemme address each one.

squeeforever: NOT thermalling, I'm running fans on both the motor and controller, but didn't at first. Even then the motor was 85, and the controller 110, still very much in the acceptable range. I do, however, think it could be a gearing problem.

MetalMan: Very possible, I never did check the mesh or even gearing when I got it, just figured it'd be okay. I didn't really want to mess with the gearing anyway, the motor screws are kinda hard to get to.

Serum: Yeah, um, I really gotta find out what gearing that is, and check the mesh, and all that junk......then maybe go from there. As for binding, it seems to roll just fine, but that only means the one way is working good, no idea about the tranny innards (I'll check the mesh and gearing first so I don't have to do an unneccessary tear down).

crazyjr: Don't think so, because the whole stupid electronics cut out: the servo swings to one side, then locks up, the controller blanks out, and the braking servo won't budge.

Basketti: Not likely, but maybe. I run a Airtronics MX-3 with a FM rx on ch. 80, don't think it'd be interference, but I could always try out my brother's rx, crystals, tx, and stuff to make sure it isn't. The only other controller I have is my Ofna's 9918, but I don't totally feel like unsoldering everything to try it out: again, I will check the gear stuff first.



So, after all that, looks like priority would be to check the gear mesh and gearing. If that's not it, then it gets a bit harder.

[Serum]

Just count the no of teeth on the pinion, the spur has got his no of teeth written on it.

Originally posted by dabid
Basketti: Not likely, but maybe. I run a Airtronics MX-3 with a FM rx on ch. 80, don't think it'd be interference, but I could always try out my brother's rx, crystals, tx, and stuff to make sure it isn't. The only other controller I have is my Ofna's 9918, but I don't totally feel like unsoldering everything to try it out: again, I will check the gear stuff first.

i actually ment the control like the radio, the thing you hang on to lol i dont know what its called. My mate had trouble with his servo and we tracked it down to the radio. Just a thought.

My MX-3 system is probably over a year old, maybe coming up on two.......can't remember. But anyway, it's still doing good, I doubt the transmitter is the problem, I'd more suspect the receiver of causing problems.

EDIT: Just took a trip out to the garage and counted the teeth on the pinion after I pulled it out.......turns out the current gearing is 16/49. Not sure, but just from what I've heard, that sounds a bit high........could that be to blame for the weirdness?

[coolhandcountry]

It would assume that the gears mesh was not right or had binding. The motor would run hot and esc to. Have you tried a reciever pack or ubec. Check to see if your capicators on the esc are in tact. Can you turn the spur gear with you finger. Keep us informed.

Not sure about the gear mesh, but if it had been off, the motor would have been way hotter than 85 after 3 or 4 minutes of bashing.

I've been running it recently with a rx pack, but i do have a regulator from MetalMan on my Ofna's 9918 that would do the same job as a UBEC.

The tranny thing sounds like more of a possibility, I'll have to check it while I still have the pinion off. BTW, i think the mesh was fine, but I didn't check last night, I just wanted to get the pinion off and see how many teeth it had.

Something similiar happened to my Dad's E-Maxx running the Novak HV-Maxx. Steering would work for a bit, then go crazy, the motor would cogg and it wouldn't stop unless it had a rolling start. My Dad figured it was the motr, I figured it was the receiver/radio. Turned out to be the Reciever/radio, he was running an XS3 FM Synthesized and he swapped it out for an older AM combo, it worked just fine. I'd suggest trying another radio setup, it might fix your problem. Also, your gearing seems to be too high, you should maybe go with a 54 tooth spur, unless you have the 2-speed still running. Good luck fixing your problem.;)

Turns out the pinion's actually a 15t, guess I can't count good or something. :D

Radio, huh? I might have to try one of the cheapo ones we have laying around, or at least my brother's MX-3. I do still have the 2 speed, no idea what that does to the gear ratio that I'm supposed to have, I don't even know when it's shifting! Oh, and the biggest spur for a Savage is a 52t, or at least that's the biggest that Hobby People carries.......might have to get one of those tomorrow and try it out right there in the store (I get bored when there's no customer's sometimes).

Trickle charged the rx pack at .5a for almost 4 hours today, then let one of the guys at the shop take it out.......worked fine. It still has nasty cogging if you peg the throttle too fast, but if you roll it (still can't roll it as fast as my Ofna's) it still has some good get up and go. I'm still thinking about putting one of the 52t spurs we have in stock in it, just to see if that helps with the cogging.

I also noticed while the pinion was off that spinning the tranny in either direction has a hiccup once every turn, think a tooth got messed up in there somewhere. Even with the not so perfect tranny though, it was going like a champ, and didn't even cut out.......I was surprised.

Still, even though I think I finally got it going good (enough), the thought of a 7xl is soooo tempting, it'd be more versitile too. :D