MMM/2650 + Slash 4x4 = FIRE!!

[Kcaz25]

Originally Posted by fastbaja5b

Bad luck, the MMM is a nice ESC when it's working, but it seems that when they die, they die in a rather well, explosive fashion, and when it's right next to Lipos and a not so cheap motor, that can be dangerous.

Unfortunately with any warranty claim comes disappointment and resulting downtime of an rc you're probably pretty eager to run.

Lets hope Castle can help you out on this one, they read these forums a bit, strangely they never seem to reply in one of these threads regarding a failure of their esc though.

I've seen patrick poke his head in a thread and say "send it on in and tell em I said so".

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

[Pdelcast]

Originally Posted by kazuaki

1) What the heck could cause this?

2) Obviously the ESC is toast, but should I be worried about the motor? In the Slash 4x4 the ESC and motor are pretty close together and the endbell of the motor is blackened from the fire.

3) Is there any way to be sure my lipo is OK? It doesn't have any visible damage and it still reads full voltage.

Unfortunately, at these power levels when anything goes wrong, the ESC usually takes the brunt of failure -- and at these power levels the failures are usually spectacular.

It sounds like the ESC took the damage, I wouldn't worry about the motor -- it's probably fine.

If you Lipos show normal voltage, they are probably fine too.

Contact tech support by phone, and let 'em know I told you to call in. We'll see if we can expedite your service.

Thanx!

Patrick

[kazuaki]

Thanks Patrick! Given the relatively light weight of the truck (5 lbs or so), this must be a fluke right? I mean, the connectors were on correctly and the battery has plenty of power for the setup. I just want to make sure I don't need to baby this setup in the future to avoid any issues.

[Pdelcast]

Originally Posted by kazuaki

Thanks Patrick! Given the relatively light weight of the truck (5 lbs or so), this must be a fluke right? I mean, the connectors were on correctly and the battery has plenty of power for the setup. I just want to make sure I don't need to baby this setup in the future to avoid any issues.

Hard to say for sure what went wrong -- but we see a small percentage of "infant" failures where an ESC will fail for no good reason. Usually those failures can be tracked to a failure of a single MOSFET, which cascades through the ESC. Why the single MOSFET fails isn't always obvious -- can be caused by a cracked solder joint, a bad circuit board, or a manufacturing defect in the MOSFET itself.

Usually the on-board protection (over current and over-temp) usually will prevent failures in most "bad" setups.

So it is probably OK to assume it was a fluke failure.

[Bondonutz]

Originally Posted by kazuaki

I've installed shocks from a Losi 8ight 2.0 buggy.

I had suspected, but are you using the 8's fronts on all 4 corners or the longer ones in the rear ? How did they work for you prior to your melt down ?

[kazuaki]

Originally Posted by Bondonutz

I had suspected, but are you using the 8's fronts on all 4 corners or the longer ones in the rear ? How did they work for you prior to your melt down ?

I am using buggy fronts in the front and buggy rears in the rear. The buggy rears are on the long side. This allows a bunch more down-travel than stock. I moved the bottom of the shocks to the farthest outside hole on the control arm, this limited the down travel to ensure there is no driveshaft binding. In the front, I am not completely happy with the setup. The front shocks are also a bit long and the shocks bottom out before the chassis does. This is just asking for trouble, IMO. I will probably make an aluminum piece to bolt to the front shock tower and raise the upper shock mount slightly, so the shocks will work better. These big shocks sure have some nice damping though.

[Bondonutz]

Cool, Thank You much for explaining.
After Castle gets you a new ESC, when you get driving again please post shock updates.

Jeff

[kazuaki]

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

Contact tech support by phone, and let 'em know I told you to call in. We'll see if we can expedite your service.

Thanks Patrick. I called in and spoke to a very helpful gentleman, who said I would be taken care of. Unfortunately, he said the MMM's are out of stock, so I have a bit of a wait. Any idea when those are going to be available?

Thanks again!

[kazuaki]

Originally Posted by Bondonutz

Cool, Thank You much for explaining.
After Castle gets you a new ESC, when you get driving again please post shock updates.

Jeff

Yeah, I will use the downtime to get the front shock mount figured out. I'll report back once I have it finalized.

[Kcaz25]

Originally Posted by fastbaja5b

Lets hope Castle can help you out on this one, they read these forums a bit, strangely they never seem to reply in one of these threads regarding a failure of their esc though.

Originally Posted by Kcaz25

I've seen patrick poke his head in a thread and say "send it on in and tell em I said so".

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Originally Posted by Pdelcast

Contact tech support by phone, and let 'em know I told you to call in. We'll see if we can expedite your service.

Thanx!

Patrick

[TexasSP]

I cannot count how many times I have seen Patrick do this so the observation by fastbaja confounds me a bit.

So it goes, open mouth, insert foot.

[SV6000]

Yeah its a fluke, i have been through no less than 4 MMM combos. Th first two died with in the first thirty seconds of their running in my EREVO before bursting into flames. The third replacement they sent me ran fine for weeks and weeks and than one day i put two fully charged batteries in, it armed and turned to dust. The latest one was my fault i took my DM1 out for some fun and forgot i had it geared for speed runs. It actually lasted a long time considering the gearing 30/44. It didn't catch fire either just sort of limped around like one whole phase of fets was gone. I paid for that repair.

[vashon10]

Originally Posted by SV6000

Yeah its a fluke .....

With all the mentions of "it's a fluke" in this thread, there's actually a well respected NW electronics company called Fluke. LOL (named for the founder though).

[Pdelcast]

Originally Posted by vashon10

With all the mentions of "it's a fluke" in this thread, there's actually a well respected NW electronics company called Fluke. LOL (named for the founder though).

Yeah, and they make great stuff -- we have quite a few Fluke meters in Engineering and some in production. Unfortunate name though...

Fluke can mean stroke of luck, or a parasite, or even fish fins.

[kazuaki]

Hi Patrick,

Any idea on the ETA to get the MMM's back in stock?