Project Super-VBS-CF-Gorillamaxx!!!

[SV6000]

Hey Jordan.
There are a few things i can suggest.
1. I had all of these problems. To get the flasher program to connect with the controller start the flasher program. plug in the usbcom, turn on radio and plug usb into MGM, hit search on flasher program and than turn on the MGM. if it comes up with an error all you need to do is unplug the usbcom from the usb drive on the PC and than plug it back in and hit search again. Once it has found it hit download and than update following the prompts. But remember it is important to turn on the MGM ESC at the right time. Also the usbcom has to be unplugged and plugged back in every time you do a new search. You could also try updating the firmware on the usbcom itself. Do you have the flasher set to update device through USB??
As for your programing your radio there are a few things you can try. 1st the motor beeps on the NEU i found very very weak you really have to listen. I would say that you need to have the radio channel in reverse, i know you said you tried it but try it again, also try setting it up through the controller software first and than pairing up your transmitter. Also when in "controller" try playing with the neutral range i have to set mine around 12% or it wont work. Make sure that your servo cable from the ESC is plugged into the receiver, that had me going for about 30 mins once before i clicked. You could try running another receiver and a hump pack, I am running a castle bec and it works fine. I dont know about the DX3R but on the 3PK you can adjust the radio neutral point make sure that is where it is supposed to be and also that the radio is NOT in 70/30, it needs to be in 50/50.

[SV6000]

Thats all i can think of off the top of my head without being in front of it to see what it is doing for myself. If all that fails try to contact Martin Dvorsky at MGM-Compro. He is really nice and very knowledgeable. i had a whole list of problems with one of my 28025-3. I got one of the very first ones made from MGM direct. I am watching this thread often so i will be looking for you reply to see how you went, or you can PM me. By the way i think i read somewhere that you are in Australia if so where abouts i am in WA

[jordan...]

Thanks for the tips SV6000, i'll give them a shot tonight when i get home, hopefully everything goes alright and I'll post an update ASAP. Im in WA also, do you race or just mainly bash? You might be able to tell from this setup, im not much of a racer myself

[SV6000]

I do both i have a STRR that runs a plettenburg Maxximum and 28025 as well. But i dont get a chance to race very often. Let me know how you go

[jordan...]

Hey everyone,

Well, thanks to the help of SV6000, i've got the controller programmed and working. I just finished installing everything onto the car and had it up and running on a stand. The power definately seems to be there, i only got it up to about 1/2 throttle but it was bordering on scary There was no tyre ballooning either, thanks to three layers of duct tape i put in before the tyres were glued.

Can't wait to get this thing running tomorrow. I'll try get some vids up as well, but learning how to use my video camera will be another project in itself

Oh, and im going to be checking temps and things pretty regularly tomorrow, can anyone please tell me what 'good' temps for everything to be running at are ie. batts, ESC and motor. I would try a search but i have to leave for dinner in 5 minutes and i havent been doing anything except fiddling with the truck since i got home from work

thanks again SV6000 (life saver)
jordan

P.S anyone wanna buy a NIB MMM V3?

[George16]

Can't wait to see the video Jordan.

[JERRY2KONE]

With all of that tape in the tires did you balance them??? If not you will be surprized just how much vibration they can let out, which will affect your vehicles performance. Good luck with the initial testing Jordan. Glad to hear that your worked out the kinks on the MGM. I will be doing that soon myself.

[jordan...]

LOL, i had no idea about balancing them when i did it, but believe me after running up in the air i could see what was happening and how important balancing is, hopefully it doesn't make too much of a difference. Hope you have some good luck with your MGM as well, not to hard when you get everything in the exact right sequence

[BL_RV0]

You did it!!!!!!! I am stoked for the vid!!!!!!

[jordan...]

Hey guys,

Well, i have got a video for you guys as promised, but i dunno, im a bit dissapointed. The ESC got pretty hot, so i stopped once it reached 170F-180F. The batts were 80F-90F and the motor was 110F. The pinion also came loose the first time i took it out, so that had to be fixed.

As for the truck, it handled awesome, the racerX was worth every penny, it would spin on the spot if i started to fishtail it, but not roll going at full pace. Heres the dissapointing part, it was SLOOWW, as you might be able to tell from the vid. I doubt it was going over 35mph flat out. I'm not too sure why this is though, i am assuming something is wrong with the gearing. But a hot ESC = overgeared, which means it should be too fast right

Also it would not pull wheelies, but keep all four wheels planted when i took off, not to sure if thats the centre diff and setbacks working, or my gearing though.

Anyway heres the vid, dad was filming this one, and my head gets in the way a couple of times :



Any ideas to why it is slow and the ESC is overheating? Also, the motor/ESC connections seem to be pretty weak, sometimes id have to wiggle them around to get the truck to stop cogging, would that affect the speed? I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions

jordan

[JERRY2KONE]

Ha Ha Ha I thought this was a Godzilla moive when I saw that big head come into the picture. Just yanking your chain Jordan. Yes any kind of lose connections will create heat issues somewhere. Did you check for heat at the lose connections? It also may depend on your setup of the ESC as well if you have something set too soft or too hard. It looked as if it was running fairly well for the most part. Sometimes gearing the vehicle too low will also give you overheating issues. How about some close up pics of the truck now that it is finished. Nice to see you finally having some fun with all of your hard work.

[jordan...]

Ask and you shall recieve!!! I took these pics when i just got back from the run. Also, im thinking about asking Mike to CNC me CF or Alu motor mount so i can change between pinions easier.





Thanks for the comments as well Jerry, it was good to finally see it running and not break anything!!

P.S you can see i heatshrinked the piggybacks as well in case one of them decided to blow out, i wouldn't lose the cap, just some extra insurance

[JERRY2KONE]

It looks like a nice clean setup Jordan. How much does that thing weigh with everything onboard? Those batts must be pretty heavy considering the size of them? What are those 8000 mah's? And what voltage are you pushing through your ESC? So how do you like running the center diff as apposed to using a tranny? I will probably setup my SuperMaxx with a center diff once I get a big motor for it. I have a couple Torsend diffs and I was thinking about trying one of them as a center diff to see how it works in that position.

[jordan...]

Roughly 14lbs all up. The batts are 5000mah a piece, running in parallel. So pretty much have a 5s 10,000mah pack in there. To be honest i have never run a brushless truck until today, so comparing to the old e-maxx tranny with the titans, i like it. When you take faster corners and the inside wheel starts to lift it seems to settle it down a bit more.

What center diff are you planning to use on the lightning? I've heard torsens are weaker than spyders so i would be careful running one with a 'Bolido', come to think of it, id be careful running anything with a 'Bolido', dont forget to wear safety glasses in case parts of the spur gear ping off into your eyes

[SV6000]

Hey mate glad to see that everything worked out. A bad connection will cause heat to build up as it greatly increases the resistance. You will need to solder that connection again. In my race truck i directly soldered the motor to the ESC. When i first ran mine with that ESC i thought it was slow as well. It wouldnt wheelie either. It turned out that the batteries were a bit low. Sometimes the need to be ran and charged a few times before they will accept a full charge and discharge. Because of this i am switching to all flightpower packs. I run a flightpower pack in my truggy and it is quick. Even with low gearing, especially down the straight. You could also check the timing setting and frequency settings on the controller. Another thing i noticed is that you do not run any fans. My race truck speedy i ordered with active fan cooling (bigger heatsinks and a 30x30x12 fan each side) On my G3R i copied your speedy mount and bought two fans to mount on it. I had to cut a hole in a piece of aluminium to mount the bottom fan to it. Or you could run your setup on 6s. Another thing you could do is install a "black box" (available from rc-monster.com and is made by MGM just for the Zseries controllers). they are a really good tool for monitoring and recording things like temps, amp, voltage and servo position.That way you can see if the heat issue is due to a large Amp draw or another issue. But considering the size of the motor you are running...
4500(watts)/14.8V= 304.05A 4500/18.5=243.2A 4500/22.2=202. I think that is how you work it out. so as you can see 6s could be a good thing if you can drop down the size of your pinion, 2200x22.2=48840