Quark fried, blown capacitor...

[jhautz]

Originally Posted by AAngel

I just checked the mail and no controller. I tracked the Quark on the USPS website and it says that the controller was delivered last Friday. If I don't hear from them by tomorrow, I'll start believing that they are going to warranty it. I have my fingers crossed.

They will waranty it. I havent heard of them refusing anyone yet.

I hope they do. Once I get these two controllers back (the Quark and the Compro), I'm going to have to decide which one to use, provided that both work. When running correctly, neither esc cogs. The Quark is smoother, but the Compro runs much cooler.

[zeropointbug]

Well, I think with the cap bank on the Quark, it should be the controller to have, IMO.

I have heard too much stuff about the Compro's to want one. The caps alone will cool the Quark down a good amount, and only make it more reliable, both the caps and the esc.

Boy, I wish I had a local HS that had all this stuff, closest one is 2 hours away.

[bdebde]

AAngel, PM me if not keeping the compro.

[suicideneil]

Originally Posted by zeropointbug

I have heard too much stuff about the Compro's to want one.

Could you elaborate a little on that?:eek:

[zeropointbug]

Kind of a bad thread to say something about another controller huh... :005:

I thought it was the Compro's that were having issues with not running properly? Correct me if I'm wrong. I have heard they run cool though, which I like. The four caps might have something to do with that, and those heatsinks on it as well, and I suppose firmware on the brains.

[suicideneil]

Hmm, I havent heard anything much about the compros really, not many people on here seem to have one, or Im not looking hard enough. They look great & have a good spec, as do the Quarks. Its just the silly case design on the quark that keeps in the heat, and the dodgy heat spreaders that dont work properly, but as demonstrated those issues can be fixed without too much trouble. Its all food for thought...

Neil, actually, the Quark "fix" is only a partial fix in reality. The are two sets of FETs in the Quark. One set, that is physically sandwiched between the two PCBs only has a rather thin heat spreader attached to it via thermal pad. The only way that heat escapes that set is through the air to the case from the heatspreader and through the traces and connections on the pcb that link to the set of FETs that are on the bottom of the esc. Truly not an ideal design. The mod that everyone is doing just allows a thermal pathway from the bottom set of FETs to the case.

The Compro, on the other hand, is rather robustly built. I really liked the feel of it. It has dual heatsinks and runs very cool. It also has a very substantial feel to it. When handling it, you don't feel as though you're going to break it.

The downside to the Compro is the software. Although I found the programming sequence to be easy enough, there are a couple of quirks. The biggest thing is that when running in a forward direction, the first application of reverse throttle applies the brakes, however; if you apply the brakes, go to neutral and then apply the brakes again (pump the brakes) the esc will go directly into reverse on the second application of the brakes. It does this whether the vehicle is still moving forward or not.

The way around this, is to use the forward only mode, but then you don't have reverse.

The second quirk is that you can't start at a creep with the Compro. Once you apply the throttle and it moves out of the neutral zone, the vehicle starts at a roll. Not real fast, but faster than a creep. It's fine for racing, but for bashing around in rocks and stuff, it might be a PITA.

The "problem" that I had, was that I couldn't program the free wheel option that would allow the motor to coast to a lower speed when I went from say 100% throttle to 20% throttle. Whenever I let off of the throttle, it would immediately brake to slow the vehicle to the speed of the new throttle position. This makes jumping on an off road track nearly impossible without wiping out.

All in all, I think that the Compro is a better controller than the Quark. The Quark is just a bit more user friendly, from an operation standpoint. The Quark is smoother.

[zeropointbug]

Yeah, I'm going to get a simple FET clamp for the Quark made so I don't have to get an expensive case machined first. To see how well it works, and if I am happy with no case and just a clamp w/ heat shrink on the controller.

I am also going to see if I can get my thermal probe for my Eagle tree to work, and see what kind of temps the top set of FET's get to in the Quark, and I know the surface area, plus I know the power throughput... I might be able to make some estimates of esc efficiency?

AAngel: How think is the PCB on the ComPro? THe Quark I think is 1mm thick, nothing much, but then again, it's in a case.

zpb, it's been so long since I've seen my compro that I don't remember anything except my impressions of it. I do remember that the flex in the Quark pcb when you shimmied the power leads made me nervous. The Compro, on the other hand, didn't have any flex at all anywhere. I don't know that the pcbs were thicker, but it's a better design none the less.

You really have to watch working with the Quark out of its case. I believe that one of the purposes of the case is to hold the two pcbs together and keep them from separating. Mine separated, but I didn't notice it until after I powered it on and nothing happened. I was checking out the setup before I put it all back together. I disconnected the power, pushed the pcbs back together again and turned it on and that's when I saw smoke.

I don't know. Mike has run his Quark/Neu combo hard and without additional caps. I may just quit monkeying around with the Quark and just run it as it is. I could just add a couple of caps in line with the power leads, but I can tell you that they are going to be taking a beating sitting there on a pair of wires that move around as much as they do when on the track. I'm going to have to figure something out.

When I get my Quark and Neu back, I should have what could be considered to be the Cadillac of brushless setups. I SHOULD be worry and trouble free, but that remains to be seen.

[zeropointbug]

Yeah, your Quark and Neu have not yet kissed yet. :005:

For sure add some caps onto the Quark, make the same bank you made for your MM setup, should work lovely.

Maybe the Neu is easier on the Quark, that is what I have heard on these forums a lot.

How many cells were you running on your so called "1.5Y" Neu? You said it was pretty fast right? The place you bought it does not have it anymore, did I tell you that?

Yeah, you did mention it. It's too bad because it was a good deal.

I ran the motor that I had on 5S with the MM and it ran good, except for the occassional cogging. There is no doubt that the 1512 has enough power for a light truck. At this point, I'm glad that I went the 1512 route and that little sale going on made it a no brainer for me.

Hey guys, guess what just showed up on my doorstep. I'm almost afraid to install it.

[Serum]

Another Neu motor?

[bdebde]

Well, tell us how it works!