Holmes Hobbies BRXL ESC. Trash It or Repair?

[josh6575]

I have had a few unnerving experience like this before. Both had the symptoms you are describing. First one I pulled on all the solder connections and found the heat shrink was holding a bad solder connection on. Another similar was the stapled on factory sub C battery connections had come loose and again were being held touching by heat shrink. Finally I had a new motor that had a defect (Not your case since you have already tried another motor). Also a 25T motor will get eaten quickly by worm axles if not geared down ridiculously.

 

[mrhobby100]

Actually the "first" thing to do is to enable the spell check

Spell check does it look like i cant spell or does it look like i am typing on a shitty phone with a screen that looks like the san andreas fault.

Was that your intellectual comeback.

 

[snapon boy]

If you read up on holmes he says that a percentage of the esc's are bad from the start and yours may be one of them. I have one of his servos and it's had some issues he always takes care of it very well and professionaly. If all else fails it can be repaired /serviced for 60 if I remember correctly! So long story short don't trash it.

 

[ModTrialsRider]

FIXED. Solution written below.

Short Answer:
Castle Link Settings>Throttle Dampening>Custom Setting>7%

Long Answer:
Spent most afternoon at LHS foaming at the mouth hell bent on purchasing another brand of Motor-ESC. I considered an old Novak, a Tekin FXR 35T, brushed-brushless compatible Sidewinder 3, Castle Creation sensorless combos's, a Tekin sensored brushless, and even a CC Mamba mated to a 950kv Outrunner (which sounded extremely tasty but not enough parts compatibility without a lathe.) Ultimately I made the most foolish choice of all. I bought another BR-XL. :roll:

Soldered battery connecters, plugged in Castle Link, reset firmware and all my settings identically as my older BR-XL, plugged it into rig, started up... and it performed identically as the last one, motor and ESC stuttering and pinging on hard trigger pull.

Pulled my hair out. Screamed a little. Threw the cat in the freezer. Took cat out, gave it back to neighbor. Ate some ice cream. Picked cat hair out of ice cream. Came back and began attempting to dismantle Tamiya motor as I felt it was the only thing left. On a hunch I revisited Castle Link to make sure I didn't miss anything, twenty minutes later I struck gold when I started changing Throttle Dampening. As it currently sits 7% is the lowest I can go before it restarts cogging as previously described. System appears to be working, at least on paper so to speak. I will confirm once I have put the truck back together.

Post notes: I am a moron. Do not underestimate Castle Link. Ice Cream is bad for you.

A massive, enormous, gargantuan, immensely mega happy long time huge apology to Mr. Holmes. User Error, not manufacturing error. I can now say the last "two" products I bought from HH are in fact NOT defective, just me. He is now $108 richer for it, (gross anyway.) "thumbsup"

Post Script: Only forward throttle dampening has been changed, reverse remains disabled (@ 0%). Reverse throttle did not act in the same manner as forward in this particular instance.

 

[ModTrialsRider]

Additional note: Reapplied "new" settings to my older BR-XL and it performs glitch free as well.

 

[GodSpeed999]

Well, that's great, but I still think you should contact John or Jonathan and run all this by them. See what their take on it is.

 

[winnerone23]

On the plus side: You have Two awesome esc's!

 

[ModTrialsRider]

Well, that's great, but I still think you should contact John or Jonathan and run all this by them. See what their take on it is.

I may still but I doubt it, as SDMF said previously,

there is tons of information on how to go through basic troubleshooting before clogging up phones lines then realizing your battery is dead or something ridiculous.

To whom it concerns, I am not out of the woods yet. Truck is put together fully now, and setup still has massive glitching issues scattered all over the power band, for both steering servo and ESC. It's been very difficult to pinpoint. The receiver clearly is not getting enough power but too early to tell precisely why. This is an issue I will have to silently continue troubleshooting. Either I try a glitch buster, upgrade to a higher voltage Lipo (last case scenario,) or get lucky and find the electrical drain elsewhere.

The important thing to take away is that the BR-XL is not defective, unless I have the only two defective BR-XL's in the world and I highly doubt that. So thanks to everyone for their help.

 

[infodragon]

Are you using a BEC? These have a tendency to remove glitching. Even though the BRXL has a massive internal BEC, I own two, I prefer a separate BEC to power servo(s) and ESC to power receiver and other minor electronics.

 

[hotwheels000]

Without re-reading the thread.... Have you tried a different servo ? Savox servos tend to be power hogs even with a BEC. They have been known to be the cause of more than one electrical gremlin....

 

[JokersWild]

Without re-reading the thread.... Have you tried a different servo ? Savox servos tend to be power hogs even with a BEC. They have been known to be the cause of more than one electrical gremlin....

x2. I had one that would glitch on 2 different rigs all set up the same. Oddly worked on the 3rd rig.

 

[Jeckler]

How many batteries have you tested with? I remember reading that you have a 6-cell nimh that you swear is still good based on standing voltage. Have you load tested it though? My Losi Micro Baja with a 4-cell, 150mah nimh will read over 6 volts standing fully charged, but barely has enough power to move the car.

 

[bob1961]

Are you using a BEC? These have a tendency to remove glitching. Even though the BRXL has a massive internal BEC, I own two, I prefer a separate BEC to power servo(s) and ESC to power receiver and other minor electronics.

unless john up'ed the voltage from 6 volts in these you need to use a BEC to get anything higher then 6 volts....

 

[dentonmac]

....Screamed a little. Threw the cat in the freezer. Took cat out, gave it back to neighbor. Ate some ice cream. Picked cat hair out of ice cream...

I do not have anything to add to this thread tech wise. I just found this a lot funnier than I probably should have. I even read the rest of the thread below it, and I am still laughing. Probably because I have been there, done that.


....yeah, I don't get out much.


Carry on gentlemen with the useful part of the thread.

 

[ModTrialsRider]

I do not have anything to add to this thread tech wise. I just found this a lot funnier than I probably should have. I even read the rest of the thread below it, and I am still laughing. Probably because I have been there, done that.


....yeah, I don't get out much.


Carry on gentlemen with the useful part of the thread.

:mrgreen: No kittehs were harmed in the making of this post.

Since this thread still seems to have followers here, I would like to point out I am about 90% away from being glitch-free.

Here is my current setup as of tonight, please read specs carefully as some items have changed:

*Spektrum DX2E - Spektrum SR300
*Holmes Hobby BR-XL ESC
*Spektrum S6030 Servo
*Tamiya GT Tuned 25T Brushed
*CC BEC
*Novak Glitch Buster
*7.2v NiMH 6-cell

Custom settings rig is currently at, plus notes.

*BR-XL has the same setting as previously set, this includes the throttle dampening at 7%. With the motor now turning physical mass (i.e. truck,) I may have to retune this as the motor still cogs and plugs at instantaneous start up under this new load. BR-XL plug has positive pin removed to enable power to receiver exclusively through BEC.

*CC BEC currently set at 6.0v output, see next note.

*Changed Savox SW-1210SG to a Spektrum S6030. Savox is 277.7oz torque @6.0v, Spektrum is 278oz @ 6.0v. Both have identical speed at .15sec, with the Spektrum weighing 19g lighter than the Savox at 52g. In short, on paper, they spec almost identically. The Spektrum is much more responsive, quitter, and glitches far less, but still remains respectably power hungry.

*Installed glitch buster.

*Changed pinion to 11T, smallest size I could find to compliment wormed axles.

All these changes/settings makes the truck almost drivable. When forcing actions requiring high power demands (i.e. instantaneous jabbing of throttle, mashing of forward to reverse, purposely twitching of steering while under load/crawl/flex/binding situations,) receiver glitches out and truck becomes unresponsive (more often it simply drives itself,) before returning to normal status after a second or two.

Only options I am considering thus far is over-volting BEC and hoping I don't fry my "second" brand new servo, or trying someone else's battery. At this point all that's left to replace in the electronics arena is the BEC and SR300 receiver (both are previously used and not bought new by me,) though I highly doubt either is cause for my troubles.

Truck weighs a svelte 7lbs, if that means anything.

 

[ModTrialsRider]

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/1-9-scale-rigs/508478-homefab-hilux-truggy-input-needed.html

This was the somewhat current build-thread of this truck, in case anyone cares. Posting for posterity/entertainment sake.

 

[nharkey85]

BR-XL plug has positive pin removed to enable power to receiver exclusively through BEC.

*CC BEC currently set at 6.0v output, see next note.

All these changes/settings makes the truck almost drivable. When forcing actions requiring high power demands (i.e. instantaneous jabbing of throttle, mashing of forward to reverse, purposely twitching of steering while under load/crawl/flex/binding situations,) receiver glitches out and truck becomes unresponsive (more often it simply drives itself,) before returning to normal status after a second or two.

If this be true it is not the ESC. Its bad servo, BEC, or RX. Or that chitty NIMH battery.

 

[winnerone23]

My first thought while reading that post: rx issue..

Have you changed that out at all?

 

[ModTrialsRider]

My first thought while reading that post: rx issue..

Have you changed that out at all?

Looking into this. Looking to upgrade radio system (dx6i or ttx650 in particular,) question remains is why. I hear Savox servos and Spektrum recievers do not mesh well (which I can attest too, although problem persists with current Spektrum servo,) and I also read that Spektrum recievers operate at lower voltages (not sure in what context I am supposed to understand this in, I have never heard of a reciever being able to regulate output voltage alone.

Maybe dual glitch-busters? I've already maxed out BEC. Going to have to borrow battery meter again, something isn't adding up.

 

[nharkey85]

Moght be wrong but thought i remember reading savox and spektrum servos were pretty much one in the same.

Hey modtrialsrider, sending you a pm