I request ancient knowledge of the energy pixies.

[smc-93]

I need some assistance from somebody more knowledgeable about electronics than myself.
Long story short, I built this Gen7 with a stock XL5-HV, Titan21 motor (motor and ESC like new, pulled from a kit after only a few packs), Redcat receiver and a Savox servo with Castle BEC. I gave it to a co-worker, it worked without issue up until recently it just stopped. Smoke came from "one of the electronic pieces" after his kid drove it for a while.
I looked it over, he confirmed the receiver was what let out the magic smoke but the ESC also won't power on. I found the AUX plug on the ESC appears to be melted/burned and one prong on the receiver CH.3 also appears to be missing and burnt.

If someone (his kid) had the truck powered on and plugged the ESC AUX into CH.3 (AUX +/- opposite to receivers) could that cause a short and kill the ESC and receiver?
To me with the electrical knowledge I do have, that appears to be the case. But I don't know for certain as the only electronics failure I've had so far was a faulty ESC.

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[23drumerboy]

I need some assistance from somebody more knowledgeable about electronics than myself.
Long story short, I built this Gen7 with a stock XL5-HV, Titan21 motor (motor and ESC like new, pulled from a kit after only a few packs), Redcat receiver and a Savox servo with Castle BEC. I gave it to a co-worker, it worked without issue up until recently it just stopped. Smoke came from "one of the electronic pieces" after his kid drove it for a while.
I looked it over, he confirmed the receiver was what let out the magic smoke but the ESC also won't power on. I found the AUX plug on the ESC appears to be melted/burned and one prong on the receiver CH.3 also appears to be missing and burnt.

If someone (his kid) had the truck powered on and plugged the ESC AUX into CH.3 (AUX +/- opposite to receivers) could that cause a short and kill the ESC and receiver?
To me with the electrical knowledge I do have, that appears to be the case. But I don't know for certain as the only electronics failure I've had so far was a faulty ESC.

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If he plugged the aux (if your lucky [emoji6] 1amp) ESC power-Out...INTO the Rx which is already powered (filtered/throttled) to appropriate voltage) then yes, ESPECIALLY with these darn redcat (flysky) receivers! Hahaha ask me how i found this out??!
Baahaha!
I digress.

Long story short, you can correct the current issue (fried BEC), by adding a "UBEC" or external BEC, and using the (snip the red wire from the esc-RX) method) essentially "replacing" the fried portion of esc, and mine have maintained all other functionality using this method...yes...twice now. [emoji51]

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[ferp420]

I need some assistance from somebody more knowledgeable about electronics than myself.
Long story short, I built this Gen7 with a stock XL5-HV, Titan21 motor (motor and ESC like new, pulled from a kit after only a few packs), Redcat receiver and a Savox servo with Castle BEC. I gave it to a co-worker, it worked without issue up until recently it just stopped. Smoke came from "one of the electronic pieces" after his kid drove it for a while.
I looked it over, he confirmed the receiver was what let out the magic smoke but the ESC also won't power on. I found the AUX plug on the ESC appears to be melted/burned and one prong on the receiver CH.3 also appears to be missing and burnt.
If someone (his kid) had the truck powered on and plugged the ESC AUX into CH.3 (AUX +/- opposite to receivers) could that cause a short and kill the ESC and receiver?
To me with the electrical knowledge I do have, that appears to be the case. But I don't know for certain as the only electronics failure I've had so far was a faulty ESC.

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yup thats good old traxxass electronics for ya it happens to me every time i wont touch the stuff anymore
do your self a favor buy any other brand of electronics even the chinese carp is better that traxxasss rtr electronics

 

[smc-93]

Thank you both for the information.
I thought that might be the case. I've never had Traxxas stuff fail (maybe I haven't run any long enough to fail? [emoji848]) but I know the RTR stuff has a bad reputation. I know Redcat doesn't have the best reputation either (IMO, the Gen7 especially) but the receiver should be alright as long as it's not given excess power.
Honestly, I built the truck out of "scraps", I didn't intend for to last forever. The man I gave it to doesn't have much to spend on it so I'll probably just look into a replacement (non-Traxxas) ESC and get him a new Redcat receiver. I've seen around the HW1080 is good for it's price, probably go with that to eliminate the potential "Traxxas curse"
My man is going to have to have a talk with his boy about not sticking things into other things if you don't know what you're doing[emoji16]
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[23drumerboy]

Thank you both for the information.
I thought that might be the case. I've never had Traxxas stuff fail (maybe I haven't run any long enough to fail? [emoji848]) but I know the RTR stuff has a bad reputation. I know Redcat doesn't have the best reputation either (IMO, the Gen7 especially) but the receiver should be alright as long as it's not given excess power.
Honestly, I built the truck out of "scraps", I didn't intend for to last forever. The man I gave it to doesn't have much to spend on it so I'll probably just look into a replacement (non-Traxxas) ESC and get him a new Redcat receiver. I've seen around the HW1080 is good for it's price, probably go with that to eliminate the potential "Traxxas curse"
My man is going to have to have a talk with his boy about not sticking things into other things if you don't know what you're doing[emoji16]
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Lol! I def KNEW what i was doing, but was slightly distracted, with my wife's butt, or something ...and picked up the wrong lead, as i had several in the vehicle at one time...smdh....both times.

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[QuesoDelDiablo]

My man is going to have to have a talk with his boy about not sticking things into other things if you don't know what you're doing[emoji16]

That's good general advice for life...

My life would probably be a lot less complicated if my old man had taught me that one when I was a kid..

 

[smc-93]

Lol! I def KNEW what i was doing, but was slightly distracted, with my wife's butt, or something ...and picked up the wrong lead, as i had several in the vehicle at one time...smdh....both times.

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I see. You had a perfectly valid reason to be distracted at least.

That's good general advice for life...

My life would probably be a lot less complicated if my old man had taught me that one when I was a kid..

:lmao:

 

[Voodoobrew]

It looked like you were drawing power from the receiver. Could have just slowly heated up over time until critical failure. It's possible on low Amp accessories too.

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[smc-93]

It looked like you were drawing power from the receiver. Could have just slowly heated up over time until critical failure. It's possible on low Amp accessories too.

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Like I mentioned, I built it but no longer own it. I couldn't tell you exactly what happened, what led up to the failure, only that it failed. There wasn't any accessories connected though.
That being said, I guess it is possible the XL5-HVs AUX out was plugged into CH.3, truck was ran, which then caused both ESC and RX to overpower/overheat.
With the CH.3 neutral prong also being broken off, I'm guessing the AUX got plugged in, created a spark or small fire and was quickly ripped out of the RX.

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[23drumerboy]

Like I mentioned, I built it but no longer own it. I couldn't tell you exactly what happened, what led up to the failure, only that it failed. There wasn't any accessories connected though.
That being said, I guess it is possible the XL5-HVs AUX out was plugged into CH.3, truck was ran, which then caused both ESC and RX to overpower/overheat.
With the CH.3 neutral prong also being broken off, I'm guessing the AUX got plugged in, created a spark or small fire and was quickly ripped out of the RX.

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I love this game! I have been a mechanic for 12 yrs, and currently in the (wholesale) used car sector....i could speculate and premonize alll day on some of the stuff i see.

" If automobiles were horses, they'd all be dead from neglect."

Sad part is i bet u my "guesses" are correct 88-94 percent of the time!

So... keen observation, my man!

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[smc-93]

I love this game! I have been a mechanic for 12 yrs, and currently in the (wholesale) used car sector....i could speculate and premonize alll day on some of the stuff i see.

" If automobiles were horses, they'd all be dead from neglect."

Sad part is i bet u my "guesses" are correct 88-94 percent of the time!

So... keen observation, my man!

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I'm a machine mechanic myself. Food production, 4 years or so. I get to deal with my fair share of ignorant fiddling causing breakdowns. Usually followed by "I don't know what happened, I didn't touch it"[emoji849]
I talked to him about what most likely happened (based largely on the knowledge I've gained from everyone's input here. Appreciate it all) and what'll need to be replaced.
I'll be testing the components individually with parts I know work before spending any money, just to be sure.


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[Hal]

I hear what you guys are saying about getting the real story. I work on a lot of machines where I work. A lot have history loggers on them, I know when things went wrong and how they went wrong. Some of the guys still can't figure out how I know. We don't hire genius to run these things. Good detective work figuring things out. My Dad had the don't stick things where they don't belong talk with me early in life and admit when you #%&@ up. Some people just don't care about other people's things. Hopefully everyone learns a lesson here and history doesn't repeat itself. Hope you get things working for your buddy. Good luck:shock:

 

[smc-93]

We don't hire genius to run these things.

Preach it brother! We ain't hiring rocket scientists at near minimum wage to stare at/load materials into a machine for 8 hours and occasionally operate the start/stop buttons. And yet, some of them still think they're working so hard and "deserve" to make as much as the people doing 2x-3x the work.
We've got things figured out, he's just waiting to save up the spending cash to buy the parts. Thanks to the knowledge I've gained talking to members here and talking to him about the issue, I'm pretty confident about what went down and what needs to be replaced.
We've already worked out a deal and I'll be doing a bit of an upgrade for him once he can afford the parts. Including a sealed RX box. Protect the RX from water and his kid plugging things in that don't belong.



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[Hal]

Best thing I found for the reciever boxes. Keeps little fingers out of where they don't belong doing what they shouldn't be doing. I totally get kids being kids but you have to learn respect. Not only for other people's things but for your own. As someone who is willing to teach some of my knowledge of the RC world I hope my grandkids will apreciate some of the things I teach them. But like you I am not super knowledgeable about electronics. I try to do my best and show them we all make mistakes. Own it and move on. Just don't keep making the same mistakes over and over. Sometimes I think my 2 year old grandson gets me more than my 18 year old grandson. He actually listens. He is a better driver than his 8 year old brother, most times. Both can still be hellraisesr at times.

 

[smc-93]

As someone who is willing to teach some of my knowledge of the RC world I hope my grandkids will appreciate some of the things I teach them.

You seem like a decent enough person. Even if they don't take your knowledge and continue to apply it to little toy trucks/cars, they'll definitely learning something positive from you.
I'm just a "kid" compared to some the members here(28). I'm always happy to learn new things and to pass my knowledge on to people who are eager to listen.
Though it's not always easy for me to organize my thoughts into spoken words, part of my love for the hobby is sharing it with other people.


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[Voodoobrew]

In the receiver there is a ground and a positive rail. The signal pins are independent. But there are no good ways to plug that power wire in to the reciever that won't kill the electronics. Almost certainly the bec in the esc will fail. Probably killing the rest of the esc. Potentially frying traces in the reciever. It's not unheard for servos to go out too.

You could potentially be supplying battery power to both sides of the bec in the esc.

A bad servo can cause problems that look like a bad esc or reciever. So leave the servo unplugged when replacing the esc or reciever. Once those are confirmed working then plug in the servo.

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[smc-93]

A bad servo can cause problems that look like a bad esc or reciever. So leave the servo unplugged when replacing the esc or reciever. Once those are confirmed working then plug in the servo.

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That's good to know. Thank you for the information

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[23drumerboy]

You seem like a decent enough person. Even if they don't take your knowledge and continue to apply it to little toy trucks/cars, they'll definitely learning something positive from you.

...Though it's not always easy for me to organize my thoughts into spoken words, part of my love for the hobby is sharing it with other people....


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[emoji119][emoji119][emoji119][emoji119][emoji119] The organizing thoughts and outputting them in a way most OTHERS can understand.. herein lies the only tough part!

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[Druxus]

I know it's a bit late, but looking at the photos it looks like the positive lead was burned and the negative side of the receiver was also damaged. I'm betting that the red wire was plugged into the black side of the receiver.

 

[smc-93]

I know it's a bit late, but looking at the photos it looks like the positive lead was burned and the negative side of the receiver was also damaged. I'm betting that the red wire was plugged into the black side of the receiver.

Any insight is appreciated, even if it's a bit late.
The combination of my troubleshooting ability, the wealth of knowledge shared by the members here, and the evidence/explanation I was given by my friend, that's the conclusion I've come to.
I can't be 100% sure as I didn't witness the failure happen. After discussing with my friend though, he's decided to have me swap the ESC and RX as well put the RX in a sealed box.
We may never know the exact cause of the failure but we sure can prevent it (likely cause) from happening again. And do a bit of an upgrade at the same time.

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