Newbie seeking advice

[Riviera Amateur RC]

Hi all,
Hoping for some advice as I am a newbie to the hobby. Have started with HPI Venture RTR, NiMH batteries for now given the care that must be taken with LiPo. After several runs, today it just cut out after 10 feet. Had the dreaded red light on ESC, steering but no power FWD or REV and no beep when switching on. I’ve replaced the batteries in Transmitter, and tried to reset, bind, and re-check fail safe. Now when trying to start, I get the beep but after a few seconds no light and everything goes dead, no steering, or power.
Appreciate your thoughts on what could have happened, and next steps?
Up to today the HPI has been awesome and hasn’t skipped a beat.
Cheers,
Matt

 

[high plains drifter]

You said you replaced the transmitter batteries but not the NiMH pack. Make sure you're using a fully charged NiMH and if that's not it then problem is likely the ESC. If the ESC took a crap or is acting up, I'd replace it with something better/ aftermarket. Most aftermarket ESC's are significantly better with more features and improved reliability over stock.

I'd also personally get away from NiMH batteries. You'll likely be a lot happier with the performance and other benefits of lipo. Lipo's and charging units have come a LONG way over the years and they are absolutely safe if using common sense and following manufacturer's guidelines and very easy to charge/ run/ store.

 

[ferp420]

yup sounds like a dead battery
remeber the battery in your cell phone is a lipo too so you more than likely use lipos every day anyway why not for a rc car

 

[MOguy]

If the light goes out I would start at the battery like other have said. If the red light stays or blinks it may mean you have to rebind the controller or recalibrate the ESC with the controller.

AND, get a lipo battery.

 

[Riviera Amateur RC]

Appreciate the advice. I can confirm I used a fully charged battery pack straight off the charger, so pointing towards your view of the ESC issue. Looks like I’m off to review ESC’s and embark on the upgrade journey! I see LiPO in my future also LOL.

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Appreciate the advice. I can confirm I used a fully charged battery pack straight off the charger, so pointing towards your view of the ESC issue. Looks like I’m off to review ESC’s and embark on the upgrade journey! I see LiPO in my future also LOL.

Hobbywing 1080 if you stay brushed. $40 and the best brushed ESC IMO. Right behind that would be an Axial AE-5. A lot of guys in my area run them over the 1080.

 

[MOguy]

Hobbywing 1080 if you stay brushed. $40 and the best brushed ESC IMO. Right behind that would be an Axial AE-5. A lot of guys in my area run them over the 1080.

What other ESCs have compare it to?

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

What other ESCs have compare it to?

Do you mean which ones I've compared it too? If so, Reedy, AE-5, XL-5V, etc.

 

[MOguy]

Do you mean which ones I've compared it too? If so, Reedy, AE-5, XL-5V, etc.

Those are RTR controllers and the 1080 isn't. You need other aftermarket such as Castle's or Holmes Hobbies.

 

[OnTheTrail]

FWIW, nickel medal battery packs had some environmental regulatory changes a few years ago. The new formula had been known to give brand new packs issues. Sometimes they just never fully charge even though the charger show they do. If I recall, the packs would somehow cause the charger to think the pack was charged and it actually wasn't. Had this happen with a Proboat that came with a Nimh pack. My LHS said he'd heard of several issue. I just went to Lipo and the boat worked fine.

Matt, do you have anyone around you with a similar sized Lipo you could try just to see?

 

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Those are RTR controllers and the 1080 isn't. You need other aftermarket such as Castle's or Holmes Hobbies.

Okay, I see what you mean. I still think the 1080 is the best as far as a low price along with great performance. I'm sure the HH is better quality wise, but the 1080 has the cheap price and still great tuning ability.

 

[ferp420]

another posability is the recever took a dump it happens more than i would like it to especialy with ch3ap rtr radio recivers

 

[MOguy]

Okay, I see what you mean. I still think the 1080 is the best as far as a low price along with great performance. I'm sure the HH is better quality wise, but the 1080 has the cheap price and still great tuning ability.

Definitely for lowest price. You can get a 1080 for about 50 bucks and a homes sport for about 20. For 70 bucks you can have a decent setup. You're probably going to have to double it at least to get something better.

 

[RJW]

Most esc are factory set for lipo batteries and have either a jumper or way to change the setting for NIMH batteries. If the esc is set on LIPO the ESC will cut out much sooner with the NIMH battery thinking the battery is low. Might want to check the manual for ESC settings.

 

[King Dork]

Those are RTR controllers and the 1080 isn't. You need other aftermarket such as Castle's or Holmes Hobbies.

The Holmes BR-XL is a great brushed esc, however, I strongly prefer an esc with a program card. I used to run Viper escs in all of my race vehicles when I raced for this reason. The best feature in my opinion of escs that program from a laptop is the ability to fine tune your throttle and reverse curves such as with the Castle escs. I have 4 crawlers that I run the 1080 in, 1 with the Hobbywing Fusion 1800 (absolutely LOVE the Fusion), 1 with the Holmes BR-XL, 1 with a Mamba X, 1 with a SW4, 1 with a Copperhead, and 1 with a Mamba Micro Crawler Edition, and a bunch of different motors. I enjoy trying different setups and having vehicles that all drive differently from one another. Keeps things interesting. "thumbsup"

 

[MOguy]

The Holmes BR-XL is a great brushed esc, however, I strongly prefer an esc with a program card. I used to run Viper escs in all of my race vehicles when I raced for this reason. The best feature in my opinion of escs that program from a laptop is the ability to fine tune your throttle and reverse curves such as with the Castle escs. I have 4 crawlers that I run the 1080 in, 1 with the Hobbywing Fusion 1800 (absolutely LOVE the Fusion), 1 with the Holmes BR-XL, 1 with a Mamba X, 1 with a SW4, 1 with a Copperhead, and 1 with a Mamba Micro Crawler Edition, and a bunch of different motors. I enjoy trying different setups and having vehicles that all drive differently from one another. Keeps things interesting. "thumbsup"

I have a few MambaX's and 5 or 6 SW4. I got a Copperhead but it went back for warranty. I have a fusion in the grand daughter's crawler. I don't hate it but it has no feedback and not as responsive.

 

[Bronco 300]

I have a few MambaX's and 5 or 6 SW4. I got a Copperhead but it went back for warranty. I have a fusion in the grand daughter's crawler. I don't hate it but it has no feedback and not as responsive.

I would definitely recommend the mamba x, very easy to program and great low speed control. I have one in my gen8, totally changed the truck. But as far as brushed esc's and staying cheap, I would say get the 1080 for sure. I run one in an scx10, works great.

 

[MOguy]

I would definitely recommend the mamba x, very easy to program and great low speed control. I have one in my gen8, totally changed the truck. But as far as brushed esc's and staying cheap, I would say get the 1080 for sure. I run one in an scx10, works great.

The MambaX, the SW4 and Copperhead can run brushed. I recently got my Copperhead back from warranty and it still has issues so I will stay clear of Castle in the future. All they did was reset the Copperhead and sent it back as fixed. I had more issues and sent them the data log and they said that the solution is to run 5000mah batteries. My older Castles have been great and I will keep running them but at this point I just don't want to trust Castle and won't buy more of their stuff.

For me the advantage of the 1080 is the price but that really isn't a concern for me. I liked the Castle setups because they are easy to program, versatile and performed great. As I get more and more into this I find I like comping and weight (esp sprung weight) is the enemy. There are some very minimal ESCs, basically just the guts of an ESC with no case and they are for brushed. I might go that direction next time.

 

[Den72]

Hobbywing 1080 if you stay brushed. $40 and the best brushed ESC IMO. Right behind that would be an Axial AE-5. A lot of guys in my area run them over the 1080.

I 2nd this. I could not believe the changes when I installed this, specifically the servo response. You would have thought I replaced the servo and not the ESC, LOL

 

[ApostateTapir]

Definitely for lowest price. You can get a 1080 for about 50 bucks and a homes sport for about 20. For 70 bucks you can have a decent setup. You're probably going to have to double it at least to get something better.

Agreed! My SCX10.2 is a HW 1080/HH Crawlmaster and it's freaking amazing for $65 dollars. I don't see any reason to spend any more money on electronics unless you jump to brushless.