Transmitter or Receiver?

[ColtS]

Good morning!
This is my first post, so lets see how it goes.. So I bought an Axial SCX6 Honcho a little over a year ago for my son's birthday. Within the first battery the steering servo went out. Now the truck has MAYBE 5 hours on it and I'm having what I think is an electronics issue. I have extremely limited knowledge with RC cars in the last 15 years but I'm a decent YouTube mechanic. I've searched for hours and found similar issues, but nothing exactly the same and the fixes, aren't fixing! Ill attempt to attach a few videos of the issue as well.

Ok, the issue(s)... The truck worked perfectly last use about 8 months ago. We took it camping last weekend and the transmitter (Spektrum DX3) just flashes red. A quick look at the user manual and it says low battery voltage. Well, I've tried 4 sets of AA batteries now with 2 being purchased same day. All different brands, incase its picky. I also cant turn the transmitter off without pulling a battery which I find strange.

Next issue, the ESC (spektrum) also clicks through its self checks with green lights then ends up with a red flashing light. To me, it seems like it flashes red because it never senses and transmitter but again, I know nothing about the RC world.

I've attempted to bind the transmitter and receiver countless times according to the manual and youtube videos but the transmitter new comes out of the steady red flashing light. I'm at a point where I'm going to start throwing money at it and I hate doing that. I'm hoping someone on here has some trouble shooting ideas or similar experiences to at least slim down what the issue might be. Sorry about the long winded thread, just trying to get all the info out there. I appreciate the assistance and I'm looking forward to someone telling me that I'm an idiot and has a simple setting incorrect.

 

[ColtS]

I'm honestly even worse with social media.. We'll try this link but my work firewalls won't allow me to check if it works. Good luck!

TikTok · user4086465517869

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Welcome to Axial RTR electronics. Some brands are better than others. I've never had luck with Axial stuff.

Anyway, you should have emailed them right away after the servo went out. I'd still recommend reaching out to them because you've had nothing but problems with the electronics.

I'm honestly thinking your ESC went bad and that's why the transmitter isn't working. I could be wrong. Do you have any other RCs to try these parts on?

 

[ferp420]

if the esc dosent see neutral from the radio it wont finish arming its self
i dont know anything about spectrum radios other than if i get one i toss it in the corner and use any other radio i have on hand
maybe time to upgrade maybe

 

[JatoTheRipper]

if the esc dosent see neutral from the radio it wont finish arming its self
i dont know anything about spectrum radios other than if i get one i toss it in the corner and use any other radio i have on hand
maybe time to upgrade maybe

Yes, this too. Maybe even more so than what I said which is why I’m confused as if it’s the ESC or transmitter.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Maybe he bumped the throttle trim accidentally? Try putting the knob back to center.

 

[ColtS]

Thanks for the replies. I have another Axial (1/10 Bomber) that I'll try to bind the transmitter to the Honcho tonight. Nothing else with electronics this "advanced" if that's the right word. I feel like this is one of those issues that could be any number of things... I'm just trying to find a good starting point in buying new electronics.

 

[ColtS]

Maybe he bumped the throttle trim accidentally? Try putting the knob back to center.

I've returned all the knobs to the middle position. the brake rate and ST rate are all the way down. ST an TH are toggled to "N" which I assumed is normal instead of reversed. I've tried with the TH limit in all positions with no change.

 

[ferp420]

try swaping the reciver from the bomber to the honcho dont try to rebind anything
the esc should arm
i have had the built in battery eliminator circuit"bec" on the esc take a dump from turning the wheels by hand the servo is a electric motor so when turned by hand it creates a voltage back feed and pops the bec it could also take out your reciver

if you have a small 2s lipo before swaping the reciver out discharge it to about 7.4volts and try pluging it in to the reciver and see if everything works disconect the esc just in case the bec isent bad if your radio binds and the servo works than its most likely the bec

 

[ColtS]

try swaping the reciver from the bomber to the honcho dont try to rebind anything
the esc should arm
i have had the built in battery eliminator circuit"bec" on the esc take a dump from turning the wheels by hand the servo is a electric motor so when turned by hand it creates a voltage back feed and pops the bec it could also take out your reciver

if you have a small 2s lipo before swaping the reciver out discharge it to about 7.4volts and try pluging it in to the reciver and see if everything works disconect the esc just in case the bec isent bad if your radio binds and the servo works than its most likely the bec

Awesome! I'll try that this weekend when I get some time. I've attempted to bind the known good transmitter to the Honcho's current receiver. I wasn't too sure if many parts are interchangeable but the receiver defiantly should be. I did call a RC repair shop just incase I can't get this thing going but they're about an hour away from me so getting down there isn't all that simple. Thank you!

 

[Col_Sanders]

He's saying just to try the whole Bomber radio setup on the SCX6. That will let you know if the problem is your Spektrum radio or the ESC. If the SCX6 works with the Bomber radio setup, you can move on to trying to figure out if it is the Spektrum transmitter or receiver (or replace them both).

If you're going back with Spektrum, I've found it cheaper to buy whole takeoff radio setups from someone parting out RTRs on ebay than to buy a receiver or transmitter by itself.

 

[ColtS]

Ok, quick update. I finally gave in and dropped it off at the shop. Turns out my issue was a bad transmitter. I'm still not real sure why I couldn't bind any of my other 3 transmitters to the receiver but that's above my level with these things. Maybe not enough channels on the other transmitters since this truck has a 2 speed transmission? The shop just replaced my DX3 with another DX3. I'll start researching upgrades so I can avoid this issue in the future.

 

[Col_Sanders]

Ok, quick update. I finally gave in and dropped it off at the shop. Turns out my issue was a bad transmitter. I'm still not real sure why I couldn't bind any of my other 3 transmitters to the receiver but that's above my level with these things. Maybe not enough channels on the other transmitters since this truck has a 2 speed transmission? The shop just replaced my DX3 with another DX3. I'll start researching upgrades so I can avoid this issue in the future.

Were all your transmitters Spektrum?

 

[ferp420]

radios only work with the same brand recivers for the most part

some airplane radios are universal and will work with differnt brands of recivers but surface radios arent really there yet maybe 1 or 2 will but most dont

companys like to sell you there exspensive recivers