PDA

View Full Version : Novak bl, strange things happening


Customizer
08-29-2004, 02:29 PM
This might be best directed to Charles S, but someone else might have had this happen so...

Yesterday I was running my bl rs4 mt on my off road track, I was going up the jumps slowly to see how well it could slowly climb, after about 5 mins it stopped, I thought it was just the thermal overload and though nothing of it, but then saw little wisps of smoke comming out of the cut-out windshild of the body. I went over and ripped off the body, and saw the esc was smoking I disconnected the battery and turned of the esc,it was still smoking, light grey smoke, not much and after about 10 seconds it stopped. I took the car inside and and turned on the air compressor and blew the esc's cooling fins until the were just a little warm, next I checkout the motor, by then it had cooled off.

I pluged in the battery and turned on the radio and esc and pulled the throttle, nothing happend, by then I'm thinking, "200 down the drain". I tried reverse and it worked, then tried foward again and it studdered until it hit about 1/2 throttle, went back into reverse and it didnt work, blue and green lights blinking, locked rotor?? It was on a flat surface with nothing binding at all. Tried foward, same result. Took out the motor and took apart to look for anthing inside that would loke the rotor, nothing. I tried with the motor out, same thing as in the car. By the way, sometimes it worked fine.

Looked at troubleshooting guide, under "throttle glitching under accel.." Checked for loose conections, cleaned solder tabs with rc cleaner, checked capicator, nothing wrong with it. Next tried motor again, guess what? It didn't work :p Ok, Looked at trouble shooting guide again under "steering works but motor does not" checked off everything to look for. Tried motor again, same thing. Then I give up and started writing this. :)

My gearing is 96/22. Oh, almost forgot, when I took apart the motor (before this happened) I lost the little washer, I still have the brass sleeve. I think it had a washer to begin with, not totaly sure though. If it did have this washer, is it really nessecery?

BCSavage
08-29-2004, 02:54 PM
Charlie is prolly going to tell you to pack it in a box and send it to novak. This sounds like a serious problem.

TheSteve
08-29-2004, 03:11 PM
You likely blew one of the fets in the controller - so sometimes it manages to start the motor with the 5 remaining fets, sometimes it doesn't. Time to go back to Novak forsure.

ElectricThunder
08-29-2004, 05:18 PM
Maybe a sensor is damaged too, causing a false locked rotor detection. But yeah...I'm with everyone else. Off to novak it should go...

CharlieS
08-30-2004, 04:09 PM
You're all right, more then likely it is a combination of problems, anytime there is Smoke, something bad has happened.

I'm sure the next question would be why did this happen and how would you prevent it. Answer, not really sure, it could be a few different things. Usually mosfet failures, or smoking parts are related to external shorts. Common user erros are the circuit board touching the chassis or battery. (where the power wires are on the ESC) Also, I've seen the Power Cap leads short to the chassis and battery to cause "similar" problems. It could be a random part going bad for no reason, but that doesn't really happen to much anymore. We test the be-geezes out of these before they are boxed.

As it is not functioning, and there was smoke, I would just recomend sending it, after a part burns enough to smoke something, there isn't much you can do on your end. We have to replace something.

Thanks
Charlie

CharlieS
08-30-2004, 04:10 PM
Oh Also, while you guys are here, ET, BC, and TS, thanks for assistance with the answers in your other threads. It is much appreciated by myself and the other CS staff here. Thanks Guys. If you are ever not sure, feel free to direct them to us.

Tech@teamnovak.com or
charlie@teamnovak.com They both come to me.

ElectricThunder
08-30-2004, 04:21 PM
The C-man to the rescue... :cool:

BCSavage
08-30-2004, 04:54 PM
Thank-you Charlie! I've got one thing to say about Novak. Back in 1993 when I bought my first RC (Kyosho Outlaw Ultima Stadium truck) I knew THEN that Novak was the name to have for electronics. Well it's 11 years later and guess what? I'm getting back into electric cars and I'm STILL confident in the Novak name even though I haven't been "in the loop" for the past Decade. You guys keep putting out great products and there will always be guys like me (us) to buy and support them and the Novak name ;)

ElectricThunder
08-30-2004, 08:59 PM
^werd^ :D My first GOOD ESC ( i hated my LRP runner..so limited) was a novak fusion, which I errr...fried. I loved the dual profile thing. That was awesome. And now...I have my novak SS. (waiting for the pro...;) ) HEHEHEHE!

Customizer
08-31-2004, 07:13 PM
Just one more Q. Would this be under warranty?

BCSavage
08-31-2004, 07:21 PM
I believe the Novak brushless systems have a lifetime warranty, but I could be mistaken.

BCSavage
08-31-2004, 07:23 PM
I am mistaken, the warranty is good for a period of 120 days from the date of purchase.

Customizer
08-31-2004, 07:34 PM
Ok, filling out the warranty form tonight, and hopefuly in the mail tommrow. Thanks guys.

ElectricThunder
08-31-2004, 08:10 PM
If it's still under warranty...novak will probably just replace it with a whole new system. Free of charge. If warranty is up..you may have to shell out about 80-100 bucks for a whole new system. Good luck! ;)

Customizer
09-02-2004, 06:21 PM
Yes, it is still under it. I got it less than a month ago. Should have kept the decals, I would end up with two sheets :D

ElectricThunder
09-02-2004, 06:49 PM
Lol!!^