About to purchase 40.160!

[BJMFH1.01]

I'm about to purchase the 40.160 Schulze speed controller; I'm beyond fed up with my Hacker Competition. I was running my BL emaxx and my Hacker Comp started acting really funny. I was traveling at close to top speed the controller just violently stopped the truck without warning. The truck flipped a bunch of times and slammed into a tree. The truck was ok and I continued to drive it. The Hacker Comp continued to glitch like crazy and would stop the truck for no reason. The Hacker Comp wasn't even warm. The capacitors weren't damaged either so I have no clue as to what's wrong with it. There was nothing binding my drivetrain either; this was the controller.

I was going to buy the cheaper 18.97 but I figure if I'm to buy another controller, I might as well go big. I'd rather have the extra cell and amp handling ability and not need it then need it and not have it. Beside my truck is a full UE SuperMaxx and it's pretty heavy. It runs off a Hacker 7XL motor powered by 12-16 cells geared 15/51. I don't ever plan on using more than 16 cells; it's plenty fast enough for me on 16.

I do have a couple of question though. I realize this controller is huge. What's the best place to mount? Or better yet, what would be the safest place to mount the controller. I would hate to blow 600 bucks in a bad crash. I read somewhere that Schulze controllers require extra capacitors because of the bar and battery wire length. Where would I purchase the capacitors and how would I go about installing them? I really would appreciate any insight or personal experience regarding this controller. Thank you very much!

[chilledoutuk]

Are you certain that your glitching is being caused by the controller? as i would hate for you to spend all that money and find it also glitches.

Glitching in my experiance is normally caused by radio interferance from the car itself ( ie antena being too close to the power cables). I had glitching when I tried to use an acoms receiver with a futaba transmitter before.

I assume your using an fm system although they are less suceptable to interferance if a cable runs near a power cable then glitching is guranteed.

funny thing was once when i was driving my novak brushless system i had this very problem but instead of the car glitching it just had an large lag on the throttle it was like having a turbo that didnt kick in until a second after you jamed the throttle down. needless to say i had an attena cable running to close to power cables. i repositioned the receiver and made sure the aerial went up as close as possible to the receiver voila no more turbo lag.

[BJMFH1.01]

I'm almost completely positive it's the controller. I switched back to stock gearing with my Titans (brushed motors) hooked up to the Novak EVX and the problems disappeared. The truck runs great with the old brushed gear.

The thing is, the Hack Comp has been steadily getting worse over the course of a few months. At first it just used to have a slight delay in throttle and glitched any time I full throttled the truck over difficult terrain. Now it just glitches for no reason. The controller likes to wait until I'm doing about 40+ mph and it slams on the brakes like i've never seen. When the controller was working it never could've have stopped the car like it does now. For some reason when the controller glitches, it has super brakes.

The only reason my drivetrain is still intact is because I have cvds, ultramaxxed gears, and UE 8 gear spyder diffs. Even with all the upgrades, I'm still in shock that nothing has broken thanks to this mess.

I still have no idea how the trucks stops so fast at that speed. The wheels aren't even turning when it's flying through air doing flips and cartwheels. I could understand the glitching causing a delayed throttle response or slowing the truck down, but clamping on the brakes so hard it causes the truck to do front flips? And then when the truck finally stops flipping, it starts right back up like nothing ever happened. I'm at my wits end about this problem! Hopefully the 40.160 will solve this mess.

[chilledoutuk]

dont supose you can get some footage of this as it sounds quite entertaining

[pinolelst]

Any problems with the motor that might cause a short circuit or temporary mechanical lock ??

[Rotary Rocket]

Reprogram your controller over again to see if it helps...

[BJMFH1.01]

Thanks for the replies guys!

The motor looks fine to me. It spins freely and the wires are intact. I used to have the Hacker Comp hooked up to a C50 Maxx motor and the controller was glitching back then too, only not as bad. I'm pretty sure it's not the motor.

I don't have a digital video camcorder. I wish I did though because it does look funny. Try to imagine a motorcycle doing about 40 and someone sticking a steel bar in the front wheel and you'll have good idea of what my truck looks like.

I already did try to reprogram the controller a bunch of times previously. I tried different amp, forward/reverse, and forward/brake settings to no avail.

I placed my order today for the 40.160 through Fine Design. I've had good experiences dealing with them in the past. The only negative transaction I've ever had with them was a smoked controller. It was actually Hacker's fault for not replacing it, Fine Design was just the middle man. I know a bunch of people on the web have complained about them, but until they personally scew me I'll keep using them.

[Rotary Rocket]

BJMFH1.01,

I just sent you a PM, let me know what you think?

[Craps]

Fine Design does not honor his warranty and is too expensive.

I'll have my 40.160 on E-Bay soon and will post it here when it is on there. I am out of town and will put it on there when I get home.

[BJMFH1.01]

BJMFH1.01,

I just sent you a PM, let me know what you think?

I sent you an email back.

Craps, what type of work did you need to have done to your 40.160? I thought it was supposed to be the ultimate brushless controller. I couldn't imagine the thing going up in smoke; it would take alot of voltage and crazy gearing.

I read Fine Design's warranty. I got the impression that they'll warranty the controller from factory defects but if you're out trying to jump a house and the ESC fails on you, you'll be told to take a hike. Their prices don't seem too bad and I couldn't find too many other places in the US that sold this controller. Their shipping and handling charges are absurd though. Hopefully I won't have to find out if they'll honor their warranty.

[pcnutz]

if you decide to sell off the hacker comp cheap cheap pls email me at mechwarriorjon@hotmail.com

[Rotary Rocket]

BJMFH1.01, got your email. Thank you. :D

[glassdoctor]

I'll try to answer for Craps while he's out... :0 I believe the warrany issue was with the motors, not the controller. And he didn't back it up when there was a motor problem.

I don't think Craps had any trouble with the 40.160...

[starluckrc]

Correct....the controller was fine.

I special order Schulze controllers and can usually have them in a couple of weeks.

[Craps]

The controller is ok. The problem with Fine is that I had was his Lehner motor warranty is at his discredition and not as advertised. We have been running a Lehner Basic 4200 and a 5300 in stadium trucks with 18.61 ESCs and they started cogging. I returned them to him and he said there was rust on the can (not true) and somebody had tried to repair them (again not true), he said voided warranty. He was very rude and unprofessional on the phone to talk to also. I do not deal with these kind of jerks and can not recommend anybody else to deal with him either.

He is an "A" number one jerk and a "LIAR". He will do anything and tell you anything to make a dollar.

Enough said about Fine Design!

Jamie with www.starluckrc.com not only knows what he is talking about, but supports everything he sells 100% with a phone call that you get talked to like a professional should. Jamie can get you anything Fine Design can and at a cheaper price with real customer support.

PS. Jamie actually likes car people and he will not brag about his world record RC boat that you could care less about.

[humvee-maxx]

40.160

[humvee-maxx]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid148/p7a97e5a789d36fbfd51ba7ccb73650dc/f6193005.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid148/p7a97e5a789d36fbfd51ba7ccb73650dc/f6193005.jpg

[BJMFH1.01]

I got the controller today! This thing is big! :eek:

I just had a few more questions. I understand how to set the switches. The thing I don't get is how to wire/connect the battery wires. There are 4 instead of the normal 2. I want to hook them up so that the batteries are in a series, not parallel.

I'll try to post a pic.

http://bb.domaindlx.com/bjmfh/40.160.JPG

[OpIvy]

black is negative, red is positive :)

they have 2 wires, just because of the ammount of power that the controller can handle. notice there's 6 plugs for the motors instead of the usual 3 as well.
just solder both red wires, and both black wires, as if they were each one BIG wire.
-Nick

[BJMFH1.01]

Thanks, I'll do that. It'll be kinda hard trying to solder four wires onto a single Dean's plug but I'll figure something out.

Am I suposed to do the same thing with the motor wires as well? I use those 3.5mm gold plugs and I don't think I can jam two wires into a single plug. I use the female plugs on the motor's wires. I don't feel like unsoldering the female plugs on the motor and hard wiring the motor wires to the controller wires but it looks like I'll have to.

[Rotary Rocket]

Use heat shrink tubing to "keep" the two wires together then solder the ends to the Deans plug.

As for the motor end, cut on wire about 3mm shorter than the other, but strip the plastic sheeting to the same level on both. Solder a bullet connector to the longer wire, then solder the shorter wire to the longer wire. Again use heat shrink tubing to keep both wires together and cover you solder joint and connector.

I hope I didn't confuse you... :)

[Miha]

Double up Deans! So 1 conector on each pair of wires.

[BJMFH1.01]

I wish I could do that like with Novak's EVX. I don't think you can treat the wires like a Y harness. From what everyone's telling me here, and in the instructions, you have to treat all four wires like two big wires.

I'll try to post a pic of the of the controller with the wiring all soldered up. I just need to insulate the ends of the wires leading to the motor.

http://bb.domaindlx.com/bjmfh/40.160%20one.JPG

[Miha]

Naturally, if you do 1 connector on each pair of wires, you have to do this also on your packs. You also need then either new charging leads or make an interconnector (from single deans on the charger to two deans (one on each wire).

If one decides for such controller, I think he knows what he is doing (means how to efficiently transform big amps to power without much losses) :)

[BJMFH1.01]

I was driving my truck a little bit today just to test it out. I live in Michigan and there's snow on the ground and it's pretty cold out too. From the short run I did, the controller seemed to perform very well. It handles the power with ease operates very smoothly. I won't really be able to tell until spring gets here.

Just one more question and then I'll go away. Is reverse supposed to have a delay? I was holding the reverse trigger at full throttle for about 2-3 seconds before it finally started going backwards. Did I do something wrong or is it suposed to be like that?