Radio/ESC Miscommunication?

[GoDonkeys]

I have been experiencing a weird problem that I've been trying to sort out with my TC3. :( A couple of months ago it started acting strange. When I gave it full throttle, it would come up to speed slowly (it would delay for a couple of tenths of a second then slowly get up to speed - taking about 1/2 second to get up to full speed). Needless to say, this didn't do much for me getting the hole shot or help me coming out of corners. Also, even at "full-speed" it wasn't as fast as it was before it started acting up.

At first, someone at my track told me to check my diffs, which I cleaned out and re-greased to no affect. I've tried changing motors and that didn't help either.:confused:

My last race, on of the expert drivers noticed the problem and took it out for a spin and observed that somehow the forward and reverse was swapped. When I went into full reverse, it would instantly go full speed (in reverse). Basically, it was acting like something got swapped (full forward throttle was acting like it should in full-reverse and full reverse was acting like it was in full forward).:huh:

I tried blanking the memory on my radio (Futaba T2PL-FM) and reprogramming my ESC (Duratrax Intellispeed 16T Mild-Mod Reversible) and haven't been able to get the forward and reverse "modes" straightened out.

I noticed in the programming instructions for the ESC that there is a traction control mode where you can tell it to pause 0.0, 0.1 or 0.2 seconds. I tried to set it to 0.0 and it didn't change anything.

This combination of electronics was working fine in previous races before it started acting strange before one of my races.

Anyone have any idea on what might be going wrong and how I can fix it?

[rccardude04]

Not entirely sure, but most ESCs need to be set up with the throttle channel reversed. Try reversing the throttle channel and recalibrating.

Disable the traction control crap.

Disable the reverse.

No idea why it would do it at random. Maybe someone messed with your radio?

-Eric

[GoDonkeys]

I've tried reversing the throttle channel when programming the ESC and get the same result (which doesn't make sense to me).

I'll try disabling the reverse even though I'm not sure how to do that. I guess just not do anything when it's time to set the reverse?

I've tried turning the traction control to 0.0 seconds and it didn't change anything.

Even if someone did mess with my radio, I reset it for the model I've been using, so I would assume that would clear anything somebody might have done. Besides, I'm the least threat to anyone out there, so I doubt anyone did anything to sabotage my chances. I came in second during our summer series mostly because I showed up at all the races.

[rccardude04]

Usually those who mess up our radios are <10 years old. lol. They don't mean anything by it but it beeps and stuff changes on the screen when they push buttons so ... well you know how it goes. :)

As far as disabling the reverse goes, there should be a setting. If not, then you can't disable it. "Not doing anything" when it comes time to set the reverse endpoint won't work. It still needs that endpoint for the brakes.

Usually when Duratrax speed controllers get to where they don't want to program properly, it's time to get another one. I've had a few do it to me at the shop and it seems like they just die. It's weird.

-Eric

[GoDonkeys]

I just checked my manual and found out how to disable reverse so I'll give that a try. It's similar to the process that sets the traction control (which didn't work), so I'm not going to hold my breath!

If this doesn't work, I guess it's time to buy a new one. My 12 year old just smoked his Duratrax (I forget the exact model) on Sunday while bashing, so I guess I'll just add one to the order. He's had it in his T3 since we bought it (about 5-6 years ago). It's the first one that I've seen completely burn up (even created a bump in the chassis were it heated it up).

Thanks for the help! :wave:

[rccardude04]

Don't buy another Duratrax one. Get yourself a Castle Creations Sidewinder. The ESC is cheaper than most racing level ESCs and should have no motor limit in forward only mode. If you get the programmer, you can mess with settings and it's a lot of fun.

Plus, later on, you can upgrade to brushless motor (<5700kV).

Make sure if you do go that route to switch it from Brushless to brushed before you hook up power. Or else you may see sparks. :)

-Eric