Hi, and a little advice please...

rich_morris

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6
Hi, great that I came across this dedicated ECX forum.
I bought my son a Ruckus, 2wd, perhaps 3 years ago. It got used a bit, and then forgotten about for many reasons.
My youngest son is now interested in RC, and I thought I'd resurrect the Ruckus.

I had one problem previously with the truck motor overheating, and melting wires. I replaced with a like for like brushed motor.

More recently, the 7.2v and 8.4v batteries, which have sat for some time, and probably past their best now fail to give much in the way of power or run time. I'm trying a few charge cycles through them to see if I can resurrect them.

So, I have a couple of questions.
What can I do to prevent the motor overheating - is a heat sink needed? Or a fan?
What do I need to do to get the best out of some 3 year old, sat unused NiMh batteries - can they be rescued, or best to replace them?

I'm trying to avoid my youngest son splashing out on a new, but inferior (banggood) RC car, by getting this one going again. It's in good nick generally, and apart from the motor has been very robust!

Thanks

Rich
 
Must be something quite seriously wrong somewhere for a brushed motor to get that hot it melts wires. Or you should route your wires away from the motor straight out of the can. What motor is it? A stock motor of around 20 turns? Or something quicker?

A few charge/discharge cycles will tell you if those NiMH batteries will come back to life or not, but something like a new 4000mAh NiMH battery should still be less than £20 and give a decent run time.
 
Must be something quite seriously wrong somewhere for a brushed motor to get that hot it melts wires. Or you should route your wires away from the motor straight out of the can. What motor is it? A stock motor of around 20 turns? Or something quicker?

A few charge/discharge cycles will tell you if those NiMH batteries will come back to life or not, but something like a new 4000mAh NiMH battery should still be less than £20 and give a decent run time.
Thanks for that.
It was, and still is a 15t motor. A standard dynamite model I think.
I wasn't around when it overheated.
Could have been through 2 X 4000mah batteries in quick succession on long grass.
I might just try a couple of chap NiMH batteries short term, if the ones I have don't do the job any more.
Rich
 
Yeah, the only time I burnt out a motor was as a kid driving my car round the living room carpet continuously until it stopped dead. For ever. ?

My 9 year old struggled with a 15turn brushed on normal NiMH batteries. Breakages every outing each week since Christmas. A 20 turn motor and a bit of a turn down on the throttle dual rate and I think it's starting to click. I put a lipo in it for him for the last 10mins or so once we've got going on the Nimh's. My eldest 12, is well away on his brushless set up in his Boost.

Have to say though, the ECX buggies/trucks have generally a nicely flexible plastic that usually bends rather than snaps irreparably :)
 
Grass is a high drag and high traction surface that destroys motors. I’d do a brushless swap at this point. If it was hot enough to melt wires that motor is probably junk.
 
I would stay out of the grass with a brushed motor. You put a lot of strain on the motor and, debris can get inside. Brushed motors do run hot due to the sparking of the brushes, and that's putting it mildly. Dirt, street and track are were to run. Occasional on grass ok, but not full runs. Lephturn is right, if you can afford it go brushless. There are some reasonable price'd (cheap) brushless combos out there, not the best, but better then brush'd. Check EBay, and im sure Lephturn has some other avenues you can go too.
 
Thanks for that.
It was, and still is a 15t motor. A standard dynamite model I think.
I wasn't around when it overheated.
Could have been through 2 X 4000mah batteries in quick succession on long grass.
I might just try a couple of chap NiMH batteries short term, if the ones I have don't do the job any more.
Rich
we killed the stock motor in our ruckus the first time out. tall wet grass. my kid ran it for a long time, then handed me the transmitter and said they were done. it turned out the motor actually melted and deformed. got it replaced with a 12 turn traxxis 550 can and never looked back.
 

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