Neither of my amps survived autumn :(

[xlDooM]

Hey guys, been a while since I posted here. I wanted to go bashing with my kid a few days ago, but neither of my amps would run. I think the motors are toast. One ran fine at first, till I put the body on and tried to give it the beans, then it wouldn't move. The other never moved.

I last ran them at the beach a couple months ago and didn't rinse the motors, didn't think much water/sand got into them. They look awful now though, completely corroded on the outside. Woops.

ESC provides +8.25 on the motor wires on full throttle. Steering works fine. So it's not a binding issue. I guess it's theoretically possible that the ESC cannot deliver any meaningful current to back up the open loop voltage, but my money's on the motors being shot due to my neglect.

Might pick up a firebolt 15T and see if it runs. But I'm kinda looking at ebay brushless combos as well

Lesson learnt: clean up your truck when you've run it on wet beach sand. One of the bearings is gone too, must not have cleaned that one up very well either.

 

[X]

Is that a salt water beach? That's likely your culprit. Where you might have been fine in fresh water, instead, that salt helped worsen the corrosion.

 

[xlDooM]

Yep salt water beach. Even some of the suspension hardware rusted. It's like the shock oil went up a few grades on one side because the rust is binding the linkages somewhat.

 

[xlDooM]

So, it is indeed the motor that's not working. I hooked one up directly to the battery and it spun up. I put the ESC back in between and it worked for the first two squirts of throttle, then it died again. Can't seem to get it in motion anymore now, have tried rinsing it and drying it, giving it a shove to get started, directly to the battery, nothing worked. Could be an internal wiring fault I suppose, or could it be the brushes themselves? Any tips on reviving old brushed motors you can't disassemble?

 

[X]

You could try using some Deoxit on it, or any other contact cleaner. I use Deoxit D5 on a number of electronics equipment, though mostly switch contacts, and it does a great job of removing corrosion.

http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.188/.f

 

[xlDooM]

Thanks, gonna take it to work and see if they have a derusting agent of some kind. Because you know, a can of deoxit or similar non-gooey is more expensive than another motor

 

[X]

Thanks, gonna take it to work and see if they have a derusting agent of some kind. Because you know, a can of deoxit or similar non-gooey is more expensive than another motor

Haha, close enough. Clearly though, the RC gods think you should upgrade.

 

[xlDooM]

So, I managed to revive one by just running it underwater for a few minutes. Trick didn't work on the other one though, as soon as that one dries out it's completely dead. Guess the brushes are just too damaged.

One of the diff bearings has also seized (car didn't want to roll at all, the diff shaft was reluctantly spinning inside it's bearing). I'll scour ebay for a cheap bearing set since I don't intend to take much better care of it in the future

It was nice to have at least one working truck again though. With the power HD servo and the rpm servo saver eliminator it handles really well.

GoolRC brushless kit (3300KV) is on its way to resurrect the buggy as well! For $32 I'm not gonna be too disappointed if it doesn't do more than 30mph.

 

[X]

GoolRC brushless kit (3300KV) is on its way to resurrect the buggy as well! For $32 I'm not gonna be too disappointed if it doesn't do more than 30mph.

Let us know how you like that kit. Is the kit rated for 3s? Haven't found specs listed anywhere yet. Be careful though, quite a few reviews say it fried quickly on 3s.

 

[xlDooM]

Indeed it is rated for 3s, but I'm not gonna risk it. It's gonna take a little while to get here from China but I'll be sure to post a review when I get it.

In fact I just noticed I bought the wrong one, I got one of the 380-in-a-540-can motors but for just a few bucks more I could have had a 3100KV actual 540 size which probably has a bit more torque. I'm not going for the land speed record, mind. Just a little faster than stock would be OK or I'm gonna break it non-stop.

 

[Music411]

I went through tons of upgrades with my amp..
Stock motor - meh..
Firebolt 15t - good brushed upgrade for sure.. but eventually you out grow it..
Gool rc brushless 3300kv - For the price you can't go wrong.. not the craziest motor for sure but a good solid beginner brushless setup.
Castle sct 3800kv - Beast mode !

 

[xlDooM]

That's cool man I will probably get the firebolt for my kid when the one motor I salvaged craps out. Unless his ESC bites it first of course...