Never ending problems w/ lemon honcho

[fortysixandtwo]

Alright, so I am at a total loss with my SCX10 Honcho RTR kit.

It was one of the first AE2 kits to hit the market. When I got it I instantly had problems. So I sent the transmitter, reciever and speed controller to Axial to have them checked.

Axial sent me a new transmitter and reciever but said the AE2 esc was fine.

Installed everything, it seemed to work. After the first couple runs something was still obviously wrong. Messed with it, tried to reprogram, it always seemed to work in the apartment but when I hit the trail and tried to climb actual obstacles, it would lag, cut out and die and then reboot itself like I had just turned it on, even though I hadn't. At this point it had been several months since the initial parts had been sent back.

So I set out to figure out what is wrong. I started with upgrading the reciever and transmitter. Found one of the motor wires was lose (and ended up breaking off) so I resodered that back on thinking the glitchiness was from that.

Same problems. Got new batteries. Same problems.

Truck works fine except when you try and give it full throttle. If you smoothly apply throttle to full speed it works fine. Pin it in reverse or forward it lurches and doesn't move. Red light flashes on the AE2. Any hard bump and the AE2 goes back into the initial ON beep sequence and resets like I just turned it on.

All the wires seem to be connected well and programing it over and over doesn't seem to do anything.

What am I missing? I got so frustrated with this truck I gave up on it for the last 6 months. Discovered the wire after getting the new trans/reciever the other day and despite my best optimisim, that isn't the problem.

I will also note that within a few minutes of run time, the AE2 gets extremely hot. I always noticed this on the few glitch free runs I got, half way through 1 battery the thing felt like it was gonna melt.

Bad AE2 ESC?
Bad Motor?

Can't really think of anything else. It still has the stock servo, I recall hearing those can cause problems sometimes? I'm out of ideas.

[brianw]

if you haven't tried a different esc that would be the next option. If that doesn't fix it, new servo, and finally motor. (not necessarily new, but maybe one from your ax10 if it runs fine)

What battery? 2s, 3s, nimh?

[fortysixandtwo]

The batteries are nimah 1500s. Not the most powerful I know but i always ran these in my AX10 with no problem. The AX10 is pretty clapped electronics wise and needs a esc itself. It is getting my old reciever/trans from the honcho but does have a new servo.

I can replace the servo to start to see if it makes any difference.

I was planning on a Sidewinder SV2 as the next thing to replace but wanted to see if I had possibly overlooked anything else. The stock honcho motor has maybe 2 hours of actual run time on it and pulls to full speed if I smoothly accelerate so I don't think its the motor.

[Meatwad]

Try a new servo and/or bec. Internal bec's, I've come to find, aren't good for much else than powering rx's or mini servos.

[NFA Fabrication]

Your main issue is the BEC. The AE2 BEC is not sufficient enough in many cases (Not all AE2's are created equal either, I have gotten some that have your issue, and others that were fine). I highly recommend the Castle Creations 10A BEC, it's only $22, and is programmable with a "Castle Link" (I set mine to 6.0V, and my steering is way better than stock on the RTR AS-2 servo). These are the typical problems of an under powered receiver.

TowerHobbies.com | 010-0004-00 Castle Creations CC BEC 10A 6S Switching Regulator

TowerHobbies.com | PHX-LINK Castle Creations Castle Link USB Programming Kit

[AX10wannabe]

my AE-2 esc in my ax10 was jumpy and twitching today too.. but i also went from the stock servo right to a hitec 7955TG, the AE2 cant handle the power... im gonna swap it out for my novak rooster crawler.

it seems weird because when i ran my ax10 right when i first bought it i tossed in a 1500 or 1800mah nicad battery, stock servo and it did fine..personally i dont think replacing the servo is gonna do anything.. you could try a CC 10amp BEC.

im assuming the batteries in the radio are good.

[Meatwad]

The closer the pack voltage is to the output of the bec, the less trouble it has putting voltage out. Like an older nicad pack for instance. In the other direction, its a lot harder for an esc. Like a 3s pack for instance. Now amperage is another issue. The as2 servos have been known to fail, when they do the current draw can go up.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by fortysixandtwo

The batteries are nimah 1500s. Not the most powerful I know but i always ran these in my AX10 with no problem. The AX10 is pretty clapped electronics wise and needs a esc itself. It is getting my old reciever/trans from the honcho but does have a new servo.

I can replace the servo to start to see if it makes any difference.

I was planning on a Sidewinder SV2 as the next thing to replace but wanted to see if I had possibly overlooked anything else. The stock honcho motor has maybe 2 hours of actual run time on it and pulls to full speed if I smoothly accelerate so I don't think its the motor.

Might have missed it but did you turn off the LVC on the ESC? Default is on and that might be part of you problem. You might try to run a lipo and see if it does the same thing.

[fortysixandtwo]

Originally Posted by Meatwad

Try a new servo and/or bec. Internal bec's, I've come to find, aren't good for much else than powering rx's or mini servos.

Gonna swap the titanium gear servo out of my AX10 in right now.

Originally Posted by NFA Fabrication

Your main issue is the BEC. The AE2 BEC is not sufficient enough in many cases (Not all AE2's are created equal either, I have gotten some that have your issue, and others that were fine). I highly recommend the Castle Creations 10A BEC, it's only $22, and is programmable with a "Castle Link" (I set mine to 6.0V, and my steering is way better than stock on the RTR AS-2 servo). These are the typical problems of an under powered receiver.

TowerHobbies.com | 010-0004-00 Castle Creations CC BEC 10A 6S Switching Regulator


TowerHobbies.com | PHX-LINK Castle Creations Castle Link USB Programming Kit

Thanks, just ordered the Castle BEC 10 A and a Rooster Crawler ESC/55T motor combo. Already have the Castle Field Link.

Originally Posted by AX10wannabe

my AE-2 esc in my ax10 was jumpy and twitching today too.. but i also went from the stock servo right to a hitec 7955TG, the AE2 cant handle the power... im gonna swap it out for my novak rooster crawler.

it seems weird because when i ran my ax10 right when i first bought it i tossed in a 1500 or 1800mah nicad battery, stock servo and it did fine..personally i dont think replacing the servo is gonna do anything.. you could try a CC 10amp BEC.

im assuming the batteries in the radio are good.

Batteries in the Radio are brand new. Gonna replace the servo anyway and see if it does anything.

Originally Posted by Meatwad

The closer the pack voltage is to the output of the bec, the less trouble it has putting voltage out. Like an older nicad pack for instance. In the other direction, its a lot harder for an esc. Like a 3s pack for instance. Now amperage is another issue. The as2 servos have been known to fail, when they do the current draw can go up.

Good to know, thanks.

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Might have missed it but did you turn off the LVC on the ESC? Default is on and that might be part of you problem. You might try to run a lipo and see if it does the same thing.

I am not sure how to turn off the LVC? Lipo cut off correct?

[steele42]

My rtr honcho must have come from the same Lemon tree. I fought it for about a week and got fed up with not being able to drive it so I replaced all the electronics on the truck. In the end I figured my radio and esc were bad (half the symptoms wet away with the new rx/tx and servo combo, and the other half went away when I bought my Tekin esc/motor combo). Runs like a champ now . It'll be interesting to see what you find out

[Spiike]

my suggestion, buy a hitec 645mg for $35 its dirt cheap, reliable, and the people at hitec are great customer support, got a defective servo brand new out of box, and they sent a new one free of charge, anyways, 1500mah is pretty pathetic for a trail basher imo. i'm running a 3000, 3600, and a 4500 all 8.4v 7 cell, they run great! yeah sure maybe 1500 is good for a rock crawler, where weight distribution and CoG is more important. even out of the 3000, i get hour and a half to 2 hours depending on if i'm hill climbing, crawling or bugging around! my bro in law got the stock as-1 and it was also defective out of box, majour power drain, got a hitec 645mg just to get it running, and problems were solved immediately, still runs great to this day! I did install a CC BEC but it really isn't necessary. only if i was to use a ESC with an internal BEC lower than 3A but i've ran both my AE-1 and my Novak super rooster esc's into the ground without the BEC and i've got over 150 charges on my batteries.

Good luck!

[Jus]

I had the same issue when I ordered a parted out AE2 from RPP for my wifes scx-10. Initially tried it with some older nimh 5000mah packs and the cutting out with fast throttle input would happen every single time.

As soon as I upgraded her to 2s 5000mah lipo the problem went away entirely.. It's been a gem ever since. Plenty of power and throttle response is perfectly crisp and smooth.

[fortysixandtwo]

Well I found out once and for all what my problem was. It was the AE2 I sent back to Axial originally that they tested and said was fine.

I took it apart the other day and low and behold the possitive battery cable was barely attached to the circut board. The wires at the base where it was sodered were so unraveled I could see through them to the otherside. Still connected, but makes sense why movement of the battery cable would cause it to cut in and out. Wish I had just taken the AE2 apart from the begining.

So no Axial electronics left in my SXC10 now since I based my trouble shooting off Axial telling me it tested fine. Oh well, I plan to cut and resoder the battery cables onto the AE2 and put it in my AX10 along with the Honcho trans/reciever. Since the Rooster arrived I put it in my SCX10. Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas. And Lipos are definitely next.

[kicker]

Glad to hear you sorted the problem