magic smoke?
 

Hey guys, I had a quick question for ya'll. I'm a noob so bare with me.

I have had my wraith for a little over a week and have had a few problems with it, the latest is smoke.
I have only ran about 4 or 5 battery packs threw the wraith. Today I was driving it around in the yard, threw the grass and crawling on a few bricks around the garden. I was going threw some tall grass and all of a sudden I see a cloud of smoke and all electricty goes out (fully charged battery). I go to pick it up and it smelled like something was burnt. Felt motor and it was pretty hot.

My question is, do you think this is my motor or ESC? I think its probably the motor, but the reason I ask is the thing is not getting any juice at all, no lights, nothing. Even fully charged battery again and still nothing!

Please help, or atleast tell me what ya'll think this could be, because I have no clue. :?:

Re: magic smoke?
 

Real quick way to find out: Plug the battery into the ESC.. is the ESC turns on then it's your motor..
It's more than likely just the motor... I burned up my stock motor pretty quickly..

Re: magic smoke?
 

Are all your wire connections good, what other problems did you have before?

Re: magic smoke?
 

Yeah, my connections are good that was one of the problems I had, but fixed that.

1. Luckily everything worked out of the box, but within an hour of driving it I stripped the servo horn by jumping it of one step probably 6 to 8 " tall.
2. The battery connector was not getting a good connection so if I hit ANY bump with it it would jolt and shut off.
3. The screw connecting the knuckle to the C-hub backed out and lost it, causing the remaing connecting screw to break off a small piece of the C-hub because of the extreme angle of the tire leaning in.
4. NOW the motor (I'm guessing) or the esc. All this in about 9 days time, about 3 total hours of driving.

I honestly feel I don't bash it to hard to cause these inconviences. Now I'm afriad to even drive the thing, becasue without fail everytime I take it out something goes wrong.:x

Re: magic smoke?
 

How do I plug the battery straight into the ESC?(i thought thats what i was pretty much doing when i plugged it into the wraith because the cables that run straight from the battery directly connect to the ESC or atleast that's what it looks like)

When you burnt up your motor did your electronics still work? Lights and steering and all that good stuff?

Re: magic smoke?
 

I haven't even been in my Wraith 3 weeks... Broken a knuckle, lower links, melted the motor
My suggestions *(coming from a newb): get fine thread screws for your knuckles & lock tight them. Build your own links (see the thread in tip & tools)... And as for the motor, not sure yet. I got a stock replacement free from a buddy for now. I was running my first event - a 100gate rock race... Started smoking pretty bad around 45, completely gave out before 51. I disassembled it and found the lower part of the interior scorched from the heat, inside of the motor completely melted, fan was literally dripping :)
Anybody have suggestions for cheap effective motor replacement?

Re: magic smoke?
 

Anybody else have any suggestions?

Re: magic smoke?
 

driving though tall grass is very tasking for an RC it ads ALOT of drag and your are forcing it to keep going. my suggestion is to replace the parts you broke and learn from your mistake.

sounds like a burnt up motor, but I wouldn't be suprised if the ESC is gone too, if your getting nothing, no steering, lights or beeps its not looking good for you.