Wraith review + problem

[3stage]

Good day all, I'm new to RC and new to this forum. I'm from Trinidad btw.. Just recently I stumbled across the RC off road / crawler world while browsing videos on Youtube, I had no idea they made RC vehicles in such life like detail! At that point I was hooked and, well, needless to say, the research phase followed immediately after and I ended up making purchase of an Axial Wraith, Poison Spider version.

IMO, the Wraith is an awesome off road RC. I was able to crawl through some pretty rough terrain with it, suspension flex is great and stability is not as bad as I was expecting. At high speed it is easy to flip on sharp turns, but that is expected for a solid axle type vehicle. The stock gearing seems well suited to me, I found the balance of speed and power was quite reasonable. Remember this is my 1st RC and I have nothing to compare it against. I did make purchase of a 16T and 18T pinions along with the 87T spur gears but I haven't taken delivery of those as yet. I will try a slight gear reduction to see if it helps me during low speed maneuvers.

Cons I found:
- front tyres rub the body work when the front suspension flexes.
- the front body (radiator grill area) hits the steering servo horn when the front suspension compresses.
- I hate having to remove the battery to charge it. (I wired in a separate adapter so I could plug the LIPO charger in without having to unplug the battery from the ESC. I extended the balance plug on the battery as well)

Pros:
- Great suspension flex
- Locked front and rear differentials
- Great approach and departure angles
- Good stability
- The stock BFG Krawker tyres look great and perform well enough for now.

___________________________________________

(Issue solved - turned out to be a slack motor connection)


I am having an intermittent problem where occasionally while in use the motor would stop responding (in both forward and reverse) to the transmitter. I would still have control over the steering servo, but would loose control over the motor. The usual high pitch hum you get while driving would also stop when the problem occurs.

This issue has occured twice now. The first occasion occured after driving it just 25 feet and the second occasion occured after approx 15mins of moderate off road driving. On both occasions, I had to leave it off for a few minutes before it would resume normal operation. Switching the ESC off and then back on again did not immediately fix the problem. I also did not hear any beeps when switching it off / on during the problem.

I have a 5000mah / 40C 2S LIPO battery on it. Was fully charged when the problem occured, I also have a voltage monitor installed. When the vehicle is operating fully, I get an occasional beep from the ESC, I am not sure if this is normal though. I have the issue occuring caught on video, it happened at the 0:58sec mark, still had steering control, no high pitch hum while trying to go forward / reverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhP-c_Okfs

Any advice on what might be the problem?

[Jus]

Welcome to the hobby. The Wraith is a hoot to drive.

It isn't a good idea to charge your battery in the truck. Yes they are a perfectly safe battery, but things can happen. IF, and I mean IF the battery/charger goes south and starts a fire, you don't want your truck to burn with it. You also don't want to leave the battery plugged into the ESC for extended periods of time. It can drain the battery even when off and do damage to the battery if it drops below 3v per cell.

[3stage]

I bought the Venom LIPO + balance charger. They seem like a quality product, the only issue is the venom batteries have their wired terminals to the top and the wires do not fit through the space in the interior Axial made for it. I did have to extend the wires a few inches to get them to reach, but I made sure the connections were secure and soldered. It is a little tough for me to reach the velcro straps but I will be careful when charging the battery and i'll leave it disconnected from the ESC when not in use. Thanks for that tip!

Venom 40C 5000mah 2S
Amazon.com: Venom 40C 2S 5000mAh 7.4 Hard Case LiPO Battery ROAR Approved with UNI Plug: Toys & Games

Venom balance charger
Amazon.com: Venom Pro 2 LiPO Battery & NiMH Battery Charger: Toys & Games

[Towjoe02]

I had a very similar issue with my wraith, I found that the one of the motor plugs wasn't plugged in properly. Guessing it had a poor connection, pushed it together properly and haven't had an issue since.

[lrhsr]

i had the same problem the bullet connector to the motor was loose and had no tension! soldering the wires together solved that problem

[evan03]

Great review charging on thevvehichle risks losing it.
Lipos are very dangerous specialty when charging many people charge in a lipo bag.

I have charged on the rig

I've been charging lipos for about 5 years I had a 2200 start smoking while charging if I didn't catch it would have burned my house down

[evan03]

I couldn't help but notice how expensive that venom battery is.

I have a ton of turnigy batts I couldn't afford to be in this hobby without them

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...dProduct=28210

[3stage]

Originally Posted by Towjoe02

I had a very similar issue with my wraith, I found that the one of the motor plugs wasn't plugged in properly. Guessing it had a poor connection, pushed it together properly and haven't had an issue since.

Originally Posted by lrhsr

i had the same problem the bullet connector to the motor was loose and had no tension! soldering the wires together solved that problem

Well imagine that.. The ground wire to my motor wasn't plugged in properly!

Within the next month or two I will be looking to get an SCX10 for the wife! Will remember the Turnigy battery for when that time comes.

Just received delivery on my CC BEC (10A) and new pinion (18T and 16T) / spur (87T) gears. Can't wait to get those installed!