Traxxas xl5 hv goes up in flames ...

[Motorider]

I have an xl5, er had, on my daughter's scx10ii. My nephew was driving it and put it away. Tx was off and I asked if he pulled the battery. I never leave packs in my trucks. When I touched the body to pull it off and pull the pack, I swore I felt it move. As I turned to set the body on a nearby table, I heard a hissing sound. And boy did it let the holy frail of smoke out. I thought it was my Lipo lighting up. I quickly ripped the pack from the truck by its wires and chucked it into the huge wall hung cast iron sink in my hobby room. I didn't want my house burning down.

No idea what happened to it. No tx and power was off on the esc. There was so much smoke. It melted the front of the case where the motor leads come out. I think the motor is good. It's a crawlmaster 5 slot 13t. I would have been pissed if the crap trx4 esc burned up a good motor too.

Moral of the story, never ever leave trucks plugged in. It was sitting there for over 10 min powered off. Had I been upstairs and he had just placed it on the shelf and ran, my house may have went up in flames. Makes me very nervous with the traxxas esc's.

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[MattySlimz1987]

Originally Posted by Motorider

I have an xl5, er had, on my daughter's scx10ii. My nephew was driving it and put it away. Tx was off and I asked if he pulled the battery. I never leave packs in my trucks. When I touched the body to pull it off and pull the pack, I swore I felt it move. As I turned to set the body on a nearby table, I heard a hissing sound. And boy did it let the holy frail of smoke out. I thought it was my Lipo lighting up. I quickly ripped the pack from the truck by its wires and chucked it into the huge wall hung cast iron sink in my hobby room. I didn't want my house burning down.

No idea what happened to it. No tx and power was off on the esc. There was so much smoke. It melted the front of the case where the motor leads come out. I think the motor is good. It's a crawlmaster 5 slot 13t. I would have been pissed if the crap trx4 esc burned up a good motor too.

Moral of the story, never ever leave trucks plugged in. It was sitting there for over 10 min powered off. Had I been upstairs and he had just placed it on the shelf and ran, my house may have went up in flames. Makes me very nervous with the traxxas esc's.

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Glad to hear you caught it in time. I’ve read stories of older XL-5s offing themselves after people put them away with a battery still connected. Im surprised Traxxas hasn’t caught a lawsuit or two because of a fire.

[Motorider]

Originally Posted by MattySlimz1987

Glad to hear you caught it in time. I’ve read stories of older XL-5s offing themselves after people put them away with a battery still connected. Im surprised Traxxas hasn’t caught a lawsuit or two because of a fire.

My basement will stink for weeks. It's terrible. Can't stand the smell of my hobby room now. It may have been an older xl5. Not sure.

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[fyrstormer]

They're never completely powered-off. That's why they can be activated with a pushbutton switch instead of a mechanical sliding switch.

[Druxus]

Originally Posted by fyrstormer

They're never completely powered-off. That's why they can be activated with a pushbutton switch instead of a mechanical sliding switch.

It doesn't matter what kind of configuration the switch is. There is always power at the esc as long as the batter is plugged in. To have a switch that would cut power from the battery would be large and cost prohibitive.

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[Motorider]

Originally Posted by Druxus

It doesn't matter what kind of configuration the switch is. There is always power at the esc as long as the batter is plugged in. To have a switch that would cut power from the battery would be large and cost prohibitive.

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That is correct. The on off switch is just a control for a relay of sorts. It may gate an scr. The switch definitely does not handle the power from the battery or it would have much larger wire to match the battery wires.

Either way my nephew learned a good lesson and it also shows traxxas esc's have a fatal flaw.

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[pielet97]

Typically for me, I've only had issues after big impacts to the cells or when they get real old and have swelled... but when they go, watch out!

[Motorider]

It was actually the esc that went up in flames. I thought it was the battery due to all the smoke.

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[fyrstormer]

A mechanical sliding switch controls the input signal for the power transistors that allow power to pass from the battery into the main speed-control MOSFETs. It may not be a hard-cutoff like disconnecting the battery, but MOSFETs are very good about doing what they're told -- if they weren't, they wouldn't be used in the power-control circuitry for every piece of electronics you own. It's highly unlikely that the power-control MOSFETs would fail in such a way as to burn out the ESC as long as they are controlled by a mechanical sliding switch. That sort of failure is more likely with a push-button momentary switch, because that relies on a logic circuit to remember whether it's supposed to be "on" or "off"; if that logic circuit fails and starts oscillating extremely fast, it can burn out everything downstream from it.

[Motorider]

Originally Posted by fyrstormer

A mechanical sliding switch controls the input signal for the power transistors that allow power to pass from the battery into the main speed-control MOSFETs. It may not be a hard-cutoff like disconnecting the battery, but MOSFETs are very good about doing what they're told -- if they weren't, they wouldn't be used in the power-control circuitry for every piece of electronics you own. It's highly unlikely that the power-control MOSFETs would fail in such a way as to burn out the ESC as long as they are controlled by a mechanical sliding switch. That sort of failure is more likely with a push-button momentary switch, because that relies on a logic circuit to remember whether it's supposed to be "on" or "off"; if that logic circuit fails and starts oscillating extremely fast, it can burn out everything downstream from it.

I actually verified and this is a new unit from a trx4. I got it from my brother. Only 1 hour runtime. His servo died too. Not been a good experience with traxxas. This was his second replacement esc. I already sold him a MMP to put in it before he got this one back.

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[fyrstormer]

I pulled the stock steering servo, motor, and ESC before I ever used them outside, because I have electronics I prefer to use in my vehicles. Someday I'll get off my ass and post my pile of spare parts on eBay.

Traxxas electronics are very basic, but I think they get a bad rap simply because the brand attracts people who 1) don't know what they're doing yet, or 2) like to push everything to its limit just to see if it will break. Novak ESCs have a higher failure rate per 1000 units, but people for the most part respect Novak ESCs, because they're a "race" company. Or they were, anyway. HobbyWing basically put them out of business.

[whitrzac]

Yea, nobody respected novak in the past 10 years. I don't think they had a single good esc launch after the original GTB.

[Motorider]

I had it in my 7 yo scx10ii. She didn't need a high dollar setup. I splurged on her motor

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[slowmethinks]

Originally Posted by Motorider

I had it in my 7 yo scx10ii. She didn't need a high dollar setup. I splurged on her motor

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Get yourself a HW1080 if you're not looking to splurge. I've got my CrawlMaster Pro hooked up to one. The ESC has yet to be warm...

[Motorider]

Originally Posted by slowmethinks

Get yourself a HW1080 if you're not looking to splurge. I've got my CrawlMaster Pro hooked up to one. The ESC has yet to be warm...

Just picked up a bomber with an ae3. I'll use that or put in my micro x and slate 2850 in her truck

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