New Capra build and my motor cuts out

[rbronco21]

I finally got everything together and running around the yard, but I have an issue with the motor stopping. Sometimes it will cut out for half a second, then jump forward like the throttle's been blipped. Other times it stops responding completely and doesn't work until I unplug the battery and start over. My wiring is a mess since I'm testing, but let me know if there could be cross talk or interference caused by the mess.

Here are my electronics:
Spektrum SR515
Holmes BR-XL
Holmes Crawlmaster 16t
11t pinion
Power HD LW-20MG eBay Servo
Savox SH-0265MG Micro Servo
1 NiMH battery, 2 2S lipos, 1 3S lipo (same results with all batteries)

I got a couple pics of the ESC light during full throttle and when the motor stops, but I don't see any documentation to tell me what this dim light means.

Full throttle and working, bright green light:


No response from motor, lit during all transmitter input, forward and reverse, dim green light:


I've been in contact with Holmes Hobbies and tried their suggestions and they are helping, I just wanted to get some other ideas to try over the holiday weekend. I don't expect them to be all over my issue, but I know you guys will, and to be honest, I can't even say the issue is with their product or something else entirely.
-The motor came in forward rotation and timed to 6deg. I rotated the endbell 180deg and timed to the correct 6deg for reverse rotation.
-I checked for a hung brush. The spring was slightly snagged in the shunt, but the 2 seemed to move together without issue. I did separate the two without any change.
-There's no heat in the motor or ESC at any time I've checked.

[Davey]

Have you tried re-calibrating the ESC to your transmitter?

Do you have a different, less powerful steering servo you can troubleshoot with? Or a Castle BEC you can add?

It’s possible that your Power HD servo could be causing some brownout issues. It’s pretty close to 300 oz/in of torque. For the BRXL’s 5 amp internal BEC, that’s right around where I’d consider adding a more powerful external BEC.


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[Count0Interrupt]

I doubt the Power HD servo is causing brown out. I have the Power HD WP version running off HW 1080 and works great. More likely is the transmitter/ESC calibration. You may need to reverse the throttle channel to get it calibrated. I had to do that for my FlySky & HW 1080.

[rbronco21]

This is all the hardware I have. I wanted to go straight to a Holmes servo, but decided to try out a cheapy first. I have 2S batteries and I could get an adapter to run the servo off that (I think?), but 2S is over the servo's spec of 6.6V.

I've recalibrated the ESC several times. I rotated the motor's endbell 180deg to reverse it for the Capra, so I don't think I should reverse the throttle. Wouldn't a calibration that bad (reversed throttle) cause all kinds of other issues?

Using the telemetry on the DX5 Rugged I do see the RX voltage move a bit when using the servo, maybe 0.2-0.3V.

[Count0Interrupt]

You can disconnect both the servos from the transmitter to troubleshoot this problem. If motor/ESC still doesn't work correctly, then it most likely has nothing to do with the servos. Once you get the motor to work, then plug in one servo at a time to see if either causes additional issue.

[rbronco21]

Originally Posted by Count0Interrupt

You can disconnect both the servos from the transmitter to troubleshoot this problem. If motor/ESC still doesn't work correctly, then it most likely has nothing to do with the servos. Once you get the motor to work, then plug in one servo at a time to see if either causes additional issue.

The more I play with it, the more I'm convinced it's the steering servo. It seems to happen when I am steering and using a lot of throttle. Unfortunately it's intermittent, so I am not sure I can completely rule out the servo, and testing without any way to steer isn't fun. That being said, I did unplug the servo and ran the crawler back and forth in my living room for a while last night without a problem.

I wanted a Holmes servo and cheaped out instead. Guess I need to figure out how to get one now.

[Davey]

Originally Posted by rbronco21

The more I play with it, the more I'm convinced it's the steering servo. It seems to happen when I am steering and using a lot of throttle. Unfortunately it's intermittent, so I am not sure I can completely rule out the servo, and testing without any way to steer isn't fun. That being said, I did unplug the servo and ran the crawler back and forth in my living room for a while last night without a problem.

I wanted a Holmes servo and cheaped out instead. Guess I need to figure out how to get one now.

I’d consider just adding the inexpensive Castle 10 amp BEC in the interim. Those symptoms are right in line with the servo drain causing BEC issues.


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[Count0Interrupt]

Sounds like your servo is browning out the ESC. A BEC should fix the problem, or get the Holmes servo and plug straight into the battery!

[rbronco21]

Well, a BEC did fix the problem. Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll be back for more!