Smoked my stock ESC

[Stewdog]

So, I have been running the Protek 3s Silicone Graphene LiHV battery pack in my TRX4 and it acquired a terrible smell last night while running slowly in a parking lot. I had the battery pack charged to the LiHV specs, so it was at 4.35V. I was getting a little bit of glitching with the battery every once in a while within the first couple runs with this pack, but still would run the whole pack just fine overall. Yesterday the truck stopped half way through the battery pack. I thought it weird, took the truck back and charged the battery pack back up. I put it back in the truck and started to run. It had a couple small hiccups and then shut off. I turned it back on and then the smell started to hit my nose. I shut it all down and put some snow on the hot ESC to cool it down.
I'm going to discharge the battery pack down to 4.2V and test to see if the ESC is actually toast or not, but I suspect it's dead.

Do you guys think the extra voltage burned up the ESC or just a bad ESC? I haven't put the truck under water yet because everything around here has been frozen, so only snow.

Lastly, It seems the Quicrun WP1080 is a good replacement for the stock ESC and people have been having good luck with it. Anyone have any other better options at this point?
I figure I will eventually go brushless, but will save the money right now and burn up the stock motor before going brushless.

Thanks!!

[Natedog]

Those are awesome battery packs, but are not the cause of your ESC dying! Traxxas ESC tend to run hot and I've had them burn up even without getting hot, replace it with the Hobbywing WP1080, an excellent esc.
https://www.hobbywingdirect.com/prod...nt=26223842568

[Stewdog]

Thanks Natedog! I really like the Protek battery! I cut the battery tray wider in the lower section, so the shorty pack sits all the way down in the battery tray. The top of the pack is almost level with the frame rails.

I figured as much with the stock ESC. I have a hobby room full of RTR's and almost all of them have the stock electronics completely replaced by now.

I plugged the battery pack into the truck again and it is shorted internally. The ESC gets real hot with the battery plugged in and the power off.

I just called the hobby shop and they actually have one of those ESC's in stock.

[cmbscx10]

Originally Posted by Stewdog

Thanks Natedog! I really like the Protek battery! I cut the battery tray wider in the lower section, so the shorty pack sits all the way down in the battery tray. The top of the pack is almost level with the frame rails.

I figured as much with the stock ESC. I have a hobby room full of RTR's and almost all of them have the stock electronics completely replaced by now.

I plugged the battery pack into the truck again and it is shorted internally. The ESC gets real hot with the battery plugged in and the power off.

I just called the hobby shop and they actually have one of those ESC's in stock.

Told ya your drag brake was to high. Inside joke everybody.

I only have 4 or 5 packs on my 1080 but just like all my HobbyWing stuff, they are a lot of ESC for the $$ but you know that. Don't forget the programming card.

[Stewdog]

Originally Posted by cmbscx10

Told ya your drag brake was to high. Inside joke everybody.

I only have 4 or 5 packs on my 1080 but just like all my HobbyWing stuff, they are a lot of ESC for the $$ but you know that. Don't forget the programming card.

Haha, either the drag brake or my sick crawling abilities scared it to death!

What are you running the 1080 on?
I like the Hobbywing ESC's that I have in my basher stuff. I imagine the programing card isn't the same one I have for the basher Quicrun ESC's?

My hobby shop guy lied to me and didn't actually have the ESC in stock. He did have a Dynamite ESC and a Axial ESC. I don't know anything about those, so I'll order a Hobbywing myself.

[magic_yeti]

The 1080 came already with a programming card no need to get one extra
A very impressive esc for the price

[Stewdog]

I just installed the Hobbywing 1080 tonight and I have one question.

I have the Traxxas 8030 light kit and it has a JST plug that plugged into the ESC. The Hobbywing 1080 (obviously) doesn't have a JST plug.
The JST plug is a red and black wire.
Can I change the end of the JST plug and plug it in to the Porgram card plug slot on the ESC or just hard wire/solder the wires straight to the ESC's pos and neg?

[Ninomaniac]

Don't hard solder them...
Power is usually taken off the receiver if there's no external BEC. No harm in trying to power off the prg port, but the ESC may misbehave if you put a load on the program port (mine did when I connected a fan). Do you have a spare channel on the Rx?

[Stewdog]

Sorry, I misspoke and stated that the wires from the JST connector were red and black, they are both black (one black and one black with gray stripe). There is a red wire that goes to the receiver and the JST (black wires) connect to the ESC.
I wonder why they ran the ground to the ESC and the hot to the receiver? I wonder if I can just rewire both +/- to the receiver?

This is the power supply:
Traxxas LED Lights Power Supply (3V 0.5 amp) TRX-4 / 3-in-1 Wire Harness