My defender wont start!
 

First time posting. I’m a newbie in the RC world and purchased a TRX4 Defender in early July. I love it. Ive used it quite a few times. Ive got a 3c Traxxas Lipo battery.

Last time i used it, a week ago, we were having a blast at my daughters house. I let my granddaughters run it too, they enjoy it a lot. We’d been running quite a bit and I felt it slowing some so I figured the battery was running out of juice. I noticed when I took the body off and unplugged the battery that the motor was very hot to the touch.

When I got home I put it on the Traxxas charger and let it run. I unplugged as usual when full. Today I wanted to go for a run around the house, turned on the transmitter, plugged in the battery and pushed the blue button on the receiver. Nothing! No light or beep. OK I figured the battery may have discharged so I plugged it in and it had 3 lights but I let it charge fill. Plugged it back into the chassis and tried again and still nothing. I checked all connections and all looks good.

Did i burn something up? Where should I start to troubleshoot?

Thanks for any and all help in advance.
Marc

Re: My defender wont start!
 

If there’s no lights on the esc or receiver the esc may be bad. To test the motor itself you can just unhook the two motor wires and push them into the battery connector.

Re: My defender wont start!
 

Thanks I’ll give that a try tomorrow.

Re: My defender wont start!
 

Turns out I somehow fried my ESC. I bought another Traxxas XL5 and all is well.

Marc

Re: My defender wont start!
 

If it happens again, but a Hobbywing 1080 ESC for around $42, programmable and waterproof with a stronger BEC built-in.

Re: My defender wont start!
 

I agree with durok the HW1080 is all around a better ESC for less money.

Re: My defender wont start!
 

Keep an eye on your motor temps as well.

A bad motor could cause excessive amp draw and fry your new SSC.

I’ll third the Hobbywing 1080 ESC, and if your motor is bad, check out the Holmes Hobbies line of 550 motors to replace the stock Traxxas motor.

Better quality and very affordable.

Re: My defender wont start!
 

I had a similar problem this weekend, but mine died on the beach while
I was playing in the sand. The ESC light was still on so I took the motor out and applied some volts to it.


No go. So I picked up a replacement at my LHS and we're good to go again.