mad rat problem please help

[billyboy9002]

hi

i have got a stock mad rat brushless 2.4ghz setup, which i just got off ebay.
when i took it out for the first run it was stuttering, moving about 3 inches at a time, when i lifted the car off the floor and pressed the trigger nothing at all happened even with a fully charged battery

any ideas what it could be?

cheers

[woOdy]

hi

i have got a stock mad rat brushless 2.4ghz setup, which i just got off ebay.
when i took it out for the first run it was stuttering, moving about 3 inches at a time, when i lifted the car off the floor and pressed the trigger nothing at all happened even with a fully charged battery

any ideas what it could be?

cheers

Is is brand new or second hand? What batteries have you put into it? What charger do you have? How long was it on charge?

[billyboy9002]

it was second hand, the battery is a 3000 nimh and it was on charge for 1 hour on a fast charger

[peetbee]

Have you tried recalibrating the speedo to the transmitter to see if that's the issue?

[billyboy9002]

peetbee- how do i do that?

[peetbee]

There's normally a setup button on the esc. If you tell us which speedo it's got then hopefully someone who knows it can talk you through it.

[damselfly]

@OP; Does it use the stock " Xirius " esc? If you can, post an image of the esc.
Also, did you charge your battery at 3 Amp's?
Loads of informative and friendly Guys on here to assist.

[Cameo]

it was second hand, the battery is a 3000 nimh and it was on charge for 1 hour on a fast charger

My guess is the batteries life is up. mimh's can appear to be charging even when they are stuffed.

The first thing I would do is get a new battery and make sure you have a peak detection charger. (One that cuts off when the battery is fully charged).

[billyboy9002]

damselfly- yeah it uses the xirius esc and i charged the battery at 2amps

cameo - was thinking of changing it to lipo as i have a few 2s 4000, would the stock motor and esc cope?

peetbee- there is no button on the esc that i can see

thanks for all the help so far fellas

[damselfly]

damselfly- yeah it uses the xirius esc and i charged the battery at 2amps

cameo - was thinking of changing it to lipo as i have a few 2s 4000, would the stock motor and esc cope?

peetbee- there is no button on the esc that i can see

thanks for all the help so far fellas

If you charged your battery at 2A it would take at least 90 -100 mins to fully charge it, based on a 3000mah pack.
I'd certainly say that your battery is toast. Failing that, it could be " false peaking " due to a weak cell/cells.
However, the battery might of been left unused for quite some time, in which case you could try a " formation charge " to recover/balance any weak cells. To do this; charge the pack at 1/10c (0.3 Amps) for about 15 hours. Even if you leave the pack on charge for longer it wont harm it, as nimh cells can be left for days at this current theoretically.
I do this with ALL my new packs, and periodically do it once a Month and it works wonders for me.
Give this a try if you can, and should it not recover, just bin it and use Lipo cells.
That ESC would handle a 2s Lipo too without any problem.
I'm pretty sure it's due to one of my 2 quoted reasons.
Tell us how you get on mate.

[damselfly]

For some reason, I can't edit my last post.

Anyway, here's the setup manual for your ESC;
www.ftp.ansmann.de/Brushless_Set_Xirius.pdf
The link isn't working for me from here, but if you go to the Ansmann.de website, enter " manual " into the search box, then scroll down to your ESC,then the pdf setup manual is available for download under the brushless subcategory.

[billyboy9002]

damselfly

i will give that a try with the battery, my esc is not on the list i will try a google search to see if i can find it,
will see if it is the battery first though to try to eliminate one thing at a time otherwise i might get a bit confused with what i have done:confused:

[damselfly]

Hi Billy,

I've just checked again, and the Xirius brushless ESC is definitely there.

If you can't find it, i'll download it and send it to you. Just PM your email address mate.

[budgio]

http://www3.ansmann.de/cms/en/service/manuals.html
scroll down right to the bottom and click on:

manual for the Xirius brushless speed control

The esc has a little red button on the on/off switch which is used to setup the esc to your radio.

...go to basic setup section 1st mate.

[billyboy9002]

cheers budgio

but that is not the same esc thats on my madrat, there is no red button on my on/off switch either

http://www3.ansmann.de/cms/en/rc-cars/brushless-power-110/mad-rat-bl.html

here is a link to a photo of the one i have
http://www3.ansmann.de/cms/en/rc-cars/brushless-power-110/mad-rat-bl.html

[Fast Eddie]

Im so honest I will confess to selling you this car!!!!
Horrified to hear there is problems. I had to go to my local model shop who gave me some instructions to the speedo which I thought I had put in the box?
Try the settings on the handset, does it go in reverse? the motor wires for the some reason were in the wrong way when it was new. The motor wires dont go to the right colours. I had to put the handset control in reverse and some other bits but it went perfectly in the end.

[budgio]

The link to the pic didnt work matey but im thinking your esc may well be similar to the mtroniks range.
Does it look like this?

http://www.mtroniks.net/details1.asp/ProductID/619/G2Sport.htm

mtroniks g2 sport or micro maybe

[Fast Eddie]

The battery I sent had never been used, bought it from hong kong but it wasnt 3000mah

[budgio]

This maybe?

http://www.mtroniks.net/resources/G2RIDEMICROinstructions.pdf

[Fast Eddie]

Ah yes I now remember!!!! This is how it is done and you will have hit the throttle before the beep (like i did) and gone into set up. Thereafter everything you touch arses it up until your hair falls out.
Hope you get sorted, thanks Budgio........

[billyboy9002]

budgio - thanks buddy i gave it a go and there seems to be no stuttering going forward but reverse is whole new story :confused: will keep trying to recalibrate it and see if i can get it right in the end, thanks for all your help

fast eddie - dont worrie about it buddy, i am sure it will get fixwd in the end, i guess i must of hit the trigger before the beep (stupid way of setting up the esc if you ask me)

cheers for all your help guys i will let you know how i get on

[billyboy9002]

i had a play with the esc setup and i got it working :thumbsup:

took it out on the road to test it, let my friend have a go who then crashed it into a parked cars tyre and snapped the front chassis mount, chassis and one of the front shocks :(

good job there are loads of spares out there

cheers again for all your help

[Cameo]

i had a play with the esc setup and i got it working :thumbsup:

took it out on the road to test it, let my friend have a go who then crashed it into a parked cars tyre and snapped the front chassis mount, chassis and one of the front shocks :(

good job there are loads of spares out there

cheers again for all your help

be sure to send your mate the repair bill :D