SkyRC Toro 120A incorrectly going to voltage cut off

jimmypurplehaze · #1 10-09-2017

Hi,

I bought a SkyRC Toro 120A a few weeks back and am hitting an occasional problem with it. I'm running it with a 2S LiPo and 7.5T motor.

On a few occasions, on a freshly charged battery, the car will stop after just a couple of corners - no power to the motor. The ESC emits a "beep beep" and the power light flashes red. My receiver still has power and the steering works. If I turn it off and back on again, the problem is cured and I can run my race without the problem recurring.

It looks to me like it's gone into voltage cut off. I'm wondering if with a freshly charged pack in it, at peak voltage, it's incorrectly identifying it as a 3S lipo. Then as I move off, and the voltage drops a bit, it's thinking the battery is flat so it goes into voltage cut off.

Has anyone else had this issue? Is there a fix? Thanks in advance for your help!

MiCk B. · #2 10-09-2017

Hi,

Do you have the setting box for the speedo?

If you do see what the voltage cut off is set to.

With the box / software you can manually set the voltage cut off.

MiCk B. :-)

jimmypurplehaze · #3 10-09-2017

Thanks Mick B. I use the WiFi link and iOS app. At the moment the voltage cut off is set to "Auto" so the ESC should figure out what is the appropriate voltage for the pack. I guess I can try setting this manually, say to 6.4V for my 2S pack and see how that goes.

MiCk B. · #4 10-09-2017

Good stuff.

Always the issue with auto settings, don't know what they are.

MiCk B. :-)

Paddyeds · #5 17-11-2017

did this cure your problem as I am having the same problem. have tried changing voltage cutoff to 6.4v but still occurs,

cheers

Paddy

Al3xis007 · #6 17-11-2017

Standard setting is 3.2v/cell. I always switch to 3.0v or off and make sure I don't run it flat

jimmypurplehaze · #7 17-11-2017

Hi Paddy,

Hmm, this is an interesting one!

At one point this issue was cropping up quite frequently - perhaps every third time I turned the ESC on. As it was getting on my nerves, I took a video of the problem and then raised the issue with SkyRC. I have shared the video via OneDrive here -> https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ag6zQoOC_SD6goh5UDVcB9nmEO9ddA

When the problem occurs, I can overcome it by pushing the throttle stick forward, then back to neutral. Then "normal service" is resumed. Why, I don't know. This is what I did at the end of the video I've shared. Another way of overcoming it is to turn my transmitter off and back on.

SkyRC said that the "beep, beep, beep, pause, beep, beep, beep ..." I was getting, together with the red flashing LED means a motor overheat (NOT the battery being below voltage as I had originally thought). But the motor was always cold (ESC just turned on and car not used for a while) so this explanation didn't really make sense. SkyRC then said it could be a fault with the motor (most probably the sensor) or the ESC itself. They said I could identify whether it was a problem with the ESC or with the motor by pulling out the motor sensor lead the next time it happens. If the beeping continues, it's a fault with the ESC. If not, it's a fault with the motor. I suppose it could also be a fault with the sensor lead or connections.

Oddly, I've only had it happen once since then, and I was on my way to the start line of a race, so I didn't have time to mess around and follow SkyRC's suggested diagnosis steps.

It happened a lot back in September, but I think only once since. Interestingly, the last time it happened, I was using a different motor and sensor lead from the previous times. That kind of suggests it's an issue with the ESC.

Anyway, it happens so infrequently, and can be overcome by a quick blip of the throttle, so I've just "let it be".

I found the support at SkyRC particularly poor. It was difficult to get through to anyone that knew anything and could communicate in clear English. And also their support chat line doesn't overlap very well with daylight hours in the UK. They go off line at 11am, regardless of whether you are in the middle of a chat or not. They seem to service your chat about once every 20 minutes, so a conversation runs for hours. Very frustrating! Eventually I managed to convince them to email me instead. If you pm me your email address I can forward to you what they said on this.

Personally I think there's probably a bug in the ESC's firmware somewhere, but it requires very specific conditions to be present to show itself.

How often are you seeing this issue and does it behave as I have described above? If you have it happening a lot, it will be much easier to diagnose. I would try their suggestion of pulling the sensor lead. I would also try a firmware upgrade if you can. I'm not sure how to do that as I have the WiFi adaptor for mine, not the SkyRC programme card or ESCLink cable.

Sorry for the long and detailed!

Thanks,
James

Paddyeds · #8 17-11-2017

Sounds familiar. Will look into it more and see if it reoccurs. I will pull the sensor cable next time and see what happens.
The fault cleared itself on its own once but usually requires a power down to sort it.
It was first time out with it last night so will have to see if it happens again next meeting now my settings have been adjusted. Will let you know cheers

Paddyeds · #9 17-11-2017

This is my problem, https://youtu.be/Djg6L74rdmY
same as yours but blipping throttle doesn't solve it.

Paddyeds · #10 19-11-2017

ok, new problem arisen,

Tried to power up the esc today and it wouldnt work, just had a green flashing light on it and the fan spinning.
had to recalibrate to get it to work, after that it worked fine until I powered down and back up again, lo and behold green flashing light again and had to recalibrate again.
It seems I have to recalibrate the esc everytime I power it up.

also noticed that the throttle dead band adjusts itself from the default 80us to 60us everytime I recalibrate which is weird.

here is a video link of the problem https://youtu.be/FGu22VtYa5g

any ideas people?

Paddyeds · #11 19-11-2017

I think I may have solved the problem,

Program box wouldn't connect to the ESC via PC, skylink software requested a program box software update and all seems to be working again now.

ESC is keeping calibration, settings are staying stable, hopefully as is well now.

it all points to my program box having an older firmware version than my new ESC.

hope this is of help to anyone else out there having problems, will report back if I get any other issues.

Cheers

bretts · #12 19-11-2017

Yay!! I've been interested in this thread. Glad you fixed it.

neallewis · #13 19-11-2017

Refresh the firmware on both the speedo and the program box, and you should be good. Then re-calibrate.

Paddyeds · #14 19-11-2017

Have run two batterys on the street outside and melted a pair of tyres and all seems well. Hopefully thats it sorted now.
Cheers

Paddyeds · #15 24-11-2017

Normal service has resumed, esc randomly going into lockout with red flashing light and beeping, sometimes requires power off and on, other times after 20 or seconds if starts working again and will do a whole heat or race without failing.

in for repair so watch this space

ste_lazzaro · #16 22-01-2018

Any updates on this issue? It's happening to me as well now..

I will try getting in touch with Skyrc customer support chat..
I'd say it should be pretty easy understanding what the beep - beep - beep means; the error messages coding should be unmistakable.

Ross · #17 22-01-2018

Are these ESC's from the UK or abroad.

ste_lazzaro · #18 22-01-2018

I bought mine from a uk store.

cjm_2008 · #19 22-01-2018

I'm watching this thread with interest.

I too have a toro 120 speedo, it also loses the transmitter calibration each time it's powered down, meaning I have to go through the initial setup every time when connecting a new lipo. PITA.

Ross · #20 22-01-2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by ste_lazzaro

I bought mine from a uk store.

Have a chat with the customer care guys at Schumacher, they are paper helpful.