Deja Vu

iTrader: (11)

I will expand on my earlier post. As I stated, I mostly use Novak equipment (historical loyalty from back in the brushed days). But when I considered the weight of the Losi SCTE and what I wanted to do with it, the best conclusion I could come up with was the RX8 (and Pro-4 combo). This set up has seen everything...half the straight cart wheels, making doubles out of triples the hard way and a few unplanned face to face meetings with the front retaining wall. I've come off the track with the RX8 fan hanging out of the chassis and the on/off switch wrapped up around the rear axle. But the Tekin system has never once failed to propel this 7 pound truck down the straight at insane speeds or launch it over a big jump with a twitch of the throttle.

I am nowhere near being or will ever be a pro driver, but I'd still highly endorse this product to anyone.

Dr. Evil

iTrader: (12)

Hi all. Here are my 2 cents regarding ESCs.

Over the last 15 years, I have had many ESCs. Many Novak, Cyclones in 10th scale cars and they lasted roughly 1.5 years. (Given I still have most of them and they are running since I don't race as much as I did in the 90s. )

This being said.

All and all, I have blown up Both Tekin and Castle Creations ESCs.

I have always followed the the companies procedures when it comes to setup.

I know most of the ESC mfgs. have had their issues, but, I can say that the 1/8th scale cars take a lot of abuse and product alot of vibration.

Try mounting a camera in an 1/8th scale buggy and see the vibration that is transmitted through to the camera.

I have gone through several Tekin ESCs and I am of the opinion, it's something I am doing. I let a friend borrow my ESC for over a year and he never had a problem with it. The first day he got it, it stopped working. He sent it in, we both paid for it and he kept it for the time period mention above. No issues. I got it back and that was 6 months ago and still no issues. He has other mfgs and he has not had any problems with the esc for the past 3 years.

I will say, he is a much smoother driver than I am. He crashes less, and is way more of a consistent driver than I am, so, this is also a Plus for him and ESCs.

The NO 1 issue that is the the killer for ESCs is not isolating them from vibration. (Also overheating the wiring posts when installing wires. I like bullet connectors so the end user doesn't have to add an additional level of failure)

Since I now mount my ESCs on 2 layers of thin foam and 3 layers of Servo tape, I have not had any ESC issues at all. None of my ESCs give me trouble.

Keeping the ESC from vibrating is to me the Key to keeping the ESC from malfunctioning, so that being said....

Randy... Is there a way Tekin can create an optional cushion your ESCs to help with vibration??

Thanks for listening.

goodhews

iTrader: (24)

I was just thinking of coming up with a thread like this. The RX8 is the esc i have ever personally seen catch on fire. I have seen a few novaks smoke and seen plenty of castles get hot and stop working. But the RX8 is the only one i have seen catch on fire. Every trophy event i have been to(5+) at least 2 RX8's flame and average weekend races i see one flame up every 2 or 3 weekends. And i go to several tracks (5 to be exact) all ranging from 20miles to 110miles.

Which is weird because the Tekin RS is the most reliable 1/10 esc on the market that i have found.

BLKNOTCH

iTrader: (10)

I have 2 RX8, 1 in my DESC410R running a 4000kv and before that it ran my 550 5.5 Redline with no issues. The second is less then 2 months old and runs a T8 1900kv in my Eco, it died on me Saturday morning out of the blue as I ran it the friday before to be sure I was ready for race day then Saturday at the race it did nothing when I went to power it up. I had power at the terminals but nothing would light up. I am currently in the process of sending it for warrenty repair/replacement.

BEAR5OH

iTrader: (30)

Deja Vu & BLKNOTCH

Thank you for having the two best Avatars I have seen on ANY RC site.

B.

ferrarieeeee

IMHO RX8 is the best 1:8 ESC out there...............except the fan The ESC case should have a bit more room to accomodate 10mm height fans instead of 7mm. I've gone thru > 10 tekin fans on different RX8 in a couple of months......

sirio76

Get rid of the top grid on the case and leave only the mounting holes, the fan will not brake easily anymore. After installing the first time it's also useful to let the fan run in for 10/20 minutes before start to run the car in the dust. I do this on mine and fans last for months, beside I use them only in the summer when the temperature is above 85°F, otherwise the esc will run just fine without.

BashemSmashem

iTrader: (42)

My RX8 has been rock solid for me for 2+ years now running any motor I have put on it smoothly , and it stays very cool as well .....

[email protected]

Everyone has their failures, but I haven't seen this many of ours melt.

Most flameout failures are victims of poor soldering jobs, I see it all the time rolling through service. All it takes is one bad joint to pop off and arc to the next post and POOF. I did it to myself at the Nats in 2010, rushing to get my car on the track.

bmxracer39x

iTrader: (8)

Did you contact Randy on the Tekin thread about this issue? I had exactly the same problem, no lights but power at the battery post on the ESC. He told me to unplug the ESC from the RX, unplug the fan and unplug the motor sensor and then power it up with the battery. If you have all the LED flashing, then the ESC is not dead. Then systematically plug back in each back in, then power it up afterwards. The fan, rx or pcb sensor board maybe shorted. Good luck

goodhews

iTrader: (24)

I didn't mean to sound like I was blaming Tekin. I see it as the users responsibility to make sure it is soldered well. It is their fault 90% of the time.

But at the end of the day a Tekin on fire is a Tekin on fire. No matter who is truly to blame, its a Tekin that's on fire. Personally if I was involved with Tekin at all is fix it. If the issue is bad soldering, you have 2 options. Offer a pre soldered rx8 or actually change how/where its soldered.

When o first started rc I was scared of Tekin soldering post, yea I bought an rs but only after lots of debate and practice soldering. And recently I was in the market for a 4pole speed control, and considered the rx8 heavily. But I couldn't get over all of the exploded rx8s I had seen. I know its usually install error...... But that doesn't stop me from relating the rx8 and fires.

goodhews

iTrader: (24)

Not trying to bash Tekin or anything. Just saying its obvious there is an issue. No matter where the blame lies I think Tekin should try doing more to prevent it.

iTz Nicholas72

iTrader: (19)

If you are so weary of soldering on the post then get someone experienced to do it for you.

goodhews

iTrader: (24)

That's not what I said..... Not at all.

Randy_Pike

iTrader: (6)

If a wire or post is pulled off the board and or falls off the board any resulting smoke or fire is not caused by the Rx8. Granted the Rx8 maybe being consumed by this event but how is it the fault of the esc? Sorry that makes no sense.

During a race should any wire come unplugged the chance for a failure is there. The amount of voltage and current we're all "playing" with his big. Spiking loads around at 15v or more and at times over 100 amps something bad can happen.

It'd be like jump roping with some car jumper cables while trying to jump start a dead car...let those cables touch each other and see what occurs.

Post failure is either caused by overheating the post/pcb connection while soldering up the esc, OR having wires that are too short or too long yanking on the post during car movement. Yes there's a sweet spot. Loose enough that there is no chance of the wire tugging on the post during chassis flex, and short enough that an extra 6"s of wire isn't flopping around inside the chassis/cab.

@goodhews Sorry but I'm having a hard time with this one. I'd like to know where this is? What tracks this occurs at? Should this be accurate I'm confident I'd know about it. Any one area losing that many esc's in a short period of time 99% of the time means I get a phone call about it.