I just got for my son the re-release of the Tamiya Hornet. We built it together and had great success with our first run. My son was running it later and came in and said the battery went dead. When we charged the battery and I hooked things back up I had no control of the motor. Steering servos worked but the ESC would not control the motor.

Since things were wet when he was running the car, I assumed he got the ESC wet and it shorted out. So, I bought a new ESC and installed it. The car ran great. Ran out a battery, exchanged for a second and it acted like it was out of juice again. At this point my son indicated he "may" have run it through some water again.

It seems to me, the ESCs should be a bit more sturdy than to crap out with a little exposure to water. I noticed my two batteries are slightly different. One is a 1500mah Nicd 7.2v and the other is 3000mah NiMH 7.2v. I don't know if that would make a difference. I also don't know if maybe there is something wrong with the motor.

I hate to keep throwing good money after bad. If anyone has some ideas for me, I would really appreciate it.

Those tamiya esc's hate water as do most simple brushed esc's. electric motors aren't too keen on water when they're running either.

this might be a solution(as kids will always run till they bust-just as we did and still do today)

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HPI-RACIN...item19cc2e5ab6

the hpi esc are good units and this one allows a motor upgrade when you're both ready.

The motor that comes in your Hornet is pretty tough for what it is, water isn't going to be an issue for it. The ESC (electronic speed control) on the other hand does NOT like water and most likely has now moved on to a better place. The batteries you listed won't be the issue either, the 3000mah one will perform better though.


my version of "a little water" and that of a kids are normally 2 different things.

Appreciate the insight. My original Hornet back in the day was much more sturdy when wet!!

Are there any other waterproof ESCs out there?

How old are the batteries? They may need to be cycled, or might be goners. I bought my son a truck and was trying to use some older NIMH batteries. Got so frustrated with the truck having a minute of runtime and no power that I bought him an SC10RS so he can use my lipo's. Now he gets over a half hour of runtime with no worries.

Batteries are brand new. Bought them with the kit.

All may not have been lost. Let the car sit for a day and dry out. Now it is working normally. We will see what happens. May still invest in a waterproof esc as 8 year olds are prone to making mistakes.

or teach him the other reasons why driving through any water at all isn't a good thing. Even with a waterproof esc the water could permanently damage anything made with steel, obviously nuts and bolts but also driveshafts, driveshaft pins, outdrive cups etc etc. Those of us with crawlers like to run in total crap conditions like mud and water but many like myself with an investment in money time and their pride in their rig will after a session spend some time mitigating the damage done by the water..... If it is run in water then blast it with some wd40 to displace the water at least, pull off a couple pieces and wipe it down, clean off all debris etc.