The reason it popped was my fault. It has an over temp cutoff and over voltage but not a short protection. The leads off the motor melted together and that was my fault. The dean's are from a legit hobby shop. Amain hobbies. W.S dean's connectors. It's a good esc from what I've read. Hobbywing isn't a bad company and its a nice kit....good instructions and troubleshooting menu.

Was going to go brushless but I want to save that for a slash. The 15T is perfect for what I like when driving....anymore and it would be a bit too much for a mini I think. Thanks for the heads up tho

oh yeah, i get that the esc failure was user error. -we've all done stuff like that.
$23 bucks is a great deal, can't beat that.

Okay Servo Question!
I'm running laps in the back of the station tonight and lost my steering.
Turns out that the screw that holds the steering linkage into the servo
via the servo saver backed out.
I'm trying to prevent this from happening during a race,
So...
How many of you put a dap of Threadlock inside to keep this screw secure???

I beat the hell out of my car on pavement and unforseen obstacles that launch it airborn and I've NEVER had it come loose and don't have lock tight. I put a good hard but of effort into my car when driving and always push it....maybe just check it after each race....it's right there in the open....maybe that helps?

I use a star lock washer on servo horn screws that tend to back out.

Not the Tamiya one, Zorotools.. they are by far 100x better at locking.

Lock Washer,Internal Tooth,Spring Steel,Fits M3,ID 3.2mm,OD 6mm,PK100

Hummm, didn't think of the star washer trick!
Thanks! Seems a lot better than screwing up the threads of the servo with blue Locktite!
Now to pray for a quiet night like last night!

Not BERT...lol... In any case, you will still need to sand inside the female deans connectors and the male connector also to ensure that no slipping occurs while running and hitting stuff... You can also use a ziptie on top of sanding the connectors for double the protection...

Yeah if you are using the high torque Tamiya servo saver I suggest using some switch lube or grease on the larger plastic pieces facing the metal spring to ensure smoothness. Otherwise when you crank the screw down it can cause the saver to bind. No issue with Kimborough's though as they come pre lubed.

The sanding I'm assuming helps to have the connectors grab a little bit? The zip ties are a good idea for the motor connection.

I remember when I hit the curb dead on and the connectors came loose for the battery with my stock silver can soldered directly to the esc wires and the pinion chewed the teeth right off the spur gear. Ohhhhh learning isn't cheap but it sure is fun!

I've never had a Deans separate itself from a crash.

My deans connectors always came out halfway in most of the crashes I've had, but their connection inside was seriously reduced: there is a point where there is almost no connection, even when both male and female deans connectors seem to be connected. In my Ntc3, the further the male connector went in, the less connection I was getting: I guess the gold blades were not angled properly, but after a good sanding, the connection was restored. Most racers don't test their deans connectors or other types of connectors for that matter, but I feel that these connectors have more to do with esc/battery fires than previously thought. The deans connectors always come bright red when new, but turn to dark red when they heat up too much, and after a while, the gold playing surfaces lose their shine, needing quite a bit of sanding to sparkle again.
I have not burnt any of my speedos with the regular connector sanding I do, and the rx capacitors I run in all my cars: I run mostly Novak speedos(with two double edge tape foams underneath) too...Novak esc's were known to smoke alot... The only time I burnt a speedo was back when I still ran tamiya connectors with my Lrp superreverse and a 10t mod motor in an underventilated Nikko F1... No more tamiya connectors for me after that...lol...

Sounds like you overheated them when soldering them, causing the blades to move out of alignment. Also, why were you using deans connectors on a nitro car?

Deans are perfect on a nitro vehicle since you never want glitches caused by on/off switches, and you do not want to constantly strain the receiver pins by pulling on them all the time... I've seen many nitro racers lose their cars due to a runaway glitch. I've never experienced a runaway glitch , although I did notice my connection problem on the bench early enough to avoid a glitch on the track...Also , my charger came with deans plugs, so all my batteries have deans....
Deans on a Ntc3 are not a BERT mod, by the way....lol.....

Are those real Deans you are using, or those junk t-connectors? They are not the same.

I don't know your situation, but I've been using Deans for decades. I've tried those junk t-connectors and while they might look kinda similar, they are not at all even remotely close to the quality of the real Deans. Not trying to knock you in any way... just saying.

They are real deans, and they are not perfect.... Regular sanding is good insurance....