I am currently running a Mamba Monster ESC with the castle 2200kv motor combo in my E-Revo with a spektrum DX3s radio. I bought the combo about 4 months ago.

It has been working fine for a long time, till all of a sudden last night I started having some weird stuttering problems. I was driving on the track as normal, and everything was working just perfectly. I brought it in and picked it up, and gave it a little throttle to throw the dirt off the wheels, when I noticed a weird intermittent stuttering. This is not what people consider cogging, as its not happening when starting from a stop, its happening while on partial throttle and varying the throttle. Sometimes its perfect, but every once in a while as its running you will hear and feel it stutter, almost like it reverses polarity or slams the brake for a split second before resuming. Sometimes it shutters so bad it loses control. My castle link timings are set to default, and punch control is at 20% i believe. It almost feels like radio glitching, except I am running a spektrum 2.4ghz and the servo shows no sign of any glitching, and it is happening at close range with no other 2.4ghz sources in range. I have tested it in multiple locations, and have never had a radio glitch before.

Any ideas what it could be? Is my ESC failing or is it something else?

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

I use Spektrum brand 2.4 system with my Futaba 3PK in my cars. I had to use a capacitor that plugs into the reciever & it solved the problem. The best I can figure is when the power hungry brushless motors are drawing the amps, it deprives the reciever of enough power to operate correctly.

I thought if that was the problem that the receiver would completely reboot, cutting off control. Mine is only stuttering, and the steering does not seem to be effected. Its almost like an intermittent misfire on a car.

I made a video to show you guys what I am talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDam2tMye1A

by the way I have noticed that it doesn't seem to ever do it for the first couple minutes of running, but after that it gets steadily worse. The motor is not getting over 100 degrees F, and the ESC is not even warm. This is on 6s. Hottest I have ever had the motor was about 130 after running the track for a while. Telemetry data from the DX3s.

So I gave that a shot, as it was only $6. Unfortunately it made no difference, same issue. It has to be in the ESC.

hello, i am having the same exact problem as described is there any updates to this on a fix or what the cause is? seems to be the esc but hart to tell, i think it has to do with voltage too thats what it seems like?

Wish I could help you. I will tell you what happened with me. I tried switching to other radios I had laying around, including non 2.4 radios. Sometimes it would work for a bit, but it always ended up having the same issue no matter what radio I used.

Heres where it gets weird. I tried one more time putting the original spektrum radio back in, and all of a sudden it worked. Its been fine since, although I worry I am on borrowed time.

I have NO idea what fixed it, nothing changed that I know of, it just all of a sudden started working again.

I know this isn't to useful, sorry about that. I feel your pain. Let me know if you get anywhere. I never did get around to calling castle, but thats the step I was going to take next if it hadn't suddenly fixed itself.

edit: oh and I forgot to mention, I am not currently running the capacitor on my receiver. It made no difference in my case, and now its working without it so I decided not to mess with it.

thanks for responding, ok that is interesting i will try recalibrating my radio, i thought it had something to do with the solder joints but it does it randomly so it couldnt be that, i will open up the esc case and check if there is anything loose or damaged just to be sure. i will keep you posted maybe this might be happening to more people it is a little tough to notice.

I've read about shorting probs in someof the early v3 where the switch wires across the bottom coming out the case would get cut then start causing probs. I know some have taken their MMM apart an added some heat shrink to the wires for protection.

So I think I figured it out!

All of a sudden it started doing it again. I started ripping things apart, when I just happened to notice the wire from receiver to speed controller. In one part there was VERY small wear opening in the insulation, and I could see bare wire. It also happened to be the part that ran right against the motor. It was really tiny, and kind of dumb luck that I happened to see it.

Since the cut was so small, that would explain the intermittent issues as it shorts out against the motor can when it gets jostled around and the volt flow is high enough to arc across the gap.

I wrapped the wires in electrical tape and rerouted them to a safer area, and the problem seems to be solved! Hopefully its not just coincidence, but I have to think that was the issue.

Sounds like you got lucky and found your prob!!