If the thermal cutoff is occurring on startup, check your soldering - I seem to recall a post in this thread that had to do with a short across the esc terminals (or motor terminals?) tricking the esc into thinking it had thermalled...

On thing to consider with the Copperhead is that it is uncensored, there is no motor temp sensor that can signal the ESC to shut down. That being said, the only temp effected issue situation that can shut down the system is the ESC itself. Gearing down can tend to RAISE the temp on the ESC, and lower the motor temp.

The Copperhead was originally designed as a RTR replacement system, it just happens to be very fast and a cost effective choice. That being said, the motors are potent, and work the ESC pretty hard.

My advice, run zero timing and gear with a 14T on the lost SCTE (5150kv) and set the end points at 80-90%, start power 3, punch 3-5, and limit your run time to 8 minutes. Running these systems for 10,12,15 minutes is just cooking everything.

i didnt think about it being at start up. now that you mention that i am thikning the sensor wire might be the coulprit.

Well I have the 4500 KV copperhead system. And we race 10 minute mains. I'm geared with a 14 tooth pinion. My motor and esc were warm this weekend. I don't have a temp gun but I could hold my fingers on the motor and esc but they seemed pretty warm. So what pinion and setting should I go to running 10 min mains

what type of car? losi? i have been running 13t on my associated 4x4 with the same set up it never gets hot .....what profile are you running? i always run the race #5 profile and tweak it way down .....the brakes on the copperhead can be turned down a good bit which will reduce some heat ....also i just never seem to use much timing either doent seem like it needs it ....just some things to think about ...its hard to get a good handle on without some more info

Just in general, the more gear will lower the ESC a little and raise motor temps.

Testing is the most important variable.

Yeah it's in a scte. Track isn't very big can only hold full throttle for a second or to but I'm at half throttle quite often. I'm using profile 4. The rest I have not touched yet as I do not have the progauge yet. But it did turn the travel on my radio up for the brakes a little

Hey FLHX1550 can't understand why a viper tech would tell me to gear down from a 13 tooth pinion especially if gearing down is going to raise temps in esc and I never had any temp problems from what I could tell using my temp gun. The settings your suggesting are pretty close to what I've been using except for timing which I think are either at 3 or 4,I'm going to change it to 0. Guess I'll put the 12 tooth pinion I just bought in my spare parts bin and order me up a 14 tooth. Holy crap my heads going to explode

Please Please tell me we are closer on the 1/8 Scale Applications??? Just picked up my 2.0 this week. Don't feel like throwing the Tekin back in it. All my 1/10 Scale are swapped to Viper.

I've raced both the 4500 and 5150 Copperheads in the SCTE, just offering up what my experiences were.

I also suggest using minimal brake also (reduce the radio brake EPA to 70-80%). Braking is a major contributor to ESC heat

From what I understand the esc should be out really soon but not the motors yet

I just wanted to post one last time here. I had a viper system VTX10R and was having issues. It locked and i was unable to fix the issue my self. I was unable to rum the main because of it. So, i posted on here for help, Vipers FB page and sent an email from there support page on Viper .com. I have received more support from my fellow members here than i did from Viper support. Sadly, what advice i did receive(None from the email at all, One from the FB page and one from here) was amatuer at best. VERY dissatisfied with Viper. I have no faith in there ESC nor customer support, but do like the motors. I pitched the ESC and am now back with Tekin.. I had herd good thing from fellow recers about Viper but my experiences have left me sour!

I assume you didn't really pitch it...I would be interested if you want to sell to recoup some of your loss. LMK.

Yes, i really did drop in in the trash can at my work bench. It is still there as i have taken the trash out yet.

Why don't you send it in if everything hasn't worked...it sounds like you damaged the system if it's "locked". I'm not really sure what you mean by that.

It's simple and fast.... http://viper-rc.com/contact.php

Did you try anything Nikos2002 suggested to you?