lol, yes they do. 3 of those 30 minute or less smokes/crap outs are from 100% brand new builds. All of my cars are wired/soldered up by my LHS (don't try and pin it on them).

Revtech, Maxamps, SMC batteries

Futaba receivers
Futaba/Protec/Hitech servos

100% Tekin motors

1 of the 3 was a brand new build, 10 minutes run time. crapped out. Took ESC case off and there was a small burn mark on board. Another was 20-30 minutes old and the ESC did a major meltdown....not sure why it didn't catch fire.

So, you have a hobby shop wire and solder ALL of your cars and then they all fail..... some of them almost immediately.... and you don't see the pattern here? SOMETHING is causing all of those ESCs to fail. They just aren't doing it on their own for no reason. Seriously, anyone with the least bit of sense can see this. The odd ESC going bad is one thing..... but all of yours going bad is something else all together. Don't try to pin it on Tekin.... whom you didn't even bother to contact.

First it isn't all of them.

Let me see if I see your logic. Wire up a brand new car and if it smokes THEN call Tekin? What can they do then? They will say to warranty the esc and then put a new one on. The esc should be able to be installed and work properly with other nice components.

I'll call tekin on the next issue I have and we will see what happens.

They install esc's daily and I'm there 4-5 days a week. I haven't in 6-7 months seen another persons esc fry like mine do. Wire a esc and motor in the correct manner then there is nothing the LHS is at fault.

Keep in mind I've had 4-5 go up quickly out of 20+.

The gen 1 crapped out yesterday was bought in a car wired up by the previous owner. No way to try and say my LHS screwed that one up.


All these electronics in these cars are made for a price point. What these are made for tells me a CERTAIN amount of quality is sacrificed for the price point.

Would you buy a esc that costs $500 and wouldn't ever break? The answer is probably not, the market wouldn't support it. (Also then people wouldn't need to get new esc's at a rate to support the manufacturers). At a price point that is 2.5 times what it is now would enable more durable manufacturing processes to be used.

Man maybe u are just the most unlucky guy on this form lol. I have have had about 25 of tekins rx8's in a number of cars 1/8 truggy to monser trucks to 1/10 sct and have only hade 2 fail both my own fault. To say tekin is cutting corners is insane IMO. These guys do lots of R&D and bring what we want top of the line electronics with all the tuning options we want or could need. Tekins support is always awesome. I have owned many different brands but tekin is the best overall bang for your buck u get what u pay for. Maybe try to solder and wire up your own stuff . Maybe your buddy at you hobby shop really does not like u .

Something has to be causing your failures. Tekin's ESCs just don't go up in smoke for no reason. Sure, the odd one might but the odds of so many with the same person..... no way. I would have DEFINITELY contacted Tekin after the new build went up in smoke. They will want to know as bad as you do what happened to cause the failure.


I use Tekin stuff and have never had a problem. Oh, wait. I shouldn't say never. Once, my buggy ended upside down and submerged under water and the throttle/reverse stopped working. I re-calibrated after drying it out and it works perfectly like it never happened. No need to spend $500 on an ESC that doesn't break. I have that with my RX8 Gen 2 and assume the same quality when I pick up my RSX.

If we could hear from Tekin as to the common course for the gen2 failing early on in it's life could lead to a solution to your fault. I honestly do not & can not see why Tekin would have a product on the market if a known hardware fault was the cause.

Have you tried the same gen2 esc with another motor?

Could you tell me what iron your hobby shop is using? Generally speaking I have seen many people using an iron that is say a 60watt unit but the tip is quiet small or they use to low of a heat setting causing the user to leave the iron on a solder post for a longer period of time just to get the heat soak into the post which can lead to a post being unsoldered off the board which you will not see. A nice hot iron with roughly a 4mm tip is good & be sure to tint the tip of the iron prior to making contact with the post of the ESC.

I quick question guys I was thinking of buying a tablet and downloading the hotwire software onto there saving having to lug a 15" laptop to the track all the time. but because the tablets uses android software would the hotwire work with it?

The software will only work with an Android or Windows tablet.... so you're good.

Tekin are working on an app for Android, not available yet though. Most can be programmed on board the rx8.

so it will work on android??or not yet??

It must be my driving style (heavy throttle on a low grip track). Bought a used XB4 with a Novak motor and hobbywing ESC. Hobbywing crapped out after less than 2 hours of run time. That one was wired up by the previous owner (not my LHS). So there is 100% fail rate.

You have owned 25 Rx8's I would love to know what you do for a living and do you need any help.

You sure it works on a tablet cause theres no usb port you would need a micro usb wire and I thought thats what there working on now with the app.

I had a solder post come loose yesterday, but I need to race still. Is I alright to still use it for the time being? My warranty runs out in a few weeks, so I could just send it in after I race, correct?

Another thing, my friend that just got his back from tekin after a post coming out is wondering if he gets another 120 days for warranty.

Thanks

Yep something is wrong, so many things though, solder, poor technique on solder, bad motor, binding in cars...etc. I have had about 12 Tekins and yes occasionally some go bad or actually go up in smoke and melt, I have seen about every brand have this happen. I would bet though the number of Tekno systems at a track is 10x more than any other brand so it's natural you would see more Tekins fail. I have had 2 fail, Tekin fixed one when I returned it and the other was at the E Nats and they fixed it during the race- Tekin support is about as good as I have seen. I also run Hobbywing ESC and motor in my SC 4x4 with no issues. I use the Tekin Systems in all my 1/8 Truggy and Buggy vehicles.