Hi. I'm trying to fix an issue for a friend's kid's electric RC mini truck. Not sure the model matters to troubleshooting this one but it's an HPI Mini Recon.

The batteries are new and the most basics checked (tx frequency selector, local interference, tx/rx binding and fail safe setting).

The truck steers perfectly. If the danged kid would be happy just turning the front wheels to the left and to the right all day everything would be fine. But when you give it either forward or reverse throttle it stutters. A lot. I can see the red light on the receiver turn off for a second while it does this as well. Again, no issues with the receiver light when only steering back and forth.

What to check or what to replace? It's not my money and I hate being in a position to waste someone else's. Where to start though? receiver, servo, motor or esc?

Since the transmitter and receiver work great together when only steering I think it might be OK to eliminate them from first round blame placing. Left to myself I would suspect the motor or ESC but I'm a computer programmer geek more than an RC type. Anyone have thoughts that may help?

Thanks for reading.

I would say, separate the problem first.
try the radio / rx combo with another servo,
and then
try another radio/rx combo with this possibly broken servo,

the guys at track are usually very helpful, some of them wouldn't even mind plug their stuff in yours for testing.
I had the same problem, and it turned out to be my cheap radio and receiver (GT3B) that was causing the issue.

Sounds like it might be the esc... Give the motor a sniff and see if it smells burnt.. I'm no expert but it.s worth a try..


Question can you run some jumper wires straight from the battery to test if a motor works safely ? Not talking about lipos but the nimh/nicd smaller packs on a brushed motor...

Search ESC Manufacture, by name on it. I think all it needs is calibration. Calibration set your neutral, full throttle, & braking. If stuttering or cogging.

LED on ESC I think it should be solid green. Caibration should take care of it.

Good luck!

First check the battery and motor connections, make sure they are tight and snug, making good contact.

Receiver light going out suggests a brownout. The motor is pulling the battery voltage down under load. Might be the connectors, but if they are OK try a glitch buster / voltage protector like one of these. It's a capacitor that plugs into an open slot in the receiver and helps maintain voltage to the receiver.

I had the same issue and found out my steering end points were way off. When I accl and turned it would glitch really bad. I adjusted the end points and all good now.