Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
06-28-2008, 06:56 PM
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Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
My brother and I both bought the Novak HV ESC and HV brushless motor with 5mm shaft. He has a 6.5 and I have a 5.5. He converted his Hot Bodies Lightning Pro Evo to brushless and I converted my RC8 to brushless. Bought all the Novak stuff, conversion kits motors, everything. Both cars run new Max Amps 8000 3S2P batteries. Both cars ESC's shut off at 130 degrees. The motors only get to 105. Both have fans on the esc and motor. Why didn't Novak advertise this instead of saying you can run pack after pack. Both cars gearing has been changed both up and down, even super low gears still get the esc to 130 - 150 degrees in about 4 to 8 minutes (not long enough for a race). Has anyone had this problem and is there any cure. We've spent a fortune converting to electric and can't race our cars now. Please help.
06-28-2008, 11:19 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
How hard are you guys running these things? Summertime bashing with high power systems is pretty demanding. Are your fans getting relavitely cool air or are they just recirculating hot air underneath the body? Is your drivetrain fairly efficient with proper gear mesh and no dragging brakes or anything?
If all is well in the setup of your cars you'll probably find that warmer weather means you have to be a little sparing with the throttle. That's the case with my cars anyway...
If all is well in the setup of your cars you'll probably find that warmer weather means you have to be a little sparing with the throttle. That's the case with my cars anyway...
06-29-2008, 06:00 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
We've ran with the bodies off, no change. The bodies do have holes all over them. We aren't bashing, this is on a very slick track, not much throttle needed at all. Cars are brand new, super smooth drivetrain, only brakes are on the motor. Anyway, the esc's shouldn't be shuting off at 130 degrees. On another thread a guy said the low voltage cutoff is the problem, anyone know about that?
06-29-2008, 07:52 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
First, I would contact Charlie from Novak and then I would try some less powerful batteries. Novak is good @ CS and that thermal shut off sounds a bit premature. Good luck
06-29-2008, 08:08 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
Are you using the low voltage cutoff? The LVC that comes with the HV-Maxx is for 4s. You say you are running 3s, correct? If you have the LVC on, it will cutoff at 12.5v, which makes for a short run.
06-29-2008, 09:36 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
When you said 130 degrees I assumed you meant Celsius. 130 Fahrenheit isn't very hot and should not be shutting down your esc. It's got to be an LVC issue or something else that's a relatively simple fix.
06-29-2008, 03:55 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
We bought 3s cutoffs for both systems, they work properly and shut off at 9 something volts.. No the temp is 130 F not celsius. About the batteries, we spent $230 apiece on them because Novak said to use the best. The cars aren't very fast as it is, I would hate to see the speed with lesser batteries. Went back to the track today and cut the body so the esc and fan is in open fresh air. I got about 10 minutes with the 6.5 and it shut off again. The 5.5 lasted about half that and was no faster. This is basically babying the throttle. I'll call Novak tomorrow but all they'll say is send it in. It'll be a month before we can race again. Most of the these parts were overnighted as well. We aprreciate the input, anymore would be nice.
06-29-2008, 05:13 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
Well... Maybe others can chime in on expected runtime for a setup like this, but 10 min might be typical. Do your chargers tell you how many mAh are being put back into the battery packs each time? If it's only like 3000, then I'd say you have a premature LV cutoff, bad batteries, or your charger isn't working right. I'm new to Lipos, but I'd imagine you should be putting 6000 mAh or more into an 8000 mAh pack that was discharged to its safe limit.
06-29-2008, 06:26 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
Actually, after the cutoff shut down (after many thermals), the top of the line Thunder Power charger put in 9000 MAH in one pack and 8875 mah in the other. The setups are both top notch with no questionable area bottom line, this speed controller is not performing like advertised. Hope novak will help. Thanks for the advice.
06-29-2008, 07:32 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
i feel for you, to spend all that cash and hav machines running only 10 minutes before shutting down. why would the thermal be at just 130 anyway? isnt that really low? i know that my vxl esc has gotten to 165 without thermalling. i know im comparing apples to oranges as far as setups, but shouldnt the novak esc be able to handle temps that the lowly traxxas vxl esc can?
06-30-2008, 03:04 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
Let us know what you find out. I am thinking of converting at least one of the vehicles, and this is exactly what I am afraid of. After I break in this Slash, I figured it be a good candidate, and I could go with the VXL ESC, but I figure go all out for a Novak or a Mamba, but then you hear this.
I'm sure you'll get it straightened out soon, just hope you don't have to buy anything expensive, like different Batteries.
I'm sure you'll get it straightened out soon, just hope you don't have to buy anything expensive, like different Batteries.
06-30-2008, 09:52 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
Email [email protected] for technical assistance.
ORIGINAL: coxbros
My brother and I both bought the Novak HV ESC and HV brushless motor with 5mm shaft. He has a 6.5 and I have a 5.5. He converted his Hot Bodies Lightning Pro Evo to brushless and I converted my RC8 to brushless. Bought all the Novak stuff, conversion kits motors, everything. Both cars run new Max Amps 8000 3S2P batteries. Both cars ESC's shut off at 130 degrees. The motors only get to 105. Both have fans on the esc and motor. Why didn't Novak advertise this instead of saying you can run pack after pack. Both cars gearing has been changed both up and down, even super low gears still get the esc to 130 degrees in about 10 to 15 minutes. Has anyone had this problem and is there any cure. We've spent a fortune converting to electric and can't race our cars now. Please help.
My brother and I both bought the Novak HV ESC and HV brushless motor with 5mm shaft. He has a 6.5 and I have a 5.5. He converted his Hot Bodies Lightning Pro Evo to brushless and I converted my RC8 to brushless. Bought all the Novak stuff, conversion kits motors, everything. Both cars run new Max Amps 8000 3S2P batteries. Both cars ESC's shut off at 130 degrees. The motors only get to 105. Both have fans on the esc and motor. Why didn't Novak advertise this instead of saying you can run pack after pack. Both cars gearing has been changed both up and down, even super low gears still get the esc to 130 degrees in about 10 to 15 minutes. Has anyone had this problem and is there any cure. We've spent a fortune converting to electric and can't race our cars now. Please help.
06-30-2008, 04:19 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
Talked to charlie at novak and he was real nice about the problem, alot more knowledeable than the guy I talked to on Friday. He had me try something but it thermalled in 4 minutes again. We ended up having to send them in. Anyway, We ended up having to spend another $260.00 on two new mamba max esc's to race with until these come back. It won't be sensored but I think that's overrated anyway. Novak's service is good but I would have liked to see them mail out two new hv pro units and let me return mine so I can race this weekend without investing more cash into this deal. Oh well. We'll keep you posted on the updates with Castle's ESC"s. The guy from Castle said it should solve the problem.
06-30-2008, 08:53 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
Boy I'd really love to know why these things are thermaling at such a low temperature. Maybe a firmware bug or bad heatsink installation at the factory? Very odd.
07-01-2008, 01:12 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
I think when they say pack after pack theyre reffering to NIMH and NICD packs. I ran 4 packs back to back in 98 degree Georgia heat and the motor only got to 105 degrees. Thermaling at 130 is premature regardless of what batteries your using. Hopefully the problem gets solved ASAP. Good luck, and please keep us posted.
07-01-2008, 07:57 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
From above:
"Both cars run new Max Amps 8000 3S2P batteries"
and
"Thunder Power charger put in 9000 MAH in one pack and 8875 mah in the other."
I think it's a safe bet they're running LiPo packs.
"Both cars run new Max Amps 8000 3S2P batteries"
and
"Thunder Power charger put in 9000 MAH in one pack and 8875 mah in the other."
I think it's a safe bet they're running LiPo packs.
07-03-2008, 05:12 PM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
A few updates. We installed the mamba max's and they thermaled even quicker than the novak hv's. They did work fine before they thermalled except a little cogging right at the hit from a dead stop. For this weekend I remounted the castle esc right behind the windshield and cut out the window for a direct flow of air and geared all the way down to an eleven tooth pinion. It's slow with that gear and only 11.1 volts but maybe I can race with it. This will have to do until Novak sends their esc's back. My brothers novak 5.5 motor already broke, something in the rotor area. Thats two bad hv motors in less than a week. We ran the setups with a regular 2s battery and it worked the whole pack with no shutting off and even ran the same temp as the 3s, it was SLOW but worked. Charlie at Novak said the maxamp 160 amp batteries isn't the problem and should be fine. I was starting to wonder if that was the problem but he sais no. The cars stay so clean with the electric setup I hate to go back to the mess of nitro but We're running out of patience and option. That's the updates for now.
07-04-2008, 02:36 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
I would ditch novak and MM, if possible see if you can return them and get something like the MMM and a neu motor, that would be insane!
07-04-2008, 07:03 AM
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RE: Novak HV ESC problem, PLEASE HELP!
ORIGINAL: coxbros
A few updates. We installed the mamba max's and they thermaled even quicker than the novak hv's. They did work fine before they thermalled except a little cogging right at the hit from a dead stop. For this weekend I remounted the castle esc right behind the windshield and cut out the window for a direct flow of air and geared all the way down to an eleven tooth pinion. It's slow with that gear and only 11.1 volts but maybe I can race with it. This will have to do until Novak sends their esc's back. My brothers novak 5.5 motor already broke, something in the rotor area. Thats two bad hv motors in less than a week. We ran the setups with a regular 2s battery and it worked the whole pack with no shutting off and even ran the same temp as the 3s, it was SLOW but worked. Charlie at Novak said the maxamp 160 amp batteries isn't the problem and should be fine. I was starting to wonder if that was the problem but he sais no. The cars stay so clean with the electric setup I hate to go back to the mess of nitro but We're running out of patience and option. That's the updates for now.
A few updates. We installed the mamba max's and they thermaled even quicker than the novak hv's. They did work fine before they thermalled except a little cogging right at the hit from a dead stop. For this weekend I remounted the castle esc right behind the windshield and cut out the window for a direct flow of air and geared all the way down to an eleven tooth pinion. It's slow with that gear and only 11.1 volts but maybe I can race with it. This will have to do until Novak sends their esc's back. My brothers novak 5.5 motor already broke, something in the rotor area. Thats two bad hv motors in less than a week. We ran the setups with a regular 2s battery and it worked the whole pack with no shutting off and even ran the same temp as the 3s, it was SLOW but worked. Charlie at Novak said the maxamp 160 amp batteries isn't the problem and should be fine. I was starting to wonder if that was the problem but he sais no. The cars stay so clean with the electric setup I hate to go back to the mess of nitro but We're running out of patience and option. That's the updates for now.