alexsamsdad

Hi, I bought my 11 year old son a redcat volcano epx for christmas, and it has been broken since the day after. I know I am a little ignorant with rc cars, but I thought it would be more reliable than this. I bought a bigger battery so he could drive it longer, and it fried the motor. Redcat sent me a new motor, and that one lasted a day. I would like to convert this to a brushless motor to see if this helps. Can anyone tell me a exact fit motor, and anything I need to make this conversion. This car has a many different problems we have got most of them fixed but it is still frustrating for me as a father, because my son at me to fix this. Thank you for your help

nitrosportsandrunner

well it sounds like the speed controler could be bad...and that is what fried the motors. brushed motors do wear out over time, but 2 dying back to back is rare.

to answer your question on brushless upgrade:

the simplest thing would be to get the speed control and motor from the brushless version of your truck....the epx PRO.

Brushless motors work very different from brushed...and your speed control (ESC) will not work with a brushless motor.

the epx pro uses a ezrun 35amp brushless esc and a novatech 540 3300kv brushless motor.

Another option is to find a used traxxas VXL 3s system.(stock in the traxxas brushless 1/10 scale models)

you will be looking at around $100-$130 to get a brushless esc and motor.

My suggestion if that cost is to great:
find a used traxxas xl-5 speed control and grab a new venom fireball 21t motor like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Venom-1315-F...item5ae547e4a7

or a new ECX electrix speed control (used in the torment truck) and the 20 turn (T) 540 brushed motor that is also on the same truck.
motor: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ECX-Electrix...item3f14fbb345
esc: http://www.ecxrc.com/Products/Defaul...ProdId=ECX1070


Brushless upgrade IS worth the extra cost. A brushless motor doesnt wear out and its more effiecent and thus gets better runtimes and slightly more speed. but I know not everyone can afford it, and a decent brushed setup is still lots of fun.

chrisbing13

Sell it or just trash it. Every one has a different view on Redcat. To me they are a joke every time you truned around something happen and you spend more money on a ****ty product. I know because I bought one and one thing after another happened. Even my radio brook. So I was unable to trun making it undriveable until I got a new radio. If you want to spend the money on a good RC you can get a 1/16 scale E-Revo brushless and have no problems just check out Traxxas web site and see the video's on it. Now if you get into the 1/10 scale E-Revo brushless it's going to be high priced($700.00) So I'd go with the 1/16 scale because it's only $319.00 and strong enough for your kid plus it's just the right size of RC for him. But it might be to fast for him; just depends on how good he drives it. The E-Revo can drive up curbs and not brake like redcat. Hope this helps and I'm not to late getting this to you. I am taking the Hobby store to court for saleing products that are junk and there warranty is a joke; there isn't one. They say there is, but not. Traxxas guarentees there RC's

nitrosportsandrunner

Redcat has always replaced any defective items I have come across. Redcat has a warrenty on all electronic companents and thats not a joke...its a fact. Sometimes you have to deal with redcat direct...not the hobby shop. Thats the case with most any brand.
You wanna compare a $300+ truck to a sub $200 redcat...typical. Easy to bash a honda civic when you have the money to buy a lancer evolution.
This past year I have sent traxxas 3 vxl speed controls and 1 vxl motor. They all burnt up. I had a nitro sport SE that was a PITA to keep running.
Parts breaking, and needing repair is part of the hobby and comes with ANY brand.
Granted, you can spend more money up front and you will typically get a better product...but thats just common sense. But to say that the lower end product is crap is silly. It is what it is...an entry level product. Any product, no matter the quality, if abused will not last long.

If you wanna bash redcat, its best not to do it in the redcat SUPPORT forum.

Dads like rc too

Same old same old. My Redcat broke.....blah blah blah. Maybe you should recommend a strong rc like the HPI Savage. Hard to argue its go anywhere do anything reputation. My friends Savage Flux is the biggest piece of crap you've ever seen. I've not seen this thing survive a full charge yet without it destroying something. He has the E Revo as well as the smaller version too. The little Revo was great once he replaced all the control arms and steering links with RPM parts. All these cars break, don't kid yourself into believing that paying $700 for a rc car means it won't break. Just hope that for the $500 extra you paid compared to a brushless Redcat that it's 3 times better, 3 times more fun, and will run 3 times longer before you haul your $700 toy to the hobby shop to buy parts for it. Oh and Nitro, I agree about Redcats support. I called them last week about my daughters ESC on her Volcano, I think I spoke to Eric in tech support. It wouldn't reverse. He advised me to ensure the trim was set right and informed me how to do it. I was sure I had checked it but said I would check it again. I called back and spoke to him, explained what I did, he said no problem and mailed me out a new ESC. The new one came 4 days later. What more can I ask for for an rc truck that that was around $120. This was the first claim I've had to make on our 6 Redcats. I'll keep betting on Redcat for now.