jroptop

HELP!I have had this Volcano exp pro since xmas for my son and have had different issues all along.I THOOOUUUGGGHHHTTTT I finally got it squared away with warranty parts that Redcat sent me,but NOW the issue is that the radio to receiver reception gets lost after about 20ft with a new receiverand then at times when its out of range the truck goes wild and accelerates and steers on its own,I have no control over it.I tried a different receiver out of my other sons Caldera and seemed the range got a tiny bit better but then after a certain point the truck does what it wants again.So then I tried binding a different remote with the reciever and THAT didnt help any.Anybody have any ideas what could be going on with this thing?BTW Lipo battery has been fully charged during all this,any help is appreciated,thanks in advance!

nitrosportsandrunner

hum, so you have tried different reciever and radio?
try a range test with the steering servo unplugged.
Check for any damage to the servo or esc wires.
And make sure the motor wires are as far away from the reciever/servo/esc wires as possible.

jroptop

I moved some wires around,away from the motor wires and tested it out,seems ok thus far,if it acts upagain,ill do the range test with the servo unplugged,what will this eliminate?Thanks NITROOOOOO

nitrosportsandrunner

Its rare, but I did once have a faulty steering servo cause the ESC to do weird stuff. Or rather, it screwed up the reciever which messed up what the esc did. didnt matter what radio/rx I put in it still acted up. unplugged the servo and suddenly the esc was fine!

with the wires moved around, did you do a range test?

9 times out of 10, a bad ESC will SMELL bad. But not always. I had a duratrax element ESC light up, and the led responded to throttle input....but no power went to the motor. the motor didnt jerk, make a sound or anything. Tried everything, then sent it to duratrax. They said it was dead, and not worth repairing.

I assume your ESC doesnt smell burnt, so Im trying to think of anything else to rule out. You've already ruled out the radio system.

the fact that the esc doesnt work with the program card anymore makes me think that either the reciever wire is damaged somehow, or that the electronic board on the esc is damaged...

does the truck ALWAYS respond as long as its within a few feet of you?

jroptop

The Esc doesnt smell and as far as the range test,I had my son walk away from me with the truck amd I had the transmitter and the receiver would begin to blink approx 20ft away,the truck responds normal at close range

nitrosportsandrunner

jeez that sounds soo much like it would be a radio system issue and not the esc!

did you use the reciever AND radio out of your caldera?

also...do a range test and when it stops responding correctly see if the LED on the reciever is on (youll need 2 people for this, and have the reciever box open)

If the reciever light goes out when you lose control, then its still a radio issue and not the esc.

jroptop

Ive done soo much swapping im losing track!!As far as I can recall,yes I used the receiver and transmitter from the Caldera andput it in the Volcano and had the same issue.The receiver begins to blink once it loses connection.When I moved the wires around away fom the motor wiresit seemed to have done something.Ill check again tomorrow and see if the problemstill persists.

Johnathond22

JR,
I had this a similar problem a few days ago. My volcano pro was about 25 feet away and when I lost the rceiver link it left at full speed and crashed in the ditch by my house. What actually happened was the radio receiver was wet inside. A good test is put the truck next to you with the remote on and truck on, then power off the remote and monitor the trucks behavior. If it starts to steer or take off on its own the reciever is most likley wet. It is really easy to dissasemble and clean. I also suggest after cleaning and drying with a heat gun or blow dryer really we ll a good idea is to coat the reciever with Di-electric grease. Since I have done this it has not gave trouble again.

jroptop

I thought that might have been the case,but it lost connection when it was dry but then ended up in a snow bank.I used the remote and receiver(never got wet) from the Caldera and put it in the Volcano and I was having the same issue.Sounds odd that the Caldera works fine with these 2 compnents but not in the Volcano.So leads me to believe that the only thing I didntcheck was the ESC,but at short distance the truck works fine and I am still able to program it with the program card,but only steps 1-5 as there has been discussion that the S10 series is different than the 35a series found in the Caldera which can be programmed with ALL steps.

Johnathond22

Wow, this is a really weird trouble. Did you also try a different battery than stock in the volcano? Although the battery doesn't have much to do with receiver performance, I had a lot of different small issues with original 2000 mah 7.2 with the Esc jumping and throttle response being really jumpy. Is the Caldera brushless?

jroptop

I have a 5000 mah lipo battery,fully charged,and used the lipo from the Caldera also,and no change,yes the Caldera is also brushless,believe me,IMSTUMPED.

Johnathond22

Well at this point the only common part in the problem is the ESC. Can you post a quick pic of the esc and wiring of the volcano with the top off?

jroptop

nitrosportsandrunner

the only way to rule out the esc, is to take the esc from the caldera and put it in the volcano. if it works fine, than the volcano's esc surely has a problem.
If you find that to be the case, then Id file a warrenty claim with redcat, explain the issue and also link the thread so they can see you ruled out all other possible parts.

jroptop

Just out of curiosity,how farof a reception should I be getting with this set up?

Johnathond22

I'm not sure of the exact measurement, but from a description I have ran mine far enough that it hard to tell which way it's facing. My guess is my RC was at least 100 yards. I'm trying to duplicate your problem by routing my receiver wire too close to other electronics. Did you try movi g the receiver far from other electronics? Especially the antenna wire? I noticed in the photo the straw to hold the wire up was missing. I am loosing reception if my antenna wire lays flat. That's about the only way I can duplicate to some extent. But I'm still getting about 50 ft.

jroptop

What I did was rearranged the wires how they were ziptied from the factory and pulled them away from the receiver and ziptied them in a different area.I know I noticed 1 receiver was bad as it didnt blink like its supposed to when the bind cable is inserted to bind it to the radio.I used the Caldera receiver and binded and blinked like it was supposed to.Idid a range test with the servo unplugged and probably reached a distance of approx 100 ft.I plugged the servo back in and although it didnt lose reception,the response wasnt as instant with throttle and steering at that distance.I will leave everything as is thus far,as its alot better than it was,so maybe it was the motor and ESC wires that were interferring,who knows.

nitrosportsandrunner

Id be tempted to wrap the individual wires with elec tape. Might help insulate them from the pulses going threw the motor wires...which seems to be a source of low range for you.

Johnathond22

Jr,
Here are a few photos of how I moved my ESc and receiver. It's also waterproofed. At least the radio and esc and motor connections. I will most likely replace the servo when it goes out with waterproof also. But in the photo you can see how far the receiver wire/antenna is from other wires. I relocated the antenna wire rod to the rear.

jroptop

Thank you for the pics,I moved the receiver to the rear of the truck and organized the wires better.Wont have a chance to try it out until I get the rear hub carriers in the mail seeing how 1 snapped during one of the truck hissyfits when it went out of control!