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Bad experience with Volcano EPX Pro

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Bad experience with Volcano EPX Pro

Old 07-21-2016, 03:56 AM
  #1  
rob989_69
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Default Bad experience with Volcano EPX Pro

I purchased my Volcano a little over a month ago from an online retailer. Got the truck, charged the battery, and took it out into my back yard. I'm a newb with RC cars, I had them alot when I was a kid but this was my first "hobby grade." It ran for 2 minutes before shutting down. I assumed it was the cheapo charger not charging the LiPo battery. So, I let it charge a full 8 hours and tested the following day. Again, 2 minutes of run time. So, thinking it may be a bad charger or battery and purchased a better charger, and a second battery. All Redcat branded products by the way.

After charging the new 5800mah battery on the new charger, getting the indicator that it was complete. I felt sure the 3rd run would be a success. Unfortunately not. Still 2 minutes of run time, then it shuts down.

The side effect of this problem is that it doesn't just run normally then suddenly turn off. It runs normally for a minute or so. Then, it starts to stutter. From standing start I pull the trigger and nothing happens, then it slowly starts to move forward, then all of a sudden it shoots off like a rocket. Because of this running into things has become unavoidable, it's already difficult for a newbie like me to control when running normally but when it does this it's impossible. So, there's quite a list of things that have broken and been fixed in the few short weeks I've had it.

I reached out to Redcat, at first they were very helpful, we did some troubleshooting and the person determined I needed a new ESC, they shipped one out to me quickly and I was able to get it installed in no time. During that time I had purchased another battery. I figured I'd go outside the redcat brand just in case, plus if there were any issues it gave me extra assurance it wasn't a battery problem.

So, after installing the new ESC I again took the truck out. The first run lasted a good 10 minutes, during which there was a fair bit of stopping while I ran out and flipped it back on it's wheels. I thought for sure the issue was resolved. I was wrong. The second time out, the exact same issues have started. I ran all 3 batteries over 3 days to make sure.

Now, to summarize to this point: I have replaced the following in the 3 weeks that I ran the truck, with total run time somewhere in the 30 minute range.
Both front hub carriers - bottoms screws stripped out
3 dog bones - They apparently like to fall out
Front bumper is broken completely
The actual body pan is broken as well, the front of it snapped off
2 springs are bent pretty badly
2 diffferent control arms have stripped out of the plastic
2 bad ESC's

Now, I fully admit that much of the damage was due to inexperience on my part. I ran into stuff, I get it, things break. But it's not like I beat this truck, never even tried to jump it.

But, this wasn't the worst of the experience. After the 2nd ESC failed, I again reached out to Redcat. I was told that at this point they'd like to have the truck back to take a look at it. I said that's fine, just send me a shipping label, I'll send it to you. Nope, apparently Redcat won't do that. Now, I've spent $209 on a truck that's defective, $90 on 2 different batteries, $50 on a charger, and over $30 on spare parts. That's around $380. I refuse to spend a single penny more on a defective item.

When I tell this to Redcat I am told that "this is our policy, if we send out electrical parts once and the issue isn't resolved we have the unit in." "This is in case people are trying to just get extra parts from us."

WHAT! extra parts? I just want what a paid for, nobody is asking for extra parts, I want a return label.

Needless to say the Volcano is now boxed up and put away. $380 is down the drain with nothing to show for it.

I'm posting this for people like me, who, when I was shopping saw some bad reviews about Redcat, but also saw enough good ones to figure I'd take the chance. DON'T TAKE THAT CHANCE! I could have bought the Traxxas Stampede I originally wanted but didn't buy because it was twice the price of the Redcat.
Old 07-21-2016, 06:02 PM
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seedygreenute
 
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That's not a good experience !
If you feel like trying a few things ?
Test all batteries for charge with a multimeter / voltmeter ... make sure they are all fully charged ( including transmitter )
Run through this to make sure the ESC beeps and flashes correctly .
http://www.hobbywing.com/products/en...860-WP1060.pdf
Check low voltage cut off .
Note : thermal protection is at 100C for the ESC
Old 07-22-2016, 03:31 AM
  #3  
rob989_69
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Thanks for the reply. I did test the batteries with a multimeter, all 3 are fine. I also tested the impedance of the motor connections and again, it seemed fine.

I will run through the instructions you included to see if any of that helps.
Old 03-05-2018, 12:53 PM
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Morfeeis
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Happy i saw this i was just about to buy one.

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