Toxik

Just recently I re-soldered a bad wire in my stock throttle servo for my Revo and since then the battery in the truck will last only one and a half tanks. The last time I went out, I lost control of the truck when the throttle stuck at full open. When I managed to stop the truck, I didn't have any throttle or forward/reverse control but still had steering control.
Could I have done a bad soldering job creating more problems or is it possible the opti drive is bad.

knifer

when mine does that i can shut it all off and restart it and its fine.

Toxik

tried that but still does it

bdd012

two words...fail safe

beelzebubishere

My Feedback: (1)

Yes, and,
yes.

Toxik

Care to expand on those 2 words?

What options do I have? Replace the bad servo first, then change the opti drive? Or is there something else I can do? Are there some definate tests I can do to pin point the problem? Like the battery draining too fast causing the throttle to be stuck in the full open position. I dont want that to happen again. The next time I might not get so lucky and have more stuff break.

beelzebubishere

My Feedback: (1)

#1 replace the servo
#2 DITCH the opti drive enirely
#3 insall a failsafe
#4 be sure your throttle return spring IS installed
#5 get a GOOD battery charger http://nitroobsession.proboards79.co...ead=1138550372

Toxik

If I lose the opti drive I guess I'm gonna have to install the forward only conversion kit right? The other thing is the fail safe. Where does it get installed? I'm fairly new to rc, so sorry if I'm asking some noob questions.

beelzebubishere

My Feedback: (1)

Nope..... My basher REVO, has a standard, 2 spd forward, 1 spd reverse REVO tranny, with NO opti-drive. I have a Venom fail safe, and thottle return spring, a JR hi torque servo on the throttle, and a single HiTec torque servo on the steering, OEM 1100mah battery pack, kept in tip top hape with a Triton charger, and a battery charge life of 2+ hours.
The faisafe installs betwen the throttle servo and the receiver...

Just wait until the truck is cmpletely stopped, before shifting from forward to reverse, or back to forward.

Toxik

Ok. I bought a Hitec 625 MG for the throttle and the Venom fail safe. I was also talking to the guy at the LHS and he suggested that I might have a bad cell in the pack. He is also going to discharche the battery pack a couple of times and test it for bad cells.

How do you by-pass the opti drive, and what is it good for if you can by-pass it? Just another part to spend money on?

beelzebubishere

My Feedback: (1)

Electronic gimmikry to make you spend more money, either when it dies, or lunches the tranny.
Plug your thottle servo into the venom FS, and to into the receiver......just unplug everything fron the Opti unit, remove it, and TOSS it. then plug everything accordingl into the receiver. Let the wire dangle on the tranny sensor, tie it up, or my favorite cut it off!

Then GO BUY a GOOD CHARGER......somethig like a TRITON, or an ICE......start a regimen o discharge>charge on your pack every time you take the truck out......you gotta have a charger that DISCHARGES to, and NOT a pulse charger.

Toxik

Right on. Thanks eh.

Indecline099

if you take out the opti drive how will you know if your battery is getting low in your truck, and if i gets too low and loses reception with the radio, the failsafe will stop it right???

Gullwing72

Yes. that is what it is there for......GW

beelzebubishere

My Feedback: (1)

That's why I don't recommend removing theOpti WITHOUT the intallation of a FailSafe.....

Toxik

I finally took my truck out today after installing the new servo and failsafe and the stupid battery still died within a half a tank. When I was charging the battery in the truck, I felt the battery and it was not getting warm like it should. I had taken the battery to the LHS a couple of weeks ago and they put it on the Ice Charger and cycled it a few times (charged and discharged) and then tested it and said it was fine. It charged well. When I tried with the charger that was supplied by traxxas, it wouldn't charge I guess. Could the charger be nfg or could there be a bad cell in the battery. Or is there something else that could be wrong?

Stuck686

My Feedback: (2)

how long are you charging it??? i leave mine to charge overnight

Timmahh

try to use the old 4aa pack, see what it does. put in 4 new Duracell coppertops, they should last for a few days of bashing before dead.. depending on how much you actually run.. i say 12+ hrs at least. if you kill 4 new coppertops in half a tank you got other issues. a bad wire shortign out somewhere, a bad on/off switch, connector, rx unit. maybe a bad steerign servo sucking the bats dead too.. start with the easiest to check out. move to the next. im betting on a bad wire or short somewhere.
Tim